How do you guys do it? and is it worth it?

[Gomer Pylot]

It's hard on family life because you're away from home much of the time, and frequent moves are part of the job. I can already see it coming again, because a hurricane is heading for my home, and about the time it arrives, I'm supposed to be at work. My choices are to just let my family fend for themselves, not go to work and risk losing my job, or taking them with me and finding a place for them to live while I'm working 12 hours/day. None are attractive, but I'll decide something when the time comes.

 

And yes, even if you have 20,000 hours, when you go to another job you'll usually receive starting pay, with little or no credit for your hours. Employers do this because they can, and will always pay the least they can get by with, and because there are always new pilots willing to fly for nothing, we all suffer for our entire careers.

[palmfish]

Depending on your state, your age, your background, and physical health it may be easy or not...If you want, PM me your phone number and we can talk

 

Blake

 

I'm guessing you're signed up with G-RAP? Pretty obvious from your posts...

[OhhAndy]

It's hard on family life because you're away from home much of the time, and frequent moves are part of the job. I can already see it coming again, because a hurricane is heading for my home, and about the time it arrives, I'm supposed to be at work. My choices are to just let my family fend for themselves, not go to work and risk losing my job, or taking them with me and finding a place for them to live while I'm working 12 hours/day. None are attractive, but I'll decide something when the time comes.

 

And yes, even if you have 20,000 hours, when you go to another job you'll usually receive starting pay, with little or no credit for your hours. Employers do this because they can, and will always pay the least they can get by with, and because there are always new pilots willing to fly for nothing, we all suffer for our entire careers.

Yeah I feel for you but there are not too many hurricanes in oregon, washington, or california. The reasons you listed are exactly why I am not into the gom. I already work nights, weekends and some holidays so this is not scarring me in any way, its the lack of pay you guys are claiming to get. Why is it that everyone on here says the pay sucks but most of the schools and job listings say it is relativley easy to break the 65k mark????

[Gomer Pylot]

Schools will say whatever they think will get you to give them their money. You can break the 65k mark, but only after a decade or so with the same employer, maybe. It varies a lot, but you won't get that starting out with anyone. Maybe in a few years after some major inflation, but not today.

[206Flyer]

Schools will say whatever they think will get you to give them their money. You can break the 65k mark, but only after a decade or so with the same employer, maybe. It varies a lot, but you won't get that starting out with anyone. Maybe in a few years after some major inflation, but not today.

 

While I agree that you will start around 50k give or take in the GOM, it is possible to be well over that in a few years. At ERA for one...depending on contracts, some pay bonuses around 20k per year. While most companies will start you at 50, there is plenty more to be made with bonuses, overtime, safety bonus, flight pay, etc.

[Sephro]

I too have been looking into making flying my career. It just seems that everywhere I look I get conflicting reports on the pay.

Am I looking to get into flying to become wealthy? no!

But how could I justify a career that won't even pay enough for me to survive?

The way some people on here are making it sound you will be making almost $30k/yr working long hours so the option of a second job so you can pay your bills and still have enough $$ to eat is near impossible.

I just find this difficult to believe that pilots are making this little. Right now I make just over $30k/yr and have no debt and I am just getting by... How could I make less and have debt and still be able to feed and cloth myself? Let alone if I ever did decide to have a family..

 

The pay conflicts I am reading everywhere is the one and only thing stopping me from taking the leap into this career.

[OhhAndy]

I may be wrong but I get the feeling some of you guys are gloom and doom. I have seen plenty of jobs online that work 7/7 or 2/3 that have pretty good bene's, and start out around 50-60g/yr with 1500hrs and up. If you pull up the payscale pages it seems to reason the average salary for a heli pilot is around 75g/yr for an experienced pilot with over 3000 hrs. What may I ask that you guys are doing for such crappy pay, and are you working year round or just seasonal for your lucky to get 50g jobs?

[Gomer Pylot]

They generally start at around 50k, and you get 500-1000/year raises, maybe. Hours you've logged don't matter much, except to separate who gets hired. Go to another job, and you start at new-hire pay, no matter how many hours you have. That's the way it works system-wide.

