I'm in my mid 20's, and looking for a career change. I graduated university a few years ago, and realized pretty quickly that the cubicle life isn't for me; I've always toyed with the idea of getting my pilots license, but now I'm serious about it. I have zero experience flying, and no certificates or licenses. The idea of working for a commercial airline doesn't interest me--I want to work in the bush flying floats.
Through some research I found that there are some schools in Canada that offer a PPL & CPL entirely on floats (Harv's air, for example), and I'm leaning towards this rout, instead of other traditional schools that offer PPL & CPL on land planes. I have a few questions about the industry, schools, and being a bush pilot, that I was hoping I could get some answers to. Any help is greatly appreciated.
1.) How employable does a CPL entirely on floats (100h PIC, 200h total), make me? Should I expect to land a flying gig as my first job, or will I likely have to work my way up from ground crew (not that this is an issue)?
2.) Is 100hours PIC on floats looked upon favourably by employers?
3.) Any recommendations for flight schools to get CPL on floats? So far I've only heard of Air Hart, Glacier Air, Island coastal Aviation. I live in BC but am willing to relocate elsewhere in Canada.
4.) Was there a Bush pilot shortage in Canada before Covid hit? Or how was the job market, and industry doing more generally?
5.) Am I better off getting a traditional CPL on a land plane and then adding a 50hour bush course? How beneficial is having my CPL entirely on floats?
6.) What is the best plane to learn on? Air hart for example has a Cessna 172xp, and a Cessna 180 (both floats); would one make me more employable than the other? Or am I better off just picking the cheaper option (172xp)?
7.) Any tips on "the road trip", driving cross country and handing out resumes? Is that still favoured, or has it transitioned to mostly online interactions (phone, email, jobs boards).
8.) How did you/do you, like working as a bush pilot, and If you had to do it over in todays market, would you chose the same path?
I've probably missed a few questions, but thanks for reading, and I would appreciate any and all advice.
Cheers.
Wanting to pursue career as a Bush pilot, looking for advice
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shimmydampner
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- Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:59 pm
Re: Wanting to pursue career as a Bush pilot, looking for advice
Bush flying can be an incredibly rewarding life experience, especially if you have a passion for the outdoors and the wild places of this country. I started at it in the time of 9/11 and though it was a tough go at first, I wouldn't trade any of it. I'll preface my responses to your question with the caveat that these are just my opinions. Others may disagree, but there's no one single correct way to approach this career.
In response to your questions :
1) I think this will depend on your budget. While more time on floats will make you somewhat more employable, it will also cost you a lot more. Even if you can afford this extra expense, you may be better served to keep some money in savings; when you first start out you are not likely to make much money, so you may want to have some savings. I would suggest instead that you get a more varied training experience. I would recommend something like doing your PPL in a tailwheel aircraft, then build some time on floats, then rent something cheap and fly some cross country, then maybe throw in multi IFR training. This will open up more opportunities for you in avenues of bush flying that you may not have considered. (More on that later.)
2) It's all relative. 100 hours on floats is great, but not all time is equal. 100 hours on floats in a training environment will never mean as much as 50 hours on floats in a real world, on the job environment. Again, get what you can afford but in my opinion there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to paying a premium for float time to increase your employability, and the value of 100 or 200 hours of float training is over inflated, in my opinion.
3) I'm way out of touch with schools and training, but I hear good things about Air Hart.
4) In the time just before covid, the job market for bush pilots was great, just as it was across aviation as a whole. Because the airlines were vacuuming up pilots by the dozens, it was creating unprecedented movement at all levels.
5) See responses 1 and 2.
6) I don't think the specific type matters. Again, get what you can afford. If you can get a bit of exposure to constant speed props or common commercial float types like 180/185 that's a bonus but not critical.
7) I'm pretty far removed from that time in my career to say how effective that is nowadays. Perhaps a younger up and comer could speak to that more authoritatively. Not to mention, covid may preclude that from even being an option for you.
8.) I love it. I look back with very fond memories at everything I've done that has brought me to this point. Like you, I only ever wanted to fly floats, but while doing so, and thanks to a little serendipity, I've also branched out beyond that into areas of bush flying that were equally rewarding. This brings me back to my point about training variety in #1. Having a very diverse resume in terms of types of aircraft and missions flown has served me well and I think it would do the same for most bush pilots. Floats may be the main thing on your mind right now, but I can tell you from experience that other bush flying experiences will most certainly move the needle just as much, like softly touching down into 2 feet of powder snow in a ski plane, or landing a twin otter on a mountain gravel bar beside a fast flowing river, or on a seemingly impossibly short esker in the high Arctic.
You won't get widebody airliner captain rich as a bush pilot, but if you can stick with it you will make a decent living and be very rich in rewarding, adventurous life experiences, memories and stories.
In response to your questions :
1) I think this will depend on your budget. While more time on floats will make you somewhat more employable, it will also cost you a lot more. Even if you can afford this extra expense, you may be better served to keep some money in savings; when you first start out you are not likely to make much money, so you may want to have some savings. I would suggest instead that you get a more varied training experience. I would recommend something like doing your PPL in a tailwheel aircraft, then build some time on floats, then rent something cheap and fly some cross country, then maybe throw in multi IFR training. This will open up more opportunities for you in avenues of bush flying that you may not have considered. (More on that later.)
2) It's all relative. 100 hours on floats is great, but not all time is equal. 100 hours on floats in a training environment will never mean as much as 50 hours on floats in a real world, on the job environment. Again, get what you can afford but in my opinion there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to paying a premium for float time to increase your employability, and the value of 100 or 200 hours of float training is over inflated, in my opinion.
3) I'm way out of touch with schools and training, but I hear good things about Air Hart.
4) In the time just before covid, the job market for bush pilots was great, just as it was across aviation as a whole. Because the airlines were vacuuming up pilots by the dozens, it was creating unprecedented movement at all levels.
5) See responses 1 and 2.
6) I don't think the specific type matters. Again, get what you can afford. If you can get a bit of exposure to constant speed props or common commercial float types like 180/185 that's a bonus but not critical.
7) I'm pretty far removed from that time in my career to say how effective that is nowadays. Perhaps a younger up and comer could speak to that more authoritatively. Not to mention, covid may preclude that from even being an option for you.
8.) I love it. I look back with very fond memories at everything I've done that has brought me to this point. Like you, I only ever wanted to fly floats, but while doing so, and thanks to a little serendipity, I've also branched out beyond that into areas of bush flying that were equally rewarding. This brings me back to my point about training variety in #1. Having a very diverse resume in terms of types of aircraft and missions flown has served me well and I think it would do the same for most bush pilots. Floats may be the main thing on your mind right now, but I can tell you from experience that other bush flying experiences will most certainly move the needle just as much, like softly touching down into 2 feet of powder snow in a ski plane, or landing a twin otter on a mountain gravel bar beside a fast flowing river, or on a seemingly impossibly short esker in the high Arctic.
You won't get widebody airliner captain rich as a bush pilot, but if you can stick with it you will make a decent living and be very rich in rewarding, adventurous life experiences, memories and stories.
