How does someone gain the experience necessary to become a marketable ferry pilot? Or, what do you look for when hiring someone to ferry your airplane?

Ferrying airplanes as a side gig has always been attractive to me but I always figured it was not achievable because without being a CFI I'd never gain experience in a large enough variety of airplanes to be marketable.

Seems like being insurable would be a prime issue. Most insurers require 10 hours minimum in type. That creates a pretty big hurdle for marketing yourself broadly. You could always try and offer services for ferrying just one or two make and type aircraft, but that isn't much of a business model. Seems like more of a passtime than a vocation.

Flyhound wrote:Seems like being insurable would be a prime issue. Most insurers require 10 hours minimum in type. That creates a pretty big hurdle for marketing yourself broadly. You could always try and offer services for ferrying just one or two make and type aircraft, but that isn't much of a business model. Seems like more of a passtime than a vocation.

Passtime, side gig, sorta the same to me at this time of life.

On the insurance front, the policy on my previous airplane covered me in any airplane I was flying with no checkout or experience requirement. If I wrecked someones plane it would pay out up to $50k more than my stated hull value. Wether this would apply if I was being paid to fly the plane I don’t know, I never asked that question.

When I flew with a ferry pilot from AK to ID my insurance wanted the PIC to have 25 hours in type (for any/open pilot, except me which had different minimums as I was new to the type). This was for a cherokee six.

So i would say bouncing around in a lot of different types would be helpful since I think it is normal for the ferry pilot to be insured via the owner’s policy.

My experience with ferry flights is most brokers only want airline employees, because they don't want to pay the return airfare...

So they pay basically nothing for the ferry service, then want the ferry pilot to fly standby to get home. I don't know how they get away with it.

When I had our Business going, I worked with the Insurance Companies to be available to their policy holders. Because the Underwriters knew me, it was never an issue getting named-insured on a policy to ferry. I did carry my own insurance and my rate to ferry an uninsured aircraft was a minimum of $1000/day. It was much less if I was named and had a hold-harmless.

I also have Jumpseat abilities but required return airfare. Using my Jumpseat abilities in my opinion set an unfair advantage for guys who didn’t have it. Ferrying an aircraft regardless of type is a Professional Service. There are pilots who will do it for free and even some who will pay for the time. I was able to use my career flying as credibility in marketing, someone with much less time will have to work harder.

I did a lot of Alaska ferry flying to the lower 48. I could tell in the first few minutes of a phone call if they wanted it done right or if they wanted it done cheap. I will go above and beyond to provide a top notch service, however, it will be done professionally and IAW all laws. I had a great group of repeat clients every season and after a while that was all I needed to be sustainable.

For every 20 calls I got, I would guess 1 turned into any work. I was very selective. You will have to tell people no. You will show up to an airplane that is not what was advertised. Things break halfway there, you have to have an agreement before you start how those are handled.

I did this for a long time and still do on occasion. If you have any specific questions PM me. It’s a lot of fun, but like any business, the actual flying is only 10% of it.

FWIW the ferry pilot I used was an airline pilot and his ability to fly commercially at no cost was a major benefit and cut the ferry cost in half. It happened to work well with his schedule and we both got something out of the trip.

We agreed on $400/day and I paid all expenses which I though was fair since we both wanted to make the AK trip. I also had a 406 ELT installed just before the trip, supplied all survival gear, food, spot tracker, rented a satellite phone, etc. so basically he just needed to pack for himself and everything else was my responsibility.


I had the pilot named on my insurance policy which was not a problem.

After we got to the destination i gave him a nice bonus as we parted ways. Worked out well for both us.

VTOSS wrote:I did this for a long time and still do on occasion. If you have any specific questions PM me. It’s a lot of fun, but like any business, the actual flying is only 10% of it.

I appreciate the offer and the information. Right now I'm in the exploring stage to determine if it something I want to work towards.

Hammer wrote:My experience with ferry flights is most brokers only want airline employees, because they don't want to pay the return airfare...

So they pay basically nothing for the ferry service, then want the ferry pilot to fly standby to get home. I don't know how they get away with it.

My guess; the new airline pilot has a bunch of school debt and was getting crap pay. A side gig making something is better than nothing when you have a mountain of debt.

scottf wrote:FWIW the ferry pilot I used was an airline pilot and his ability to fly commercially at no cost was a major benefit and cut the ferry cost in half. It happened to work well with his schedule and we both got something out of the trip.

We agreed on $400/day and I paid all expenses which I though was fair since we both wanted to make the AK trip. I also had a 406 ELT installed just before the trip, supplied all survival gear, food, spot tracker, rented a satellite phone, etc. so basically he just needed to pack for himself and everything else was my responsibility.

I had the pilot named on my insurance policy which was not a problem.

After we got to the destination I gave him a nice bonus as we parted ways. Worked out well for both us.

Thanks for sharing scottf. In my looking google told me that I could by a ticket 1 week in advance from my home town to anywhere in the lower 48 for $600 or less. I didn't that amount would be a deal breaker for someone wanting their plane moved by a qualified person. But then you have to double it if your moving a plane that isn't somewhat local. $1200 is significant. In the past little while I've been asked about ferrying a few planes that were local so I hadn't considered the cost of getting to the plane.

Look on Barnstormers, they are a dime a dozen, Its a tough niche to make any living at. There is one lady that has a somewhat good business model, Fullthrottle(sp)? I don’t know how well she really does. Anyways I’ve done it many times, between weather hold ups and the customer bitching about it, and trying to get it for nothing it’s not as fun as you think. Most people who buy an airplane ferry it them selves anyways.

whee wrote:

VTOSS wrote:I did this for a long time and still do on occasion. If you have any specific questions PM me. It’s a lot of fun, but like any business, the actual flying is only 10% of it.

I appreciate the offer and the information. Right now I'm in the exploring stage to determine if it something I want to work towards.

Hammer wrote:My experience with ferry flights is most brokers only want airline employees, because they don't want to pay the return airfare...

So they pay basically nothing for the ferry service, then want the ferry pilot to fly standby to get home. I don't know how they get away with it.

My guess; the new airline pilot has a bunch of school debt and was getting crap pay. A side gig making something is better than nothing when you have a mountain of debt.

scottf wrote:FWIW the ferry pilot I used was an airline pilot and his ability to fly commercially at no cost was a major benefit and cut the ferry cost in half. It happened to work well with his schedule and we both got something out of the trip.

We agreed on $400/day and I paid all expenses which I though was fair since we both wanted to make the AK trip. I also had a 406 ELT installed just before the trip, supplied all survival gear, food, spot tracker, rented a satellite phone, etc. so basically he just needed to pack for himself and everything else was my responsibility.

I had the pilot named on my insurance policy which was not a problem.

After we got to the destination I gave him a nice bonus as we parted ways. Worked out well for both us.

Thanks for sharing scottf. In my looking google told me that I could by a ticket 1 week in advance from my home town to anywhere in the lower 48 for $600 or less. I didn't that amount would be a deal breaker for someone wanting their plane moved by a qualified person. But then you have to double it if your moving a plane that isn't somewhat local. $1200 is significant. In the past little while I've been asked about ferrying a few planes that were local so I hadn't considered the cost of getting to the plane.[/

Yep I agree $600 would not be a big factor, but figure you would have to travel to the plane and the final destination could be far away from your home so you will need to travel back home. Could add $1200 + expenses on your end you would need to pass on.

Airline pilots have a boatload of hotel points as well that keeps their costs artificially low, honestly it seems hard for others to compete.