Bush Flying vs. 705 Ops: Which is more 'Real' flying?

[codysth]

A lot of pilots start in the bush and move to the airlines, but I’ve met many who went the other way. If money wasn't an issue, would you rather be hand-flying a Twin Otter in the mud or monitoring an autopilot in an A320?

 

[‘Bob’]

They are both amazing and awful at the same time.

They are also both challenging and boring in their own ways.

I’ve flown with more than a few former Airbus captains who didn’t know basic attitude and power flying VFR or wondered where the aim point was on a snow covered gravel runway. And I’ve flown with bush guys who try and do everything themselves and get behind the automation only to turn it off and promptly make everything worse.

I’m neither bush nor airline and it’s mostly about the money at this point but what keeps me from going full airline is the fact I’ve got the best of both worlds. I like spacing out in cruise and I love skimming the treetops.

 

[Reecered]

"Give a pilot a bag of gold and he'll complain how heavy it is."

In my career, I've found it challenging balancing lifestyle, money, opportunity and stability.

If money wasn't truly a factor, I'd be flying seaplanes in BC/YT. The autonomy, the community, the spectacular scenery, enough unpredictability to stay interesting (but not stressful) and immense job satisfaction.

That said, I had an amphib caravan job paying 130k (in Europe) and I still walked away. The operation was so incompentent they nearly put generator oil into a PT6. At some point, the risk outweighs the pay cheque - especially when it is risks you can't mitigate.

 

[BCav8r]

A lot of pilots start in the bush and move to the airlines, but I’ve met many who went the other way. If money wasn't an issue, would you rather be hand-flying a Twin Otter in the mud or monitoring an autopilot in an A320?

I’d be interested to get the details on the many you met who went the other way, how many could that possibly be?
Unless it’s a retirement gig, my suspicion is that it was not by choice for most of them, ie; fired or laid off, I’ve encountered many who came to the airlines and it didn’t matter how much they were paid. The most extreme example was a guy who was making 220k flying medevacs in Manitoba, week on, week off schedule and quit to make 50k at Jazz. The answer to the question was it didn’t matter how much they were paying, it’s not a lifestyle with longevity.
To be fair there are many types of bush flying but the common denominator is the type of support you get from them, once you get to the airlines, you realize how bad it was!
I was 14 years up North for a few operations and even though I was management for most of that time, the 7/30/60/90/365 is more of a suggestion for most of them, not while I was in charge but that also has ramifications, de-icing with a garden sprayer, multiple snags but don’t dare put that in the log book, min rest, sure. The list of common abuses is long and I have no disillusionment about how bad it really was, I would not go back by choice.