[hooked4life]

The Reserves and National Guard are deploying at almost the same rate as Active Duty, so....you might not be keeping that cushy job. The NG was great when we weren't at war, and the views from the "older" gents here reflect that attitude (One weekend a month, two weeks in the summer woo hoo I can't believe I get paid to do this). In my opinion, everyone is active duty or "just redeployed" nowadays with no change soon.

 

There is no easy way to become a helicopter pilot. Pay your dues, work hard, and feel good in a job well done.

 

By all means, join the Army. It's a great experience, but don't do it just to learn to fly. Just like the guys who joined for the college money. You will be disappointed.

^sounds very wise

[ArmamentDawg]

I too have been looking into making flying my career. It just seems that everywhere I look I get conflicting reports on the pay.

Am I looking to get into flying to become wealthy? no!

But how could I justify a career that won't even pay enough for me to survive?

The way some people on here are making it sound you will be making almost $30k/yr working long hours so the option of a second job so you can pay your bills and still have enough $$ to eat is near impossible.

I just find this difficult to believe that pilots are making this little. Right now I make just over $30k/yr and have no debt and I am just getting by... How could I make less and have debt and still be able to feed and cloth myself? Let alone if I ever did decide to have a family..

 

The pay conflicts I am reading everywhere is the one and only thing stopping me from taking the leap into this career.

 

I take it you're single, working a fairly mundane job making just enough not to be poor, and you have a passion to become a pilot. What the hell is holding you back?

 

You can sit around reading internet forums about flying for the rest of your life. You can talk with your friends and family about how you think you're going to start flight school soon until you're blue in the face. You can lay awake at night imagining what it's like to cruise the sky until the sun comes up. You still won't achieve your dreams. You still won't become a pilot. Have faith that there are plenty of people out there "making it" as professional pilots. These are the ones that didn't get hung up on setbacks, or compromise their dreams for fear of failure. The successfull career pilots out there, have said to themselves, "I'm going to do this no-matter what. I'm starting today," and have never looked back.

 

Hope this helps.

[hotrodturbo7]

well said , Dawg

 

btw, here is the payscale link again

 

brian hudson helo-pay and job links

[BigSky]

I may be wrong but I get the feeling some of you guys are gloom and doom. I have seen plenty of jobs online that work 7/7 or 2/3 that have pretty good bene's, and start out around 50-60g/yr with 1500hrs and up. If you pull up the payscale pages it seems to reason the average salary for a heli pilot is around 75g/yr for an experienced pilot with over 3000 hrs. What may I ask that you guys are doing for such crappy pay, and are you working year round or just seasonal for your lucky to get 50g jobs?

 

 

Even though I don’t have one hour of flight time yet, I’m going to have to call B.S. on this statement. My father has been flying helicopter since way before I was born. He is in the heavy lift world and has worked for every outfit you can imagine. I promise you when he goes to a new job he dose not start back at the beginning. It usually comes down to him negotiating with the company for what he will get. Now granted he as a ridiculous amount of hours but I assure you he makes way more than 60-70k.

[ADRidge]

I take it you're single, working a fairly mundane job making just enough not to be poor, and you have a passion to become a pilot. What the hell is holding you back?

 

You can sit around reading internet forums about flying for the rest of your life. You can talk with your friends and family about how you think you're going to start flight school soon until you're blue in the face. You can lay awake at night imagining what it's like to cruise the sky until the sun comes up. You still won't achieve your dreams. You still won't become a pilot. Have faith that there are plenty of people out there "making it" as professional pilots. These are the ones that didn't get hung up on setbacks, or compromise their dreams for fear of failure. The successfull career pilots out there, have said to themselves, "I'm going to do this no-matter what. I'm starting today," and have never looked back.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Good post. To be fair, it takes a while to get everything set up to take on civilian training to "Double-I". I had about a year of setbacks, and I started feeling like a real jerk telling everyone that I'm "gonna" go to flight school. I started to doubt myself, and I let my mind get to me. If you can get the money for training, take a deep breath and jump in. The water is fine.

