How did you get your hours after flight training?

sevensky

sevensky

Filing Flight Plan
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sevensky
As I get closer to finishing primary training, I was curious about what everyone here did after flight training. In order to time build to 1200 or 1500 hrs., to make it to that all-important next step in their aviation career.
 
I am not working to build hours because I am not interested in a "next step" however do most just go into being a CFI / CFII to build hours?
 
If you can't afford to fly them off on your own whether that's time or money your best bet is CFI. The next best thing would be aerial survey's. Flying skydivers is another quick time builder but those operations are starting to get picky on hours due to the high profile incidents of late. Depending on your end goals places like smaller freight companies aren't great options because they usually have training contracts that lock you in, they don't get a lot of flying hours a year for the time spent "on the job".

In the end, unless you "know somebody" don't expect to get a flying job with a fresh Com and 250 hours.
 
Your next steps after primary training for the Private Pilot certificate, no matter what might come later, would be instrument rating and commercial certificate, of which, the comm requires 250 hours total. The most "common" path is to get your CFI right after that, and build hours as a flight instructor. Pay may not be great, but at least someone else is paying for the aircraft. It's kind of a goofy system, where the youngest, newest "professional pilots" are the instructors, but the way the regs are written, that's really the first thing you can do to get paid for flying. There are a few other gigs, as mentioned, skydiver hauling, survey, banner-tow, but none as prevalent as the instructor route.
Job opportunities for very low-time pilots are rather limited. Even the small freight companies must operate under Part 135, and the minimums by FAR are 1200 hours for PIC (with IFR capability). 500 hours minimum for a VFR-only pilot under Part 135, an extremely limited category, maybe only in use by sightseeing operators such as Grand Canyon tours or such.
 
You'll probably spend a couple of years as a CFI getting your hours. Think of it as college grad school, where you get paid a subsistence wage. CFI's are in short supply, as they all leave to go to the airlines, and given the pilot shortage there is more demand for CFI's. That should lead to CFI job opportunities - but given the limiting factor of how much students can/are willing to pay for school, there won't be a lot of money for CFI's in the near future.

You could always - depending on your age and inclination - go military. They are extremely eager for pilots, because they are also loosing pilots to the airlines.

Another bit of wisdom I picked up randomly someplace. Go and get your 1st class medical, or figure out a way to remove any doubt you'll get it. You don't want to spend years getting to 1500 just to find out you can't fly for the airlines.
 
I fly PnP (Pilots'n'Paws). Started flying while still a student pilot. FAA has no rules against canine passengers. :)
Good excuse to fly and you rack up hours fast, get to fly into airports you would never think to fly into. And you gain a lot of go/no-go experience.
And of course you help save a lot of innocent pups. :)
 
Travel. Did YE, go to flyins, go to Oshkosh and the Navion convention each year. Lots of $100 crabcakes .
 
BigBadLou said:
I fly PnP (Pilots'n'Paws). Started flying while still a student pilot. FAA has no rules against canine passengers. :)
Good excuse to fly and you rack up hours fast, get to fly into airports you would never think to fly into. And you gain a lot of go/no-go experience.
And of course you help save a lot of innocent pups. :)
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Good for you for the volunteer work. But that involves you paying for all the flight time. I'm assuming the OP is trying to get hours with out paying $150/hour rental X 1500 hours (1/4 of a million dollars) or buying and flying a plane for 1500 hours (which would be what, $125k given the cost of an engine overhaul, fuel, etc. and assuming you'd sell it after flying). Oh, and not including the cost of flight instruction for the commercial, instrument, and CFI ratings. And still eating and having shelter during this period.
 
sevensky said:
As I get closer to finishing primary training, I was curious about what everyone here did after flight training. In order to time build to 1200 or 1500 hrs., to make it to that all-important next step in their aviation career.
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by the time you get through PPL and IFR you'll have at least 100 hrs..

-go to fly ins
-plan cross country trips
-plan adventures
-not sure where you live, but ski trips, snorkeling trips, hiking trips, are always good bets
-what's some place 100-500 nm from you you've never been to but want to go?

