Airship piloting

[pilotade]

Anyone with any information on alternative flying jobs to airliner work. I got my ppl and would love to fly commercially but don't want to risk the ATPL route and find no job at the end. A friend once mentioned working for an airship company and it caught my attention.. .. .Any views would be gratefully received.. .. .Ade

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Totally unfeasible I am afraid.. .. .WWW

[scroggs]

I had the pleasure of a conversation with a lady pilot with Virgin Airships (or whatever it's called) a couple of years back. Her route to flying one of those things was so full of convolutions, happenstance, odd connections and just plain luck, and there are so few opprtunities to emulate her, I wouldn't even waste time thinking about it.. .Oh, and she had to have an ATPL.

[PorcoRosso]

I read an article a couple of months ago about this way of flying.. .Sorry to disappoint you, but , as far as I remember, an ATPL was the minimum requirement.. .And mathematically, if you consider the number of Airships worldwide, the least you can say is that it's not a broad employment market ....

[clear prop!!!]

<a href="http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/175/srg_fcl_gid41.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/175/srg_fcl_gid41.pdf</a>

[pilotade]

Thanks to all the replies.. .. .Ade

[Genghis the Engineer]

With a few highly esoteric exceptions, you won't get a full time job as a pilot without a commercial license. But, there are many jobs in aviation which are fascinating and don't necessarily require an ATPL - many involve a lot of flying. For example:-. .. .- microlight or gliding instructor. .- Flight test engineer. .- maintenance technician who also does air tests (obviously light aircraft only). .- delivery or air taxi pilot (should only need a CPL).. .- test flying homebuilts or microlights (mind you, this does need ATPL level experience and knowledge, if not the actual license).. .. .However, getting into most of these jobs requires at-least as much effort as getting an ATPL, so to be honest I'd only aim for something like this if it's what you really want to do. If not, I'd just knuckle down and get on with your ATPL.. .. .G. . . . <small>[ 24 March 2002, 14:45: Message edited by: Genghis the Engineer ]</small>

[Rote 8]

Flyer ran an article on this a couple of months ago. From what I remember the article mentioned that an ATPL would be required and that any recruiters would also be looking for significant experience in gliders, hot air balloons and also someone with sailing experience.. .. .It sounds like a great job, but then so does Astronaut, and on the face of it your chances of being one are better. There are more Astronauts than Airship pilots in the world.. .. .CDTA