From Float flying to Airlines?

[trentkoch]

Hey everyone,

I am in the earlier stages of my career and am thinking of starting a float flying job on something like a C180 or C185. I am wondering though if i do start flying floats would it be harder for me to get a FO position on a multi turbine down the road on something like a king air? Compared to someone who built their time on wheels? Airlines is eventually the goal.

[PilotDAR]

In my opinion, a few hundred hours of float flying will look excellent in your piloting experience in that the reviewer will know that you have spent that time assessing your environment, and making more decisions than wheel pilots. Float flying requires more awareness of weather, loading, wind and water conditions, and better dead reckoning type navigation, and all done single pilot. Those skills become an excellent foundation for building better advanced (multi/IFR) skills later.

I think that pilots who go straight from a 172 and some sim, to right seat in a twin, miss the opportunity to build some advanced basic skills, and self confidence.

[Transition9er2]

Hey everyone,

I am in the earlier stages of my career and am thinking of starting a float flying job on something like a C180 or C185. I am wondering though if i do start flying floats would it be harder for me to get a FO position on a multi turbine down the road on something like a king air? Compared to someone who built their time on wheels? Airlines is eventually the goal.

In my opinion, your best bet is to do some digging and start making connections with HR at different companies and ask them directly. Then you can plan accordingly.

The airlines have changed so much from top to bottom since covid. You may have had an old timer making the hiring decisions that could recognize the value of floats, however now it’s mostly younger(ish) people who simply check boxes. This might not be the case at the smaller operators, however my point is the same… use LinkedIn, Facebook, “the phone” and start making direct connections. Not only will this help answer your questions directly but it gets you networking. It’s such a powerful tool that has been overlooked by many many ppl unfortunately.

Good luck. My flying prior to the airlines was some of my favourite memories!

T.

[Cavalier44]

The float time itself is an asset, and as others have said, the experience that you gain doing this type of flying will be of great benefit to you throughout the rest of your career in aviation.

With that being said, you must keep in mind that if your goal is the airlines eventually, you'll likely be looking at regionals like Jazz, Encore, Porter, etc. I think it's very unlikely to get hired at any of these operators with solely single-piston float time. Typically they look for candidates who have some IFR experience and at least a few hundred hours in the right seat of a turbine aircraft, i.e. King Air, Metroliner, Pilatus, etc. Therefore you should consider the fact that you might have to make an intermediate career move prior to heading to the regionals/airlines in order to gain the kind of experience that would make you more attractive as a candidate.

I don't think that having some experience flying floats is going to preclude you from seeking a 703/704 multi-turbine FO gig, if anything it makes you more attractive as a candidate having some real-world experience versus someone who only has instructing time, for example.

[Bede]

Float flying is cool and develops a lot of PDM skills that will last you a career. The downside is some people can get "bushed" and their discipline goes downhill.

From a hiring perspective, most airlines have some sort of matrix whereby you get a point for, let's say, TT>3500, jet>500, university/college, French, etc. How many points for each I don't know.

[Firetractor]

This is absolutely possible, as i've seen several friends take this route and did so myself. One thing you should know before hand however is this isn't the most efficient route to the airlines and if you aren't ready to burn a couple winters not flying this may not be the best choice for you.

[Rowdy]

Most of my time pre airline was On floats. Mixed with a little bit of multi and multi turbine on wheels. Enjoy the journey. Have some fun. build some memories. Gain a skill set that others don't.

My night landings still suck! haha

[co-joe]

The first thousand hours don't really matter that much. If you want to fly floats, don't let anyone talk you out of it. You'll always be glad you got that experience early on, I wish I had. Beyond that if you want to fly for an airline, then the best type of experience is sched flying for a smaller airline.

[matt foley]

Unless you are prepared to turn down solid offer(s) in an environment where first jobs are notoriously difficult to secure, you won't have a choice. I have been telling aspiring pilots for years that your hopes and dreams(Airline pilot, Corporate pilot etc) are in the hands of someone else for the first while. You take the job you're offered and then as the experience builds so does your ability to be selective. That and you(maybe not you specifically but the royal You) doesn't even know what to like and not like. The vast majority of entry level pilots join the workforce to be airline pilots only for some of them to discover other avenues of interest before getting to the Hat'n Bars club. Unfortunately the rest of us have to listen to the daily reports of "My buddy just made 67 skipper. Could have been me." which is sometimes true but sometimes the mumblings of the delusional with Dorito stained pants and the inability to enter a hold without breaking into a cold sweat. It's always better to be contemplating your next career move while being paid by someone else to gain experience.

MF