Hello everyone,

As some of you know, I have spent the last 15 years or so messing with motorcycles and not using my A&P license. I a re-established my license now (had to retest from lack of use) and am looking for a job.
There is nothing locally and I am thinking seasonal is the thing to look for.
I have an offer to work at a place that operates Beavers on floats. Problem is the place is in a major city 3 hours from home. I am fine with working 3 hours from home, and they pay is good enough for me to afford my house payment, and an apartment, but it won't leave me with much else. It is also not seasonal. The guy wants a commitment after trying it out for 120 days or so.
Beavers are awesome and all that, especially on floats, but is this that valuable of experience? How many more years will Beavers still be used as part 135 aircraft? Not many, I would think.
My heart tells me to look north. I grew up in Anchorage, but have no connections up there anymore. So here are some questions that maybe some of you guys either in Alaska can answer or who have worked in Alaska can answer.

1. How do you look for work in Alaska when in Washington? I have been googling and send my resume, but only one response.

2. Is May / June too lete to seek a seasonal job in Alaska?

3. How many tools are seasonal mechanics expected to bring? I have one of everything, but I don't think I need to show up with a 3000# Mac rollaway. I would think a couple of road boxes would suffice.

4. Am I correct to assume most seasonal, remote area jobs provide food and lodging? I know not to expect much, but I like roughing it.

I have also been trying to contact and apply for helicopter jobs. It is the direction, as a mechanic, that I would rather go. How the hell does one get a foot in the door? I have made it pretty clear that I would be willing to start in any capacity and at any wage to get the experience. I am even forest service red carded and can drive dangerous trucks. If I were an employer, I would hire me.
This winter I think I will take a factory school from A-Star or Bell, that would probably help and get me some contacts, but for now, I am gong nuts not working. It isn't even so much a money thing. My wife tells me we are ok with that (she is out CFO) it just that I have worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week for every summer since I was a kid. I have been off work since we closed our shop, and I am getting soft and going a little nuts. Plus, even though my wife says we are ok on the money, what I do have in savings I can spend on a decent airplane once I am bringing in some dough.

If you'd be interested in relocating to Colorado, we're hiring right now and do often enough.

Tadpole wrote:If you'd be interested in relocating to Colorado, we're hiring right now and do often enough.

Colorado is nice. I will send you my CV. PM me an email address.

D.

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Most of the bigger Part 135 outfits up north have web pages now and have some openings listed. The turnover with A&P's is as high as it is with pilots, so there will always be something opening up. Especially if you aren't picky about where in the state you end up.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Most of the bigger Part 135 outfits up north have web pages now and have some openings listed. The turnover with A&P's is as high as it is with pilots, so there will always be something opening up. Especially if you aren't picky about where in the state you end up.

Gump

I have been searching, I have found some, no idea as to if any are reading my resume. It is actually not a resume, it is a CV, the more modern and better version of a resume. If anyone in the industry would like to read it, and give me any pointers, I would appreciate the advice. I can send it by email in PDF. PM me if you want to see it.

Don't really care if it is seasonal. I like the SE, but I'm not goung up there to play, I want to work.
I like the idea of seasonal in Alaska. I have worked for myself for a long time and done well with it. As soon as I am qualified to take my IA exam, I am probably going just do my own thing. I don't want to put time in somewhere thats is expecting a life long commitment, only to bail in 3 years. Plus, I almost own my home here in North Central Washington. I don't want to relocate completly unless it is for a really good job.

D.

It's not just the CV/resume. When I was lead pilot with Yute Air in Kotzebue, for some reason we seemed to get all the faxed pilot resumes at our station instead of ANC. Some weeks maybe a hundred of them. Out of that hundred we might get two or three follow up phone calls, and out of hundreds and hundreds a guy might actually show up at the door. Phone call guys got questions answered and resumes forwarded to ANC. Show up guys got the tour, and maybe even a call to chief pilot that this was someone we wanted. The rest...... Round file.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:It's not just the CV/resume. When I was lead pilot with Yute Air in Kotzebue, for some reason we seemed to get all the faxed pilot resumes at our station instead of ANC. Some weeks maybe a hundred of them. Out of that hundred we might get two or three follow up phone calls, and out of hundreds and hundreds a guy might actually show up at the door. Phone call guys got questions answered and resumes forwarded to ANC. Show up guys got the tour, and maybe even a call to chief pilot that this was someone we wanted. The rest...... Round file.

