ProStar Flight Services (DEEP DIVE)

“… Pay is on par or better than their competitors and I think they have the best maintenance, safety, management, and opportunities to build time.”
— a ProStar pilot

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

If you’re not a premium subscriber, it’s been a while since you’ve seen me in your inbox! Today, let’s dive in on an aerial survey company currently hiring. This Deep Dive has been approved by the boss, big thanks to her and to James, who will be sharing his experience there.

It may be longer than usual, but definitely worth the read.

“I started working at ProStar Flight Services in November 2024 as a Piper Aztec pilot. I had 618 total hours, 47 multi, 15 in an Aztec, and 181 solo at the time I applied. I didn't have a traditional referral, but a time-building friend got a job offer before me and she recommended for them to check out my resume. I had no previous pilot employment experience, but I had owned my own business. I come from an engineering and automotive background and my technical knowledge probably helped me a little despite not having an A&P. I just passed 1500 hours and the end goal is to end up at a 121 operation. With that said, hiring has slowed down at that level so I may do another season of survey work until it picks up again. I’ll miss that airline pay, but I’m not upset at all about going back to survey work.

About the job.

I've worked a lot of jobs including running my own business. Survey pilot is the most rewarding job that I've ever done. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of time away from home. It's completely worth it to get to fly at every opportunity and get to see the country in such a unique way. You literally don't know where you will be the next day. Seriously, it happens all the time where you get a call halfway through the day where you're told to pack your stuff, check out of the hotel and plan a flight 3 states away over mountains, over the Grand Canyon, across generally beautiful landscapes to some place you've never heard of or a major city that you've never visited. It's the best way to explore and you're getting paid.

They fly Cessna 182s and Piper Aztecs. I flew an Aztec so I can speak better to that. It’s all VFR flying on the western side of the country. As someone who had only flown east of Texas before this job, that was an all new experience for me that I loved. I got really good at landing in high winds and flying over huge mountains. You’ll get a few night hours ferrying the plane from one base to another, but not a lot. I’m told the 182 guys' equipment allowed them to get some IFR on ferry flights. You’ll also get tons of cross country and solo time. This job will hone your stick and rudder skills.

Now a day in the life.

Everything in aerial survey revolves around the sun window. Projects are assigned a sun angle (usually 25 degrees) and all survey work must be done within that window. That means that you can have some fairly short days and some very long days depending on where you are and what time of year it is. Your typical day starts the night before. Look up the sun window times for the next day and take a cursory look at the weather to do a little flight planning. You'll be waking up several hours before the sun window begins. Check the weather again. You can't fly IFR or in rainy/ wet conditions. The survey equipment really doesn't like getting wet. You also can't work over an area with clouds between you and the ground. They don't need pictures of clouds. If everything looks good, call the FBO and tell them to pull the plane out of the hangar. If you're going to be working in Bravo, Charlie or Restricted airspaces, you'll need to call the controlling agency and coordinate a flight plan. You will likely have already been communicating with them, so they’ll have an idea of what’s going on before you call. Once you get to the airport, perform a fairly standard preflight and you have to thoroughly clean the camera lenses. Dirty lenses make for bad pictures.

You'll need to have planned to take off with enough time to reach the survey area basically as the capture window begins. The actual flying is all stick and rudder. No autopilot on these planes and I've been told that the autopilot often isn't accurate enough anyways. You're basically flying a level ILS approach all day. They really like for you to stay within a 50' up or down tolerance and a 0.05 miles left to right. You will get very, very good at holding the plane straight and level. You have to load your flight plan into the survey equipment, but you really don't interact with it all that much after that. It does its thing more or less on its own. Occasionally you'll get a fault error and you will have to troubleshoot it a bit, but that usually just a matter of turning it off and then back on again. The lines themselves vary in length from about 2 miles long all the way up to about 40 miles. Projects also vary in size. Some can take an hour or two and some may take several days or even weeks. You'll need to take accurate notes while flying for your paperwork later.

