How to collect 1500 hrs

[ea306]

My advice to anyone looking to get more hours
in their logbook (apart from buying some of mine):

Get your hands on a privately-registered airplane
with 4 cylinders with 100hp or less. Should burn
max 6gph, more likely 5 gph. Sole ownership is
ok, partnership is better.

Buy something that has been flying a LOT lately.
Do not buy a project that has not flown for years
because the owner lost interest, lost his medical,
or had the bad manners to die. Such a project
will eat you alive.

Run mogas in it and claim the road tax back. Fly
the pants off it. Fly it everywhere. Fly it to the
USA.

Just get a VFR aircraft, with a good comm and
transponder/encoder. That's all you need for
radios. You can use an economical portable
intercom and VFR GPS.

Don't worry about the paint. The engine is
what matters.

Put 1000 hours in your logbook, flying it
everywhere you can think of. Then sell it
to the next young guy. Get your ATPL PIC
hours done.

Read this. Then read it again. This is how it's done. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. An hour is an hour. Buy the cheapest reliable plane you can. At the end of the day (I hate that cliche) an hour in a 150 is equal to an hour in a Bonanza, as far as total time goes. And FLY your ass off! Have fun. Go places!
Illya

RE-READ THESE POSTS....AND DO IT!!!

I did exactly that.... And it paid off in spades.... Didn't fly a thousand hours in it though because I managed to get a job at 432 hours. The fact that I had flown my little C150 all over BC and Alberta as a private pilot/commercial wanna be... Helped out greatly in getting my first job...which led to the next job...etc..etc..etc..

Care & Ownership of a little airplane offers a lot of experience that will not hurt you. Oh and looking back.... It was a lot of fun too!!

Great advise as far as I'm concerned.

[RickPilot33]

each of us have found our happy medium.
fly across Canada and maybe use something thats ifr certified too so you can get so.e experience there.
I flew from. the east coast to the west coast many times In different aircraft.
it helped but personally if you want to help get there with a little help financially than Instructing at a busy flight school would help.

hope this guides you to where you want to be.

safe flying!

[andy.air]

If an airline career is the end goal... Doesn't Air Georgian have that cadet program thing? I haven't looked too much into it since I was already done at the time, but it may be worthwhile checking out since it gets you from zero hours to turboprop. I probably would have tried getting in for less hassle with finding a job and saving time if they had something like this when I started. Probably tough as heck to get in though.

[AuxBatOn]

In order to collet 1500 hrs, you need to pass GO.

[Colonel Sanders]

Doesn't the cadet program have the motto:

"Be Part Of The Problem!"


Please, go get some PIC. Spend some time alone
in an airplane, flying someplace you have never
been before.

Example: a young friend of mine - same age
as my kid, God I'm getting old - recently delivered
a new open cockpit Waco biplane from Minnesota
to Anchorage, Alaska.

Last summer my kid delivered a supercub from
Ottawa to Calgary. Watched it rain for 5 days in
Wawa.

See?

I know that kids texting away in the right seat think
they know it all, and with the new 1:1 rule for right
seat time for the ATP, I guess they do.

But still, time spent by yourself in an airplane, going
cross-country, some place you have never been before,
dealing with weather and mechanical, is still really
valuable experience, even if you don't wear a fancy
uniform while you're doing it.

This is something the very best pilots can do. One
of my best friends jumped in a Douglas AD-1 Skyraider
in France and flew it to Arkansas.

[JungianJugular]

My advice to anyone looking to get more hours
in their logbook (apart from buying some of mine):

Get your hands on a privately-registered airplane
with 4 cylinders with 100hp or less. Should burn
max 6gph, more likely 5 gph. Sole ownership is
ok, partnership is better.

Buy something that has been flying a LOT lately.
Do not buy a project that has not flown for years
because the owner lost interest, lost his medical,
or had the bad manners to die. Such a project
will eat you alive.

Run mogas in it and claim the road tax back. Fly
the pants off it. Fly it everywhere. Fly it to the
USA.

Just get a VFR aircraft, with a good comm and
transponder/encoder. That's all you need for
radios. You can use an economical portable
intercom and VFR GPS.

Don't worry about the paint. The engine is
what matters.

Put 1000 hours in your logbook, flying it
everywhere you can think of. Then sell it
to the next young guy. Get your ATPL PIC
hours done.

Read this. Then read it again. This is how it's done. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. An hour is an hour. Buy the cheapest reliable plane you can. At the end of the day (I hate that cliche) an hour in a 150 is equal to an hour in a Bonanza, as far as total time goes. And FLY your ass off! Have fun. Go places!
Illya

RE-READ THESE POSTS....AND DO IT!!!

