Pilots, mechanics, controllers, and employers, talking about the work. Anyone can read. You need an account to post, comment, or react.
Took Curtis's advice from a few weeks ago and applied for an airfield operations specialist role. Four years behind an FBO desk apparently counts for a lot more than I thought. Interview next week.…
Ran a live fire drill on the mockup this week with the new hires. Watching somebody understand for the first time that the fire moves toward the fuel and not toward them is the entire reason we do…
Sim tech reality check for anyone romanticising it. Yes I get to sit in a 737 flight deck every day. I also spend most of my week under the floor with a torch in my mouth chasing a hydraulic leak…
Twelve years of taking briefing calls and the single most common mistake is not weather. It is TFRs. People check the forecast religiously and never look at what got stood up this morning for a…
Large cabin owners: the parts that ground you are almost never the engine. They are cabin systems. A galley oven, a lav pump, a seat actuator. The airplane is legal to fly and the customer will not…
Fractional operations get asked about constantly and almost nobody understands the insurance side. Part 91K sits between private and charter, and the coverage does too. If you fly for a fractional…
Structures pays better than most people entering maintenance realise, and almost nobody chooses it. Everyone wants avionics or engines. Meanwhile every shop I know is short a sheet metal tech and…
powerplant written passed. thats all three. oral and practical next month and then i am an actual mechanic instead of a person holding a flashlight. eighteen months of apprenticing and my lead still…
PRIVATE PILOT. passed this morning. the examiner asked me why i picked my alternate and i had three reasons ready because wendell posted about it here months ago and it stuck. eight months, one line…
A list of aviation jobs that need no flight time and no degree, from my airfield alone: line service, ARFF, ops specialist, fuel farm, wildlife, snow, security badging, and the two people who…
Irregular operations, from the desk. When a system goes sideways the airplanes are the easy part. The hard part is crews timing out in four cities at once, and every fix creates two more problems…
What actually gets you the left seat at a 135 shop, in order. Time in type. A clean record with the dates filled in. Somebody here who will vouch for you. Total time is fourth and it is a long way…
The single engine turboprop argument, from someone who flies both. A PC-12 into a 3,000 foot strip with weather at minimums is a different risk calculation than a King Air into the same strip, and…
If you are a CFI deciding whether to add the instrument instructor rating, do it now rather than later. Instrument students are more committed, they cancel less, and teaching approaches will sharpen…
Sat my first line check as the one being checked in three years last week. Reminder that a check airman is not looking for a perfect flight. They are looking for whether your normal is safe. The…
Third season doing aerial survey and the thing that changed my business was buying nothing. No new aircraft, no new sensor. I bought better software for processing and cut my turnaround from nine…
People ask how airshow flying differs from an aerial tour operation and the answer is the audience. A tour passenger wants to be comfortable and see the canyon. A show crowd wants the edge and will…
The seaplane rating takes most people a weekend and about two thousand dollars, and it is the most fun anyone has ever had adding a line to a certificate. It will not get you a job by itself. It…
Ferry pay, since I said last time it is a who-you-know business. Domestic single engine moves are roughly a day rate plus expenses and it is not much. Transoceanic is real money and real risk and…
Helicopter pilot jobs, ranked by how hard they are to get with 500 hours. Tours, then utility, then EMS, then offshore. EMS wants 2,000 and turbine PIC and will not move much on it. Everybody wants…
ray explained the difference between an A and P and an IA to me today and i want to write it down before i forget. the A and P fixes and returns to service. the IA signs off the annual and approves…
Owner question I answer weekly. Hull insurance on a 200,000 dollar single is not priced off the airframe, it is priced off you. Same airplane, two owners, and the premium can differ by a factor of…
First night on goggles, years ago, I was so busy being amazed at the world turning green that I forgot to do my job for about ten seconds. Nobody tells you that the tool is also a distraction until…
De-ice season starts and every year the same thing happens. Crews want a number for how long the fluid holds and the honest answer is that the holdover table is a range, not a promise, and…
Interiors is the half of my shop nobody photographs. Seat covers, sidewalls, carpet, and the endless argument about whether a repair is cosmetic or structural. It is also the work an owner notices…
A broker offered me a part yesterday at a third of the going rate with paperwork that did not trace. I said no and reported it. Unapproved parts are not a pricing question, they are a fatality with…
FBO pay, plainly, because nobody publishes it and everyone is embarrassed to ask. Front desk starts around 17 to 20 an hour. Line service similar, more with a tow qualification and a de-ice…
People mix up the two sim jobs. The instructor teaches the crew and needs the type rating and the airline background. The technician keeps the box flying and needs electronics, hydraulics and…
Corrosion does not announce itself. It shows up as a paint bubble the size of a pea and by the time you can see it from six feet away you are into the skin. This is why the airplane parked outside…
How you actually get an ARFF job, since somebody asked. Most departments want a firefighter certification first, then they train you on the aircraft side. Some airports hire green and put you…