5 Pilot Jobs for 500hr Pilots

Here's five jobs you can do to build time or make a career out of when you hit 500hrs total time as a pilot.
Below are links to some of the companies we reviewed. The pay and compensation packages they offer are always changing as companies are searching harder and harder for pilots. Give them a call or check out their website to see the most up to date information.

Good luck with your aviation career! Fly safe!!!!

👉Take our online PILOT GROUND SCHOOL✈

🛩️Private Pilot:
-Everything you need to know start to finish
-How to choose an Instructor
-How to perform the maneuvers
-Airspace
-Landings
-Oral and Checkride prep (premium version)
-And so much more! Try it for free with the link below!

🌦️Instrument Pilot Ground School:
-Learn all the abbreviations and IFR speak
-Approach Plates and Procedures
-Airspace
-Rules and Regulations
-Systems
-Real World Scenarios
-Accident case studies when things went wrong
-Written test prep
-Oral and Checkride Prep
-Etc, Click the link below to check out the course!

🛫Commercial Pilot Bootcamp:
-Learn about Holding Out
-Maintenance Requirements
-Systems
-Airspace
-Rules and Regulations
-See full oral exams and checkride videos

Check out our many other courses too!✈
-Tailwheel
-Crosswind Landings
-Weather
-Airspace
-Seaplane
-Sport Pilot
-Spin Awareness
-Accident Case Studies
-And more! Click below to see all courses:

#fly8ma #flighttraining #aviation #bushplane
Your Support Makes our Videos possible! Thank You!

Every dollar helps us to grow our project into a comprehensive online ground school for Sport, Private, Instrument, and Commercial Pilots. We greatly appreciate all of your support and hope you will share us with your friends and family in #aviation.

FLY SAFE!
-Jon

[johnrad]

I earn 100k flying 280 hours a year! I'm a aerial applicator (crop duster). First spraying season I had 220 hours total time. Only made 25k, that's in the 2 month season, and then second season got a bigger plane and did 80k, just did my 3rd season and cleared 100k. Flying stick and rudder all day and loving every minute of it!

[stevesanderson]

I used to be in adult films. Like a jumper pilot, was paid by the load.

[gienneq]

70K as a CFI. Where is this mythical land?

[reedadamp]

The pay rate makes the shortage a lot more understandable.

[fermiticus]

Good timing!!!
I just hit the 500 hour mark, this afternoon.
It's been a loooong 20 years (sad face).

[coolhari]

Starting pay $15/hr, same as Amazon warehouse work that may not even require a high school education. No wonder people don't wanna become pilots.

[guntherultraboltnovacrunch]

I first read this as "5 pilot jobs for $500 / hour. I was like...yeah... 1)smuggling 2)smuggling 3)smuggling 4)smuggling 5)smuggling.

[Nahiyanize]

Now the real question is... what are 5 pilot jobs with 250 hours?

[greatflyer_aviation]

Crazy how in Europe you can directly enter an airline with 200 hours having finished flight school, when comparing to the system in the US.

[AviatorInspirations]

Great suggestions! There is a big variety of jobs out there, what’s important is going out to get them even if you have to move. You still have to hustle, make those phone calls, and get your foot in the door.

[RushinTruckin]

I briefly looked into becoming a pilot (I LOVE flying). I understand having to pay your dues but to shell out $70k-$100k for flight school to then get paid $20k-$40k/year for, what, 5/7 years until you can build up enough flight time to be considered by a major??? Not to mention the lifestyle of being away from home for so long for that low of pay. I'm an over-the-truck driver with only 16 months experience and I make $50k-$55k (I have a bachelors degree in business but that has zero relevance).


Also, the whole seniority thing...you stay at a particular airline and work your way up then either you lose your job or you chose to switch airlines and, boom, there goes your seniority! Better get used to eating pb&j again.


Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or have a twisted view of this career.



I dunno...just doesn't seem worth the investment to me.

[chrisgiacalone]

No way you'll make more then $30k a year for 90% of CFI jobs. $70K a year?? lol

[stephen_crumley]

I never imagined I made more as a shop foreman of a metal fabrication shop than a pilot with the skill set which you described here. I was always thinking that pilots made 2 -3 times what I made per hour, not 50% less...
I’m appalled at how low the wages are for pilots of this level. Pilots seem to be treated quite unfairly given their ability to keep human beings alive in the sky

[TurboJenkins]

I’m broke from ATP, looks like I’ll be staying broke

[migfulcrumflyer]

You forgot at least one flying job for 500-hour pilots - military pilot. With 500 hours of total flight time I had logged my first 300 hours in the F-15 Eagle. The pay is OK, the hours are long, the benefits good; plus, you get to go to exotic places, meet new people and break their stuff.

[picksellpaint]

Interested in pursing a pilots license here in Florida. It's becoming clearer each day that it's a dream I must follow.

[Aviyaytor]

Good advice, John! You forgot flying rubber donkey sh&t out of Hong Kong! Lt. Pete Mitchell almost had to do it. 😂

[daffidavit]

I became a CFIA at age 21 back in 1973. I soled at 16 and got my PPL at 17. My mom had to drive me to the airport in order to solo because I was too young to drive. But indeed things were different back in those days. For one, the FAA "inspector" as we called them failed me two times on my CFI flight tests. Don't get me wrong, I probably deserved it. But I heard it through the "grapevine" that the FAA inspector told somebody who finally passed me that he said "these young kids don't deserve to become flight instructors at such a young age".
Today it's a little different. The age "stigmata" might be less apparent, but the failure rates for first time CFIs don't seem to be much different. It's as if it's a "right of passage" that CFIs must learn the humility of failure at least once before they can obtain the most coveted of all certificates. Don't be depressed if you fail your CFI flight test the first time. Treat it as "hell week" while trying to get into a college fraternity.
I was able to get my CFI before the instrument rating because back in the early 1970s that's the way the regs were written. Today I agree a CFIA applicant should have an instrument rating even if he/she is teaching primary students. The CFI certificate is a badge of honor. The problem is some people see it only as a way to build hours and they don't seem to care about teaching new students how to fly. I've seen it myself during years gone by. If you wish to become a CFI and are getting paid for it, you owe it to your students (today they are called clients) to teach them as best you can and with all of your heart. Afterall, many people's lives depend on how well you teach your students. This advice is coming from an ageing "Boomer" who still continues to love flight instructing.

[GuyShalev]

Which flight school pays 70$k a year? At the flight school I work with in Maryland I get around 26$k and no benefits...

[scobun]

Your videos are all so awesome. They're inspiring me to take my flying even further. THANK YOU.