Skydiving Gigs
10-20-2008, 04:03 PM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2008
Position: Enjoying the view
Posts: 407
10-20-2008, 06:42 PM
#5
Moderator
Joined APC: May 2006
Position: ATP, CFI etc.
Posts: 6,056
Skydiver firms are of two varieties- the C182 mom n' pop kind operating from a small hangar on the one hand, and Twin Otter or King Air, crank 'em thru high overhead operations on the other.
As for the mom n' pop firms, they need 25-50 hours in type (C182) and some sort of training in skydiver pilot ops. This is to get you approved with the insurance firm. There are schools for the skydiver pilot ops but it will be a cold day in Zimbabwe before I would pay for this sort of training. Just keep asking them until they agree to let you ride along on loads and when you have done this long enough to convince them you are serious, they will let you show them you can do it alone and then you are off an running. The mom n' pop firms are easy to get on with but they don't pay very much and they usually have several hobby pilots like me already on the roster because it's fun and not very formal. If you want to find one of these firms then just google up where they are and go visit them.
I don't know what there are in terms of the high-overhead operations in Florida, and there are none in Kansas, but there are several in Georgia and getting on with them is difficult unless you are already fairly experienced in turboprop operations.
As for the mom n' pop firms, they need 25-50 hours in type (C182) and some sort of training in skydiver pilot ops. This is to get you approved with the insurance firm. There are schools for the skydiver pilot ops but it will be a cold day in Zimbabwe before I would pay for this sort of training. Just keep asking them until they agree to let you ride along on loads and when you have done this long enough to convince them you are serious, they will let you show them you can do it alone and then you are off an running. The mom n' pop firms are easy to get on with but they don't pay very much and they usually have several hobby pilots like me already on the roster because it's fun and not very formal. If you want to find one of these firms then just google up where they are and go visit them.
I don't know what there are in terms of the high-overhead operations in Florida, and there are none in Kansas, but there are several in Georgia and getting on with them is difficult unless you are already fairly experienced in turboprop operations.
10-20-2008, 06:50 PM
#6
On Reserve
Joined APC: Apr 2005
Position: Lav Cleaner
Posts: 14
Skydiver firms are of two varieties- the C182 mom n' pop kind operating from a small hangar on the one hand, and Twin Otter or King Air, crank 'em thru high overhead operations on the other.
As for the mom n' pop firms, they need 25-50 hours in type (C182) and some sort of training in skydiver pilot ops. This is to get you approved with the insurance firm. There are schools for the skydiver pilot ops but it will be a cold day in Zimbabwe before I would pay for this sort of training. Just keep asking them until they agree to let you ride along on loads and when you have done this long enough to convince them you are serious, they will let you show them you can do it alone and then you are off an running. The mom n' pop firms are easy to get on with but they don't pay very much and they usually have several hobby pilots like me already on the roster because it's fun and not very formal. If you want to find one of these firms then just google up where they are and go visit them.
I don't know what there are in terms of the high-overhead operations in Florida, and there are none in Kansas, but there are several in Georgia and getting on with them is difficult unless you are already fairly experienced in turboprop operations.
As for the mom n' pop firms, they need 25-50 hours in type (C182) and some sort of training in skydiver pilot ops. This is to get you approved with the insurance firm. There are schools for the skydiver pilot ops but it will be a cold day in Zimbabwe before I would pay for this sort of training. Just keep asking them until they agree to let you ride along on loads and when you have done this long enough to convince them you are serious, they will let you show them you can do it alone and then you are off an running. The mom n' pop firms are easy to get on with but they don't pay very much and they usually have several hobby pilots like me already on the roster because it's fun and not very formal. If you want to find one of these firms then just google up where they are and go visit them.
I don't know what there are in terms of the high-overhead operations in Florida, and there are none in Kansas, but there are several in Georgia and getting on with them is difficult unless you are already fairly experienced in turboprop operations.
10-20-2008, 08:52 PM
#8
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: B737 FO
Posts: 236
Hang out and get to know everyone. Skydivers are a good bunch of people, little strange, but good people. It usually works like anything else in aviation, its all who you know...
Thats how I got my first gig.
Turbine operators will laugh at you if you have less than a couple thousand hours and turbine time. They will give you a ride along though...
Look for a small operator and have at least 500TT, then keep bugging the hell out of them until they give you a shot! Its a fun gig. Just remember, boobs for altitude and you'll be just fine!
Thats how I got my first gig.
Turbine operators will laugh at you if you have less than a couple thousand hours and turbine time. They will give you a ride along though...
Look for a small operator and have at least 500TT, then keep bugging the hell out of them until they give you a shot! Its a fun gig. Just remember, boobs for altitude and you'll be just fine!
10-21-2008, 04:30 AM
#9
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Whale FO
Posts: 267
I fly for a skydive op a few times a month... I just hung out there and harassed them for a while and they checked me out to fly for them when I had 270tt, they didn't use me that much then. this year I came back with 600 tt and now i'm actually on their schedule. Insurance?! ha, they definitely don't have it. So sometimes when they say for insurance mins you need ___tt, they could be blowing smoke.
It's a fun little gig, they've got a STOL kit, and an stc for wing extensions that raises gross by 550lbs. Make sure if you do fly that you save the engine... Just don't go full power all the way up to altitude and then chop'ndrop back down to the airport. It's a good way to shock cool the engine and you never know when the thing is going to go. There was a DZ just the other day that threw two rods and had to dead stick it, lucky for him he was close to the airport. And on a last note make sure you've got gas too. The same place that blew their engine has also had two dead stick landings because they ran out of fuel (made it back to the airport both times) and then ran out of fuel on the taxiway another time.
It's a fun little gig, they've got a STOL kit, and an stc for wing extensions that raises gross by 550lbs. Make sure if you do fly that you save the engine... Just don't go full power all the way up to altitude and then chop'ndrop back down to the airport. It's a good way to shock cool the engine and you never know when the thing is going to go. There was a DZ just the other day that threw two rods and had to dead stick it, lucky for him he was close to the airport. And on a last note make sure you've got gas too. The same place that blew their engine has also had two dead stick landings because they ran out of fuel (made it back to the airport both times) and then ran out of fuel on the taxiway another time.
10-21-2008, 05:32 AM
#10
Moderator
Joined APC: Mar 2007
Position: Tiki bar
Posts: 2,634
I second what WMU said. It is a blast, I got lucky though. A DZ took a chance on me with 280TT and brought me on full time on two 182's and a 206. My best advice is to get to know the people at the DZ, most skydiving jobs are gotten through the buddy system. Just take care of the planes and they will take care of you.
Also, dont be pressured into doing something you dont want to do or feel safe to do, managers and DZO's may not be pilots and that cloud layer might look like 'industrial haze' to them.
Watch the jumpers too, at least at my DZ, the guys would occasionally climb on the plane at altitude and one particular guy would pull on my aileron control cables during climb. Put them in their place as necessary. And... if you heard nothing I just said, remember this: Boobs for extra altitude. I saw more titties per weekend flying jumpers than you could at a strip club.
Also, dont be pressured into doing something you dont want to do or feel safe to do, managers and DZO's may not be pilots and that cloud layer might look like 'industrial haze' to them.
Watch the jumpers too, at least at my DZ, the guys would occasionally climb on the plane at altitude and one particular guy would pull on my aileron control cables during climb. Put them in their place as necessary. And... if you heard nothing I just said, remember this: Boobs for extra altitude. I saw more titties per weekend flying jumpers than you could at a strip club.