I did exactly that.... And it paid off in spades.... Didn't fly a thousand hours in it though because I managed to get a job at 432 hours. The fact that I had flown my little C150 all over BC and Alberta as a private pilot/commercial wanna be... Helped out greatly in getting my first job...which led to the next job...etc..etc..etc..

Care & Ownership of a little airplane offers a lot of experience that will not hurt you. Oh and looking back.... It was a lot of fun too!!

Great advise as far as I'm concerned.

Hi, what were your expenses like? How much for the aircraft, insurance, hangar fees, upkeep, etc? I'd be interested in doing something like this.

[InAmig]

Thanks for the great advice Colonel Sanders!

Just one questoin, what do you mean by "claim the road tax back" ?

[Big Pistons Forever]

The other side of the "save by buying your own airplane instead of renting" idea, is the story of a fellow I met once that bought a beater C 150 with an on condition engine to use to build up his time. He bought it for "only" 18 K but after about 20 hours the engine started running very roughly. When the AME pulled the screen it was full of metal, the engine was toast. His AME found another high time engine but the engine mount was cracked and the carb air box needed a repair etc etc.

He was lucky in that it only cost him 10 K to get back in the air (an overhauled engine installed would have been over 20 K), then his radio died and the radio shop said it was too old to repair. He got another unit off E-bay but it never worked, then he lucked out and found a working unit for $1000 but he lost a month of summer flying screwing around, then he needed a new shimmy damper, then new brake discs, then a new elevator trim cable.........He finally finished his CPL and then tried to sell his airplane.

A year later it was still for sale and he was desperate so he took a low ball 12 K just to get some money back. Bottom line when all his costs were totaled each hour he flew the aircraft coat him 295 $ an hour plus what he paid for his instructor........

Finding a good small aircraft is becoming harder and harder as most of what is for sale is junk that has been neglected for years. If you go this route it is absolutely imperative you get good advice. Ignore any advice from someone who has not owned an aircraft, preferably several, they will not have a clue. Get a good AME working for you to do a pre-purchase on anything you are thinking of buying and be prepared to spend at least $ 500 dollars, it will be worth it in the long run.

[Colonel Sanders]

what is for sale is junk that has been neglected for years

Right - don't get suckered in by an
attractively-priced project - because
that's what it is.

An airplane that hasn't flown lately
will eat you alive, financially speaking.

Only buy an aircraft that has been flying
lately.

People love to buy projects, though, as
BPF illustrates. They save a couple bucks
up front, and lose their shirt in maintenance
costs.

FWIW what wears out private aircraft engines
is not HOURS, it's internal CORROSION. This
is especially true of Lycomings.

[NotDirty!]

hello,
i am new on this forum, i want to start a in a flight school to be a commercial pilot and i have some questions..
1- how to collect the 1500 hrs experience to join an airline???

The easiest method is to go to the airport, and look for airplanes that fly a lot. Note down their registrations, look up the civil aircraft register to figure out their type (if you didn't already know) and their owner, then just start making logbook entries using that information. Be careful, and don't use registrations belonging to companies or people that you are likely to work for or meet in a professional capacity. Also make sure that your "flights" are spread out over a reasonable period of time, and don't try to log more than 24 hours in a single day! Get a couple of different pens, and change it up every few lines, so it doesn't look like you entered everything all at once. If you need cross country hours, look up the registrations on flightaware and find routings that they have flown.... believablity is key!

good luck! (and make sure I never see your resume on my desk!)

[Colonel Sanders]

I remember about someone logging "Parker Pen"
time down south, on aircraft they saw flying about.

Guy shows up for his FAA COMM-SEL flight test and
examiner thumbs through his logbook, checking to
make sure he is qualified as per the FARs.

Examiner notices an aircraft registration in the guy's
logbook, and asks the guy about it. Oh yeah, the guy
says, I flew that airplane.

Turns out the examiner owned the airplane.

Not funny. Feds go bananas about logbook
fraud. Be careful.

[Plane_sight]

As a new pilot you will have to live in poverty because there are no decent paying entry-level jobs, as _numerous_ people have attested to both here on forums and in real life. If you finish in a year and then get a job @ 29 and then live in poverty for a few years you should be able to start making payments on your massive student loans by mid-30s and have them paid off in your early 40s.

With ever increasing minimums at companies nationwide and downward pressure on wages, as well as the serious oversupply of freshly minted CPLs, the job outlook in Canada is ~BLEAK~ to say the least. You won't be flying what you want to fly and won't be working where you want to work for many years.

Sound like an attractive career path yet?

Reconsider your decision to be a pilot and choose another field. IMO.

