Orlando-Kissimmee Flight Jobs

apr911

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Feb 22, 2015
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apr911
Hi all,

I'll be moving to Orlando, about 20 minutes from west of Kissimmee-Gateway (KISM) in a month.

Looking for opportunities to put my CPL-SEL/SES to good use, part-time. I'm tailwheel (42.3hrs), hi-perf (22.8hrs), and complex (49.3hrs) endorsed and have my CFI/CFII. Currently around 340 hrs TTL.

I'm willing to travel a bit but I'd like to keep my commute (time ore so than distance though the 2 are pretty much in sync) down as much as possible. As I mentioned I'll be on the southwest side of town so closest airports to me (in order, closest to furthest) would be KISM (<10mi/20min), KMCO, KORL, KGIF (20-25mi/30min), KBOW, X04 (35mi/40min), KLAL, X61 (40-45mi/45min), KSFB (50mi/55min) and KLEE (60mi/70min). KSFB and KLEE would preferably be last resort.

Anyone know of anything and/or have a good contact in the area? Willing to give most anything a try but I dont get along with the owner of the "main" (or at least easiest to find) part 61 flight operation out of KISM.
 
Don’t forget about Brown’s Seaplanes...don’t know if that’s officially included in the airport list.
 
I was trying to stick only to the "major" GA airports because I feel like they're the ones most likely to have a role available given their size and presence of FBOs. That being said I know some roles (ag, banner, p-line patrol) are more common out of the private airports in the area but we'd be here all day if I tried to list them off.

I also avoided listing seaplane bases for the same reason; its Florida and you practically cant throw a rock in any direction without hitting 2 or 3... I also pretty much consider Brown's to be more or less part of KGIF/Winter Haven. Plus I'm low time in seaplanes and instructing in general so while I'd love to give up some of my free time to spend it splashing around in a seaplane for pay I dont realistically know what I'd be able to do job-wise (or who would hire me as I know getting a position at Brown's is easier said than done).
 
I fly into ISM a fair amount and there always seems to be a swarm of training airplanes there, so I'm sure it'd be easy to get a CFI job there.
 
If you're looking for a CFI job, don't rule out First Landings at X04 in Apopka. Adam is often hiring instructors.

However, your timing sucks. Many CFIs have seen airline opportunities die from COVID-19. Consequently, there might not be any vacancies at the moment, and many regional pilots are grounded now and also scrounging for flying gigs.
 
If you're looking for a CFI job, don't rule out First Landings at X04 in Apopka. Adam is often hiring instructors.

However, your timing sucks. Many CFIs have seen airline opportunities die from COVID-19. Consequently, there might not be any vacancies at the moment, and many regional pilots are grounded now and also scrounging for flying gigs.

Very true. I'm not pressed or necessarily in a rush to find something as I'm not looking for something to build hours so I can run off to an airline, just looking for something that gets me flight time, a different flight experience and even adds a little extra coin in my pocket (I'm planning to use any money earned to start a plane fund) because of this I can afford to wait out COVID-19 to a degree. Though who knows how long it will be until flight ops at the airlines are back to any semblance of normal or pre-COVID ridership so I say that while still hoping to find something sooner rather than later.

I'm not really familiar with the various other options besides CFI in the area and even CFI, I only know a handful of schools, so my ask was less about who knows of open positions so much as building a list of reputable companies to potentially fly for... or disreputable ones to avoid (though that might be better in a PM than an open forum, dont want anyone being accused of libel/slander), after all, we all know there are more than a few unscrupulous operators out there with questionable planes and policies.
 
If you're willing to instruct Sport Pilot students, talk to Adam at First Landings. 407-886-7612 https://www.firstlandings.com/ They instruct all levels, but SP is their specialty and that one school has trained something like 20% of all the SPs in the country. They were pretty busy when I was out there last Sunday (I was renting a Warrior). SP training isn't effected by airline declines the same way PP is; wannabe airline pilots start out with Private, not Sport.
 
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