My airline history and job status with the pandemic

My name is Jason Damman, and I am a 20-year captain with ExpressJet Airlines (doing business as United Express and Continental Express before the United and Continental merger). I know that many pilots, much like me, are sitting at home/not flying due to the COVID epidemic. Many of us are on company leave, on reserve out of the base, waiting for furlough once the government aid to the airlines runs out, or potentially already lost our job and looking for a new one. While this type of industry slump isn’t something that we could have predicted when we started pursuing aviation careers, events like 9/11 and the COVID epidemic can cripple our industry and turn everything upside down in a matter of days.

Looks like this time around with COVID the industry took a nosedive for a while (way worse than 9/11), and according to many sources, it is not expected to fully recover to pre-COVID levels until 2022. Of course, we all hope that this will not be the case, but at this point, we must assume this is the state of things for the foreseeable future.

What else can you do with your airline pilot skills?

While I am in this limbo state, it doesn’t stop me from working on my side gig that has the potential to develop into a full-time gig if enough time is put into it (and we have lots of it now). This side gig is a Drone Services Provider (or DSP) business, which is much easier to get airborne with (pun intended) if you have an airline pilot license than for anyone else. Because any certified pilot can get certified to fly drones commercially (FAA Part 107 certificate) much quicker than folks that are not. This is usually one of the biggest obstacles for people who want to fly drones commercially, as getting Part 107 FAA certification requires passing an aeronautical knowledge exam, like what you must pass for a private pilot certification. You can find detailed information about getting this pilot certification on the FAA website at here and here.

The reason I am here telling you about this is that if you are a certified pilot, you can do this too, while you are in this limbo state with lots of time on your hands. This will give you another skill/tool to help you in your job search beyond airlines, if that’s what you are doing now.  I don’t know how many companies are hiring pilots now (maybe private jet management and cargo transportation companies), but even they have a limited capacity to absorb the pilot surplus that is being created with the pandemic disrupting the airline industry.

State of the Drone Industry in 2020

Remember how there was a pilot shortage in the airline industry just a few months ago? Well, there is kind of a similar situation in the drone industry now - lack of qualified, knowledgeable drone pilots to complete flight missions for companies that have nationwide needs. Although many of these drone gigs are contract or per property/asset, meaning you can choose to do them when you have time, there are already many full-time jobs available also, and new jobs/job descriptions are being created every day due to a lot of drone experimentation and new use cases and workflows being created in various industries. 

Do a search for drone pilot jobs in whatever job search engine you use, and you will see the openings, in different industries and with different pay scales. If you have other than aviation degrees and professional experiences (especially photography, cinematography, software development, engineering, construction management, surveying/mapping), you will be even at more advantage in this industry. A 2013 industry report released by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International projected more than 100,000 new jobs in unmanned aircraft by 2025.

And the actual drone pilot work is mostly contact-less, so it is COVID and quarantine friendly.

What’s more, due to drones disrupting so many industries with faster, cheaper, more efficient solutions to completing tasks traditionally done by humans or other tools, the drone industry is predicted to experience growth rates far outpacing those of many traditional industries (including airlines). Here is a Business Insider Intelligence Drone Market Outlook outlining drone use growth in major industrial and service industries.

Is drone business a viable long-term job/income replacement?

Will becoming a drone pilot replace your income? Probably not, or at least not right away, but again, it all depends on how much you choose to pursue it and market your services. You can always use this as a side gig to supplement your main income, especially if you don’t have a regular 9 to 5 job (which is the airline industry, essentially).

How to get started in the drone industry for airline pilots

Of course, getting a Part 107 certificate will not make you an experienced drone pilot, that is just the first step.

I grew up building and flying radio-controlled airplanes, which is how I got into aviation, so I already had a lot of experience in remote control flying prior to picking up a drone. So, when I started experimenting with drones, I picked it up pretty quickly due to that past experience, but even then, I put in a lot of time practicing my flying, photography, video skills and learning various software processing tools - skills which even now, 5 years later, I am still honing every week as I am working on projects for clients.

So for someone who has never picked up a drone before, the next step after getting your Part 107 certificate would be to get proficient in flying (just like with the airlines, you need to get those flight hours in), and then honing other valuable skills that enable to produce value out of visual data that was captured, not to mention getting your name out there to be considered for drone jobs. However, the possibilities in this developing industry are endless, if you have the interest and the drive.

The easiest way to enter the drone industry is by providing videography and photography services (although most competitive, as well), and that may be the way to get started, but you can take it beyond that and develop skills to use drones in Search and Rescue, Surveying, Mapping, Construction, Delivery, Agriculture, etc. Possibilities are endless if you have an interest and the drive to grow and make this a legitimate side gig or your next career.

If you find this information helpful, please share with your network, airline industry friends, and relatives, and leave comments so I can gauge if this was helpful and whether I should cover the subject of drone business setup in more detail because there is a lot more to it than just FAA Part 107 Certificate to get started!

Also please check out my Website if you are interested in learning what type of work I’ve done and what industries I serve, contact me for job inquiries, and follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

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