Lots of Entry Level Survey Jobs (CSEL w/ Instrument Rating to fly 172s for Pictometry)

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Yakob said:
That said, from what I have heard from pilots who are there this season, a pilot was recently let go for refusing to fly a legally unairworthy aircraft. That's an excellent reason to avoid Air America, since you could find yourself unemployed with a termination on your record if you say "No" too many times for management's liking. And that's besides the whole 1099 issue, which is enough reason to avoid AA anyway.
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That's really surprising at AA and I'd love to hear from that pilot as I can only think of one pilot that got fired when I was at AA and he had several warnings from management. That said they did go after him for the contract after they fired him and refused to buy him a ticket home. I wonder if they went after the guy this season for anything. We had one guy look for every excuse available not to fly even when everyone else was the last month or two of the season and I'm almost certain that they still asked him back the following season.
 
Supposedly there was yet another Aztec engine failure at Air America today. Luckily it just seems to be happening to their twins, but I believe this is their third engine failure this season and it's not even two months in. I don't know how they can get away with forcing their pilots to pay to quit when their maintenance record has become so shoddy.
 
Hey guys, i recently went through Air Americas phone interview, said every answer was good and i should be expecting a call soon for written, oral and flight test. Havent heard from them since the phone interview though which was almost 3 weeks ago, wondering how long that generally takes (phone interview to in person session)? Or should i consider the possibility that they hired everyone needed already?
 
Selfmade92 said:
Hey guys, i recently went through Air Americas phone interview, said every answer was good and i should be expecting a call soon for written, oral and flight test. Havent heard from them since the phone interview though which was almost 3 weeks ago, wondering how long that generally takes (phone interview to in person session)? Or should i consider the possibility that they hired everyone needed already?
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I think it was about a fortnight after the phone interview that I got a call for the formal interview when I was hired, maybe 3 weeks. Of course that was 3 ears ago so they may do things differently now. I wouldn't worry too much, although I suppose it's possible they may not need as many pilots as they originally expected. I know they often hire around mid-may when the regular season contracts expire, and when I was hired it seemed like some other pilots who were hired at the same time got the call to interview at very short notice. So chances are you may hear something in the next few weeks.
 
Selfmade92 said:
Hey guys, i recently went through Air Americas phone interview, said every answer was good and i should be expecting a call soon for written, oral and flight test. Havent heard from them since the phone interview though which was almost 3 weeks ago, wondering how long that generally takes (phone interview to in person session)? Or should i consider the possibility that they hired everyone needed already?
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....assuming you read the thread here about air America, you still want to work there?
 
daydreamer said:
....assuming you read the thread here about air America, you still want to work there?
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Yes, @Selfmade92 , I probably should have reiterated my advice to avoid Air America. I still stand by my criticism of AAFC on this board, and I would not recommend working there unless you are absolutely desperate. I would recommend applying to their competitors where you would be a W-2 employee rather than a contractor.
 
Quite desperate. No money for CFI at the moment, only lead I have so far for a prospective job. And yes, i've read everything.

Thanks for the input guys! Appreciate it!
 
Selfmade92 said:
Quite desperate. No money for CFI at the moment, only lead I have so far for a prospective job. And yes, i've read everything.

Thanks for the input guys! Appreciate it!
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There are lots of outfits any more that will pay for your CFI in return for working for them for so long and I'd wager there's at least a dozen schools out there that will. Boutique Air is hiring according to their website https://www.boutiqueair.com/pages/jobs?gh_jid=165058 and you can also keep an eye out for Southern Airways and Air Choice One as they've both hired quite a few fresh commercial pilots in the past.

Air Cargo Carriers hires FOs with fresh commercials sometimes and they rarely advertise for FO positions online so you might want to just contact them to see if they're hiring. There's a pilot or two on this board who might be able to forward your resume off to the CP. I think the pays around 36k if you include the per diem first year.

You can also find some 182 and maybe even 206 jump pilot jobs. Many places up north are or will soon be hiring pilots and a lot of drop zones have cheap housing or housing included. www.dropzone.com is an ok place to start, but there are many jobs that never get listed. http://www.dropzone.com/classifieds/Employment/

I'm not sure if they're still hiring, but you can always hit up OzzieCat https://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/northwest-indiana-aerial-survey-low-time.247100/ and this also got posted recently https://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/chase-pilots-needed-southern-california.249193/#post-2676001

The bad things about working for Air America in the summer is that the work and flight time is far from guaranteed. They do a lot of hurricane standby and have pilots live in Daytona Beach just sitting around unless there's enough work to keep them actively flying. New hires during the spring typically sign a different contract and hurricane standby in DAB can be pretty rough pay wise unless things have changed for this year. I wouldn't fret too much if they haven't gotten back to you yet. I'm not sure how long the contracts the 172 pilots signed this year, but in previous years a lot of guys took the summer off when their contract ended in mid to late May. I imagine they're still waiting to see what work will materialize this summer season and how many pilots might be willing to stick around for the summer, but who knows. Air America was recently in the news for an Aztec that had to land gear up in DAB and I've heard some troublesome things from the pilots on the Aztecs this year.

Anyway work the phones with flight schools, email companies you've heard have hired fresh commercial pilots in the past, drive out to drop zones and more if you're that desperate.
 
Will do! Heard Flight Safety Academy sponsors CFI/CFI-I/MEI but requirements state Multi Engine Rating which I do not have at the moment. So I'll call them soon, also any flight school in the area to see. I don't mind instructing for a year or two. Received the thanks, but not hanks from Boutique already, what a bummer. Contacted Hageland a few months ago, but haven't heard anything from that company. Skydiving options in Orlando seem to be non existent sadly, maybe 2 hours out, I'll see one of these days.

