sky dive toronto

[sky Rookie]

I see skydives looking for some 182 pilots, sounds like a good gig, no pay and a thousand dollars+ for training, 200hrs for the summer and all u have to do is sell out
would someone delete it?
straight from the dictionary-
Employment - an occupation by which a person earns a living

[Highsea]

Why are most Skydriving place the same, I send a few resumes out to them last year and all of them were low paying or work for free and pay for training on a 182 or 206.

[C-GQNN]

Are you kidding? No pay?! Not even minimum wage so I can at least afford a place to stay and a value pack of Mr. Noodles?

Has anyone on here worked at Sky Dive Toronto before? I hear you can get 500 hours in a summer...

[ottawa,kan]

Be sure to read the post on the General forum that deals with this. SOunds like a total scam.

[C-GQNN]

Ah, thanks Stinson... Just read it. I'm out!!

[EPR]

Sky Rookie check pm's

[brokenwing]

if a resume crossed my desk with sky dive toronto on it... it would be tossed in the garbage without hesitation

[360montana]

It is a shame some ops are still milking the junior pilots. Loads of senior jumpers does not make enough to run a skydive op, but the tandoms is where they make their money. Regardless the pilot makes it all possible and you should be paid for the loads you fly. As for the training... well the 3-5 hrs MAX is the responsibility of the chief pilot who is employed by the drop zone and that should be paid by the company. Standard pay in a 182 is around $6 per load regardless if it's a hop and pop or a climb to 12,000' Round trip should be about 20-25min so the $12/hr the pilot makes is nothing to keep the show running. You will be hard pressed to make a living flying skydivers, but it is a way to build time. Use it as a stepping stone.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

well the 3-5 hrs MAX is the responsibility of the chief pilot who is employed by the drop zone and that should be paid by the company.

You must be kidding us.

3 to 5 hours dual to fly a little Cessna 182?

[Highflyinpilot]

Good old sky dive toronto

[360montana]

Yup... right out of the training manual. 5hrs initial training and 3 hrs annual recurrent training and a couple of written exams corrected to 100% thats it for the 182. It sounds like alot, but there is a little more to flying skydivers than just piloting the aircraft. There is spotting and wind drift... you also have 4 yahoos hanging off the strut, that presents a few possible situations that are not covered in a standard procedure manual.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

If it takes five hours of air time to train someone in how to fly a C182 to drop jumpers and 3 hours recurrent something has to be wrong with either your training program or you are trying to teach some really dense pilots.

There is spotting and wind drift...

Yeh, that is a real unusual skill.....dear jeeses what kind of pilots are the schools turning out ??

Do you have a lesson plan for teaching them how to tie their shoe laces so they don't trip on them walking to that exotic beast you are about to teach them how to fly?

[360montana]

As I said before it is not all about the flying of the aircraft... . you really need to take some time to retain what it is you are reading. The wind drift is but one part and it effects a solo belly flyer quite differently than an experianced freeflyer and different again for a tandom and if your jumpers have round reserve chutes it wont be long till you get your ass thumped for all the off DZ landings your jumpers are having. The flying of the aircraft is the easiest part of the training... it's all about the meat your tossing out of it and where it is landing. Skydiving is a potentially dangerous sport and it is the pilots job to try to eliminate as many of the factors which could lead to a bad skydive. Skydivers are not pilots and you have to do the thinking for them. I don't want to list all the risks and dangers present just to justify to you what is required for insurance purposses. That is what is required so that is the training pilots get. Besides what is the great problem with possible over training to error on the side of caution? . from reading through many of your past posts you really seem like you have some issues. Did your mommy not hug you enough as a child? It's ok buddy just take a deep breath and try to relax.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Besides what is the great problem with possible over training to error on the side of caution?

Once again allow me to comment on the air time in the airplane....five hours seems like an awful lot of air time taking into consideration that most of the issues that one needs to know for dropping jumpers can be learned on the ground.....just my opinion.

. from reading through many of your past posts you really seem like you have some issues. Did your mommy not hug you enough as a child?

My childhood has nothing to do with my adulthood, I specialize in flight instruction on many types of aircraft from the basic kiddy car like the Cessna 182 to some of the most difficult to fly airplanes in use.....and in areas of aviation that are eons more difficult than sky diver dropping.

....once again it is my personal opinion that these guys are either being screwed if they are paying for the training or the trainers need training.

Maybe my expectations of what a commercial pilot should be is either to high or I am just from the wrong era of aviation.

