Sunday Deep-dive! 🤿

Ending the series on the aerial survey side of the low time pilot job market with one of the most popular companies: Skylens.

Today, we have 3 former pilots giving us the sauce, leaving us with their best tips to hopefully land the job. If you have a fresh commercial license, this is a solid alternative to the CFI route.

For what it’s worth, Skylens is my top pick this summer. Their website is currently under maintenance (link) but everything you need to know is below.

Let’s dive in.

amount of experience they each had at the time of application…

• Most of my coworkers had around 400-500 hours, but people were hired all the way down to the 250 minimum. This was my first flying job.

• When I applied I had under 400 hours, as well as the required multi and Aztec time to meet Aztec insurance minimums.

• I had about 550TT with 65 multi hours along with high performance, tailwheel, and complex endorsement.

about the job.

SkyLens has a fleet of both Cessna 172s and Piper Aztecs, although the experience is similar between them. Aztecs do tend to do more solo work while Cessnas tend to group up in packs of 3-5 planes. People think Cessnas get more hours since they fly at a lower altitude, but there were some Aztec pilots who ended up getting more hours than Cessnas by the end of the season.

Our days began with a message to our ops team, letting them know what the plan was—what the weather was like, if we’d be flying or taking care of mx, etc., and most of the time we’d get no reply back (which was a signal of approval). Either way, we’d need to be at the airport to make sure our planes were ready to go. From there we’d either fly if weather was good, wait around for weather to improve if it was marginal, or head back to the hotel. Being in survey, our days are based on the sun angle and weather. Short days would be 4 hours in the winter, long days could be over 10 hours in the summer. There were times we didn’t fly for a week straight and times we flew every day for a week. Other responsibilities included daily paperwork which was easy and took less than 20 minutes, and planning your next base when it was time to move. You’re also in charge of scheduling your own maintenance and making sure it’s done at the proper intervals.

I really like the company culture and the freedom I get. This company is built on supporting you as much as possible on the road. They will NOT pressure you to fly if there is a MX problem or if the WX is past your personal limits. If you have any questions, they’re an email or phone call away. They will help you find basing, hotels, and make sure you get a rental car if you need help.

As long as you act honestly and treat management with respect, they'll treat you with respect. If you slack, or lie, or do stupid things, you won't have a good time with them. The only complaint I have is that the hotel budget is just too low.

the not-so-great…

The hotel budget is very subpar to what other survey companies are providing. You will either need to have good negotiation skills with the GM or SM of each hotel or you will get stuck in a lower than standard hotel.

Weather determines how much you fly. You can get anywhere from 40-120 hours in a month. You don’t really know where or when you’re moving until a day or two before so you always have to be ready to go. Rental cars were shared by up to 3 pilots so if you were with other people you’d have to move as a group or decide how to split the car to take care of your personal errands.

There’s also quite a lot of paperwork involved with the job. Every fuel and hangar receipt must be submitted online and done a certain way at the end of every month. It is audited strictly because SkyLens gets the $$$ back from Eagleview for it. After everyday, flying or not, you will also need to do a daily report to Eagleview regarding what you did that day. This is simple stuff for someone tech savvy like me but for the guys in the upper ages, they struggle and view this as a hassle.

…but to each their own

I [personally] really liked pretty much everything about the job itself. The management team was great (as long as you know your SOPs) and easy to talk to. You were never expected to fly in bad weather or do anything unsafe. You’ll make good friends and stay busy, but not too busy. You get a lot of freedom and there’s no micromanagement as long as you get your work done right. If you’re not making mistakes you’ll only talk to your boss a few times a month. Hotel rooms are one per person so you don’t have to worry about sharing. You keep the hotel and rental car points and you’ll rack up enough to take a well-deserved vacation when your time is up. Every plane is equipped with an updated GPS and ADSB-In which was very useful.

contract details…

During the interview, the company emphasizes the 7-month commitment a lot, on the road with no option to break early or else face stiff financial penalties, so you’re in it for the duration. There is no time home and no time off other than weather days, which ended up being over half my days there. The advantage of this schedule is that it’s straight time building. You can expect somewhere in the range of 500-800 hours at the end of the season, or about 80-120 hours a month. You’ll gain a lot of cross-country time and even some instrument time, but they’re pretty strict about night time and I wouldn’t expect to get more than 15 night hours in the entire season.

If the company had a need for it, you would have the option to extend your contract into the summer (off-season), but there wouldn’t be many spots available for that and the pilots who signed on for another season would get priority.