Thanks srn121!
 
Selfmade92 said:
Will do! Heard Flight Safety Academy sponsors CFI/CFI-I/MEI but requirements state Multi Engine Rating which I do not have at the moment. So I'll call them soon, also any flight school in the area to see. I don't mind instructing for a year or two. Received the thanks, but not hanks from Boutique already, what a bummer. Contacted Hageland a few months ago, but haven't heard anything from that company. Skydiving options in Orlando seem to be non existent sadly, maybe 2 hours out, I'll see one of these days.

Thanks srn121!
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If you're based in Orlando hurricane standby with Air America wouldn't be the worst. The big concerns I've heard from pilots are the no compete clauses and contract length and terms at Air America. They have gone after their mapping pilots for damage to the planes and have withheld pay up to five thousand dollars I believe. They also have asked for a big pay out if you want out before you contract ends.

Orlando and the surrounding areas are very tough to find jump pilot jobs with your time at, but there are drop zones all over the country that are hiring. Some have trailers or apartments you could live at and in the fall you could go into mapping. Just do your homework and find a good one.

I know in other parts of Florida they'll pay for your CFI. I had a kid I went to college with who got his paid for by a school out of Opa Locka (supposedly without a contract and that was a few years back) and I'm pretty sure a friend or two had some help years ago out of Fort Pierce. A lot of places are hard up for CFIs so if you've heard good things about a flight school or like the location pick up the phone and give them a call.

Fly By Knight which is the sister company of Skylens might be offering some help in getting your CFI and at some point the opportunity to migrate to mapping. Hammond's very affordable and you're not far from New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
https://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/skylens-fly-by-knight.226195/#post-2494749
 
Air America told me upfront of the no compete clause which I do not care about, nor the contract length of 1 year if I'd start in may/june.

I'm not opposed to moving a cross the country to get a job as a skydiving pilot (nor is my girlfriend whom i'm very grateful of supporting me for all my endeavors in aviation), it just would have to pay at least $2,000/month to pay my rent/utilities in orlando and food in where ever i live.

Will check out Fly By Knight!

Man SM121, if I ever see you, i owe you a beer...probably more like a keg.
 
Selfmade92 said:
I'm not opposed to moving a cross the country to get a job as a skydiving pilot (nor is my girlfriend whom i'm very grateful of supporting me for all my endeavors in aviation), it just would have to pay at least $2,000/month to pay my rent/utilities in orlando and food in where ever i live.
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That's probably the best reason not to work for a Picto vendor. You'll be gone at least 7 months of that year long contract and if your girl comes first and your relationship has some difficulties you'll have a hefty buy out at AA. As tough as instructing might be at least you could come home to your girl nightly.

Aviation's all about paying it forward. You owe me nothing, you owe yourself some hard work, research and communication with your girl to figure out what makes the best sense for you both. The worst thing you can do is rush this decision without thinking about it long and hard. You've got a lot more options than you realize for time building jobs and you can always just get a job that pays well and get back into flying months or a year down the road. All of the vendors will be hiring in August/September for the picto season. If you get hired on by AA you could finish 4 months with less than a 100 hours as a standby pilot, but you'd also be limiting yourself to other jobs and opportunities thanks to their contract and standby pay wasn't much at all in previous years.

I remember a flight school in New Smyrna used to advertise that they'd pay for your CFI rating as well. Did you get your ratings from DPEs in the Orlando area? If so I'd call up or email each one and see if maybe they could recommend a flight school that could help as you'd be sending them students so they have an incentive to help you and they're often at flight schools so they probably know an incredible amount of gossip.

You have a ton of opportunities and potential if you're willing to work towards realizing it. Don't sell yourself short by only applying to a few places. If you do apply and you're not getting responses are you writing a good enough cover letter? Could you clean up your resume a bit? There's so many things we can all improve on and that I wish I knew when I was younger.
 
A lot has been said about AA and I've talked some of that • personally but it wasn't the worst job in the world. Hurricane standby is a choice, you I don't have to sign up for it just like flying the Aztec, I had my multi time so I never got stuck in one. Also don't take a slot as the computer operator in a LIDAR plane. You sit in the plane not flying but working the computer.

Why you should take the job is the decent pay, yes you're 1099 but if you hold 25% out of every check you'll be fine. You'll get a lot of flying in, AA is allowed to fly at night and IFR assuming your AI is working. If you're smart about housing and rental cars you'll pocket a lot of money as well.

Alternatively look up Aperture, you didn't hear this from me but that's Google's own survey company. They work a few weeks on then back off and airline you on their dime.
 
LjtheFA said:
Alternatively look up Aperture, you didn't hear this from me but that's Google's own survey company. They work a few weeks on then back off and airline you on their dime.
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Their mins used to be 500TT. Their sister company AAK had their contract terminated by Alphabet and word is Aperture might be in the same boat when their contracts up.
 
LjtheFA said:
A lot has been said about AA and I've talked some of that personally but it wasn't the worst job in the world. Hurricane standby is a choice, you I don't have to sign up for it just like flying the Aztec, I had my multi time so I never got stuck in one. Also don't take a slot as the computer operator in a LIDAR plane. You sit in the plane not flying but working the computer.

Why you should take the job is the decent pay, yes you're 1099 but if you hold 25% out of every check you'll be fine. You'll get a lot of flying in, AA is allowed to fly at night and IFR assuming your AI is working. If you're smart about housing and rental cars you'll pocket a lot of money as well.

Alternatively look up Aperture, you didn't hear this from me but that's Google's own survey company. They work a few weeks on then back off and airline you on their dime.
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The issue with being a contractor isn't just taxes, it's the liability if you're in an accident or incident with their aircraft.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
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