[nortont]

legal minimums for flight training for dropping jumpers is 3 hrs initial and 1 hr recurrent for 182 ops. Thats all I've ever done

[buster79]

CAT DRIVER: I thought all airplanes were easy to fly! as they are just airplanes right, you mean there are more "difficult" airplanes to fly! from all your "preaching" it is only a machine and a monkey could do it, no? give the quy a break he is obviously not as "good" as you or will every be but you don't have to shit on everyone all the time, do you? there are a lot of people in this world that have flown "airplanes" for a living as long as you in as many places as you. give it a rest!

[Cat Driver]

buster79, if you think the five hours of training is O.K. I have no problem with that.

[buster79]

cat! wholy cow was that some drunkin rambling or what? made me laugh when i read what i wrote!! long day of some good icefhishing for eye's=drunk!

[skydivepilot]

We also do 3 hours and 1 hour recurrent training. I will stick up for 360montana in saying there are alot of jump pilot specifics to be covered for someone who has never flown skydivers b4. Having the door wide open with 4-5 bodies hanging off the strut is interesting for the first timer.

[nortont]

Not just the jumpers.... I had the floor mat sneak half way out the door on me after a load of jumpers left. It was a bitch pulling it back in and trying to fly at the same time...

[Highflyinpilot]

Ah good times to maybe be guaranteed 1 and a half boxes of KD at the end of the month.

Just kidding just kidding, Well um maybe.


Is it possible to actually make a living dumping jumpers, And I mean a real living? Not just being able to pay rent at the end of the month.


That is a serious question, Is it even possible to make a good buck doing it?

[Blue Side Down]

If you find an operator who runs an Otter or similar full time, maybe. Actually, likely... but you won't find many of those north of 49... For the most part, skydive ops are timebuilding gigs or personal hobby.

I have a feeling that the market for jumping up here is simply too small to support more than a few (I can think of 8 off the top of my head, and that's it) aggressive turbine dropzones. There just aren't enough jumpers around to keep the planes flying full time. Then if you try to drum up business for your DZ by focusing on tandem rides, the regulars may start calling it a 'tandem factory' and leave for the Cessna DZ down the road. This is where we run into the issue of trying to hire pilots for cheap- an example may be a small Cessna DZ trying to make an extra buck to take a step up and lease a Caravan next season. Why not increase jump ticket prices and keep the pilots wage the same? Because there will be jumpers who would simply save up and head south to jump from an Otter from 13.5 for $22, than take a hit and pay $35 instead of $30 for 10.5 in a piddly little '82, so your volume decreases and you're back at square one. The pilot either won't complain, or leave, whence he will be easily replaced- until the pilot community gets it's @#$% together and establishes a set of standards to go by.

In regards to training, unless the driver is fresh off the block, three hours is more than ample. Spotting is a non-issue for the pilot, and unless it includes a rate one turn, the only business a Cessna pilot has in spotting is giving the jumpers 'ten left' 'ten right' and a 'cut'. The pilot's seat is the worst vantage point in the plane for figuring out where a straight line to the ground will land. If the DZ spots by GPS, that's another story. A few hours of extended systems training for that G196 duct taped to the yoke may be justified. From the experience of both jumping and diver driving, spotting is the jumper's responsibility alone... they can stick their head out the door and look straight down, the pilot can't. If they don't like where they're at, then it's their decision alone to get out and hope for the best or take a second pass. Emergency training is another story, and should be covered on the ground. For example, you cannot train for flying with three guys on the step without three guys actually hanging out out there. The lesson is- point the nose down to keep your airspeed up- simple as that. For the case of a deployment while the dude is still on the step, that too is covered by a briefing that has nothing to do with seeing a parachute leave it's container- by that time the event is over, luck will have its way and you're just there to watch- it'll be done before your eyes get wide. Proper training for that event should cover the different aspects of the parachute pack, what tabs or flappy parts to watch for, and what is 'unsafe' so that the pilot can catch a jumper with a pilot chute half hanging out before he steps into the airflow... or if he's already out there, to give him a firm boot on the seat and get him off the plane quick. Not pleasant, but once it's done there won't be anyone not thanking you for taking quick action.

Back to jump pilot wage, the best deal I've heard in SWOnt, excluding the turbine ops, is SWOOP in Dundas- apparently they pay $20 for you to show up, and then $5 or so a load after that. Which is a nice token of appreciation show to their drivers.

[CPLMike89]

not F!@#in likely. how is it they actualy find commercial pilots who will fly for them free of charge?...doesnt make sense to me sure you get some time but you paid a pretty penny to get your license and now they ask for your services for free?..just my rant.

[DEL]

Skydive Toronto is a scam!!! I went through the coarse and was told all was ok with me flying there. Never heard back from them at all. Called many times and what told I would be getting a call but it never came. Stay clear of them till they start paying there pilots.