Ideally you only stop doing the survey work to get fuel or because the capture window has ended. Up north during the winter, the window may only be about 3.5 hours long, but during the summer down in Texas you may have a window well over 10 hours long. It can be a lot of flying. At the end of the day, you head back to your base airport and then the real work starts. You have to remove the memory drives from the survey equipment and they get shipped off after every day of survey work to get processed. There is some paperwork that has to be sent off with the memory drives that takes a little time. The plane gets inspected, cameras cleaned again, wipe down the plane, get the fuel topped off for the next day, and watch the plane go into the hangar. Then you can start your logs. You'll have to submit flight logs every day regardless of whether or not you do any survey work or not. These take about an hour to do properly and your notes from the day will help with these a lot. The better your notes, the quicker and more detailed your logs can be. You'll also have to submit all your receipts from the day which can take a little time. Then check the sun window and weather for the next day and it all starts again.

There are two different types of bad weather days. The first is a MAYBE day. Maybe the weather will let you fly, but you're not sure. These are the most aggravating. Your day starts exactly the same all the way up until when you would be starting the plane. At that point if the weather won't let you go, you find a comfy spot in the FBO and check the weather every 5 minutes until it clears or you're 100% sure you won't be able to fly that day or the sun window closes. The other type is a definite NO FLY day. You get these when there is a major storm cell overhead and there is no chance you'll be able to fly. You'll still need to go to the airport, make sure the FBO knows not to pull your plane out of the hangar because again, wet is bad. Still do your preflight and wipe down the cameras, even if you know that you're probably not gonna be flying. These are great days to give the plane a really good wipe down in the hangar. ProStar keeps their planes in great mechanical condition and they expect us to keep them in great cosmetic condition. Once you're through with the plane, you can explore where the area you’re based a little bit. You can't go too far because if the weather improves against all odds, you have to get back to the airport quickly. I personally love going on hikes.

An important thing to be considered that often gets overlooked is that you NEED to be comfortable flying solo. A lot of pilots get 10-15 hours solo in their training and then that's it. You are going to be flying by yourself A LOT and it takes a certain amount of willpower to do that responsibly. The buck stops with you. You're not going to get any second opinion. Also, your brain will play tricks on you after you've been sitting by yourself in a plane for 7 hours straight. Every little noise and vibration makes you second guess if it's been doing that the whole time or is that a developing problem? All at once, you'll be flying, running checklist, navigating, managing survey equipment, talking to ATC, looking for traffic, looking for terrain, monitoring gauges and don't forget to fly the damn plane! If you're unfortunate enough to have a mechanical issue, you have to know your flows on reflex because you are the only resource you have to rely on. If you have a moment of panic, no one is coming to help and you may not get a second chance. At ProStar mechanical issues are a rare thing. As I've already mentioned, their maintenance is an absolute top priority and it shows. But make sure you're a confident pilot that knows how to keep your head and doesn't mind time alone.

The job requires a large amount of autonomy and that includes where you choose to base. You'll be sent a project that includes a GPS file so you'll know what area you'll need to base in. It's best to find a decent sized city within 50 miles or so of the survey area. You'll have to call FBOs and find one with hangar space. The planes must be kept in hangars every night. You also have to check the FBO's hours to make sure they'll be open early enough to get the plane out of the hangar at the right time. Also, they can't be closed on Sundays because you don't get a day off. The city will need to have a FedEx ship center so you can send off your memory drives. You'll also want to take a look at the hotels to make sure you can stay somewhere halfway decent. Last, but not least, check to make sure the local rental car has one available for you.

About PROSTAR FLIGHT SERVICES.

Make no mistake, this is an entry-level job. ProStar, Skylens, Optic Air, Pacific Fleet… are all entry-level jobs. And with all entry level jobs in any industry, it's a lot of work with not much pay. If you want to put on a fancy airline captain uniform one day, you've got to put in the grunt time first and that's what this is. With that said, I truly believe that ProStar Flight Services is the best of the low-time survey companies. I've talked with a lot of survey pilots in the FBOs and it has become very apparent that ProStar is the one that's best to their pilots.

