Air Taxi Work v Flight Instructing?

[patience]

this isn't an advert for a job or anything, but was wondering how come so few people set themselves up for the multitude of air taxi outfits around the UK and end up taking up FI courses instead..

I think air taxi work is far more relevant to the airlines (although I've worked as an instructor, 'fun' as that was, it's not quite the same) and can be really quite fulfilling.. taking a twin into a small grass strip, picking up passengers or freight and heading off into an international airport.. battling your way around the airways or keeping it low to avoid charges etc.. all good fun, builds the hours and opens up the biz jet route (which is pretty much only open to those with some experience), as well as the airlines (many of which think this is valuable flight time (eg BMIRegional etc).. the money can be pretty good too (depends..)

I think the basics are 400TT, 300PIC of which 40 has to be multi-engine logged as IFR (they can't flex, it's a rule somewhere).. this might mean a trip to Florida, or wangle the use of a local brute.. but I'm sure it can be done a lot cheaper than FI

Being a man about town, I know Woodgates (Belfast, IOM etc) Centreline/BFC (Bristol, Coventry, Belfast etc) and Capital at Exeter are looking for CVs, I know that's the case for a few others

was just wondering what people's thoughts on this were, how come nobody applies?

I can get the salary/wages for a couple of outfits
patience

[adverse-bump]

to do single pilot IFR you need 700hrs inc 100 multi IFR. that may answer your question.

some places have grandfather rights meening that, if you already work for them, ie as a FI , or pilots assisstant, you can act as captain with 400hrs, and x number of sectors with a line trainer.

[Davidils20l]

I have to agree. Air taxi is a valuable experience. In my case I did the flight instruction route first, making friends with airplanes, going on as many flights as possible, flying "The Empty Legs" to build up the time. Once I had the hours, I had no problem getting a job in Air Taxi. I was flying C404. Not a bad piece of equipment. Neither is the Navajo which seems to be a favorite. I did three years of on demand Flying, and now am sitting right seat in A320. And I feel i deserve to be sitting here because I worked the ladder to get there.

In short guys, Air Taxi is a great step in the right direction.

Good luck to you all.

[Fair_Weather_Flyer]

I agree with everything you say patience. But it all comes down to hours and money. What do those 100 IFR of which 40 must be PIC cost? You're looking at about £100 per hour in the US + about £1000 for flights and accomodation, about £5000. Then you need to beef up the overall IFR hours, though they can be in a single. You'd need about 30 to add to your instrument rating total. 30 x £60 (in the US) so about £2000 after accomodation. Now it's cost about £7000. You'll have most likely needed to have instructed for a bit to get the 400hrs, let alone 700hrs that most operators require. So, add £5000 for the FI(R) and now you've spent £12,000!

Air Taxi can pay okay. A figure I heard quote was £28k, accomodation thrown in for a weekday scheduled flight in England. But an experienced FI could make £15,000pa more than that for CPL/IR instruction. Very often though, charter jobs are 24/7 standby with no guaranteed income. Sure, some airlines like BMIR and Atlantic love the Air Taxi time but others frown at single pilot time. Also, many would rather you just had a SSTR, rather than hours. So instead of spending that £12,000 on the FI and multi hours they spend a little bit more on the SSTR.

[patience]

Fair Weather Flyer, you're probably one of the most realistic and helpful posters on pprune - thanks for that

I tend to think if any of us had done our maths properly at the beginning of our training, well, we'd probably have settled on more terrestrial careers! but bugger that, we all live in la la land and the story works out mostly okay for those who persist.

it's 400TT, 300PIC and 40multi/PIC at my company (just checked our ops manual, no mention of anyone's grandfather).. and we get one cv a week from someone who actually qualifies, which usually doesn't work out due to them not being able to relocate or something.

I think it only works out if you can get the time cheaply (ie you're in Florida etc anyway) or if you do get a sweet time building deal here (and fly it IFR), but it's worth chasing (there's no guarantee with SSTR or FI either)

thanks for your thoughts again
Chris