Gump

I am thinking the competition for pilot jobs is a bit higher than for mechanic jobs, but I know what you are saying.
I just emailed my CV to about 30 places in South East Alaska. I will mail some other parts of the state later. I suppose calling is not a bad idea.
It is a pretty big leap for me to hop in my Jeep and drive to Alaska with my tool box. I suppose maybe I should, but damn, if I didn't find anything..........
I have made bigger leaps before though, maybe it is what I need to do.

David

DavidB. wrote:

Tadpole wrote:If you'd be interested in relocating to Colorado, we're hiring right now and do often enough.

Colorado is nice. I will send you my CV. PM me an email address.

D.

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If you are thinking outside the box (so to say). There is three helicopter outfits in the Boise area I can think of that might use there own mechanics.

1. Silverhawk Aviation at Caldwell (KEUL): http://www.silverhawkaviation.net/home.html

2. Fire Hawk Helicopters at Boise (KBOI): http://www.firehawkhelicopters.com/

3. I believe there is a gentleman at Homedale that has a helicopter repair, maintenance, inspection station. I'm not sure the name of the company or the gentleman (I do apologize because I met him at JC one year). Maybe someone else has more info on this one??

That's about all I know. Good luck in your search!

Old and wise is a relative term.

Good news: There are plenty of openings for experienced GA mechanics in Alaska. Like Gump said, pick a town with an air taxi, show up, look them in the eye and probably go to work the next day.

Bad news: Cost of living is out of sight and often times the pay doesn't reflect that. Dealing with the FAA daily is a nightmare. Make more money turning wrench down at the local Ford shop.

Sorry to be negative, hope it works out for you.

gb

The busiest seasonal shop I've seen in the NW is Gustin Aviation in Lewiston, ID. Every spring, they get scores of cropdusters ready to fly, and then fix a bunch of them again as quickly as possible after they smack into powerlines, fences, etc. They must have had a backlog of about 20 planes at one point this spring all tied up in a line. Ron Gustin is mostly retired, and I think his son Steve is pretty much running the show now. It's definitely a place to stop by and say hello. Lewiston is the lowest elevation in Idaho, which makes for very mild winters, a beautiful spring and fall, and a scorching summer that baked half of the aging paint off of my 172 when I tied it down there one year.

Thanks for the leads. I feel like I am off track and sort of lost as to what I want to do, what kind of stuff I want to specialize in, and where I want to go. One minute I am sure I want to work for some slick helicopter operator, the next I want to work on old Cessnas and Beavers. Then I have delusions of owning a light sport maintenance and training shop here in NC Washington.


To GBFlyer,

The cons you listed are exactly the reason many shops are not doing well around areas like where I live. The customer feels the attitude. Small FBO's need to reject the negative attitudes, expell the negative old chain smokers who hang out, and invite in new blood. Embrace new stuff like light sport, and happiness.
In what world is any federal beuracracy not a nightmare? It was the "auto mechanics make more money" myth and the bad outlook that drove me away from aviation in the first place. Yes, I doubled my salary going to motorcycles form A&P work, but I also went directly to the top of the motorcycle mechanic food chain with nowhere else to go except owning a dealership or the like. I don't regret it one bit, but it is time to move on buy and new scrapbook.
I don't care how dark and dreary some want to paint general aviation, airplanes are feaking awesome machines, and aviation exists in some of the greatest places on earth. Unlike Ford dealerships, or motorcycle shops.

I admire your idealism, and wish you nothing but the best.

