Jump pilot to air charter?

Pilot86

Well-Known Member
how feasible would it be to obtain your commercial after your private for a jump pilot position untill you came to the 1200 mark before getting your instrument to qualify for freight?
 
My first question is why skip the instrument rating? Unless you've already gotten a few hundred hours as a private pilot I'd be surprised if you could get a jump pilot job with the few hours you'd have after doing private and commercial. So by my logic, since you need hours anyway, why not just get the nstrument rating now? If you can't afford it work at a job that pays better than skydiving (which is just about anything) until you can afford it. There are no shortcuts, so just enjoy the ride. Why are so many people in such a hurry to make so little money?
 
You're going to have a hell of a time in 135 freight if you're not good on instruments. Most new Instrument pilots are no where near that.
We had one guy in my indoc class who came from flying jumpers only, and he did not make it through after 1200+ hours of VFR only flying.
I flew jumpers for a few months one summer and almost 300 hours. It was fun, but unless there's something more than TT in it for you it's not really worth sticking with it for longer than that. Usually.
 
Like z987K said.

Its not going to happen. You need to have good Inst. skills to make it through training. My roommate in my 135 initial washed out because his traffic watch flying did not prepare him for the demands of training. You probably wont even get an interview if they see you have newly minted inst ticket.
 
Not to mention it's going to be real tough getting that 500 cross country flying jumpers.
 
Like z987K said.

Its not going to happen. You need to have good Inst. skills to make it through training. My roommate in my 135 initial washed out because his traffic watch flying did not prepare him for the demands of training. You probably wont even get an interview if they see you have newly minted inst ticket.

I know of people that failed out of transition training to the BE99 because of the lack of IFR on the routes they had been flying for a while.
 
How did you guys get the IFR flying experience? All the entry level jobs I know of are all VFR flying (Jumpers, Traffic, Survey, 90% of CFI work) I know IFR flying is also my biggest weakness. Almost all my flight time is low level VFR flying. My Instrument flying skills are not "bad" I just have no "experience". If you get what I'm saying. I can land in a 50' hole in the trees at night if that helps :D
 
How did you guys get the IFR flying experience? All the entry level jobs I know of are all VFR flying (Jumpers, Traffic, Survey, 90% of CFI work)


Eh, depends where you're at but my CFI time was nowhere near 90% VFR. Gotta make it happen and get instrument students. Teaching it and watching others mess it up did great things for my skills. But hey that was just me.
 
Eh, depends where you're at but my CFI time was nowhere near 90% VFR. Gotta make it happen and get instrument students. Teaching it and watching others mess it up did great things for my skills. But hey that was just me.
After teaching instrument students and watching them make every mistake in the book you will be a better instrument pilot yourself. Also just watching them shoot approaches and visualizing where they are on the approach to make sure they don't screw up helps you in understanding the approaches better.
 
I am doing this exact thing as we speak (jump pilot in a Twin Otter to 135 charter in a Hawker). I flew for a 135 company before however, and have taken 135 IFR checkrides, so that is a little different than trying to go straight to 135 after getting your IR. It is easy to lose your IFR skills after a while of not using them, but just keep your head in the books and get any instrument time you can. I went and did an IPC a few months ago and my scan was back after 10 min or so after not being under the hood in 2 years.

I will echo what others have said though... Most jump operators flying 182s and such require at least 500 hours. You are building that time anyways... why not get the instrument rating?
 
I know of people that failed out of transition training to the BE99 because of the lack of IFR on the routes they had been flying for a while.
I'm afraid I'm losing mine here in the mountain west. Server clear always. I've shot 1 approach since may(it was a far cry from pouring a cup of coffee while flying an ils in my sleep that I used to do). The one airport, right now, that would be nice to shoot an approach into, doesn't get you low enough and has higher vis mins than VFR... so you end up going in VFR anyways.
 
As a CFII if it was overcast at 8000 feet I would file for 9000. Great for the student to get some real world experience and good for the instructor to log a little actual.
 
thanks, my main question and Pay2 hit it squarely on the head...if its all vfr work how the heck do you get ready for ifr unless there are onl two routes..sharing time and flight instructing?
 
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