Eventually you'll be starting commercial, then you'll get your CFI, and CFII, and before you know it you'll be at 600-700 hrs

You sort of have to MAKE IT HAPPEN yourself though, there isn't a one size shoe fits all that fits this. Everyone's different. In my case there was loads of California and Arizona I hadn't seen.. many "cool" place are at least a 6 hr drive.. so the plane is a great way to visit these places
 
I’m at tree hundred hours right now, ppl / ir/ commercial. Training for CFI and actually looking forward to teaching. I love flying small planes. Around 900-1200 hrs “better” jobs become avail.
 
Mascelli is correct. Unless you want to buy an absolute money pit, just join a flying club that has what you need. You do not want to do cross country’s in a C-150/152. Get into a nice 4 place IFR cruiser that can get you places safely and without being thrown around. Club memberships are as low as $500 to join and paying actual cost to fly. Some clubs are $1500 or $5000 to join but no club is the same. Some have one plane and some have 30 to choose from. I’m leaning toward club ownership because the $5000/yr to own a plane is getting old. When you become a pro pilot then you can leave the club. You could even do a club and also work as a CFI or pipeline patroller.

Source: Former C-150 and current Mooney owner. Flying since ‘95.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
texasclouds said:
I’m at tree hundred hours right now, ppl / ir/ commercial. Training for CFI and actually looking forward to teaching. I love flying small planes. Around 900-1200 hrs “better” jobs become avail.
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I'm right there with you. About 275 hours and finishing up commercial. Looking forward to CFI and teaching.
 
+1 for the flying club. Bought into a club Cherokee 180 and flew while I re-built my first Champ (literally out of a barn...OK, corn crib!). Geez...it's a long time since '71!

Jim
 
I’m not sure of the details, or if this is done in the US, but here in Norway in summertime there are volunteers that fly around looking for forest fires. I think I heard that they fly for free, compensated for fuel, but then that would mean you had to have a commercial pilots cert? Obviously, I don’t know the details other than that it’s part of the fire safety plan here.
 
As many have alluded to.... if you want to pay for those hours, go have fun. If you want to get those hours free, and even get paid, the instructing route is your best option. Yes, there are a couple other minor options, but instructing is generally the best option.
 
I've had this discussion with up and coming pilots more than a few times over the years. Generally speaking almost everyone who tried to avoid instructing ended up coming back to it anyway.

Not to say it's impossible -- it's certainly not -- but there are not nearly as many opportunities for very low time (<500 hours) pilots out there, compared to flight instructor positions.
 
The goal is to get all those hours and not pay for them. Do the math and see what it takes to get to 1500 hours and have to pay for all of them.
 
I was a mechanic so I traded maintenance for flight time. But that only got me through the Commercial rating. Since I worked around the airport I made connections with pilots flying bigger iron willing to help me out. I stupidly took a break from aviation to go into the space sector on the mechanical side, which set my aviation career back. If I had to do it all over again I would have leveraged those connections better, as well as getting my CFI back then. I would probably be at the majors now if I had continued that route. Now I fly a piston aircraft as part of my job in aviation, but too deep into marriage and fatherhood to make a change now.

Get that CFI, and/or a job at the airport, even pumping Jet A/100LL. Work HARD and make connections. Be the best line tech out there(not hard since most these days are minimum wage idiots with no interest in aviation). People recognize smart, driven individuals. Doors will open.
 
I flew for fun as a VFR pilot as often as I could (a few flights a month?) while attending college. I couldn't afford to do anything more. Than after graduating years later earned all the extra ratings including CFI and started teaching. Some actual cross country trips during that time was good experience building. For me, the best part of building time for the next step was after that commercial/CFI ticket and working towards the ATP and the 1200 or 1500 hours. I created trips to destinations a day or two away and enjoyed the traveling. Sometimes it was a complex airplane, sometimes a twin. That was some great flying.
 
As often as this question gets asked, it almost needs a sticky!

