Whats next? (Too old, debt etc part 2)

[alctel]

Good morning,

This is a follow-up to this post I made 5 months ago (http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... =3&t=42307) which was asking for advice on how to proceed. First of all, thanks again for all the great advice in that thread.

As it turns out, I got a new job from 7-3, so that I could fly in the afternoons and still work full time. My license has gone pretty well, and god/weather willing I should pass in the next week or so (I already passed the written, 87%).

I'm wondering what to do for the next step.. after my license I will have ~70 hours. I want to do check rides and general flying about in a diamond, 172, warrior and take tailwheel instruction which would be about another 30ish hours. My final goal for the time being is flying floats somewhere - to this end I was wondering whether to do the 50 hour course at ocean air (http://www.oceanair.ca) on the Cessna 180, which would cost about $13000-14000. This would put me on 150 hours, a good place to start the commerical license, but its pretty pricey. Is the 50 hours on a Cessna 180 really worth it, and would it give me a leg-up at float companies? I have no ties etc, so can easily travel for work.

Does the make of float plane really matter that much? Would it be worth instead getting the float rating and then building time on a cheaper plane, like a 172 on floats after buying part shares in it?

The other option is to buy a part share of an aircraft and build cheap hours that way, and then do the instructor rating, and teach for a couple of years. I also like this idea since I like teaching (a large portion of my day job is IT training) but it wouldn't be a perm thing, and I don't want to be one of those instructors just 'doing it for the hours'.

I'm in a good place financally - I have about $15,000 straight off, and after expenses, food etc I get about $1500 - $2000 a month from my job I can put straight into flying.

Is it worth it to do the multi/IFR rating for either route?

My first choice is to do the float course, get 50 hours on the 180, then the commerical and then hit up various Northern companies next summer. However I don't want to waste a lot of money doing a useless course if it doesn't make much difference to employability. If I don't do that, I will just rack up hours exploring BC, and become an instructor.

Also I have no interest in becoming an airline pilot so that isn't factoring into my decision.

Thoughts? Opinions? Insults?

Thanks for your time in reading.

[North Shore]

Insults?

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!

It seems that you see yourself initially in the float world. I wouldn't necessarily spend the cash on an instructor rating if your heart's not really in it. I'd see if you can buy a cheap (Cub? Champ? tri-pacer?) on floats and fly it around as much as you can. If you've got the time, set out across the country - you'll learn far more in one day of x-c than you ever will in a month of flogging around in your local area. (Perhaps a little late in the season now this year, though) Nothing against Ocean Air, but to a certain extent, most planes fly pretty much the same, so spending an extra ?$100/hr for a 180, when you could be using it on a cheaper alternative learning exactly the same things seems, to me, to be a waste of your hard-earned cash...if it's all about t/o and ldgs and attitude on the water, then the cheaper the better. Perhaps think about doing your commercial course starting in about 30-50 hours - that way you could finish your flight test and exams, and then use that big x-c trip to fly around and drop off resumes next summer. Also, if you had your own floatplane, you could do the majority of your commercial on floats... If I were a CP, I'd be pretty impressed if a guy from BC with 200 hours, and 70 ish in floats showed up in his own Cub on my dock in Manitoba, having flown the whole way, handing out resumes!
Also, at the end of the day, you'd have the plane which you could then turn around and sell, and still have some cash left over..

There's my $.02

That, and $.98 buys you a cup at MacDonalds..

Edited to add: Just read your earlier post....I wouldn't worry about the age thing - I first stepped into an aeroplane in '91 at 25, and didn't get my first real job until '97, when I was 31. Five years after that, I was finally earning decent cash. Also, unless you absolutely have to, don't borrow any money to pay your way. The first years will be hard enough without having to worry about $300/mo in loan payments hanging over your head..
And..I see you are on the coast - while winters are a poor time of year for flying, I'd really try and bust your a$$ to get your licence done by the spring..

[alctel]

Thanks for the great advice.

As to the borrowing thing, I managed to get a job that starts early enough that I can get to the airport in the afternoons while still working full-time. Which is pretty great.

Thanks again for the excellent thoughts!

[Stevo226]

Insults?

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!

..

I fart in your general direction

[iflyforpie]

Now, vamoose or I shall taunt you a second time!

[sugarfree]

A good thing to do is go for your night cert.

First you need to figure where and what you want to do.. Most go the CPL/Instructor building time and go for multi/IFR

Floats are nice, but spend some time greasing your landings first..

[cubonfloats]

I agree with north shore. I was told a while back by a guy doing all his time building on the school's Multi, "pick what you want to do and build all your commercial time on it, even if its a little more expensive you'll have the upperhand while applying for that hard-to-land first job". I didnt listen and im kicking myself, finishing my commercial licence with 7 hours on floats

[. .]

I agree with north shore. I was told a while back by a guy doing all his time building on the school's Multi, "pick what you want to do and build all your commercial time on it, even if its a little more expensive you'll have the upperhand while applying for that hard-to-land first job". I didnt listen and im kicking myself, finishing my commercial licence with 7 hours on floats

That guy building his time on the twin obviously had more dollars than brains. I would get your float time on the cheapest planes possible. If you can get hooked up into a program that hires its own, that would be the best. Not sure if anything like that exists or has existed. I've found that 99% of first jobs will be made by contacts, or first impressions made. There's almost no one hired by just going through a stack of 200hr applicant resumes and looking for someone who's flown a 182vs a 172.