First, maintenance and safety is truthfully a top priority for them. Every company says that, but many will kick it way down the priority list when it comes down to getting the job done. ProStar’s sister company, Hangar 1, has the same owners and they take care of all the maintenance. This crew is top tier. They closely monitor all the plane's hours, are on top of all the inspections and want any little issue reported. What may not sound like a big issue to a pilot may be a symptom of something bigger and they want to know about it. The operations manager will work with the pilots to coordinate routine maintenance on the road. It's not uncommon for them to fly their technicians out to a plane to tackle a tough issue to make sure it's done right. The Aztecs in particular are old with lots of hours on the airframes. It takes an operation like this to keep them flying safely for over 100 hours a month throughout an entire season.

Management expects a rather large amount of autonomy from their pilots and that’s a good thing. Nothing close to micro-management. Management will want you to check in a good bit at the beginning until they get a little bit of confidence in you, but by the end of the season, you’re making almost all the decisions on your own. Where to base, booking your hotel, the order that you complete a project, is the weather OK to fly, where to refuel midday, booking your flight on/off shift, etc. They’ve given you the training, you know what they expect, just go do it. But if you run into an issue, they’re there for support. It’s a great balance. Also, they never asked me to do something I wasn’t comfortable with. They understand that you're here for hours and they want survey work done. Flying the plane is in everyone’s best interest and they’re not going to be on your case about not flying. If you’re on the ground, they generally understand that there is likely a good reason. It makes keeping them in the loop easier, because you don’t have to fear getting chewed out because there is a thunderstorm nearby or you’re legitimately sick.

The operations manager is excellent at putting the pilots in places where they have opportunities to get hours and get the job done. I averaged over 100 hours/month several times and that’s only on a 20-day rotation. In order to do that though, last minute base relocations and changes in the plan come often with very little heads up. You have to be flexible and ready to make changes quickly.

What appealed to me the most was the rotation schedule. 20 days on/10 days off for 7 months. It’s really more of a 20/8 rotation because the first and last day of your off days are travel days. It’s still a long time away from home, but it’s manageable compared to their competitors. 7 months straight sounds like hell and I’ve talked to some of those pilots. By the end of the season they were absolutely burned out and looking for any excuse not to fly. In my opinion it’s also just a little unsafe to stay on call like that. There is no chance that a pilot doesn’t get complacent after that kind of grind. In 7 months, I did almost 600 hours in season. That’s better than most CFIs that I’ve talked to. You also rotate to a different plane every rotation. I loved this because it helps fight complacency. All of them are slightly different so it makes you pay attention.

There is no contract, but they want a commitment/promise to stay on for the entire season. Losing a pilot unexpectedly mid-season is one of the toughest hurdles they have to overcome. The culture here is very much like a work family. I think it’s what makes them successful. After flying with them for a couple months, you won’t want to leave them in the lurch mid-season. It does happen, but it’s rare. Hotel and airline allowance are reasonable. Hotel is GSA rate, so it varies city to city, but usually comes out to $100+ a night. You won’t be staying in the Ritz, but they want you to be comfortable. I stayed in safe areas in clean hotels. Airline flights to and from rotations were capped at $400. If I have a gripe, this is it. And I want to clarify that it’s a minor gripe. Due to the nature of the job, they won’t know where you're going to or from until 1-3 days beforehand. This means the tickets are bought last minute and were almost alway over $400. So the rest came out of my pocket. Sometimes it was just a couple bucks, but sometimes it was over $100. I’m a bit of an outlier because I’m traveling from my home in NC to the western side of the country. The pilots who lived out west didn’t encounter this nearly as often. Again not a big gripe and certainly not a deal-breaker, but something potential applicants should be aware of.

They also provide a rental car. On larger projects they may put two planes at the same place so you may have to share the rental car. This isn’t a big deal as long as everyone is considerate. I never ran into a problem with it all season. You also get to keep your rental car points.

