Best Flying Job you have ever had

[Benwa]

Right now, what I love about my job (King Air 100) is the diversity. Last week is a good example, flew Northern - Southern - Eastern - Western Quebec... and on friday a quick trip to New-York.

[peakbagger]

The more people you ask the more you will hear many opinions. I will be willing to bet, that if you asked pilots around the world this question.... the most common opinion you will hear will be this...

"get on a twin otter"


I heard it all through my training, and I got lucky to do just that. I have a laptop and a box full of photos, friends all over the world, stories to tell, memories forever, passports full of stamps, and I had the privilege of learning from many experienced fliers who had chosen to stay in the DHC-6 world for decades. No disrespect for any other type of flying... but my advice to you....

"GET ON A TWIN OTTER!

Pretty slick photos! I couldn't agree more with your comment about the old time Otter drivers. I always have my ears perked a little more when chatting with them. I have learned more useful info about flying while tossing freight and B.S.ing over beer then I ever did in school.

[The Old Fogducker]

< As the Avatar shows, flying tankers. Fun, hands-on flying, a great group of coworkers, 5 1/2 months of 'work' a year, and the whole winter off to do other things that matter (skiing etc..) to me.

North Shore, during a slow season, do you have roughly 5% of your pilots cause 99% of morale problems because they have too much time on their hands?

In all sincerity, its serious a mental health issue on the job ... every bit as real as walking into a prop, or slipping off the wing of a 215 head first onto the ramp.

Small things fester until they become huge interpersonal issues. The Chief Pilot is a moron and he should be fired immediately ... the Ops Mgr is a total jerk that knows nothing ... absolutely nothing about aviation and was hired only because he's the cheapest bastard that ever walked the face of the earth, ......the fire boss' are idiots, .... the new Air Attack Officer they are trying to check out should be dragged outside and thumped out because he called for another load that wasn't needed.....the AMEs couldn't fix a faulty bubble gum machine no matter how much they were paid, ....the weather sucks, .....why were we base changed yesterday? ... is the fire centre staffed by total fools? Why don't they hire more firefighters for the initial attack crews, obviously they are too cheap ..... The dispatcher told me I should prepare for a possible base change in the morning ... just who the hell does he think he is anyway? Who died and made him the new slave owner? .... How come those guys 3 provinces over make more than we do in base salary but less per hour? Why do we have to pay for our own satellite TV at the bases? If they can paint that airplane, they could have given us a raise instead .... Look at that new coffee pot ... those stunned jerks are wasting money again .. that's money we should have gotten in a raise..... I think we should go on strike next year if we are screwed over like this any more ... every time we turn around, management is taking something away from us ... it used to be a good place to work, but now its so screwed up, I can't see why anyone would want to be here ... everybody will dump this hell hole the moment they can possibly get away .. ... those total idiots bought the wrong airplanes for the fleet .. if only they'd listened to me, we wouldn't have this problem, but did they listen when I went in there and gave those stupid clowns the benefit of a piece of my mind? ... oh no, they're too dumb to pay attention ... One of those capitalist management pigs actually asked me to help laminate a checklist yesterday ... I told him it wasn't my job and went back to watching TV but one of the new guys is going to screw it up for all of us because he actually spent 10 minutes laminating 6 pages of checklists ... that scummy scab will ruin our seniority system by suckholing to management.... and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on ...

Something as simple as being supplied a meal while on stand-by at the tanker base rather than not eating and then claiming a meal on expenses leads to near temper tantrums that are better suited to 4 year old children playing in a sandbox arguing over a toy dump truck rather than long in the tooth pilots. If you point out their behaviour as being infantile, the answer is ... "But you just don't understand!"

In busy periods, everyone acts impeccably professionally ... gets along pretty well and does a fabulous job on putting out fires, but when its slow, its a classic case of "Idle hands are the devil's playground."

The Old Fogducker

[kilpicki]

Old Fogducker-- 5% of the pilots whining every time they opened their mouth is exactly why a certain Western Canadian Provincial Air service was shut down a number of years ago.

Management had so much of it for so long they said --shurt her down-- and they did-- Union and all.

Best job I ever had and I still hold those 5% in my "biggest a-hole file"

[North Shore]

Actually, Foggy, I think that our place is a pretty good one. We have our share of whining (and, Lord knows, I've been on that list also!), but it seems pretty evenly spread around. Of course, as the season progresses, the pitch rises... You are very correct in your assessment of the devil making work for idle hands - and, over the last few seasons, there's been a lot of idle hands in our neck of the woods. Too much rain - climate change, don'tcha know...

[Flybabe]

Fogducker, did you work down here too???

[KenoraPilot]

Agreed with "Right Seat Wonder", best job I have ever had was flying the Twin Otter down in the Maldives with Maldivian Air Taxi/Kenn Borek. Best flying ever! Bombing around Africa in an RJ is cool, but doesn't hold a candle to the Twotter in the dives. The bush flying in NWT and NWO was right up there too!

[Gumby]

Coming into Vamizi Island.

Although this gorgeous little island off the coast of Mozambique we often (Coastal Aviation) have charters into this narrow strip from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Naturally clearing customs in the little fishing village/town Pemba, MZ.

[magyar]

Dagwood I enjoyed reading the Full circle article, freakin halarious!

my best and only flying job so far was jump pilot. the cargo loads and offloads itself(skydivers), no complicated radio communication, clearances, RVR limitations/CAP GEN will we get in stuff, In a slower plane you can actually ENJOY flying through the clouds as you sink/climb through some wuth a lage open jump door to make it even more realitic(or in a dhc...you can just roll the window down like in a car, try that without deppressuizing in a jet!),

was good times!!

[nacho]

The only part I don't like is when they are shooting at you, the rest ...sweet !!
Nice machine...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wx00Aq9Vsk

['79K20driver]

The best job I had was for Green Airways in Red Lake Ontario. Its getting to be a while ago but I remember it well. We had a great crew and you really felt like you part of something there. I have lots of good memories of evenings sitting around with Bob and the crew having a few beers by the dock waiting for the last plane to return for the day.

Rightseatwonder is on to something though as the best flying I've done was on a Twin Otter in the NWT. I'll never get that airplane out of my system. The airline stuff I do now seems tedious and boring compared to any sort of the float/bush flying I used to do. Now it's all memos and paperwork and listening to crew members complain about hotels and crew meals and each other! I think the bush will pull me back in one day as I don't think the airline thing is really for me. Every spring I get the itch to get back on a Twin Otter somewhere.

['79K20driver]

The quote on the Caravan picture above, "It's good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters, in the end," is so very true. The journey is where your stories are born.

[Cougar]

Ah, Twin Otter, Twin Otter, Twin Otter..........

I'd rather have a bad day in that machine than a "fine" day in many others....