Sunday Deep-dive! 🤿

Remember Aperture Aviation, a.k.a the best low time survey pilot job? Well, this is Meisinger Aviation, their sister company. A little more lenient on the minimum requirements, no less of a great operation to work for.

When will they be hiring? I can’t predict an exact timeframe, can I? But I’d assume summer. You could try and get in touch with them here (link).

Before we dive in, quick question: do you listen to podcasts?

Even if you usually don’t, this one might be worth a try because this week, they’re talking about you and me, low time pilots.

Aviation News Talk consistently ranks #1 or #2 in the U.S, I’m sure you’ll find value in their podcast.

I figured some of you guys might prefer listening over reading. Could be a nice change of pace. Alright, let’s dive in!

POSTED MINIMUMS, what we know

WORDS FROM A FORMER PILOT

I'll preface this by saying that I am the first person in my family to pursue aviation, and paid for all my training and ratings by myself through work, scholarships, and loans. I say this to make a point that it's not just a rich daddy's money game. 

I got my PPL in August of 2018 from a small ma’ and pa’ Part 61 program, which allowed me to pay as I went and what I could afford. I then went the 141 route to the University of North Dakota. I got my degree in Unmanned Aircraft Systems which involved a lot of the survey techniques I later used, but airmed towards UAS applications. My freshman year, I was a walk-on to the Air Force Reserve Officer program and was fortunate to have my effort rewarded with 1 of 3 scholarships offered to my class. During college, I got my instrument and SEL commercial ratings. Due to some changes forced by the FAA, UND's TCO changed midway through my program and I ended up not getting any ratings because I didn't finish my MEL (not required for my degree and the money was too much). During my 3rd year, some friends and I started a flying club together and purchased a 1976 Cessna 150M, then got it certified for IFR flights. For 2 years we flew the wings off that little plane and all got to about 300-500 hours before graduating. I also finished out my IFR and Commercial Part 61 in that plane. I'll include my logbook stats at the end of this. I graduated in May of 2023 and started working at Meisinger in June of 2023. Posted requirements were 450 total, 300 fixed wing, 200PIC with Commercial MEL and IFR. 

Detailed breakdown of my flight experience when hired: CSEL PSES IFR TW, 508TT 322PIC 231XC, 35 Actual, 50 Simulated, 55 Night, 120 G1000, 9 High Performance, 0 multi, 0 dual given.

My future? I mentioned that I did Air Force ROTC, which is how I got involved in the Air Force. I joined to try it out and stay 'fit' in college. I fell in love with the program, people, and opportunities. Because of my scholarship, I would be required to spend 4 years post-graduation Active Duty, not guaranteed to fly. I had to get LASIK to be able to pass medical standards to fly and as well as pass the Rated Boards to be awarded a Pilot Slot, which I was. The way the Air Force usually handled new officers is that you'd commission into the reserves and then stay inactive until your pilot training date, which was running about a year from graduation. This was my driving force behind getting my hours to get a flying gig in the meantime, because who wants to sit in a boring office all day. The Air Force had other plans for me and I only spent about 6 months in the reserves before being sent to NM and then MS. I am about to begin an accelerated Undergraduate Pilot Training program for the Air Force and am look forward to going faster and higher. 

