Professional Pilots on MooneySpace

[Seth]

I'm curious how many of us on MooneySpace earn some funds flying professionally (or used to). 

I fly for  135 charter group out of GAI and also fly organ transplant flights for the same group. Sometime we flying for the owners of the leaseback airraft in a Part 91 capacity. I've also ferried a few aircraft for individual owners.

If you answer yes, what airline do you fly for, what airlines did you previously fly for, 121? 135? Part 91? Corporate? What aviation paid pilot jobs have you served?

Thanks!

 

-Seth

 

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Seth

[Hank]

I do not fly as my profession, but I do my best to fly professionally. "Hope" has no part of a flight plan, whether it's filed or not. I do try to not scare my passengers . . . .

[Vance Harral]

I notice you listed CFI as one of your professional flying categories.  It's an interesting thing to talk about.

I answered "no" to the pro flying question, though I do earn a few dollars from flight instruction on the side.  It's not my day job, and I'm not as good at it as those who practice more-or-less full time.  But I do work hard to be professional about it, and I've given enough instruction to feel like I know the lay of the land...

... and the lay of the land is that - just like the regulations say - flight instruction is a teaching job, not a flying job.  I spend far more instructional time outside aircraft than I do inside, and much of that doesn't involve the student at all: it's lesson planning, progress tracking, etc.  When I'm actually flying with a student, I hardly ever touch the controls.  Indeed, I feel a bit guilty any time I do, because that's time the student isn't learning motor skills.

The point of saying so is that you may find your poll slightly skewed/flawed by the CFI option.  Not a big deal, but I can't help commenting every time this sort of thing comes up.  If you love teaching, being a CFI is a cool way to do that.  I love helping people gain knowledge, accomplish big goals, boost confidence, and all the other stuff that comes with the best of teaching.  I also love being in the air, and what I call the "human servo challenge" of coaching students through maneuvers, flight deck programming, and decision making.  But it's not a flying job.  It has more in common with being a college prof than being an airline/charter/business/banner/jump pilot, and that's an important thing to understand for those contemplating ways to earn income in aviation.

[Skates97]

48 minutes ago, Hank said:

I do not fly as my profession, but I do my best to fly professionally. "Hope" has no part of a flight plan, whether it's filed or not. I do try to not scare my passengers . . . .

I second what Hank said, I always want my flights to be as boring and uneventful as possible.

As for getting paid to fly, it would be too much of a pay cut and then I couldn't afford to fly my own plane. 

[N201MKTurbo]

So, I don't fly for a living but occasionally move airplanes around for compensation. There is nothing to check for that. It seems like every time I have an opportunity to fly professionally it would involve a serious cut in pay. Now that retirement is on the horizon and i don't care what I make, I'm too old to fly for the big guys. I could be a first officer for ever, somebody has to get the captain his weather and coffee...

[RLCarter]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

I do not fly as my profession, but I do my best to fly professionally. 

Right answer 

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

You need another category:  Military.

[R Van Dyck]

Seth:

I have flown all professionally in Helicopters since leaving the US Army in 1999. I got into FW and purchased my M20C in 2017.

1989-1999 US Army

1999 Papillion Grand Canyon - Seasonal Tours Part 135/141 (We had a scheduled flight down to Havasupi Res)

1999-2000 Industrial Helicopters - Offshore Oil Field work Part 135

2000-2005 Timberland Logging - Utility Helicopter Chief Pilot Part 135/133

2005-2016 Erickson Air Crane Part 91/133/137

2016-Present Los Angeles County Fire Dept Air Ops Part 91/133/137

Fly Smart....

Ryan

[steingar]

I can be described by the most dangerous combination of words in the English language: amateur pilot.

[Raptor05121]

Amateur pilot here. I stole the turbine and bought the getup from a Sportys catalog to pickup chicks

[N201MKTurbo]

57 minutes ago, R Van Dyck said:

Seth:

I have flown all professionally in Helicopters since leaving the US Army in 1999. I got into FW and purchased my M20C in 2017.

1989-1999 US Army

1999 Papillion Grand Canyon - Seasonal Tours Part 135/141 (We had a scheduled flight down to Havasupi Res)

1999-2000 Industrial Helicopters - Offshore Oil Field work Part 135

2000-2005 Timberland Logging - Utility Helicopter Chief Pilot Part 135/133

2005-2016 Erickson Air Crane Part 91/133/137

2016-Present Los Angeles County Fire Dept Air Ops Part 91/133/137

Fly Smart....

Ryan

You worked for Papillon in 99, I wrote the software for your multilingual narration system. I still have one in my closet.

[R Van Dyck]

5 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You worked for Papillon in 99, I wrote the software for your multilingual narration system. I still have one in my closet.

We had the old cassette tapes in most of the birds. They had just started putting in the CD player's what a treat!!! I still have my old cassettes...why I don't know

[whiskytango]

4 hours ago, Hank said:

I do not fly as my profession, but I do my best to fly professionally. "Hope" has no part of a flight plan, whether it's filed or not. I do try to not scare my passengers . . . .

^^^^^^^ This.

A friend told me that he attended an aviation event where Brig. General Chuck Yeager was the speaker.  At the beginning of his talk General Yeager asked for a show of hands - "How many of you are professional pilots?".  A few hands went up.  The General proceeded to let the audience know that EVERYONE should fly professionally, whether they are paid to fly or not.

[ilovecornfields]

3 hours ago, R Van Dyck said:

Seth:

I have flown all professionally in Helicopters since leaving the US Army in 1999. I got into FW and purchased my M20C in 2017.

