cath

With my shiny new CPL I was planning on trying to get some work as a jump pilot. Anybody got any wisdom to offer about this lien of work??

Lurk R

Based upon similar threads in the past, a lot will depend on what sort of crowd you wish to fly for.

There seem to be good operators who treat the pilot as a valued team member and pay appropriately.

There also seem to be operators who see that they are doing you a favour by allowing you to gain hours in their rusted crate, pay you with a ham sandwich and expect you to fly a VFR aircraft through cloud.

At the end of the day I suppose it comes down to setting your own standards, looking at any options offered and deciding whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages in your personal situation.

Do expect some polarised views on this topic however...

shaablamm

What ever you do just don't sell yourself short for hours. Don't fly for free or even cheap for that matter. This is something that has to come to an end in G.A.
All in favour of the last post. At the very least if you can't get any info on the company, just have a good look at the aircraft, this will tell you more than you need to know.

Transition Layer

SKC, with a signature like that, you should have no problems fitting in mate!



Cheers,
TL

Beat Up

If you can find a half decent/shonky operater, Pj ops can be a good start to your flying career. I worked for a DZ on the east coast for about 9 months. Sure, the planes are a bit tired, and the weather is not always perfect. The way around this, is to make sure you look after the a/c you fly even if it is a heap, and if the weather is less than desirable, Dont fly unless your comfortable! You will get a lot of mixed opinions on prune about Meat bombing, but if you can get a break, go for it.
Skydivers are a strange breed, bit of fun. Watch out though as they are all experts on the weather/aircraft/theGPS!!
Good luck, and Dont fly unless they give you a chute to wear yourself!

Woomera

SKC

The only advice I can give you is that it is a policy of this BB that job offers or requests for PJE pilots that aren't accompanied by appropriate recompense, that is they (the pilots) are properly paid for their professional services will not be tolerated.
Further there are a set of rules for parachute orgs and for the operations and pilots carrying them.
A professional will abide by them, without exception

Good luck, if they wont pay you don't need the work that badly. The jumpers pay!

shaablamm

You really should change that signature. I know that the guys in the Gong are fair operators.

Well said Woomera.

Throtlemonkey

Here's a link to the apf site, so you can track down some drop zones in your local area. The regulations require you to have 10 hours on type and 165 tt, 100 comand. You also might want to look at CAO section 29.1.0 and your operator should give you a copy of the APF jump pilots manual to read. Good luck and follow the advice above - don't work for free.

http://www.apf.asn.au/apf_clubs/findaclub.asp

cath

thanks for all the replies and useful info. The signature's just a joke. A JOKE!! My sense of humour I guess. Maybe I should change it......

429 CJ

I wouldn't change your sig because somebody else doesn't get it, or like it that much. That's for you to decide.

You can also get the APF Jump Pilots' Manual through the APF website, the link to which has already been provided above. Just email them with a request for it, it is free.

You've had some very good advice posted for you by others above.

Dave Incognito

I’m no jump pilot, just a mere student of flying.

However, I believe they wear chutes in case one of the meat bombs gets caught up in the tail plane. This happened earlier in the year to a Caravan driver who was able to bail out before the aeroplane hit the deck. A very lucky man it would seem by the photos.

I guess some might argue that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if the rest of us cruising around in circa 1970 Cherokees, 152s etc were wearing some sort of parachute.

Beat Up

Hellfish, I wore a slimpack every flight i did, around 1200 of them.
out of all those flights, i thought i had to use only the once. Without going into too much detail, the reason that you wear them is not because of the plane. When a skydiver deployes his/her shute, a pilot shute is thrown to catch the air, which then pulls out the main parachute. These pilot shutes have in the past deployed prematurely. Catching the airflow and headed straight for the tail! It goes over the tail, skydiver goes under. No more tail feathers! So i figured, if it can take the tail off a caravan, it can take the tail off anything!
My advise, they may be uncomfortable, and they may only be an old army roundy! But just may save your life.

Felt kinda strange after I was no longer meat bombing, flying without one

hellfish

roger that, thankyou.

Makes complete sense, hopefully not too much of a chance of pax getting wrapped around the tailplane on charter flight..!!

Throtlemonkey

Well SKC its been a few days since you posted this, you've got your info. How many have you contacted ? What did they have to say ? and which one's recoiled in horror when you told them you wouldn't work for free ? .

[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: Throttlemonkey ]

joechen

and what's a reasonable pay rate for a jump pilot? i mean sure let's not work for free but what sort of figures are we talking? $10 a jump run? to all those meatbombers and ex-meatbombers, how much did you guys get paid out of interest?

Stunty

I know some guys that have worked for free. Others that have been paid GA type wages but I would guess the average to be about $10 a load.

cath

TMnull I've decided that I won't work for free, as many others have stated that demeans our profession. I checked up on a few from other pilots and without naming names, decided against several!! (They prefer to drop meatbombs through clouds etc.). I've got the contact names of a few other people and thought that showing up in person would be better than posting a resume. So this week I'm going to get some hours in a C182 as that's what they mostly seem to fly (most of my hours are in pipers.).

But I am starting an instructor rating soon, so I think i'll end up instructing anyway. It sounds more financially viable at the moment!

enaires

You might need those hours in the C182 before you contact dropzones. My advice is to be as prepared as possible, treat it as a normal commercial operation, but if you are not up to speed its hard to charge for it.

$5 per bum is a good one, and if you do it full time make sure there is some sort of retainer for the slow days! Its all about being fair, maybe a look at the award wages should be your guideline.

Jump flying is a lot of fun, you can learn lots, but dont push it...because they will try!

Good luck

Tom Thompson

Gidday.
Dropped bombs in NZ a while back. Got $10 per tandem. Did between 0 and 20 tandems a day.
Hope this helps.
Best first job could have had. Most valuable hours. And very respected engine handling for high powered piston twins.

Good luck.

Mil