Alice Paul

When it came time to take her ATP checkride, one of her checkride mates told her about an open position in the Carolinas doing aerial survey work. Not knowing much about it, the hiring slowdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and the promise of easy multiengine time was enough to get her interested, and Paul hasn’t looked back since.

Paul flies a Cessna 337 Skymaster for Nimbus Aerial Solutions, flying aerial surveys over the many bays around Plymouth, Massachusetts, surveying critically endangered right whales. Until Paul got the job, she had never seen a whale before. But now, being an endangered species’ eye in the sky provides a rewarding feeling that Paul couldn’t find in other kinds of flying.

“To see an animal in need and know that you’re trying to help, it feels better,” said Paul. “That also feels better than just being in the airlines.”

Paul has a lot of fun flying the Skymaster—a unique push-pull twin that serves survey flying well because of the great downward visibility—with the same crew of people every week. And they spend a lot of time together. Survey missions involve two pilots and two observers, and they will fly for around five hours, sometimes twice a day. In the relatively roomy yet still tight confines of a Skymaster, she is building long-lasting connections differently than in other kinds of commercial flying that involve a revolving cast of new pilots and crewmembers.

“Working for a company like this is really like working for your friends,” said Paul. “I’m friends with all of my coworkers. I’m friends with my boss.”

Above all, Paul just wanted to have a fun and stable flying career, and whale survey flying has provided that. Dinner with her co-workers, a first-name-basis boss and team, and knowing she is going to be in her own bed every night make the job worth it to her. The fact that she gets to protect an endangered marine mammal in the process is just the cherry on top. Yes, she makes less money than on an airline flight deck, but to Paul, that’s worth the tradeoff.

“If you’re the kind of person that the whole reason you got into flying in the first place goes beyond the money, this is a very creative outlet.”

[email protected]