Expert: D. Norkus - 3/9/2010

Question
Like many, I had to make some difficult decisions following 9/11.  One of those decisions was on whether or not to continue pursuing a career as a professional pilot as my daughter was born three days after 9/11.

Here's my dilemma.  Like most pilots, I want to fly - hence the reason for being trained in the first place.  It's been almost nine years now and I've been in the insurance industry and while I am thankful for having something to do, it's almost like a slow death for me.  I have a Commercial and Instrument Rating and will soon begin working on my multi-engine rating.

Here are my questions:

1- What are some things that I can do to get some free flight time.
2- How do you feel about 2012 and the age 65 pilots who will be forced to retire and its impact on pilot hiring.
3- How would you rate the success and opportunities to get on as a SIC sim pilot?
4- What are some of the places I should go to meet people who might assist in locating some flying opportunities.

Thanks,

Drew

Thanks for your response.

Drew

Answer
1- What are some things that I can do to get some free flight time.
Free time is hard to come by as you surely know. Mostly it's who you know and being in the right place at the right time. Also, some 'free' opportunities require that you have a minimum amount of time just to meet insurance requirements. Another thing to consider is that as a commercial pilot, you shouldn't be flying for free. Yes, we all want time but commercial pilots that do so aren't helping the 'profession'/cheapening pilots value. If operators know that they can get a newer commercial pilot to do it for free, why should they pay? For this reason there should always be compensation involved.

2- How do you feel about 2012 and the age 65 pilots who will be forced to retire
and its impact on pilot hiring.

It will definitely impact hiring. How big the boom will be is the question. I have read anywhere from 3-10% of a pilot group per year for the years 2012-2017 will be hitting age 65. This will make room for the regional pilots to move up to a major or legacy carrier and new pilots can enter the regionals. Another factor will that will impact this hiring cycle will be HR3371 The Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act which requires an ATP certificate to fly for any passenger carrying airline. That means when hiring does begin again, First Officers (co-pilots) will be required to have a minimum of 1,500 hours total flight time to be meet hiring requirements.

3- How would you rate the success and opportunities to get on as a SIC sim
pilot?

Not good. All of the sim instructors I have met or worked with are furloughed or retired airline pilots. They right seat fill (SIC), but often left seat fill as PIC too. They are type rated on the aircraft. These are not positions that are filled by low time pilots. Of course there could be an exception, but you would probably be a friend of the person who does the hiring in that case versus a faceless resume. (Currently many sim instructors have been laid off, so competition for such jobs is fierce.) If you are really interested in such a position, contact the vendor near you (like Flight Safety, CAE, SimCom ect) that does sim training and inquire.

4- What are some of the places I should go to meet people who might assist in
locating some flying opportunities

Check around your area for flying clubs (not flight schools). You may find opportunities to share time or be a safety pilot. The trick here is that to legally log the flight time, you need to be acting as PIC. So if you are going along with another pilot one of you must be under the hood for both of you to log time on that flight.

Also try-
http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com
http://www.pilotsharetheride.com/

and http://www.uspa.org where you can find your local skydive drop zone. Since you have a commercial, you should work up a resume and try to get hired on to fly skydivers. See my page for further info- http://www.pilotcareer.info

Hope this helps,
Dottie