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Free Pilot Resume Resources

Updated 02-26-2014 Creating a professional pilot resume can be time consuming and expensive. Hitting road blocks during your pilot job search is frustrating and the last thing you need is added time and expense. FindAPilot.com has compiled a list of free resources to aid in creating a professional pilot resume for free. Software In today's digital age, it is imperative you have your resume in the proper format for pilot employers and pilot recruiters to view. If you upload or submit your resume via email you want to make sure it is in .PDF or .DOC format. If you are limited on resources or don't own Microsoft Word or Adobe this can add hundreds of dollars to your job search. If you are emailing a resume it is highly recommended that you convert your pilot resume to Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. Free Microsoft Office Alternative You should avoid using old programs like Wordperfect, Works, or a Text Editor for your pilot resume. These programs can not be opened by the majority of business offices and HR departments. File types such as .rtf, .txt, .wpd, .wps may put your resume in the trash! FindAPilot recommends you use a .doc or .docx format for your pilot resume, then convert it to PDF. To properly format your resume in .doc or .docx format you will need Microsoft Office. This program typically costs around $100. As a free alternative FindAPilot recommends Open Office at www.openoffice.org From Open Office:

"OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose."

In layman terms, it is a FREE alternative to Microsoft Office and other word processing programs. It will work on any Windows, Mac or Linux based machine. You can create documents and save them as .doc or .docx and even open native Word documents. The suite also offers a spreadsheet program comparable to Excel, a slide creator like Powerpoint and more. To download go here: http://www.openoffice.org/ Creating a PDF document from a Word or Open Office document: If you are already a member of www.FindAPilot.com all you need to do is upload your resume to your Pilot Profile. In about 15 minutes our software will automatically convert your resume to a .PDF file. Simply view your profile and download your resume and you are ready to email as a PDF. If you aren't a member of FindAPilot, there are some free sites that will convert files to PDF for free. Just upload your pilot resume and a link or an email will send the file. Free sites to convert your pilot resume to PDF online: http://www.doc2pdf.net/ http://www.pdfonline.com/convert-pdf/ The Professional Pilot Resume Format The pilot resume is unlike any other professional resume out there. You can't just take any old resume format and convert it to a pilot resume. So where can you find examples of pilot resumes? 1) FindAPilot's Professional Pilot Directory - The best way to find a style or format for your professional pilot resume is to look at other pilots' resumes! You can search our directory and view Premium Pilot Profiles. Click on the pilot's resume to view a sample of different styles and formats. Once you view 10-15 resumes you will have a good idea of which styles you like. note: Private Listings have photo, resume upload, contact info etc blocked to only registered employers. Premium profiles can be viewed by employers who are not registered and general viewers of FindAPilot. Many pilot employers choose to search for pilots and contact them directly for contract trips and full time employment. Premium Profiles always come up first in pilot searches too! 2) Free Word Sample Pilot Resumes from AirlinePilotCentral -  The folks at AirlinePilotCentral have uploaded free pilot resume samples. Just download these files to your computer and modify them with your information! Civilian Pilot Resume Template (Word .doc) Pilot Cover Letter Template(Word .doc) Sample Military Pilot Cover Letter Template(Word .doc) Military Pilot Resume Template(Word .doc) Pilot Resignation Letter Sample Template (Word .doc) Pilot Interview Thank You Letter Template (Word .doc) 3) Read our article about how to write a great Pilot Cover Letter Other Free Pilot Resume Resources: If you have other free pilot resume resources that aren't mentioned in the above article, we'd love your feedback! Simply leave a comment on this blog for your fellow pilots to read. We appreciate your feedback!