[HiLo]

As a new pilot you will have to live in poverty because there are no decent paying entry-level jobs, as _numerous_ people have attested to both here on forums and in real life. If you finish in a year and then get a job @ 29 and then live in poverty for a few years you should be able to start making payments on your massive student loans by mid-30s and have them paid off in your early 40s.

With ever increasing minimums at companies nationwide and downward pressure on wages, as well as the serious oversupply of freshly minted CPLs, the job outlook in Canada is ~BLEAK~ to say the least. You won't be flying what you want to fly and won't be working where you want to work for many years.

Sound like an attractive career path yet?

Reconsider your decision to be a pilot and choose another field. IMO.

Way to be encouraging...

Now mark,

I understand you probably want to fly for AC/WJ (if you're not familiar with 99% of the acronyms on here, you have not done enough research. I spent 3 days 10 hours a day before I did a thing with a friend doing research. That friend was Mr. Google). Try to get hired my Georgian with their cadet program: http://www.airgeorgian.ca/recruitment-p ... ogram.html

Assides from that, your best shot is to get to know as many people as possible and to get them on a level with you where they can be your jump-off point for jobs.

Work your ass off. Use the search function (top right corner) and search for the average time to get a CPL.

Did I mention you need to do your research? Know the field like a cop knows his belt. And don't piss off any cops.

[Boreas]

Really, Colonel et al!? You guys are encouraging someone to buy their way to 1500h?

Sure, owning a plane and flying it around everywhere is great experience, but once
you have a CPL and if you are trying to make a career out this whole thing, get
someone to pay you for it. Not to mention that 1500h SE piston time isn't worth all
that much as far as the airlines go...

In my opinion, the best way to 'collect' +1500h, is to find a decent company up
north where you can jump in the right seat and progress through.

[HiLo]

Really, Colonel et al!? You guys are encouraging someone to buy their way to 1500h?

Sure, owning a plane and flying it around everywhere is great experience, but once
you have a CPL and if you are trying to make a career out this whole thing, get
someone to pay you for it. Not to mention that 1500h SE piston time isn't worth all
that much as far as the airlines go...

In my opinion, the best way to 'collect' +1500h, is to find a decent company up
north where you can jump in the right seat and progress through.

+1

[Colonel Sanders]

1500h SE piston time

That's not what I said, Einstein.

Sure, climb in the right seat at 200TT
then come crying here in a couple of
years because you don't have any PIC
and can't get your ATPL and can't upgrade.

[iflyforpie]

That SE piston plane is the only way you are going to get that golden PIC night x-country without being an instructor. Lots of guys with their Citation job right out of flight school have to go bash around a 150 come ATPL time.....

[Boreas]

My advice to anyone looking to get more hours
in their logbook (apart from buying some of mine):

Get your hands on a privately-registered airplane
with 4 cylinders with 100hp or less. Should burn
max 6gph, more likely 5 gph. Sole ownership is
ok, partnership is better.

Buy something that has been flying a LOT lately.
Do not buy a project that has not flown for years
because the owner lost interest, lost his medical,
or had the bad manners to die. Such a project
will eat you alive.

Run mogas in it and claim the road tax back. Fly
the pants off it. Fly it everywhere. Fly it to the
USA.

Just get a VFR aircraft, with a good comm and
transponder/encoder. That's all you need for
radios. You can use an economical portable
intercom and VFR GPS.

Don't worry about the paint. The engine is
what matters.

Put 1000 hours in your logbook, flying it
everywhere you can think of. Then sell it
to the next young guy. Get your ATPL PIC
hours done.

~1000h SE piston VFR, all paid for out of your own pocket.

I'm going to say don't do this.

But anyway, bitching, whining and crying is what Avcanada is all about!
And didn't TC change the co-pilot time rule recently? Isn't it 1:1 now?

[Colonel Sanders]

Thank you for sharing your expertise on
aircraft ownership. How many do you
currently own, right now? How many
aircraft have you owned in total, over
the decades? Talk to me about fixed
vs variable costs.

And I have to agree with you that single
engine time is completely worthless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWjs94ysEH8



The objective in aviation is to get your
four bars as quickly as possible, so you
can do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJeC2pxxbM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWl0TygaeDw

[Shiny Side Up]

I do have to say though that there are cheaper ways of getting to fly airplanes, build hours (ugh) and gain reasonable experience. Sometimes get paid for it. The OPA plan is a good way to get time, Pie I think knows what I'm talking about. But that also requires time. Lots of hanging out at the airport and some occasional grunt work. The aviating world is getting better all the time for being a low time guy. Hell so much so, its getting tougher to convince people to become instructors.