The pay was a flat $100/day whether you flew or not. Every hour after 40 (for the month), you will get $5 extra pay per hour. No extra per-diem was given for food, but hotels and rental cars were paid for on the company card. In the end it amounted to around $40k/year, which I think is about average for a low time pilot job. Being a W-2 employee has its advantages as well since you’re covered for on-the-job injuries and don’t have to worry about 1099 tax laws. They also have a health insurance reimbursement program which helped. There’s a $1000 bonus upon completion of the 7-month contract.

Do I recommend this job?

→ 100%, but only for the right sort of person. This isn't an easy job. You have to be self-motivated and self-disciplined, and able to adapt to constant change. But if you want to build hours quickly and don't want to instruct, this is a great place to be. They pay fairly well (and you're not a contractor), they provide money for health insurance, and if you grind you can get escalating bonuses each month. You'll always have a hotel room to yourself. It might not be the nicest hotel, but it'll be your own room.

I 100% do not recommend it for anyone with a significant other/kids. I don't care how much they say they're fine with you being gone for seven months, when the rubber hits the road, you're going to lose them.

Fun facts!

During ground school, you have the option to learn how to do an oil change. On the road, for every oil change you do, you get paid an extra $100. It’s optional. If you don’t feel like doing it, you can always find a MX on the field to do it, and it’s paid via company CC.

Every February there will be a day called SPAD (Special Pilot Appreciation Day). The boss will let you use the company card to go get an expensive dinner with a Limo or a nice Uber/Chauffeur unlimited budget. This year my crew and I in Dallas went to the most expensive restaurant downtown and spent over $2k on food.

How to apply.

First, read the job page on the official website CAREFULLY. Second, read the job page on the official website CAREFULLY. I cannot tell you how little patience they have for people who don't read things that have been clearly spelled out. There is one chance to apply, and it usually happens in July. They’ll post all job updates before, during, and after the hiring window. You’ll want to turn on notifications for every time they post. Don’t apply outside the window or your resume will go straight into the trash. The hiring window is only about a week long sometime in July and they’ll give an update on Facebook about a month before it opens. Their website is very precise about the application instructions, so make sure you follow the instructions EXACTLY. Following directions is your first test, and if you mess up here your application goes to the trash. Follow all instructions to the letter. Right or wrong, failing to follow instructions during the application process will be viewed as an inability to follow instructions (both company and FAA) while on the job. Triple check your application against the instructions before submitting anything.

Remember this job is extremely competitive. There will easily be over 100 applicants for the 15-20 open positions each season. In my days, out of 450 applications, only 15 people got hired. One for each plane. Meet what they have listed as STRONG qualifications (no one is getting hired with minimum or even competitive qualifications anymore) so do everything you can to hit as many of those points as possible before applying if you’re serious about getting the job. For Aztec applicants, they want you to have 25 hours in type before ground school. If you have, let’s say 5 hours in Aztec, they’ll pay to time build you to 25 (insurance minimums) but only if no one else has more hours.

If there’s an Aztec for rent nearby, try to get 10 hours in it to hit their insurance minimums. If you can’t, try to get at least 1 hour so you can put a number in there on your application. If you have your A&P certificate and are willing to do work on the road, you’re almost guaranteed to get the job. They will provide tools and pay you extra for the work done. They don’t have you do anything crazy, mostly just oil changes for the planes you’re based with or light repairs. It can end up being a lot after you fly 8 hours then need to do an oil change so be prepared for that.

They break you into tiers during the hiring process. 1st tier meets their strong qualifications and they’ll hire from this tier first before dipping into the 2nd tier, then the 3rd tier. They’re very transparent during this process and will post updates on their Facebook page about how many candidates there are, when to expect replies, etc., so make sure you turn on those notifications for whenever they post.

The interview is split into 2. First phone call is with the Chief Pilot, mostly confirming your interest, giving you more info about the company, and a couple easy questions (e.g. did you fail a check ride or have you experienced any engine/instrument failures). Second phone call is with the CEO. It's more of a casual talk, with a HUGE emphasis on being on the road for 7 months with no breaks. There will also be some more questions about your experience (“tell me about a time when...”). If you pass both, you’ll get the offer!

Once you’re hired, you will be airlined to New Orleans, Louisiana and carpool using the company van to Hammond, Louisiana on October 1st or October 15th for the ground school. This is the time to bond and make friends with the people you’ll be spending the next 7 months with. The training takes 1-2 weeks, then you’ll be assigned your aircraft which will be your baby for the following 7 months. At that point they’ll say go on git and kick you out to wherever your first survey mission is!

Next month we’re switching things up a bit. Hope you’ll like it. Always appreciate your feedback. :))