Hey everyone!

I've got some questions, hoping y'all might be able to answer them. Pleased forgive the rant that is bound to occur, but at least everyone will be fully informed.

I had always wanted to fly, but was always told that no one could get hired anywhere unless they had military training. Not that I have any problem with the Military, but I'd rather lead than be led, especially when it comes down to survival decisions. Anyway, I recently found out that "only military pilots get hired" isn't the case. Since then, I have been reading and trying to figure out all I can about the aviation business.

I found a company in town who has an accelerated training and job placement program including:
-272 Hours of Flight Time Including
-Private Pilot Single Engine and Multi-Engine
-Instrument Rating
-Commercial Multi and Single Engine
-Certificated Flight Instructor, Multi Engine Instructor, and Instructor Instrument
-100 Hours of Multi-Engine Time (90 PIC)
-Flight and Ground Instruction
-Written Exams

While that sounded great for a couple days, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn't really fit my goals.
See, while flying has always interested me, I don't like the idea of hauling passengers from concrete strip to concrete strip, in a straight line, with nothing more than clouds to look at in between. Furthermore, being newly married I don't care to be gone all the time, and I don't care much for any job where I have to dress up and stay clean. This thought was really driven home when I found out about pay for regional pilots and the like. Just not worthwhile to invest $45,000+ only to bring home half the pay that I do right now.

Here's the thing....I've lived on farms and lived in the city. I've lived the country life and the country club life. I've had jobs where I worked until I could hardly walk at night and jobs where I was sore from sitting at a desk for so long. In each case, I prefer the former of the two. I like to work and I like things that are ever changing. I pick things up very quickly, so if they don't change, they get boring.

Although most people would say that farming is something that never changes, it does. There is always something going on...equipment issues, weather issues, constantly becoming more efficient, and finding ways to make the most money with each crop or head of stock. While I love farming, it doesn't pay unless you inherited land...and my grandparents have sold off most of theirs. I also love horse training and had a horse training business on a beautiful 1500acre farm with amazing facilities, but through the horse market crash here in Ky, it became apparent that I wasn't going to be able to support a family very well in this part of the country unless I betrayed the time honored horsemanship and respect for the horse that I have come to know. I could move to NV, ID, MT, or WY and be happy as could be to buckaroo my life away on a big ranch somewhere, but it doesn't pay much...usually about $1500 a month with a house and beef, and that's a high paying job.

...So here we are, in Ky. I'm currently in sales for the Scotts company, explaining fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and seed over the phone all day long, but I don't care much for being stuck inside. We both want to move west. My wife grew up in Jackson Hole when her dad worked for the Parks dept...and she loved it. I continue to look into the work situation out in that area. I know I want to stay around Ranching, Farming, and/or backcounty work, but it doesn't seem there is much that pays well.

I never even thought about Aerial Application before because, 1)I just found out non-military pilots can get hired, and 2)it's so closely tied to farming...it couldn't be profitable. I also assumed the pilots were just what I had seen in the movies. You know the character, a crazy old drunk war veteran living in a broken down motor home who flies a ratty looking WWII era biplane and nearly kills himself on a regular basis, but somehow always makes it back with nothing more than an oil covered face. It was only when I stumbled across some association websites and forums recently that I found out otherwise.

So I'm interested.
I'm willing to work my way up so long as I'm compensated for what I'm doing. I have a lot of experience in different areas that may help. I learned a lot about metal fabrication working for my grandfather's manufacturing company. (Anyone remember C&L Silver Shield grain bins, or the old torches?) I can repair anything mechanical, somehow always have the ability to look at something and figure out how it works with no problems. I have been around agriculture my whole life, have done quite a bit of haying, and Majored in Crop and Soil science at the University of Kentucky until fuel prices doubled and made my 1.5 hour commute financially impossible. After UofK I got a job driving a bulk feed truck which I stayed with for 2.5yrs until I left to start my horse training business. After the horse market fell through, I decided to get an outside job, so I started driving for an environmental cleanup company. I would operate vac trucks and haul non-haz chemicals. When they got a new $500,000 vac truck, I was the only one who used it, because even though I was their newest driver, I was their best driver. I was about to get my hazmat endorsement but found the sales job I'm in now with better pay and only 3 miles from home.

