Places hiring this fall?

Luke Froese

Well-Known Member
I'm a commercial ASEL/AMEL, instrument rated pilot doing aerial survey in southwest Kansas until October. Coming out of it I will have between 600-700 hours TT. I was wondering if I could get some ideas as to where to look as far as who is hiring my type of time. I'm interested in almost anywhere in the US. Thanks.
 
You definitely have some options, there are a fair share of companies that will hire at your experience level.
Question though, what sort of flying/work are you interested in?
 
I'm open to almost anything. Obviously not CFI because I'm not certified. Probably not survey either but I'm open to it if it's a good thing. I like working with people, so charter and small commuter operations appeal to me.


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You'll have to look around the sites since things are always changing but here are just a few names that I've seen over the past few months advertise. This list is not exhaustive by any means and could be out of date.

I would recommend checking out aerial survey companies, a season worth of flying and it might put you over the 1500 hr hump.
The feedback seems to be pretty positive from the individuals that have done survey, check out the following threads
Better Paying Survey Companies Hiring for the Summer
Picto Companies Hiring for 2017-2018 Season (Fresh Commercial)

Pax
Cape air 135 ops - check the link for requirements https://www.capeairpilots.com/requirements
Mokulele Airlines - not hiring SIC at the moment
Air Choice One
Star Marianas

Cargo
Ameriflight (double check the mins)
Freight Runners
Berry Aviation - hiring SIC

Skydiving
DiverDriver.com | Helping jump pilots successfully fly skydivers

Lastly, if you can make it to Oshkosh this year then go! Great way to network.
 
I ran into an Aztec pilot a few months ago that was living in Kansas and working for these guys. Verisk Analytics Job Opportunities

I'm not sure how good they are about getting back to their applicants.

I talked briefly to these guys before going to another survey company, but they made me some solid offers 3 years ago.
- Aero-Graphics, Inc | Aerial Mapping

You might be close to the minimums to fly something single engine turbine if you're interested in being a jump pilot. You might also want to check out Skydiving Employment : Dropzone.com : Skydiving Classifieds in addition to some of the other sites.
 
I ran into an Aztec pilot a few months ago that was living in Kansas and working for these guys. Verisk Analytics Job Opportunities

I'm not sure how good they are about getting back to their applicants.

I talked briefly to these guys before going to another survey company, but they made me some solid offers 3 years ago.
- Aero-Graphics, Inc | Aerial Mapping

You might be close to the minimums to fly something single engine turbine if you're interested in being a jump pilot. You might also want to check out Skydiving Employment : Dropzone.com : Skydiving Classifieds in addition to some of the other sites.

Sorry I was late seeing this but thank you! Aero-Graphics looks appealing. Do you know what kind of compensation they provide?
 
Sorry I was late seeing this but thank you! Aero-Graphics looks appealing. Do you know what kind of compensation they provide?

My information's a bit out of date so I'm not sure what it's like now. They initially offered me somewhere in the low 40s for what sounded like a 3 on/1 off, but I believe they wanted the pilots to move to Utah which I was on . They sweetened their offer a bit, but I ultimately went to Aspen over 3 years ago.

They talked about the operator and pilot getting 200 each a day to put hotel, rental car and food on, but it was a use it or lose it type deal and they had you put it all on a credit card. I think they also mentioned production bonuses and sounded pretty good to deal with on the phone and in emails.
 
Sorry I was late seeing this but thank you! Aero-Graphics looks appealing. Do you know what kind of compensation they provide?

When going to work for any survey company I'd make sure to ask them how many hours they expect you to fly a year. With some companies you may only fly 400 or so and if they expect you to be gone for more than half the time you might want to consider that compared to something like instructing where moving to a busy school you could easily build a 100 hours a month which will bring you closer to a higher paying gig sooner.

LiDAR typically flies more often than normal photo survey as you can do it any time of day and you aren't concerned with shadows like some forms of mapping are (which means the days you can acquire are rarer), plus a lot of schools are really upping their pay and there's more information out there about them than some of these mapping companies. The only survery companies I can give a personal thumbs up to are Quantum Spatial, Aspen Helicopters and Fugro as they all have treated me well.

With any new company there are always concerns about maintenance. I'd make it clear during any interview that you expect only the fly air worthy aircraft as I have been pressured at one company to overfly an AD and luckily I was smart enough to refuse to and it wasn't an option. There's no reason to ever risk your ratings.
 
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