FLYING career on the side?

757 · Post by **757** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:30 am

Good day guys,

I am trying to find out how many guys out there already have a full time job or career and also fly on the side? Guys that have been employed already somewhere stable but because they love to fly still do some sort of corporate, cargo, or charter pilot flying on the side like days off or one week flying and the other week their other main job?

Just interested to see how much of this is out there?

thanks guys and any input on the matter would be appreciated or stories from other pilots that do this?

757

Chop&Drop · Post by **Chop&Drop** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:37 am

There is a couple of instructors that I work with that work 9-5 during the week, then come in on the weekend and instruct. Seems like a good way to make some extra cash (although not much) and have some fun.

KAG · Post by **KAG** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:51 am

I've worked with a few instructors who did it part time. They seemed to enjoy it, but it must be hard on relationships to have 2 careers.

rotateandfly · Post by **rotateandfly** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:21 am

However, I imagine it's hard to find a FTU that'll hire part time instructors. I know of one guy who was a test pilot for bombardier, and really insisted on getting that part time instructor job, yet he had to go thru a lot of trouble and was turned down.

Lommer · Post by **Lommer** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:10 pm

I'm very interested in this too. I know of one guy who worked as a professional engineer monday-friday and then flight instructed and flew charter on the side. He's been doing this for several years now, and currently flies a citation. However, his flying career has definitely progressed VERY slowly by nickel-and-diming a few hours every week.

Beacon Final · Post by **Beacon Final** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:27 pm

Jumper dumpers all have other full time jobs, alot of them are cops and ATC types, and some are pilots.

ramp fueler · Post by **ramp fueler** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:57 pm

A guy I worked with at YVR worked full time on the docks. Not bad

Wilbur · Post by **Wilbur** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:16 pm

I have a full-time career and fly on the side doing whatever I can find. It varies a lot from year to year with hours ranging from 25 to 100. It's basically a way of keeping my hand in something I love to do and will return to full time when I retire in a few years.

I worked for a coastal float operator years ago and we had a firefighter who flew for us on his days off. He would cover annual leaves, sick days, etc. It worked well for the company and him.

cinical · Post by **cinical** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:38 pm

A guy at my company who is part-time a few days a month works as a Full-Time Police Officer Full-Time. He was full-time in aviation before but then swapped careers and now fly's on the side...because of this decision he made........he is now labeled in my books as.....A GENIUS......

av8tor_assrope · Post by **av8tor_assrope** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:09 pm

the dude...well AME who checks me over every year is a 320 skipper for AC, has his MD; hence the reason he does aviation medicals, and was a former toronto police officer. ohh and i forgot to mention. he's working on some sort of aero-medical paper because he wants to get his PhD as well. talk about an over-achiever!!

Kelowna Pilot · Post by **Kelowna Pilot** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:13 pm

A guy at my company who is part-time a few days a month works as a Full-Time Police Officer Full-Time. He was full-time in aviation before but then swapped careers and now fly's on the side...because of this decision he made........he is now labeled in my books as.....A GENIUS......

A police office AND a pilot..... Wwwoooooowwwww!!! I'm taking down Einstein's poster off my wall and replacing it with his...

Sorry for sounding so sarcastic, but c'mon... any moron with the right training can fly a plane...

EDIT: I think I miss-read... He left aviation to work in a field that provides reliable, stable income that can support a family... You're right, he is a genius!

cinical · Post by **cinical** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:04 pm

could i say full-time anymore in my previous post....jeez...sorry for the lack of proofreading.

eep...2 Green · Post by **eep...2 Green** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:00 am

Kelowna Pilot wrote:
A guy at my company who is part-time a few days a month works as a Full-Time Police Officer Full-Time. He was full-time in aviation before but then swapped careers and now fly's on the side...because of this decision he made........he is now labeled in my books as.....A GENIUS......
A police office AND a pilot..... Wwwoooooowwwww!!! I'm taking down Einstein's poster off my wall and replacing it with his...

Sorry for sounding so sarcastic, but c'mon... any moron with the right training can fly a plane...

EDIT: I think I miss-read... He left aviation to work in a field that provides reliable, stable income that can support a family... You're right, he is a genius!

Dude, get out of aviation if you hate it that much. No one wants to hear how little you think of pilots. You make yourself look uneducated and maybe a little disapointed in your progress so far.

Zatopec · Post by **Zatopec** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:01 am

I was working full-time as a pilot. I switched to ATS full-time then for a while found part-time work flying Senecas and Navajos. Can't fly where I'm at now but plan on returning whenever I can. I would give the charter company some but not all my days off and they would put me on when they needed me. I found it to be the best of both worlds!

757 · Post by **757** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:48 am

Thanks guys for the great info. I was wondering because of my full time job that pays pretty good and like 8 years away from early retirement, I am 39 years of age right now, I was maybe thinking of starting a small charter/cargo outfit try and provide some great service and my job allows me to release as many as half of my shifts without being penaized. As long as my shift is covered it is no problem, so this is in the back of my head in terms of ideas and I still get to do what I love to do and that is to fly.

Any feedback on this idea of mine from guys that have been in aviation or knows somebody that tried this please pass on some info.

thanks guys

757

Luscombe · Post by **Luscombe** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:20 am

I can think of a couple of examples of guys who work a real job with real pay, real benefits and don't get laid off every 12 months or so...

A friend of mine is a firefighter who instructs on his days off, mostly to give him something to do instead of staying home and watching Oprah. For him, it's more of a sanity break rather than income.

Another guy I worked with was a secondary school teacher. With the summers off, he flew a 206 on straight floats in the summer in the Northwest Territories. That was a good fit since school finished in June and he had to leave to go back down south by labour day. I think it was the same thing for him... namely a sanity break rather than income.

I guess the moral of the story here is that you can't really fly on the side for great remuneration, unless you're hauling bags of "flour" out of some strip in Columbia. That would probably be the only part-time gig that you could get rich on....or spend the rest of your life sharing a 5X8 cell with "Bubba"..... not my idea of having fun.

Just my 2 centavos worth.

V1VRV2 · Post by **V1VRV2** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:25 am

We have an F/O on our CL-601 he has a Farm,seems to be his full time endeavour, also he's the Maire of a small town, and fly's part time for us.

He seems to be enjoying himself however the drawback, is very little time off. Whatever turns your crank.

Cheers,

757 · Post by **757** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:38 pm

Is there such a thing as a part time corporate pilot out there and any stories of such.

thanks guys

gr8gazu · Post by **gr8gazu** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:07 pm

There are some corporations using part-time pilots but not too many that want to foot the training bill for limited use. Better value out of a full time FO.

Most part timers in the corporate world come with an endorsement and pick up same-type flying on time off from their day flying job.

rezassasain · Post by **rezassasain** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:06 pm

I don't know what qualify's But I'm employed by an airline and also work full time hours as a bartender. its pretty sweet cause the airline gig i only work about 10 or less days a month and make decent coin. Bartending just kills the time and well, Alcohol and Pilots always seem to go like peas and carrotts

FLYING career on the side?

FLYING career on the side?

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