What’s up everyone, a few updates.

We have 5 new leads and 4 hiring requirements update. I’ll dive in a little more details below but as always, let’s start with the TL;DR.

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FOUND ON FACEBOOK

TAF Aerial Services is looking for a CSEL pilot with a minimum of 500 hours in SE Texas (Houston, Beaumont, etc). It’s all pipeline work, $40 per flight hour plus a quarterly bonus. Aircraft is a Maule M7.

Reach out to Tim Fitch with your resume: [email protected]

WHAT’S CHANGED IN THE UPDATED REQUIREMENTS

Starting with Cape Air. They currently have a posting for a C408 FO job at 500TT, only open to LIFT Academy students. That’s going to be the case for most of their openings.

Ameriflight’s website advertises CFI as preferred. In today’s market, you won’t get a call without it. Since there’s a good chance if you’re reading this that you don’t have your CFI, I think you should know. Competition.

Competitive minimums is a result of supply and demand. According to a Boutique Air recruiter, 800TT is theirs for the time being.

Tradewind Aviation’s are as high as 1000TT.

It’s important to remember that, total time aside, competitive is also defined by the quality of the flying. So if you have less total experience but valuable “niche” hours (multi-engine, turbine, tailwheel…), you are still (and maybe even more so) competitive.

HOW I TYPICALLY FIND AND ASK AROUND FOR JOBS

I’ve been looking into aerial patrol a little more and I stumbled across two new companies while scrolling through people’s profiles on LinkedIn. Productive scrolling if I dare say so.

I’ll start with Reynolds Aviation. It’s one of this edition’s add and at first glance, it’s the typical air patrol gig: lower pay and quality of life, a ton of hours (over 100 a month) and of course, a one-year commitment. That’s visibly becoming the norm in that industry. But their training contract arguably is more interesting than anywhere else: $1000 if you leave early. Not bad right? They’ll take that amount from the first few paychecks and will give it back when you complete the contract. At $18-20 an hour, that might be tight if you don’t have savings to help sustain yourself.

I have been told the situation is improving. From a current employee:

« Management here realizes that it’s important for us to get rest to prevent fatigue and burnout. For the positions being advertised… a pilot can expect to fly around 4 times a week. The company has a stellar safety record and seeks to maintain that by allowing pilots to get the rest they require.

Overall… this is a great way to build time and a very exciting low time pilot job. I have so much fun flying here. »

A younger pilot out of TX should do just fine in those conditions. I know I would.

The second opportunity I found is KCSI Aerial Patrol. When I looked at their website, they were advertising 1500TT hard as their minimums.

I was perplexed, why so high? 🤔

So I hopped on LinkedIn to double-check. 🔎

I asked current employees and here’s what I found: you can get a waiver and start flying at lower hours when you get on as an observer. 😉

My point here is to illustrate how powerful networking is.

I seem to always get back to it, it is crucial. There’s a reason why CFI is the easiest entry level position to secure: you’ve already done the bulk of the networking during your training. If you did a good job, your school will most likely take you on. If you didn’t, then you now absolutely understand how important being on top of your game is in the aviation industry.

So you don’t want to teach? I say that’s fine. But do put in extra effort in your outreach to not stay unemployed for too long. I will do a lot of looking around and keep sharing what I manage to find on here.

But if you haven’t already, get on Linkedin and Facebook. Great ressources for networking. Join groups and communities and start from there. Also know that NOTHING will ever beat in-person. Go physically hand-in your resume, firmly shake some hands and put yourself out there.

FREE RESSOURCES…

🫂 - COMMUNITY SOURCED LOW TIME PILOT JOBS, our notorious list

🫵 - NETWORKING 101, if you’re new to this game