1989-1999 US Army

1999 Papillion Grand Canyon - Seasonal Tours Part 135/141 (We had a scheduled flight down to Havasupi Res)

1999-2000 Industrial Helicopters - Offshore Oil Field work Part 135

2000-2005 Timberland Logging - Utility Helicopter Chief Pilot Part 135/133

2005-2016 Erickson Air Crane Part 91/133/137

2016-Present Los Angeles County Fire Dept Air Ops Part 91/133/137

Fly Smart....

Ryan

Are you based out of Whiteman? I did a 2 week “Helicopter EMS” elective with LA County Fire and it was the best 2 weeks of residency. Flew up the coast by Malibu every day and napped at the fire station up there. Landed on a baseball field on Catalina Island to pick up a guy with chest pain and did a winch rescue for a guy that fell off a cliff (my coolest aviation experience ever). You have my dream job.

I remember for the winch rescue they said that they normally don’t have passengers for that but there was nowhere to put me so they just said to leave my seatbelt on and don’t move or touch anything. I’d just seen a Deadliest Catch episode where they did that so I couldn’t believe I was doing it in real life. 

[kpaul]

2000-2020 - United States Air Force  

Flew: T-6AII, TC-12(BE-200), C-130E, C-130H3, MQ-1A, MQ-9A, U-28A(PC-12/45), T-1A(BE-400)

Current - Life Flight Network (Part 135)

PC-12NG/47E (Single Pilot)

[M016576]

2001-2011 US Navy

2011-Current USAF / ANG

T-34C, T-2C, T-45C, F/A-18 A/B/C/D/E/F, F-15C, F-35A.. back to F-15C now.

[Seth]

10 hours ago, AH-1 Cobra Pilot said:

You need another category:  Military.

Added and I feel terrible I didn't add it to begin with.

[Seth]

11 hours ago, Vance Harral said:

I notice you listed CFI as one of your professional flying categories.  It's an interesting thing to talk about.

I answered "no" to the pro flying question, though I do earn a few dollars from flight instruction on the side.  It's not my day job, and I'm not as good at it as those who practice more-or-less full time.  But I do work hard to be professional about it, and I've given enough instruction to feel like I know the lay of the land...

... and the lay of the land is that - just like the regulations say - flight instruction is a teaching job, not a flying job.  I spend far more instructional time outside aircraft than I do inside, and much of that doesn't involve the student at all: it's lesson planning, progress tracking, etc.  When I'm actually flying with a student, I hardly ever touch the controls.  Indeed, I feel a bit guilty any time I do, because that's time the student isn't learning motor skills.

The point of saying so is that you may find your poll slightly skewed/flawed by the CFI option.  Not a big deal, but I can't help commenting every time this sort of thing comes up.  If you love teaching, being a CFI is a cool way to do that.  I love helping people gain knowledge, accomplish big goals, boost confidence, and all the other stuff that comes with the best of teaching.  I also love being in the air, and what I call the "human servo challenge" of coaching students through maneuvers, flight deck programming, and decision making.  But it's not a flying job.  It has more in common with being a college prof than being an airline/charter/business/banner/jump pilot, and that's an important thing to understand for those contemplating ways to earn income in aviation.

CFI answer slightly changed - good points.

[J0nathan225]

Army Blackhawk pilot trying to cross to part 121 world soon. I interview with Endeavor in 2 weeks!  Also looking to cross into AF reserve/NG when I leave AD Army, if anyone can help with that?

I'm currently the commander for all Initial Entry Rotor Wing (IERW) training for the UH-60M (Blackhawk with glass cockpit), which when typing or thinking about is pretty surreal. 

[carusoam]

For some reason I feel it necessary to write….
 

I’m a Private pilot only…   no longer have a day job…

Best regards,

-a-

[donkaye, MCFI]

If someone told me I'd be a flight instructor for nearly ⅓ of my life when I graduated college with a BSEE, I'd have told them they were crazy.  But that is exactly what has happened.  Flying never gets boring when teaching.  Each person is different.  Each flight is different.  I've had many experiences I would never have had doing something else.  When doing transition training, I do a fair amount of demonstrations in order to transfer my experience into the student's head as quickly as possible.  I do a fair amount of critiquing in the beginning.  By the end I shouldn't have to say a thing.

Specializing in Mooneys, owning one, and loving, buying, and mastering all the latest in avionics has been critical to my success as a flight instructor.  I value my time, and with 29 years experience of flying Mooneys and over 27 years teaching in them, I feel I have more to offer than most flight instructors.  I've always been goal oriented, so when the Master Flight Instructor Program was started at both NAFI and SAFE, I went for it with both organizations--10 times so far.  Because I specialize in Mooneys, I have never wanted for students, and I think most have had both a good time and enjoyed their training, although I'm a pretty tough task master.  A side benefit of being a flight instructor has been that costs of my personal flying including my airplane have been covered.

[Hank]

5 hours ago, carusoam said:

For some reason I feel it necessary to write….
 

I’m a Private pilot only…   no longer have a day job…

Best regards,

-a-

My hero! Retired, with a Standing O as his steed . . . .  

[GeeBee]

I did not answer because I am retired. I have also done all the jobs listed, not just one of them.

 

[A64Pilot]

You still forgot one, Test Pilot

Although Retired now, so I only fly for fun.

For the Rucker guy wanting to go from Blackhawks to a part 121, I don’t know how you would do that, are there Rotary wing 121 ops?

I would think you would step over and become a DAC IP, as I’m sure your a Military IP, just may not have done much teaching?

[Raptor05121]

12 hours ago, M016576 said:

2001-2011 US Navy

2011-Current USAF / ANG

T-34C, T-2C, T-45C, F/A-18 A/B/C/D/E/F, F-15C, F-35A.. back to F-15C now.

No F-16? Booo