flying for money

On Sep 24, 3:03 pm, wrote:
In a few months I will begin training as a firefighter. I figured
that becoming a pilot would be a great second career. I haven't taken
any schooling for my pilots license and am just curious if anyone has
any advice they can give me?

For instance: Is it profitable? Is it very difficult to get a loan
for a plane? How long does it take to become a pilot of a six to
eight passenger plane? If I'm using the plane for personal use, is
the gas consumption for a multi engine incredibly high?

Thanks for any advice.

I know that in California the CDF is always looking for Firefighters/
Pilots. They do require a fair amount of low level time (most guys
start their career by dusting) and they highly prefer you have an A&P
ticket as well.

-Robert

Thanks for the help Robert. I haven't thought about going to CA, but
that makes a lot of sense. What is an A&P ticket?

On Sep 24, 7:11 pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Sep 24, 3:03 pm, wrote:

In a few months I will begin training as a firefighter. I figured
that becoming a pilot would be a great second career. I haven't taken
any schooling for my pilots license and am just curious if anyone has
any advice they can give me?

For instance: Is it profitable? Is it very difficult to get a loan
for a plane? How long does it take to become a pilot of a six to
eight passenger plane? If I'm using the plane for personal use, is
the gas consumption for a multi engine incredibly high?

Thanks for any advice.

I know that in California the CDF is always looking for Firefighters/
Pilots. They do require a fair amount of low level time (most guys
start their career by dusting) and they highly prefer you have an A&P
ticket as well.

-Robert

On Sep 24, 4:57 pm, wrote:
Thanks for the help Robert. I haven't thought about going to CA, but
that makes a lot of sense. What is an A&P ticket?

Mechanic. During fire season they position their planes in some remote
areas so they like to hire pilots who can work on the planes. I've
known a couple of guys who have flown for CDF. Usually they know that
is what they want to do and spend a couple years dusting crops to get
a lot of low altitude time.

-Robert

That's interesting. So, these guys don't use their own planes I'm
assuming? Is that better pay than a typical CA firefighter?

On Sep 24, 11:10 pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
On Sep 24, 4:57 pm, wrote:

Thanks for the help Robert. I haven't thought about going to CA, but
that makes a lot of sense. What is an A&P ticket?

Mechanic. During fire season they position their planes in some remote
areas so they like to hire pilots who can work on the planes. I've
known a couple of guys who have flown for CDF. Usually they know that
is what they want to do and spend a couple years dusting crops to get
a lot of low altitude time.

-Robert

On Sep 25, 3:32 pm, wrote:
That's interesting. So, these guys don't use their own planes I'm
assuming? Is that better pay than a typical CA firefighter?

They certainly don't use their own planes. I'm not sure about the pay.
Its got to be better than the ditch diggers though. They are flying
tankers and drop water on fires.

-Robert

A friend of mine has a Huey that has a Forest Service contract. He just
got released from the fires in Montana last week. He gets $5000 per day
to make the helicopter available and he gets $1900 per flying hour in
addition to the $5K. The duty day is 14 hours of which you may fly 8
hours. He always flew within 5 minuites of 8 hours. Every 12 days they
make you take 2 days off. He had his Huey up on the fire for 90 days.
Out of that money you have to pay all your expenses. The Forest Service
does pick up the insurance cost.






Robert M. Gary wrote:

On Sep 25, 3:32 pm, wrote:

That's interesting. So, these guys don't use their own planes I'm
assuming? Is that better pay than a typical CA firefighter?


They certainly don't use their own planes. I'm not sure about the pay.
Its got to be better than the ditch diggers though. They are flying
tankers and drop water on fires.

-Robert

Newps wrote:
A friend of mine has a Huey that has a Forest Service contract. He
just got released from the fires in Montana last week. He gets $5000
per day to make the helicopter available and he gets $1900 per flying
hour in addition to the $5K. The duty day is 14 hours of which you
may fly 8 hours. He always flew within 5 minuites of 8 hours. Every
12 days they make you take 2 days off. He had his Huey up on the
fire for 90 days. Out of that money you have to pay all your
expenses. The Forest Service does pick up the insurance cost.



Curious, about how many days per year does he have the Huey available to
them?

"Newps" wrote in message
...
A friend of mine has a Huey that has a Forest Service contract. He just
got released from the fires in Montana last week. He gets $5000 per day to
make the helicopter available and he gets $1900 per flying hour in addition
to the $5K. The duty day is 14 hours of which you may fly 8 hours. He
always flew within 5 minuites of 8 hours. Every 12 days they make you take
2 days off. He had his Huey up on the fire for 90 days. Out of that money
you have to pay all your expenses. The Forest Service does pick up the
insurance cost.


What does operating a Huey cost per hour?

On Sep 26, 7:46 am, Newps wrote:
A friend of mine has a Huey that has a Forest Service contract. He just
got released from the fires in Montana last week. He gets $5000 per day
to make the helicopter available and he gets $1900 per flying hour in
addition to the $5K. The duty day is 14 hours of which you may fly 8
hours. He always flew within 5 minuites of 8 hours. Every 12 days they
make you take 2 days off. He had his Huey up on the fire for 90 days.
Out of that money you have to pay all your expenses. The Forest Service
does pick up the insurance cost.

Probably because they have to self-insure it. There probably are not a
lot of insurance companies excited about insuring planes flying *into*
fires.

-Robert