Anyone done Ag to ATP?
Posted by Fit-Process-6789@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 8 comments
I’m still into my PPL. I live “close” to the Mississippi delta. A college about an hour away got a $2M grant from the feds to train ag pilots for the next few years. They pay for the training and certs (commercial, instrument, tailwheel, turbine, and the aerial applicator cert). All I need is my PPL.
My goal is 91/135/121.
My thinking on this is if they will pay for the training and get flight time plus a paying job till I can build hours it sounds like a no brainer. But I have aspirations to do other things.
Has anyone made the jump? Pros and cons? I wouldn’t want to do it if it looks bad to the 121/135 world.
Guysmiley777@reddit
Aerial applicator businesses tend to pride themselves in being able to sniff out and avoid hiring pilots looking to use ag flying as a stepping stone.
Fit-Process-6789@reddit (OP)
Appreciate the advice
redditburner_5000@reddit
It's rare to hear someone think of Ag as a stepping stone. Ag is a career track in its own right. I'd be really careful about how you talk about your career ambitions. Calling Ag a time building gig is a serious disconnect.
Lol. No. It won't look bad. Ag is not a time building path. It's a highly specialized segment of the aviation business that people work years to get into. I don't think many of them have ambitions to go fly jets. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I've never heard an Ag pilot daydream about RJs!
Fit-Process-6789@reddit (OP)
I’m not putting it down. One of my buddies was an ag pilots. He loved the job. I’m looking at it as a way to have training paid for, get paid for a while to fly, and then go after what my goals are.
That_Soup4445@reddit
Do you like ag work? It is a lifestyle and during the busy season it’s triple digit hours per week. It’s good fun work but will be miserable if your heart isn’t in it.
Fit-Process-6789@reddit (OP)
I can do anything if I have a goal in mind. Just don’t want to be pigeonholed into being “just” an ag pilots. Then it would miserable.
Reputation_Many@reddit
Just make sure you suit up well. I know someone who walked away from an ag crash and still died from the chemicals getting into skin.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I’m still into my PPL. I live “close” to the Mississippi delta. A college about an hour away got a $2M grant from the feds to train ag pilots for the next few years. They pay for the training and certs (commercial, instrument, tailwheel, turbine, and the aerial applicator cert). All I need is my PPL.
My goal is 91/135/121.
My thinking on this is if they will pay for the training and get flight time plus a paying job till I can build hours it sounds like a no brainer. But I have aspirations to do other things.
Has anyone made the jump? Pros and cons? I wouldn’t want to do it if it looks bad to the 121/135 world.
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