A Week in the Life: On a Rotation with a Charter Management Pilot

Kimbell Fenske is a recent new-hire flying as First Officer on a Hawker 800 for a nationwide Charter Management company. Kimbell began flying in 1988 as a CFI. He built his flight time flying checks at night in Beech Barons and Cessna Caravans before being hired by a Major Airline (cargo) in 1998. Kimbell flew night cargo in Boeing 727s as a Flight Engineer and First Officer in domestic and international operations. Like many pilots Kimbell faced a furlough due to downsizing in 2009 and was forced to find work during a down cycle. He was hired by a charter management company in July 2010 and shares his story of a recent rotation. His new position offers an 8on-6off schedule, travel benefits, competitive salary, health care, and a 401k retirement. A Week in the Life: On a Rotation with a Charter Management Pilot By: Kimbell Fenske Wednesday (Day 1): Airline to the aircraft then fly KTEB-KPWK My workweek begins on a Wednesday and ends on a Wednesday, so right up until the night before I have no idea where I might be going.  To me there is something adventurous about that, however having to pack for Barrow, AK and Grand Bahamas and everyplace in between makes for a pretty tight suitcase. [caption id="attachment_118" align="alignright" width="300" caption="View from Hawker 800 Cockpit"][/caption] The Blackberry (BB) buzzes at 5:31pm on Tuesday.  Looks like I’m airlining to Newark, NJ in the morning for a trip up to Chicago that night.  The airline tickets I get are ‘positive space’ and scheduling, of course, always wants to get you out on the earliest flight possible, Ughh!  Showing up at the terminal at 5:30am for a 7am flight is not too bad considering as I walk through the doors I’m hearing the final boarding call on a flight departing at 5:30am! TSA and security are always a pain.  Customs too.  These are little people with huge sticks as I say.  Smile and grin and put your toothpaste (3oz MAX) in a zip lock baggie along with other ‘liquids’ in the plastic bin and they seem to not bother you.  Talk back to them, well, you might just miss your flight.  I know they have a tough job but it’s the little inconsistencies from airport to airport that drive me nuts.  Doing it now for a while has gotten me good at it so things are generally not a problem.  I could travel in my uniform, as some do, for a little more latitude through security.  For me though I prefer to travel as inconspicuous as possible.  It cuts down on the obligatory pilot-passenger idle chit-chat I’ve found.  Once safely through security it’s on to the gate. With what airlines are charging these days for checked baggage, more and more people are bringing their roller bags on board; of course not before attempting to cram as much as they can into the 14”x22” allowable bag.  With the limited space available in the overhead bins, the airline makes repeated requests for passengers with smaller bags to “please put them under the seat in front of you.”  I hear the request at least four times during the boarding process landing in deaf ears it seems.  Only a handful of passengers actually comprehend the very simple request they’re being asked to do which is why it’s always, always a good idea to never ever be the last to board!  Last headache I need at this point is to have to check my bag to Newark and then never see it ever again! Teterboro: the Mecca of corporate aviation with five FBO’s all on an airfield slightly bigger than Venice, Florida.  There must have been 100 airplanes there if I saw 10!  It was my first time here so I was very much interested in the departure procedures, considering Teterboro’s location.  I tell the captain that ‘gate hold’ advised me of a possible 1 hour delay.  Not exactly what he wanted to hear as we were already pushing the 14hr window.  Passengers arrived late, of course, yet somehow we were told to start and not to expect any delay at all.  Go figure. Our flight had us going to KPWK, Chicago Executive, just north of O’Hare.  Beautiful night.  Chicago approach brought us in low across Lake Michigan for the left base to Rwy 16. “Report the airport in sight for the visual”, approach says. Again never having been to this airfield, the Captain either, I was a little unfamiliar of its location.  Compounded too with the lights of Chicago made it a little tricky to find. “Call the airport or I’ll have to swing you for the ILS”, approach needles. All we see are lights, and were looking for lights within the lights!  We had the localizer tuned, of course, and we knew we were close.  We even had the FAF on the punched into the FMS. “I see the beacon….I think…no, wait a minute…” I stammer to the captain. “Tell him we have the airport,” the Captain says. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been here before.  Can’t see the runway, but you know you can join the LOC and just follow it in. You’re bound to see it, right?  Like trying to find the milk for your cereal on a large breakfast buffet.  You know it’s there, right next to the cereal, but you’re just not seeing it. “Airport in sight” I tell Approach. “Cleared for the visual, contact tower, good night”. Crap.  Visions of us not seeing the runway now and sailing into O’Hare’s airspace somehow seemed very real to me.  “Where the heck is it?”  We joined the LOC inside the FAF and called the tower. “Follow the Cessna on short final, cleared to land,” tower replies. I’d be happy if I just had the Cessna in sight!  After what seemed like an eternity, the airport comes into view: big as day with the Cessna pulling off mid-field.  We land and taxi in, silently shaking our heads in unison. Thursday (Day 2): KPWK-KERI-KFMY At breakfast the next morning, and yes I did find the milk, we are notified of our next trip.  Repo to Erie, PA to fly two people and a cat to Fort Myers, Page Field.  Cool. We hop on over to Erie and pick up our passengers.  The man is pushing mid-90’s and the woman in her late 60’s I’m guessing.  I ask of the woman if the gentleman is her father. “NO!  He’s my companion thank you very much,” Oops. After a little “note-to-self” moment I load them up with the cat, and we take them safely and uneventfully to Fort Myers.  The daughter, who is there to meet the passengers, asks of my Capt, “Was my mother a royal pain?” Somehow I think I would have burst out laughing, but totally un-nerved by the question he replies, “No…a little particular perhaps.” Good answer. Friday (Day 3): KFMY-KOPF-MDSD Santa Domingo appears the next afternoon on the horizon.  I had to Google MDSD on my BB when the trip arrived.  Another first!  Apparently we have a famous DJ on board coming down to do a gig for some of the locals.  We stay at an all inclusive resort (pretty cool) for the night and then fly him and a friend to Denver via Miami.  Did I mention customs was a pain?  I have to admit not all unfriendly custom personnel live in Miami, but all the ones I’ve met do.  Customs requires everything off the airplane, even catering.  Smile and grin and move along to the beat of their drum.  Cross them once with paperwork out of order and you’re liable to find them checking your orifices for Cuban cigars! Saturday (Day 4): MDSD-KMIA-KAPA We get our passengers to Denver and during post flight I notice hydraulic fluid leaking from the nose strut.  Maintenance is notified and unfortunately can’t get to it until tomorrow.  So much for our trip to Yankton, SD. It’s a shame; I really wanted to see the burial site of Wild Bill Hickok’s assassin. Sunday (Day 5): Aircraft in Maintenance. Crew at Hotel Monday (Day 6): Aircraft in Maintenance. Crew at Hotel Tuesday (Day 7): Airline home one day early then next 7 days off! Our rotation ended suddenly for us on Tuesday the 16^th after two days in Denver as there was a conflict with scheduling somehow.  I learned very early in my career not to ask too many questions, especially when it meant going home a day early.  My ‘positive space’ arrives on the BB the night before, and before I know it I’m packing to go home. In addition to being a corporate pilot, Kimbell Fenske is the designer of the popular and affordable excel based logbook program The Pilots Logbook. For more information on The Pilots Logbook visit www.thepilotslogbook.com.