Money!

Like I said, it’s entry-level. You’re not gonna retire to Monaco working this job. However, they seem to pay as much or more than their low-hour survey pilot competition. Also, you’re getting flight hours and that’s the main payment of this job. There is a daily rate and per diem that you get paid every day on shift. On top of that there is a flight hour rate that is based on experience. So you’ll get paid more the more you fly. With all 3 of those combined, I averaged about $4000 per 20 day rotation. There are 7 rotations in a season and this year there were opportunities to pick up some extra time over the summer. No benefits, but a silver lining is that they pay for the hotel, the rental cars, and the airline flights and you get to keep all the points for yourself. They add up by the end of the season.

FOR POTENTIAL APPLICANTS:

Before last season, The Road To 1500 gave me the best advice I could possibly give. Get time in the aircraft you want to fly. ProStar flies C182s and Aztecs. 5 hours might get the job done, but more is better. I wanted an Aztec seat, so I found a school with an Aztec and got checked out in it. Then I found someone to split more time renting one. I had 15 hours by the time I applied and at $400 per hour, my credit card took a massive beating. In the end, the gamble paid off. I got offers from 5 different survey companies. Those hours moved my resume to the top of the stack. For the companies it means they don’t really have to check me out in the plane and that experience helps their insurance premiums. Get hours in the plane you want to fly. If it’s an Aztec, make sure it’s the high-performance model, PA-23-250 (sometimes called a PA-27). A standard PA-23 will be of no use. With word getting out about this “hack”, I imagine that it will almost be necessary to get these hours not too far in the future to be competitive.

They’ve mentioned that cross country and solo time are also very important since that’s the type of flying that you’ll be doing. If you have time flying in the mountains out west, it’s probably good to mention that. Sorry Appalachian fliers, they don’t really count our mountains as real mountains. I don’t know if they will consider applicants with lower hours than their advertised minimums, but I’d probably advise not applying if you haven’t met them with some extenuating circumstances. A&Ps, jet time or something else extraordinary might warrant an exception.

ProStar has already conveyed that they will be changing up their hiring process a bit this year, but I don’t know any details on that so I’ll just talk about how it went down last year. They’ll announce that their hiring window is open by sending an email directing you to use the link on their website to submit your application. You can sign up for that announcement email on their website. At the time of writing this, the hiring window is open for the 2025-2026 season, so get signed up for that email if you want to apply this year.

If they like what they see, they’ll invite you to an automated recorded job interview. You’ll sign in and when you’re ready to start, you’ll be given a question. You’ll have about 15 seconds to consider it and then your device will automatically start filming you for your response. I think you have 30 seconds to respond. There’s no reviewing it or do-overs. It happened really fast last year and unfortunately I didn’t write down any of the questions they asked. I remember some were about flying and some were to get a better judge of your personality. Do yourself a favor and do some background research on the company first. Their vision and mission are on their website and it’ll help to know those.

If they still like what they see, they’ll invite you to a proper virtual interview. You’ll meet the owner, the operations manager, the head of the maintenance wing, and possibly the lead pilot. They’re a great group. They’re conducting a serious interview, but keep it relatively light. Again, some of their questions will be about flying, your flying experiences, and some will just be to get to know you as a person. Like I mentioned, this company feels like a family and they want to make sure their employees will fit in. I’ve had job interviews that were as intense as checkrides. That’s not what this is gonna be. Don’t take it lightly, but don’t expect to get put through the ringer. It would be helpful to think back ahead of time on your previous jobs and have some stories where you stood out. Also think about your flying experiences and have a few good stories from those. Have you ever had an emergency in flight? Have that story ready. Ever have an incredibly meaningful flight? Have that one ready too.

