Hi My names Dan, and brand new user to this website.
I've signed up and looked around a little bit and would like to introduce myself in hoping to making friends and hoping to get advise and guidance in pursuit of my flying career.

Right now Im going to college for buisness and I have my private pilots license. I've been wanting to make a career as a professional bush pilot the majority of my life; and I want to know if such a career chase is even possible now a days? Are there still pilots out there who still making a living as bush pilots or the time spent i've spent working towards such a career been a wild goose chase? haha.

I do not have a tailwheel endorsement but an airport nearby has a j-3 cub i've been making plans to get endorsed in to build time. Currently I have 178 hours as a private. I'm rather tight on cash trying to pay for tuition but if someone in ohio would be willing to let me pay some expense of their airplane to fly tailwheel together and help teach me the ropes. Any other help or information would greatly appreciate it.

Welcome (I'm new too)

Bush pilot jobs are out there, but they are few and far between. It's who you know in that industry. You'll most likely need AK time, mountain time, and lots of stick and rudder time (most of it in a tailwheel). I had an interview with K2 Aviation last summer, but life got in the way.

I know that there are some pilots that do some bush type flying in Idaho back country. They haul equipment into the back country of Idaho. They take people into the Salmon River to raft down the river. I don't know how to get these jobs, but if you look at some of my videos here you can see what some of these places look like: http://www.youtube.com/skybobb I have some landing videos of Big Creek, Sulphur Creek, Chamberlin Basin, Johnson Creek, The Flying "B" Ranch, and a few in Oregon. Welcome to BackcountryPilot.org . Bob

There are a lot of bush pilots in Canada, but most of that is float work. From what I read and hear, if you do get a job, they normally start you out working the dock with little flying the first year. Wages are not great starting out. This is mostly flying fishermen into remote lakes, with a chance at ski work in the winter. It is not too big a deal to get a Canadian license, but I don't think the commercial is transferable and I know the instrument is not. It is generally thought that new job openings will be down this year because of the economy. If you are single, it would be a dream job for a while. Here is a site to check out called AVCANADA, look under the bush flying forum http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/index.ph ... 9464c67c76 Good luck. Steve

Thanks guys.

Hello Dan-

Where exactly are you at in Ohio?

Tim

Hello pilot86, I hate to throw water on your fire but that is what I do. I'm a fire fighter. Anyway.

I have been on this site for 2.5 years and have talked to lots of guys who have flown for a living. It seems a very tough way to make a living. My instructor and her husband both graduated from UND with 4 year degrees in aviation. Those are like 100K degrees. They are having a really tough time getting a decent flying job.

I am retiring from the fire dept after 29 years. I have about a good a pension as you can get. I started with a 2 year degree from a community college at today's cost 12K

My suggestion is go for any government job, there are 100s of different gov jobs. They are secure and that means a lot these days. Then you can fly when you want, good weather and where you want.

Maybe some of you military pilots can talk about opportunities in military flying. The best of both worlds, gov job and fly.

Hope this helps...Rob

I'm a military Aviator with several thousand hours and 10 years experience flying heavies all over the world. I'm not a pilot but I sit behind them all day long in the Engineer seat. Most of them get their start by graduating from the Air Force Academy, but a lot of them also did ROTC programs at a local college. Pilot training last a little over a year. Once they graduate they pick up a 10 year commitment to the Airforce. Before Sept 11th I'd say 75% got out and went to the airlines. Now I'm seeing very few get out after their 10 years is up. Like the others said it's a tough world to get into right now. The CFI that taught me to fly left the FBO and went to work flying the Q-200 for Horizon doing the West coast runs. He has been at that for 2 years now and is sick of it. He works tons of hours for little pay, is gone from home constantly, and has few chances to move up the chain.

With the negative out of the way, if it's something you really want to do then go after it. You can achieve anything if you set a goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it. I grew up in a poor logging community in Northern Idaho and all I wanted to do was fly even though I was constantly told there was now way I could. After looking at the all the schools and realizing one semester was more than my family made in a year I went another route and joined the AirForce and now I get paid to fly all over the world and drink beer..errr I mean move cargo. Going along with what Rob said knowing that I don't have to worry about getting laid off tomorrow is HUGE right now.

PM sent. Steve

Ok,
Appreciate the information.
Bush flying is something I've been pursuing since I was in highschool or working on my private pilots license with all intentions of making a career flying bush my whole life, but the biggest question I've always had in the back of my mind, is this really possible or is there not really a need for bush pilots like there use to be?
I've also considered doing missionary flying overseas. If not bush flying in Alaska or Canada, well maybe the Lord is callin me to serve over seas to plop a cessna 180 down on a river in New guinea or the amazons. I think I would be serving with MAF if I went the missions route. MAF or Moody aviation but I really like Maf's program.
I am single, so as of right now its no big deal pursuing this career but it sure would be nice to actually find a christian girl who would be ok with putting up with my crazy ideas...haha. Hard to find a good one around here.
I do have an associates degree and Im working on obtaining my bachelors degree in buisness, if there is anyway I could start up an air charter or air taxi buisness than if that was even possible..strictly bush flying wouldnt be such the major goal anymore. But the more I try to get information and looking at starting an air charter buisness, I have no idea what niches need filled that could benefit with a new air charter. Money isnt too big of a deal I suppose or I guess I have never said hey if I'm not making $100,000 a year Im not happy. I think I would be content just making 40-60k if my chosen profession was what I wanted and still able to support a family.

Tim, Im in doylestown ohio.

Just another thing to keep in mind........ tailwheels aren't mandatory for "bush" flying. I suspect that most of the working airplanes in Alaska have nose wheels. Navajos, Cessna 206s, and 207s haul a lot of stuff in Alaska every day.