Turbine Time

[Bonzo828]

I have been lurking on the forums here for a while. Thanks to all you seasoned guys for the wealth of knowledge. If this question has already been asked and answered, I apologize. I didn't find anything when I searched.

 

Most jobs require a minimum of 500 hrs of turbine time. How do pilots make that transition? You spent money, got your ratings, done the CFI thing and built up your hours. You want to transition into something besides teaching and make better money, but have no turbine time. Thoughts?

[Little Bird]

Build your piston hours to +1000 and get hired by a tour company that hires with no turbine experience, i.e. Papillion, Temsco. If you don't like teaching, try piston tours in various places that hire on around +500 hours or even ag. You'd probably start on the ground there but with patience move up into flying. Another alternative is to be employed at a company with piston and turbine machines, stay there building experience and loyalty and work your way up.

[Whiteshadow]

What Little Bird said is exactly right. When you say "most jobs require 500........." You are actually looking ahead to jobs that would require skipping the true "first tier" turbine jobs. The jobs that require those 500 hours know that your opportunity to get those hours are in the places that Little Bird mentioned. They are really "second tier" and up jobs.

[Hand_Grenade_Pilot]

About five years ago there was a huge demand for pilots in the GoM sector; knew a couple flight instructors that got hired with no turbine experience. Now however, with the price of oil being so low, flying in the GoM is not currently a viable option for the 'turbine transition'.

 

Which, as others have said, leaves flying tours in Alaska, NYC, Grand Canyon/Vegas, etc.

 

I would be weary of jumping into one of those 500 hour R44 tour outfits unless absolutely necessary. If you have a job at a busy flight school, stick with it until you have at least the night time to be ATP qualified; it will be invaluable later in your career.

 

Also, working as a flight instructor greatly expands your knowledge of what you learned in flight school. While the thought of getting in an R44 and not worrying about students trying to kill you certainly has its appeal, sticking with the CFI gig until you can fly turbine tours (around 1500 hours) will ultimately give you a better foundation.

[Bonzo828]

Thanks for the responses guys! Greatly appreciated and some really good advice.