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In article , Shiver Me Timbers wrote:
I currently work as a software engineer First as everyone will tell you, I'm sure - DON"T give up your day job. I'd agree with that; the day job can pay for the flying. In your shoes I would start approaching the small, tiny, out of the way, miniscule mom and pop operators and have a serious talk about your abilities as a software engineer and how you could seriously help them improve, promote, and maintain their computer systems particularily on the web. The trouble is - on a small mom and pop shop, they simply won't have enough work to keep a software person busy for more than an hour or two a week at most. It just won't pay the bills. Added to that, the job market is oversaturated with 'web designers'. If finding work in software engineering is hard, finding work in web design related things is much harder - probably as hard as getting an airline job. If the software job's work hours is preventing flying, freelancing can provide more time flexibility, so helicopter training can be fit in between (and as a freelancer, you can also 'network' a bit more easily, especially if you hang out at the airport and do freelance work for business owners who happen to be pilots. You'd never guess how I've got 100% of my freelance work.). The best line of work is things that CANNOT be outsourced - that require physical presence. Many small/medium businesses have appalingly bad (worm/virus-ridden) LANs, no backups, and no sysadmin to sort out the mess and make a network that works well. They can't hire a full time sysadmin because they maybe only have an hour a week of sysadminning that needs doing. So do like the jets - become a fractionally-owned sysadmin :-) You can provide general network/computer health services to a number of companies, and if there's a few of them owned by pilots, then usually, a bit of flight time comes with it ;-) -- Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net "Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee" |
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Dylan Smith wrote: So do like the jets - become a fractionally-owned sysadmin :-) And, if you're in the States, keep in mind when you're pricing your services that the IRS wants an extra 15% for self-employed people. George Patterson This marriage is off to a shaky start. The groom just asked the band to play "Your cheatin' heart", and the bride just requested "Don't come home a'drinkin' with lovin' on your mind". |
#3
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You may want to go to the forums on justhelicopters.com and verticalreference.com
and get feedback from working helicopter pilots. Both websites were apparently created by EMS pilots who were filling their spare time (one joked that EMS means "Earn Money Sleeping"). Also, I was thinking you had your commercial airplane license when I commented on the $20K figure below. If you're a low time pilot, you'll also have to add in additional cost to get you to the 250 hour time required for a commercial, and it would be cheaper to build the time in airplanes. Max T, MCFI Max T, CFI wrote in message news:4ckac.137249$1p.1789941@attbi_s54... $20K sounds about right to get the commercial helicopter. I think initially your bigger opportunity to fly for hire will be as a helicopter CFI. Just had my first helicopter lesson last week, and the CFI, who has about 400 hours in helicopters, said he spent about $45K in training in checkrides (private through CFII). Sounds like he feels he'll be teaching for another 6-12 months before he'll get hired on either in the Gulf of Mexico or Grand Canyon, which he said were the two biggest markets for turbine helicopter jobs at around $45K. He said typical EMS jobs want 1000-3000 hours of experience. Good luck! Max T, CFI, ATP Otis Winslow wrote in message .. . I think the challenge will be getting insured as a low chopper time pilot. "NewsMonkey" wrote in message ... Hello All, I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback/advice from people who have experience in the commercial aviation field. I am trying to make a decision on whether pursuing a career, as a commercial helicopter pilot is realistic. First a little (I promise) bit of background. I am a 34 y/o man in good health and I currently work as a software engineer. My education is that of a Biochemist but I entered the computer field, and left graduate school, writing software during the "Dot Com" boom of the late 90's. As most everyone knows when the bottom dropped out of the "Internet" era a lot of jobs went with it as well as the security I had in the field. The fact is that with economy still recovering and many, many software development projects going over seas, jobs are still hard to find and the salaries have been literally cut in half. All that being said, I have started looking at possibly switching to other careers. I am a private pilot though I do not have many hours flying solo. In fact, after I got my ticket I barley got to fly at all, mostly because of money. In fact is has been about 5 years since I have flown solo and I would need some instructor time in the cockpit before being ready to go up on my own again. I have always looked at careers in aviation as something that I would enjoy but since I never went the military route I figured I never had a chance. Also the regular long time away from home that airline pilots endure is something that would not be right for my wife and children. Plus after what my flight instructor told me regarding the low pay that pilot's get while trying to get their Multi Engine, and Turbine, etc... Ratings? Let's just say from what he told me you don't start making good money as an airline pilot until you are flying the 737 size jets and higher. In any case I had the opportunity to speak to a helicopter pilot instructor at my local airfield. He made it sounds as if civilian helicopter pilots can get hired without military experience. Contrary to what I had thought, he said that non-military pilots worked for medieval, police, and news organizations as well as others. He went on to mention tourism related professions out in Alaska and other locations. I asked him if one had to own their own helicopter to be paid as a pilot and he said not at all. He said that in his situation he started instructing by leasing a Robinson helo and the business just grew and grew. Now he owns 4 R22's and hires others to instruct for him. Now this all sounds nice but he does have an incentive to get someone to take lessons from him, hence why I am looking for outside opinions from those who are already in the field. What I am looking for is a career that I would love going to everyday and one that might allow me to support my family. I still enjoy writing software and have had limited success writing commercial programs and consulting, but if it were realistic to think that I could find a job as a commercial helicopter pilot to provide/supplement my income I would invest the time and money (approx $20,000) it would take to earn my commercial rating. Thank you in advance for any advice or comments. - David ) |
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NewsMonkey wrote in message t...
Hello All, I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback/advice from people who have experience in the commercial aviation field. I am trying to make a decision on whether pursuing a career, as a commercial helicopter pilot is realistic. First a little (I promise) bit of background. I am a 34 y/o man in good health and I currently work as a software engineer. My education is *Snip* I'm in the same boat.. errr plane.... I'm 37, have about 500 hours of fixed wing (Commercial with Multi) time and looking for a change. I also work in the computer field as a contractor (ie, all the work with no benefits or security) and even though it pays well, I'm wanting somthing more satisifying. I'm also married but we don't have any kids. My wife is very supportive and is willing to move to let me follow my dreams. So want am I doing about it? Well, I'm still working my good paying job but working on expanding my flying experience and hours. I would LOVE to find a way to marry my love of computer and flying. However I haven't found a niche for this (yet). I feel that I have a good chance of making the switch. I have a good attitude and willing to co-pilot for someone many years younger. I accept the fact that I will be starting on the lowest level of the flying ladder but know with proper training and hard work I will be able to succeed. Also, with a CFI/II rating you will have a lot of advantages working in your professional/computer field. I know I have a large pool of highly paid engineers/programmers that want to learn to fly. So my advice would be to learn to fly but keep working your day job. Get your CFI/II rating and lobby your friends at work to take lessons. You get paid to fly and you also have your good paying job till you have enough flight time to get that flying job. Once last thing, I think the most improtant part of getting a flying job is attitude. Be positive, learn from your peers and respect the younger pilots that have more hours. |
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#6
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Contrary to
what I had thought, he said that non-military pilots worked for medieval, police, and news organizations as well as others. Medievil? Freudian slip there? LOL!! |
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