Career Adviser: What’s the best flying job?

» A: Flying for the Blue Angels is at the top of my list. If not the Angels, then the Coast Guard: a great life protecting Michigan and other states in cool orange-and-white airplanes.

However, an airline pilot with 24,000 hours sums it up: “I’ve learned over the years that the best flying job is the next job.” There is wisdom in his quip. Flying is one career track where satisfaction seems to be the next rung on the career ladder. The young CFI shoots for that first officer gig flying regional jets. But once there, the FO covets the captain’s chair. Once a captain, he or she longs for the majors. After signing up with the big boys, the aviator looks to progress from the right seat to the left seat. Then, it’s on to bigger airplanes such as the Boeing 777 or Airbus 380. The climb up seems endless.

But let’s talk specifics.

The young CFI shoots for that first officer gig flying regional jets. But once there, the FO covets the captain’s chair. Once a captain, he or she longs for the majors.At the risk of seeming self-indulgent, the primo job in aviation is working and flying for oneself. After a stint in corporate aviation flying sportscasters to Big-10 venues and media executives to sales calls across the country, I hooked up with a regional airline flying the venerable Beech 1900. One night during training at 2 a.m. while dodging thunderstorms in all quadrants near Rapid City, South Dakota, I recall saying to myself, “What the heck am I doing here?”

I returned to Colorado where I launched a Part 135 air taxi service transporting skiers on day trips from Granby Airport to places such as Aspen and Telluride in my Turbo Skylane RG. I flew scenic flights in hot air balloons, I became a designated pilot examiner, and I started doing 737 training as a contractor at United.

In 1993 the AOPA Air Safety Institute extended to me the privilege of conducting safety seminars and Flight Instructor Refresher Courses, which I still do. Of course, the frosting on the cake is writing about the diversity of aviation careers in these pages where I’ve been published since 1992. Truly, that’s not the sound of my own horn tooting that you hear. It’s merely a testimony that a working stiff can build aviation-based income and have a ball doing it without a huge bankroll. I financed the first working airplane, a beat-up Cessna 172 that cost $11,000, by towing banners with it. That was eventually parlayed into the 182. The initial investment for the scenic hot air balloon touring outfit was $9,000. The 737 type rating that opened the doors to contract training was $6,900. Today, I stay current in the Dassault Falcon 20 as an examiner and do ATP and type rating certification checkrides.

Aviation and writing this column have been good to me. But it’s time for this pilot to head to the hangar, so this is my final Career Advisor. The industry is on a roll, so my only advice left is: “Go do it.”

I’ll still be writing feature stories for Flight Training magazine, so I won’t turn down the lights and lock the hangar door just yet.