If they want to move forward with you, they’ll extend a job offer that’s conditional on a flight review on the first day of training. Training will be held at their headquarters in Greeley, CO and they’ll fly you out there. Training was so much fun last year. They put us up in AirBnB houses so we really got to know all the other pilots which is a great thing. You won’t see the other pilots a whole lot during the season (at least not in the Aztecs, the 182 guys tend to get assigned to the same projects a lot more), but you will be in near constant contact and leaning on each other for advice. Their training really cultivates a culture where that is made possible. About the flight review on the first day of training. This will be with the Lead Pilot or another CFI. I suspect that this will be where some major changes will happen this year. Last year was essentially like getting checked out in C172. Beforehand you had to make a theoretical flight plan to fly a C172 to a few cities around the Rocky Mountains. You’ll review it at the beginning of the flight review. They’re looking to make sure you understand the risks of flying around mountains, have a very good grasp on density altitude, what affects density altitude, and what weather and turbulence can pop up around the mountains. Again, serious stuff, but the tone is light. If you’re noticing a trend, that’s because it’s a reflection of the company culture. We’re doing serious stuff and take it seriously, but we’re also gonna have a grin and joke around a bit whenever we can.

Then you’ll go fly. Last year everyone was in a C172. I suspect that will change this year. I know they have access to a Twin Comanche and they will likely put the multi applicants in there. If you’ve got some Aztec time, it won’t be a problem. The layout in the Twin Comanche is identical to an Aztec and they fly very similarly. The flight this year wasn’t too intense. Pre-flight, navigating the airport safely, running checklists, navigating, steep turns, stalls, a landing and then a debrief. It was a pretty basic flight review, but I suspect that it may be a little more intensive this year. If you're a decent pilot, you’ll be fine. Make safe decisions. Also be aware that they will likely be judging how you make the decision. Remember they are checking you out for solo pilot flying. You have to be confident in what you're doing. If your first instinct is to ask the CFI “Should I do something?”, then you have the wrong mentality. Assess the situation, make the safe decision, verbalize and execute it. Keep assessing the situation and confidently adjust as needed. That’s what they’re going to want to see and that’s how you have to fly the plane on the job.

I won’t get into training too much because it covers a lot of the equipment that we use and that’s proprietary stuff. Just know that it lasts 10 days and you will learn all of the apps we use to do the job (it’s way more than you would expect), some mountain flying training, training for the survey equipment, and several mock survey flights. It’s a good time. At the end of training, the season begins. Most of the pilots will take their planes to whatever corner of the county their first project is at. The ones who are scheduled for an OFF rotation first will go home and wait 10 days before they head out.”

So, who’s in? Dumb question, I know you’re still going to apply anyway and see what sticks.

That’s what I did last year.

Well, nothing stuck. Not at ProStar, not at Skylens, not at Eagleview, not at JAV, not at Optic…

Most of those were a total time issue. You know how it is, gotta have flight time to get a job to build some time.

But ProStar was pretty clear they hire for character first and foremost, which is where I fell short. You may think the pre-recorded video interview is just a formality (i did) but I can tell you now that one of the readers got called up right after hers was reviewed. First pick. Crazy.

So if last year my advice was “get time in type”, this time and for ProStar particularly, I’d say: go through some interview prep. I think I’ve talked about it before, but I absolutely bombed the questions, they all caught me off-guard.

There’s free material everywhere, make sure you work on those HR questions and not solely flying stuff.

Now, I have been in touch with multiple interview prep companies, mainly for myself at first, because I’d rather not bomb my next opportunity. I don’t remember the exact questions they’re going to ask, but I know for a fact some interview prep WILL help me. If I don’t get the job at proStar, then at the very least I will have gained the foundational skills for my next interviews.

I can find a coach we can all work with. If that’s something you’re interested in, let me know.

Please note that most charge upwards of $100. If I manage to get a discounted rate, sweet, but no promises on that one!

Best of luck!

P.S: here’s what James told me at the end: I didn’t mean to write such a novel. Sorry if you have to trim this down Ivan. I really like working here and I think it shows. Great culture, challenging and rewarding work, actually safety focused, and little to no micro-managing. The toughest part is being away from home for so long, but even then, they’re better than their competitors. If you want to be a survey pilot, you should be trying to get a job here.