Getting a jump pilot flying job is just like the rest of the entry level flying jobs. You show up and say "I want to fly your airplane but I have little experence" If they need you today they will put up with your learning curve. If they dont need you today they will turn your back on you before you finish your introduction. The Twin Otter slots are hard to come by, my wife wouldnt even take paying pilots to ride right seat because she felt it was more work and the losses were to high to let them steer. You usually have to spend your time in the Cessna and prove yourself to move into the Twin Otters. I recommend showing up on Sat morning before ops start with a copy of your license, med, resume, and hand it to the DZO. If he is smart he will at least put it in a file and hand you a SOP. Then wander over to the pilot with an extra cup of coffee and be the new guy pain in the ass and ask questions on how they operate the plane and what its like flying jumpers. Offer to pay for your slot in the plane to see how its done and spend some time hanging out until they need you. Expect a little resistance but if they are a bunch of dicks go to the next one until you find one you like (There are about 4 flavors of Drop Zones). When they need you, unfortunatly all they care is you have a licence and a pulse. If you have your own airplane you wait until a DZ needs your plane and fly there for the weekend (my wife is out with one plane this weekend doing just that) and be ready to camp under your wing sat night. The problems are that the best weekends of the summer season the drop zones want you so you wont get far at any flying job saying "I need the 4th of july off to spend with my family". Also try and get paid sunday sunset before you leave for home (Cash is the best) while they are still saying "Thanks for helping us out, your the best". Colorful charactures, GW takeoffs, Slow flight, lots of landings, as Gump says "you will learn to feel the lift" and once your in and do a good job you dont have to pay for beer on Sat night. There are also Assholes, crappy planes, bad weather, trying to kill you days.

The only thing I wanted to add to Skydive206's post is that should someone get a gig like that it is wise to make a full 110% effort....be there even just to hang out and learn etc.... I spent a good part of my summer (april-nov) bugging my boss and learning as much as possible. It was fun and on top of that it allowed me some extra flying and what not, some of the extra time was spent cleaning or washing planes (sometimes for the sake of it, other times because I may or may not have smoked the tires on a crappy downwind landing attempt)
I've worked fueling planes, working the line etc and have always made an effort to meet people, work hard and doing it tactfully. I ended up with 3 flying jobs just working at FBO's. I flew divers (for someone on this site ) and from there went on to fly corporate....none of this could have happened without busting my butt as much as possible...totally paid off, made great friends and have had a blast doing it!

GumpAir wrote:
And do it for a while, racking up a 1000+ hours a year, you discover that you have learned how to be a pilot. Your flying changes in lots of subtle, and not so subtle ways, and you, corny as it sounds, feel lift and weight, and become one with the machine. That's the real magic part, and a very Zen thing.

And that's the part I miss the most.

Gump

In a former assignment I captained patrol boats between 22 and 35 feet long. Averaged 6 hours or more on the water each day, every day, all hours of the day or night, in very confined waters with multiple obstacles and occasionally exciting weather. Night runs through canyons in pitch black conditions at 45 knots. I reached this Zen state at the helm. Could synchronize three engines in my sleep, could feel every ripple, could spin the boat on its pivot point in 20 knot winds between walls as narrow as the boat is long.

I don't think I will ever reach this point as a pilot, flying for pleasure

On the other hand, I was no more interested in climbing in a powerboat on the weekends for fun than many (most?) professional pilots would like to crawl into a spam can to fly around the patch after a week full of work flying.

Pitts pilot, You should have stopped in at my place when you were close. You will be jelous. Good day today, 3 chicks in bikins in the pool waving as we take off and cheering our landings.

I know Skydive, I'm already jealous! We found some land in Maine that would make a perfect strip and throw a hangar/house in the corner....Found a design for a barn-ish style house with a hangar below....now we just need to find the funds haha....I hope you fly the Tiger 206 up here when its finished, I'm sure people will be excited about it