How to Become a Cargo Pilot and Maximize Your Income

Thanks to the success of my channel, I have had the opportunity to interview a number of long-time cargo pilots, and in doing so, I've learned firsthand what flying cargo is like in today's world.

In today's video, I share with you what I've learned in the hopes of helping you to make the best careers choices possible.

Thanks for watching!!

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👋 About Me 👋
Trent Dyrsmid is a successful entrepreneur and investor who happens to have a love of flying airplanes. After a successful business career, I've decided to start career 2.0 as a professional pilot to compliment my 2nd passion; investing in real estate. My plan is to use flying as my basic income, and then use the free time that flying will afford me to continue to find attractive investment opportunities as well as expand my online businesses.

My Social Accounts:

[RobbieRobbins-ll]

Hey Trent, I’m a 16 year 747 CA/LCP at Atlas. Great video and explanation. I think you hit all the major key points. Also, DOS is “Date of Signing” of the contract. Normally, contracts run about 5 years typically. I was a regional pilot for 3.5 years before joining Atlas and commuted a lot with very little time at home. Atlas has many US bases on all sides of the country which makes commuting much less and yes, the gateway travel is awesome. I am based in Miami and live in South Florida so commuting doesn’t even apply to me and my quality of life is even better. As far as schedules, Atlas offers a wide range of schedule opportunities to fit any persons schedule preferences. It’s a great company, great people and the airplanes and routes are fun to fly. We fly all over the world and the experience you gain doing this is second to none. It also opens doors to just about any type of flying job you want to do. I decided to stay at Atlas because it just fits my lifestyle and I love going to work each time.

[edreese]

First year FO pay for all aircraft at Atlas is $94.76/ flight hour, with monthly guarantee of 64 hours. After year 1, FO rates start to differentiate (737 FO 108.66/hr, 767 FO 126.62/hr, 777 and 747 FO 133.11hr). Lifestyle varies a lot between fleets, as does the amount and type of flying. Gateway travel is only good in US.

[mre]

This is great stuff Trent! I wish I had found this out several years ago. I'm 55 and have my PPL (not current) but this is so enticing. If I was a little younger I might be inclined to pursue this. My advice to anyone with the slightest inkling of pursuing a career in aviation is to just pull the trigger. Don't let life get in the way only to wake up at 55 kicking yourself in the ass for not pulling the trigger.

[louiscipher]

"If goods don't cross borders, soldiers will." -Frederic Bastiat.

People under estimate how important cargo is. It's how we get food on our tables, clothing, tools, and medicine. I believe any type of cargo business, whether it's flying or trucking, is vital and should be more appreciated.

[bvrsqzr]

I can tell you my cousin flies for fed ex. He does international routes. He only works 7 days a month, i.e., flying. He's pulling in $500k or more a year. Pretty good gig

[Alwaysmoorecapital]

I'm a pilot as well, A major reason why Atlas does what it does is because it fly's alot of government contracts, I.E military. Meaning it can fly to alot of not so normal locations allowing you to truly live anywhere.

[Mike_Hawk]

I worked for Amazon with atlas planes for about a year and a half as a ramp agent, and now I’m about to take my IR checkride within the next two weeks or so. Hopefully I fly for them one day!

[calvinhelterbran]

Trent: "Do your own research."

Me: "YOU ARE MY RESEARCH!!!"

[larryfranklin]

Excellent points made in this video. There are two other carriers that Amazon uses for cargo as well that may afford similar opportunities as Atlas and those are ABX and Air Transport International. Having worked on all three companies’s 767s I can say Atlas has the newer fleet and overall cleaner 767’s since they fly 767-300’s and ABX has more aged, some faded paint and old lav 767-200’s. ATI has a mix and falls in between those two. I also went to a pilot career fair in FLL last month and the Atlas rep informed me they aren’t currently hiring and likely won’t be until ‘26 due to them getting rid of the 37 fleet and transitioning 37 pilots to 67 roles and training current 67 pilots upgrading to 47’s. Since I am low time just under 500hrs I asked how I could groom my resume to be more attractive to a cargo carrier and asked if the CFI route was the way to go or just build ME time. She said absolutely ME time; the more the better. You made a great point in your vid to get your MEII and get paid for the ME time

[devynlopez]

Wow you made Atlas sound enticing! I’m just starting my PPL so can’t apply yet, but now I want to when I’m at that point. I’ve flown on Atlas several times, they do military cargo flights frequently

[John-yvvo]

The high time pilots I know that retire usually go to cargo carriers. One of the reasons is packages don’t complain. Atlas and Omni air do a lot of work with the DOD as well, so better job security in case there’s another pandemic

[tomgillotti]

I’m a military pilot stationed in Germany and I see Atlas out here almost every day. Don’t know much about them but they seem like a well-maintained fleet. Would love to learn more about the company. Thanks for the video!

[lex_hayes]

My sister's step son recently left the RAAF as a senior pilot of them real massive ones & he's just started flying cargo for Atlas in the US.

[tristenparker]

Such a great video. I’m a student pilot with 22 hours or so. Just graduated high school.Getting ready to go to Florida Tech to get a BA in Aeronautical Science with flight. I know I got a long road ahead but I can’t help but to watch videos like this to effectively plan out my path in life. So I appreciate these videos of you breaking down requirements and showing us younger guys a detailed outline to the majors.

[mannygathers]

I’m on this video first Bro🎉 Following you all the way. Guest this is the start of your 50+ fan club😂

[kadachiman]

I am not a pilot I am an Electrician.
For 15+ years now I have been working in the mining industry in Australia on 2 weeks on 2 weeks off roster and cannot imagine myself doing any other roster (but as you said it depends on the individual), also as you sated you can live anywhere in the world, which I actually do, I have lived in Philippines for 12+ years.
Flying back and forth from home to work every moth means I fly A LOT, but only in the passenger cabin and I have to pay not get paid...lol
The pilot shortage is going to get worse (e.g. an Indian airline just ordered an additional 400 planes) so it is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to go this path, If I was a lot younger than what I am now I would suck all of your information in and go for it to become a pilot (in cargo as no pax to worry about), so it is great that you are putting this info out there for people, great work mate.

[brentmiller]

This is an amazing opportunity for the right people. If you’re just contemplating getting into this the on-ramp to get into something like this is beyond daunting.

[TWO_GENDERS]

I know a guy that went from passing IOE at Skywest to getting a job at ATI on the 767. All in less than a year.

[-DC-]

Been Freight 25 years haven't regretted a single moment 👊

[robgoffroad]

Another great video! I've been thinking that Cargo or Corporate is my future more than the actual airlines; we'll see. I've made a lot of progress since I saw your first video -- my PPL training starts on June 20th; on June 24th I take delivery of my own plane (an older Piper Cherokee) that I signed an agreement to purchase yesterday; this will save me a fortune in training costs not having to spend $145/hr to rent a plane. My instructor specializes in accelerated training, so if all goes as planned, I'll have my PPL and instrument by end of July (likely before), and Commercial by end of August or mid-Sept (the 250 hours). From there it'll be time to become a CFI and also look for other paid work that I can get with the commercial rating... even with my own plane it'd still cost like $30k in fuel alone to get to 1500 hours so CFI and other work will be necessary. I'm SUPER excited to get going! I can't quite believe I just bought a plane...