[james28]

man, look at the pay for saudi amarmco.

 

 

 

*

 

Part 91 oil operations

*

 

Approximately 70 helicopter pilots and 21 aircraft

*

 

206L3 Captain (being replaced with A109) or B212, B412, or B214ST Copilot.

*

 

2 types of pilot (Consultant Pilot & Saudi Aramco Pilot)

*

 

Consultant Pilot- Single (unaccompanied) status. No Medical (except for an emergency in the Kingdom) and no retirement. Payment of taxes is the sole responsibility of the employee. The work schedule is 8 weeks on and 4 weeks off. A work week, by contract, is 6 days on and 1 day off (but normally 5 days on and 2 days off). 12 hour duty day with approximately 3.5 flight hours per day. Company apartment and all food is provided along with uniforms, laundry, and dry cleaning. The company pays you to purchase tickets for your 4 weeks off. Average profit after purchasing ticket is $500.00 ($2,000.00 per year). Pay is $6,600 per month or $79,200 per year. Most pilots qualify for tax-free status.

*

 

Saudi Aramco Pilot - Family (accompanied) status. 401k provided with the company matching 9% dollar-for-dollar (vested from day 1). Company pension that is approximately $40,000 per year (vested after 5 years). Pension is paid as a lump-sum or annuity. Housing is a western style compound (similar to an upscale military base). Rent is $475 per month and includes all utilities, local phone and internet. Free medical in the Kingdom. Group plan for the rest of the world costing approximately $120 per month for a family ($10.00 copay with prescriptions). No dental. Company school within walking distance of housing serving K-9th grade with U.S. teachers. Company pays 90% of boarding school fees for 10-12th grade (limited to $32,000 tuition per child). 49 days per year vacation. Normal work schedule is 17 days per month (12 hours per day). Approximate salary the first year is $100,000 tax free. Annual raise of 5% - 10% per year.

[toad]

long time listener, first time caller........just kidding, but really this is my first time jumpping in on the conversation. so im not sure if this is where to ask this question........does anyone know any information about flight training outside of the states? as in somewhere the american dollar goes farther. and if you did train outside the states, is you training recognized by employers in the states?

i would love to learn to fly but as always money and a low credit score are the obstacal to overcome.

any info would be helpful.....

[ThBrtmn]

Heres a quetion for the military guys??? Say you went through civilian commercail training. Does anyone know if the Military would put you in as a pilot if there were no extensive college background?

[hotrodturbo7]

Depending on your state, your age, your background, and physical health it may be easy or not...If you want, PM me your phone number and we can talk

 

Blake

 

I read on the 1800goguard site in the warrant application guide you have to be prior service to go to flight school?

[bird]

I don't know what school you are at where the cfi's are lasting 1500 hours. Ours are hired up at 750.

 

There are companies that will fly you anywhere in the country to fight fire second seat.

 

 

The job market is hot.

[auto360]

This is all very interesting. Just goes to show that what may be bad for one person can be a dream job for the other. Here is my view:

 

1) I have no debt

2) I'm saving every dime I make so I can pay for school outright

3) I'm single

4) No kids

5) My last job trucking I made $52,365 in one year.

6) Right now I make over $80,000 working in the middle east saving for school. This doesn't count...it sucksbut at least I can pay for school upfront

7) I want to work the GOM because I love the atmospere down there. Its hot dirty and muggy with strange weather. I love it. I hope I can sleep on an oil rig as much as I can. Remember, I slept in a semi truck for 11 years in all kinds of places like next to rail raod tracks...I loved it.

8)Start off making 50K! Fine by me. Raises, workover, bonus's and the like...you won't catch me complaining.

9)Get a job working 14/14 !! Holy crap! This in itself is the most beautiful thing in the world. Lets see, that means I can have the time to travel anywhere in the US so I can go kayaking, ride my motorcycle, ride my ATV, go scuba diving, go see my friends in different states, ride my bicycle, go camping, explore old ghost towns, go see museums and the list just goes on and on....