So here's the thing...I can operate any kind of machine put in front of me with a short learning curve, I pick up knowledge quickly, but I still remember that gaining real experience takes time. I'm sure flying would go well too, but I have 0 hours. Funny thing was, last I was up in a small plane, it was with one of my buddies who was logging time with an instructor. After watching the instructor fly for 15min, I feel I could have taken over the controls with no problems...but then my buddy (who has flown) started flying and just couldn't get the feel of it at first. I could have explained things to him, but that's what the instructor was there for... and he couldn't hear me anyway...I was in the back seat of a little Cessna, nowhere to plug my headset into.

Do y'all think with what I've done in the past, someone might be willing to give me a chance so I might work my way up to being a pilot? Unfortunately my resume shows little compared to what I'm capable of. In the past, I had only done what I had to do to get by financially...never really looked toward any career goal. Now here I am, 28, married, hoping to start a family soon, and want to make sure I do it right.

If I might have a chance, what are the bare necessities as far as licenses go and what would be the most economical way to go about getting started if I were to stay here in KY until I had the licensing and minimum flight time? I don't think any of the schools around here have any tail draggers, so what would be the best way to tackle that obstacle? How could I build my time? I know hours mean a lot when insurance comes into play. Do I get a turbine upgrade here or on the job?

I have read a lot about what other people have done to get started, but it seems most of them have been in areas where aerial application actually goes on. Around here, there is nothing. I need to keep a steady income rolling in so ag flight school is not really possible.


Again, sorry for the ranting...but advice, criticisms, complements, and "go to hells" are all appreciated?

Thanks, Phillip

actually, everything except the "drunk war vet" fits pretty well. although, i'd be insulted if you called my airplane "ratty". it's just well worked.

anyway, my advice is to settle down a bit, make a plan, and follow it. look on this site for a thread by and/or about T.Hewett. he got some great advice from one of the better mentors around.

First things first. don't get all overconfident about flying. you have 0 hours experience. just because you sat in the back of a plane and it looked easy, doesn't mean you aren't going to have to work at it. you don't even know if you will really LIKE flying yet. first, go to whatever local flight school and take some lessons. try out different instructors and find someone you work well with. this person should be like a good coach, not someone you like too much but someone you do respect and can learn from.

don't spend a lot of cash paying for everything up front. at most, buy 10 hour block time because you never know when something will happen to change your plans. it could be medical issue, it could be a school going out of business, it could be a sudden reason to move out of state.

you are going to need the commercial license to work as an applicator, and that means at least 250 hours you are going to have to pay for. an instrument rating is not required, but it is about the best thing you can do with all those hours between the private license and the 250 hours required for commercial.

If you are going to work as an applicator, you will want to get as many of those 250 hours in tailwheeel aircraft. keep that in mind when looking for a flight school. most flight schools won't have them, one option is to buy a cheap tailwheel aircraft and do your time building in that. don't even think about buying a plane until you have your private license, unless you have more money than you know what to do with.

a good thing to do in the mean time, while doing the flight training, is to stay in the ag industry. keep selling that pesticide, make contacts with the applicators. get your state pesticide applicators license, maybe even pick up a job operating a ground rig. i am sure you have heard the advice to go get a job as a loader. its good advice.

you might want to join the NAAA and state aerial applicator association to start meeting applicators in your area. there are plenty in KY as well as most states. go to the conventions in the winter.

the main thing to remember is it takes a lot of persistence, perseverance, and hard steady work to get into this industry. it takes time, probably a couple or 3 years. you can't become discouraged because the price of this goes up or the market for that drops down or this one job falls through or something better comes along. you have to make a long term plan and stick to it.

My apologies...I was afraid the flying comment might sound cocky or overconfident. Not my intention. Just that I can operate something, picture what each piece is doing related to the controls, And I get the feel of things quickly. I know there is a long time of learning before someone becomes a good pilot.
-Phillip

Lot's of good advice there... been running dark to dark here, but I will check in again after a bit

My original thought was to get as many ratings as possible when getting my license in order to give myself many options. Is this worthwhile...or is it better to get a private pilot's license and spend further time building tail wheel hours until I can get my commercial license? As I understand, each additional rating requires a certain number of hours per year to keep up. Is this correct?

I'm really interested in 3 things...Aerial application, fire bombing, and bush flying. I'm not much for being in the city and as far as I can tell, these would be the best options to both keep me in rural areas and keep the challenges coming.

I'm in no great hurry. We intend to move west but I think it will be at least a year before we are in a position to make that happen.

Thanks, Phillip