Every low time pilot wants to get paid to become a high time pilot, but usually don't want to do the few types of flying a low time pilot is hire-able to do for the wages they will get for doing it.
 
CFII and commercial floatplane flying then wrote a 135 manual from scratch, found an owner and customer and put an air taxi service together. Had to hire a King Air pilot because I didn't have the required time or experience.
 
Those of you with 200-300 Hours commercial or CFI have endorsements but no experience.

I’m just a lonely PPL with 302 hours. But I got my ticket May 2019.
 
Jamie Kirk said:
Those of you with 200-300 Hours commercial or CFI have endorsements but no experience.

I’m just a lonely PPL with 302 hours. But I got my ticket May 2019.
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Not sure what your point is. A pilot with 300 hrs and a CFI has essentially the same experience that you do (300 hours) which really is not a lot.
 
Jamie Kirk said:
Those of you with 200-300 Hours commercial or CFI have endorsements but no experience.

I’m just a lonely PPL with 302 hours. But I got my ticket May 2019.
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There is a difference between 302 hours of experience and one hour of experience repeated 302 times.

:skeptical:
 
Got a break and got into a group down in San Antonio called the Alamo Liasion Squadron where flying vintage taildraggers was cheap... and fun.
 
Rented for awhile. Bought my own plane about 1 year thereafter and have around 360 hours. I fly PnP when able. Still fooling around with getting my instrument rating. What I really need to do is knock out the written and then pay gobs of money for a 2 week course somewhere so I will finish my IR. Since I’ve retired, I really have gotten lazy so catching an hour here and there is not working.
 
Grum.Man said:
Depending on your end goals places like smaller freight companies aren't great options because they usually have training contracts that lock you in, they don't get a lot of flying hours a year for the time spent "on the job".

In the end, unless you "know somebody" don't expect to get a flying job with a fresh Com and 250 hours.
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buh buh buh pilot shartaaaage! :D

smv said:
There is a difference between 302 hours of experience and one hour of experience repeated 302 times.

:skeptical:
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Not according to the regionals. :stirpot:
 
hindsight2020 said:
buh buh buh pilot shartaaaage! :D


Not according to the regionals. :stirpot:
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There is no shortage of pilots, only ones with with ATP minimums. The regionals only care if you have a pulse and ATP mins. Who will be hurting is the smaller operations as they are in the bad spot of needing people with 1200 hours for insurance reasons and then loosing them at 1500.
 
Depends on your goals and such. If this is just a poll I guess you got your answers. I’m a 230ish ppl working slowly on instrument. After my ppl I joined a time-share type of program. Paid for a 50 hour annual block with dirt cheap hourly rates. Not ownership though and it showed. The 172s were pretty beat up. When I joined they were showing a sharp looking 180 hp 172 but unfortunately a teenage member cratered it trying to thread the I-15 canyon between St. George and Mesquite with his kid brother aboard.

After my first year they jacked the rates so I quit flying for two years until I found a local flying club, joined and now enjoying the ride.

Other than that flying is more rewarding with missions, rather than just drilling holes locally. I flew PnP, my wife enjoys the occasional vacation flights, I’ve flown away to a ski vacation and camping in Monument Valley, etc.

But I’m in it for the long haul. Eventually would like to get my CFI and instruct for my club.
 
In a way, I think the CFI route is actually beneficial for pilots who are learning. The training is fresh in the CFI's mind as they are then taking on students. They learn from their instructors and their own mistakes and don't have as many bad habits built up.

sevensky said:
As I get closer to finishing primary training, I was curious about what everyone here did after flight training. In order to time build to 1200 or 1500 hrs., to make it to that all-important next step in their aviation career.
Click to expand...

First, you have to get to 250 hours for the commercial. That involves your instrument rating and lots of XC time that you are paying for. A lot of people I know share that time. Most folks I know do CFI after their commercial, because it is an OK living while having someone else pay for the plane. Some do sky diving or aerial survey. Banner tow usually requires tail wheel and/or a lot of time already - it is actually pretty skilled flying and they don't like their planes falling out of the air.