We worked 8/6, Wednesday to Wednesday. Days were not particularly early, usually breakfast and brief around 0800 then head to the airport. Sun angle and clouds drove our schedule, northern summer flying the sun angle was about 0830 to 1630. We flew the C206 with G1000, not turbo. You were responsible for numerous forms and documentation, along with basic camera troubleshooting as the pilot. We flew in crews of 2 pilots, one would do radios/ATC Coord and one would fly the lines. ATC coordination would be anything from just doing VFR flight following to filing multiple pages of documentation with Washington DC ATC and homeland security. On the road, you were paired with a pilot for the entire rotation, usually another 20-something time builder. We would typically do hotel breakfast or breakfast bars/FBO snacks, then bring lots of snacks up in the air to stay fueled. We would usually try to sample the local food depending on where we were. Beer cheese pretzels in Wisconsin, crab in Baltimore, BBQ in North Carolina. We would usually stay in Marriott or Hilton depending on which point program the crew was part of. I also had a personal goal of doing steak one night and Italian one night a rotation, usually after long days. Some days we wouldn't fly because the clouds were below our survey ceiling, other days it was severe clear and you'd fly the entire sun angle. I averaged about 20-25 hours a week, one week I got 15, one week I got 40, luck of the draw. On the road, you were expected to be on call and flying if the weather was cooperative, which wasn't too hard because we all want hours. Even if it was iffy, we'd go up and scout it out and try and get as much done as we could. On your 6 days off you are pretty much free to do whatever you want, I usually traveled to spent time with family. If you were local to home base you may be asked to ferry a plane or do a MX flight but I never did. Overall the schedule was very manageable when on the road, I usually had plenty of time to go the gym or watch Netflix.

The thing I appreciated most about the work was getting to see different areas of the US. We would go any place East of the rockies and no place was the same. Going to different FBOs and planning long XCs on short notice was an extremely valuable experience to have. The best rotation for me was my Wisconsin rotation, which was the Wednesday before EAA Airventure until the midweek Wednesday of Oshkosh. I got to see the Mooney massing in Madison (picture below) and the Bonanzas in La Crosse, along with integrating with all the mass of traffic that affects the entire region. Smoke and haze meant that we were on the ground for 2 days and we got to hang out with a bunch of the pilots who stopped in Madison for fuel, including the only flying Super Constellation and several Youtube vloggers. Because we had the evening off we got to attend the Rock the Ramp pre-party as well and get a mini airshow. 

As for the company itself, I was really impressed with the safety culture, it was extremely refreshing to find that any horror stories of sketchy operations didn't apply. They have an in house maintenance team that is some of the best. They have a safety office and a very robust SMS plan and an anonymous ASAP program. Management never pushed us to fly and the one time I reported engine roughness in flight I got a call from our chief pilot and safety manager to talk through what can be done to fix the airplane and improve operations. Nothing but praise for the management team there. They have some other operations besides the SEL survey, you can get into sales and flying King Airs with them as well if that's something you desire. 

let’s go over the numbers real quick…

The 8 on/6 off schedule was with no holidays. If you wanted off during your week you could work 2 rotations back to back and get 2 weeks off but that was case by case due to large life events. Pay was $50k salaried, no flex for overtime but also you got paid regardless of weather. Per diem was enough that if you avoided the black tie restaurants you didn't have to worry much. There was no training agreement, but you are a contract employee and they can terminate your contract at any time for any reason. You start getting paid as soon as you show up for training. There is no relocation assistance or housing provided. You can expect to get about 40-50 hours a month during the summer and maybe 30-40 during the winter but that is incredibly weather and location dependent. 

advice for anyone wanting to apply

Put some time into your resume, bad looking resumes are immediately thrown out. Don't just treat your job application as a fire and forget. They prefer email only communication to start with, because they'd be so flooded with phone calls otherwise. I have heard of some flex in the minimums but that is insurance driven and decided at a higher level, and for the right candidate. I would recommend highlighting any experience with mountain flying, IFR flying, safety management systems, and advanced avionics such as G1000. 

to wrap it up…

Hit all the major stuff. I'd like to hit again on the operation being run by the best management. They really care about mentoring and building their pilots. Even though they realize it's a building block, the chiefs and leads really care to make you better. 

Best story that isn't Oshkosh-related was working in and around Washington DC. We had a few plots that were about 5 miles south of Dulles and were right in the approach path and ATC was super accommodating. So we spent the entire morning having large jets vectored right below us, even an A380 from British Airways. Eventually we had to get put in timeout and do some VOR holding in real life so they could get the lunch rush in, then they let us come right back and finish out lines. Outstanding controllers and it was an awesome flight to be watching these big airplanes go beneath us.

That’s it for today. 🫡

As always, if you’d like to come forward and do a deep dive of your own, do not hesitate to reach out.

Thanks for tuning in, until next time.