Stone Mountain Safaris

[Phlyer]

Have to disagree with the cub driver being 'awesome' statement. In the first video he soaks his engine and prop - not smart out in the bush. Second video he slips to a short field landing - what's awesome about that - it's the kind of thing most master between private and commercial licenses.

[tiny]

Just a side note. The video clip, while interesting is not the stone mountain cub or from that area. Toad River is rather mountainous, but the strips are equally short. That L19 can be a handfull too, never have flown it but an O-540 and 70 degrees of flap make for some interesting short strip ability.

[Bronco Billy]

The only thing that scares me is that, the only job posting done in the last days is this super cub job up north of hell knows where. Last year, at this same time they use to be jobs posting every day or so. Now there will be everyone fighting for a super cub job dangerous and far north.

Anyway,

I admit the experience is great but I am a bit anxious for this season

[Invertago]

I would suspect the lodge operators are pretty nervous about this season given the US recession and all. That being said, I bet they're looking at resumes with 2000 hours for the job. To all you 200hr cpl guys out there.... nothing to see here folks lets keep on moving lol. Worth noting though, the posting cutoff date is June 1st... a long way from now and the job doesn't start till July 1st even further away. This posting is just very early probably due to a shortage of guys last year. There will be more postings to come and closer south if that matters.

[tiny]

job dangerous and far north

What makes you think this job is dangerous? If you have experiance I wouldn't think has any more danger than the next job. Geographically Toad river is in the southern third of Canada. Hardly far north or remote.

I would apply for the job if I had alittle more experiance.

[Flybabe]

That's where the experience comes in. Your decision making skills - and aircraft handling skills - *should be* better with time. It's a dangerous job if you have neither.

[Invertago]

So what would say a float flier on say a beaver make for 3.5 months at a lodge?

[Blue Side Down]

Depends on where, but probably topping out at 2/3 the above.

[180]

So what would say a float flier on say a beaver make for 3.5 months at a lodge?

You should start a new thread with this question.

In Alaska, some camp -2 guys make upwards of 10 grand US a month.

In BC, most -2 guys make around 5 grand a month.

Anything East of BC, they make about $3,500-ish.

Not sure what the north of 60 numbers are?

[SkyWolfe]

I'm sorry, this is like my dream job

[Invertago]

Y sorry?

[SkyWolfe]

Sorry because everyone is talking about the animal hunting side of it... But I love the idea of dropping the hunters to very small remote locations - I think it would be challenging and thrilling at the same time. I'm sorry they want to kill animal for sport - but since I dream in wilderness, challenges, and tail draggers, I can't imagine another way I would be able to do that sort of flying...

Wolfie

[Invertago]

Sorry because everyone is talking about the animal hunting side of it... But I love the idea of dropping the hunters to very small remote locations - I think it would be challenging and thrilling at the same time. I'm sorry they want to kill animal for sport - but since I dream in wilderness, challenges, and tail draggers, I can't imagine another way I would be able to do that sort of flying...

Wolfie

Seems everything is a trade off in aviation... it is hard to avoid everything you don't like... eg
-don't buy a ppc
-don't work for free
-avoid cma they pay bad
-PC12s kill too many people
-don't transport hunters
-don't fly airforce 1 if obama is onboard
-don't instruct if you have under 1000 hours and instructors are not pilots anyhow
what am I missing here?

One idea for you... get a good paying flying job and buy a nice used supercub and take it where you want to go Operating costs on wheels shouldn't be much more then a newish C172 or DA40 as both often have the same engine. There are fishing lodges that use supercubs on floats though as well (not sure if fishing is more ethical then bear hunting, depends which animal life is worth more... another debate there)

Big word of caution... if you get the hunting job and your name is wolfie... you might end up a trophy

[SkyWolfe]

What are you talking about? I am a trophy

But good point, you can't avoid shit - I don't want my husband to fly a widow maker... but if he doesn't, he wont get his dream job. So whatever, I deal with it

[Invertago]

What are you talking about? I am a trophy

But good point, you can't avoid shit - I don't want my husband to fly a widow maker... but if he doesn't, he wont get his dream job. So whatever, I deal with it

I bet you're a great trophy but you don't want to be wall mounted do ya

There are good company's out there, though everyplace is a trade-off. Usually if you want good pay and safe employment you need to move up north which can be tough on a family. Might have to leave the lower mainland. Can your husband teach? Pacific Sky is a pretty good school and they are advertising right now.

[C-GGGQ]

I don't see the big deal about the hunting aspect. We flew hunters everywhere. In two weeks i figured i loaded 4 tonnes of geese into an Islander. Some were natives and hunted for food. Some were Americans that hunted for fun but then the lodge used the meat for food and sold to the natives what they didn't use. Plus there are so many freakin geese that you HAVE to hunt them to keep the numbers down. If you are only allowed 1 animal a year they ALLOW you to hunt. WHen you are allowed 80 of them they WANT you to hunt (every hunter in manitoba is allowed 80 geese yeah there are that many)

[Invertago]

Shooting geese is like a public service in many parts... New York comes to mind at the moment.

[Idriveplane]

Awesome lookin job! Almost makes me want to see if I could get 3 months off this summer

[ZBBYLW]

Just a side note. The video clip, while interesting is not the stone mountain cub or from that area. Toad River is rather mountainous, but the strips are equally short. That L19 can be a handfull too, never have flown it but an O-540 and 70 degrees of flap make for some interesting short strip ability.

The L-19 is a handfull, but it keeps you awake! I actually find it more difficult to land on pavment as it can get REALLY squirrely, of which i have done about 600 landings on pavment with this bird!

[Invertago]

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained so I sent him a resume. Nice guy, would be a cool place to spend the summer no doubt, but in conversation, turns out he is drowsing in resumes. Seems the reward for offering decent pay for a fun job is running out of ink in your printer. Have fun whoever gets it

[Elman]

Does anyone know if this is this $30,000 salary (as pro rated per yr) or $30,000 for the length of the contract? There's a difference especially flying here on tailwheels.

[AdamB]

Just a side note. The video clip, while interesting is not the stone mountain cub or from that area. Toad River is rather mountainous, but the strips are equally short. That L19 can be a handfull too, never have flown it but an O-540 and 70 degrees of flap make for some interesting short strip ability.

O-470, 60 degrees of flap. Usually.

[Blue Side Down]

This ain't your plain vanilla L-19 apparently... it's souped up for the job at hand.

[Wilbur]

They're flying the Ector Super Mountaineer. Ector Aircraft Co. was building new L-19's in Texas during the 70's under the names Mountaineer and Super Mountaineer. The Mountaineer ran the the standard L-19 0-470 making 213hp, the Super Mountaineer runs an 0-540 with 240hp. It should be fine bush plane with 60 flaps (and they are big flaps) to get in, and the power to get back out. In that part of BC, I would think they are using rough, fairly high mountain strips in the 500' to 1000' range.