If it was me, I'd think about taking that job 3 hours away (at Renton?). Get your A&P currency up to speed plus some Beaver experience, and still be able to commute home on the weekends. Who knows, maybe you could live in a motorhome in back of the shop or something to keep housing costs down. It wouldn't be near as much of an upheaval to the other aspects of your life as going up to Alaska to work would be. The floatplane business is pretty seasonal even here in the Puget Sound area, even at a year-round operation I'm sure it slows down in the winter enough for you to get some time off if you wanted it.
I wouldn't worry about the future of the Beaver floatplane-- it'll be doing yeoman duty as an air taxi for many years to come. After all, they're still going strong now more than 40 years since the last new one was manufactured, without any sign of being replaced.

I would make some phone calls then go from there. A temp. job in Alaska for a A/P is not easy to come by.
One never knows if they don't try. Think positive. Phone calls and if you could knock on doors is a lot better.
I wish you luck.

Ken in Alaska

I have been a Beaver(and Otter) mechanic in Seattle for 11 years, it's great! Of course I get to put on clean clothes in the summer and go flying for 350 hours so I'm biased.

Seriously though, our shop offers a very wide range of experience. Lots of sheet metal, lots of engine changes, lots of heavy restorations of Beavers(and Otters) and all the hundred hour inspections you can stand.

It's always been my experience that the guys who show up and talk the talk get the jobs. Why don't you take a trip up north(or Seattle) and say hi to the people doing the work, I bet you would have more work than you want.

Sam

David:

A&P seeks advice from old & wise BCP'ers

The title seems just a tad bit......well, harsh.

Reference:

Old and wise is a relative term.

...Wise and experienced.....
or
....Older and wiser.....

A few of us old guys see "old" as a destination-and tend not to think of ourselves as having quite arrived.....

Probably a good idea not to include what could 'possibly' be taken as a mild insult when you are asking the favor of advice....??

Only half serious
lc

I know.... I have plenty of room for improvement myself.....

I don't have any employment advice but to me having Beaver experience on your resume is something a potential employer will look at in a positive light. I think Beavers(the airplanes) along with other beavers will be around a long time. One thing you got going is you are getting started into something else in a career path, that's something a lot of people miss out on in life. I fly old giant jets and our mechanics are tuned in to only them and look at light planes as something in our way occassionaly on a taxi way. I travel through anchorage every month and often wish I would have moved there in my younger days.

I'd say go to local airports and look around >keep talking to Local shops and owner/pilots .Not steady but keeps you from moving .If possible rent a hanger and go to work for your self -If you have a airplane -fly out to the nearby strips and talk to other pilots/owners .Get a "specialty" that you can and do alot of,Mine is Firewall mounted Batteries ,Weight and Balance and Prop Balancing .Yours might be ???. Annuals are another (I prefer "owner assisted ")When you get your I.A., at there HANGER - Not on Ramp or Tie down .Keep a Calendar of who ,what and when . Going to Alaska is a great idea but you should have been there several months ago . Crop dusters abound around Central Washington and are really cranking up now. I'd stay local this season and plan to head out early next spring for Alaska. If you already have a W-2 waiting someplace else I'd go with a good basic tool box .Lots of field work In helicopter operations only need a Craftsman 3-6 drawer tool box that rides in pickup bed . Been there done that >>>>>>>>> Bill Reid

182 STOL driver said:

I'd say go to local airports and look around >keep talking to Local shops and owner/pilots .Not steady but keeps you from moving .

Here's a direct link to Washington DNR Fire Aviation program. http://www.dnr.wa.gov/RecreationEducati ... ation.aspx You'll find contact information for their helicopter program coordinator in Ellensburg. They are always eager to show people around and talk about their helicopter operations. Might have to start out driving a fuel truck chasing a helicopter.

You might go poke your nose in at Cub Crafters in Yakima and talk to them. They might be hiring and that sort of spills into what you'd really like to do. Seattle area is always good. Beavers are a handy thing to know, as they are all over, especially up North and like I always say, one job leads to the next.
John