Others get corporate work. Some of that is Part 91 SIC work on 2 pilot jets that only require one type rated pilot. Others do stuff for private individuals. I know a guy who flies a guy in a Saratoga from Orange County to Santa Monica and back almost daily. Probably getting 2.0 a day or better for not much work and a lot of fun experience in challenging airspace.

jetedrick said:
I am not working to build hours because I am not interested in a "next step" however do most just go into being a CFI / CFII to build hours?
Click to expand...

I have no intent on being an airline pilot, but I wouldn't mind getting my CFI/I to help friends out.

Jim Carpenter said:
Your next steps after primary training for the Private Pilot certificate, no matter what might come later, would be instrument rating and commercial certificate, of which, the comm requires 250 hours total. The most "common" path is to get your CFI right after that, and build hours as a flight instructor. Pay may not be great, but at least someone else is paying for the aircraft. It's kind of a goofy system, where the youngest, newest "professional pilots" are the instructors, but the way the regs are written, that's really the first thing you can do to get paid for flying. There are a few other gigs, as mentioned, skydiver hauling, survey, banner-tow, but none as prevalent as the instructor route.
Job opportunities for very low-time pilots are rather limited. Even the small freight companies must operate under Part 135, and the minimums by FAR are 1200 hours for PIC (with IFR capability). 500 hours minimum for a VFR-only pilot under Part 135, an extremely limited category, maybe only in use by sightseeing operators such as Grand Canyon tours or such.
Click to expand...

I've known people who went to Ameriflight with a lot less than 1200 hours.
 
sevensky said:
As I get closer to finishing primary training, I was curious about what everyone here did after flight training. In order to time build to 1200 or 1500 hrs., to make it to that all-important next step in their aviation career.
Click to expand...
Flight instructing
 
sevensky said:
As I get closer to finishing primary training, I was curious about what everyone here did after flight training. In order to time build to 1200 or 1500 hrs., to make it to that all-important next step in their aviation career.
Click to expand...
Pretty simple, really. After Private, Commercial, Instrument, Multi, then CFI. I notice you're talking "career." There's no better way to learn about General Aviation than to teach. My learning was accelerated when I started teaching. Students ask some pretty tough questions sometimes and you have to give them CORRECT answers. Good luck.
 
Things were different when I was time building. I could find CFIs all day long that would instruct for free just to build hours. It was very difficult. I went the route of aircraft ownership and made trips everywhere I could find friends to share expenses. Finally found a job doing VFR island hopping to build the rest of the time.

Now to today. The career opportunity and path for young pilots is so much greater. I would avoid the skydiving, aerial survey, & the other mostly VFR jobs, because they do not build the very important IFR skills, and the airline recruiters know that. After you get your private, I recommend that you transfer to a part 141 school that is partnered with the regionals. Once you get your CFI & CFII, you will start getting paid to instruct with them, & since they have high volume of students, you will gain your hours fast. The regional airline recruiters put a high value on CFII applicants. If this opportunity was available when I was starting out, I would have jumped at it.
 
lsaway said:
Things were different when I was time building. I could find CFIs all day long that would instruct for free just to build hours. It was very difficult. I went the route of aircraft ownership and made trips everywhere I could find friends to share expenses. Finally found a job doing VFR island hopping to build the rest of the time.

Now to today. The career opportunity and path for young pilots is so much greater. I would avoid the skydiving, aerial survey, & the other mostly VFR jobs, because they do not build the very important IFR skills, and the airline recruiters know that. After you get your private, I recommend that you transfer to a part 141 school that is partnered with the regionals. Once you get your CFI & CFII, you will start getting paid to instruct with them, & since they have high volume of students, you will gain your hours fast. The regional airline recruiters put a high value on CFII applicants. If this opportunity was available when I was starting out, I would have jumped at it.
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Regional's couldn't give 2 cents where you got your time right now, just that you have a pulse and an ATP/R-ATP eligibility.
 
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