10) And then when my time off is over I get to go back to work flying helicopters for 2 weeks in the south

 

So for me, what more could I ask. Any negative I see will be far out weighed by all the positives

[slick1537]

explore old ghost towns, lol. Yea I don't really want 14 on 14 off but now that you look at it like that I suppose it may not be that bad If i adopt a job with that schedule. I mean most people get 2 weeks off a year and that is for a regular job. You get two weeks off every two weeks .

[Gomer Pylot]

But in the two weeks you work, you put in more hours than most people do in a month, by a lot. Let's see - 14 hours/day times 14 equals 196 hours. 5 days/week times 8, times 4, equals 160 hours. It's all in how you look at it.

 

BTW - two weeks off every two weeks would mean never working. Surely you meant two weeks off every four weeks.

[clay]

But in the two weeks you work, you put in more hours than most people do in a month, by a lot. Let's see - 14 hours/day times 14 equals 196 hours. 5 days/week times 8, times 4, equals 160 hours. It's all in how you look at it.

 

BTW - two weeks off every two weeks would mean never working. Surely you meant two weeks off every four weeks.

 

Gomer,

you say 14 hrs a day, but you dont actually fly for 14 a day. the MOST you can fly is 8 hrs, OR a 14 hr duty day. correct? according to 135.265 you arent allowed to fly more than 8 hrs during an consecutive 24 hr period, 34 hrs in any 7 consecutive days, 120 hrs in a calender month, or 1200 any calender year. So according to the FAR's the MOST you can LEGALLY FLY in your 2 week hitch is 68 hrs. I know a few pilots who have shut down on rigs because they hit there 14 hr duty day. so technically you will never WORK 196 hrs. you may be on call 196 hrs, but who cares about that if your sittin there watchin tv.... did interpret the FAR correct?

[Gomer Pylot]

As far as I'm concerned (and the FAA says the same) if I'm on the clock, I'm working. I may not be flying, but flying and working aren't the same. You can fly 10 hours/day if you're flying with two pilots, and it often happens in the GOM. 8 hours/day flying is the limit for single-pilot operations.

 

Nobody who works a standard 9-5 job actually WORKS for 8 hours a day. There are always other things going on. Claiming you're only working when you're flying is specious.

[auto360]

LOL,

This is so easy to respond to.

 

Lets see, 11years of driving over the road. Staying out on the road 4-6 weeks before going home then getting 4-6 days off.. You want to talk about long duty days...Every day for me was "living the job", sun up till sun down and then some. And if I wasn't driving I wasn't making money but still had to stay close to the truck. I lived trucking...and you know what, I'm not complaining because I loved it simply because for me the positives far out weighed the negatives. Sure most truckers complain, but I thank the Lord everyday I'm not them.

Ok, my job now. I'm doing 12-14.5 hrs a day 7 days a week and I'm stuck in an office. When I simply just wear down too much I can take a half day and just sleep. This has been going for over a year now, my bank account looks good but still not there yet...soon This is called the sacrafice period.

So a 15 hr duty day for 2 weeks then 2 weeks off...AND still making the same if not more money--please don't even try to spin that off as a negative to me.

I'd rather work long days and then have alot of time off where you can actually do something. People who work a "normal" job really have no time. They get home from work, have a 2-3 hours before bed time, which basically means that they can't get much done and then the weekend comes...2 days off then starts all over again. You can't really get out and explore the country in 2 days. A big no thanks!!

 

Ok, I'm done my ranting. Back to loving my sucky ass job in the office.

Cheers

Matt

Edited October 16, 2007 by auto360

[JPDPilot]

I'd rather work long days and then have alot of time off where you can actually do something. People who work a "normal" job really have no time. They get home from work, have a 2-3 hours before bed time, which basically means that they can't get much done and then the weekend comes...2 days off then starts all over again. You can't really get out and explore the country in 2 days. A big no thanks!!

 

I'm the same. I'd way rather work long hrs in a day for a few days, then have a long period of time off, rather then have a "nine to five job" where you'd only have a couple of hrs off in the morning and evening and have the weekend free, which doesn't give you much time to get a serious project done or travel very far or spend very much time enjoying some recreational activities.

 

JPDPilot