U.S. may soon announce security deal with pilots

WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:55am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration could soon announce new airport security screening measures for airline pilots, who have complained about full-body scans and invasive pat downs, a top U.S. official said on Friday. Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole acknowledged in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" that scans and pat downs intended to find explosives and other weapons would offer little protection against any pilot determined to bring down an aircraft. "We've had a number of very good discussions with pilots and hope to be announcing something very soon in terms of a good way forward for the pilots for that very reason, using a risk-based intelligence driven process," he said. Pilots' unions, which have raised health concerns about scans and objected to rigorous pat downs, say their members already have gone through security background checks, making further screening duplicative. U.S. officials contend that radiation from the scans pose no health risk. Pistole gave no indication that screening rules for passengers are about to change, despite calls for alternative measures including Israeli-style one-on-one interviews with travelers. "That's a good topic of public debate. Obviously we use layers of security and hopefully we're informed by the intelligence," he told ABC. But the television network also reported on Friday that TSA is testing new X-ray technology that would show a "stick figure" instead of a passenger's full-body image. As the U.S. airline industry enters one of the year's busiest seasons, administration officials face an uproar over invasive new screening techniques intended to foil attacks such as the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot in which a Nigerian man is charged with trying to detonate explosives in his underwear aboard a Detroit-bound airliner. Travelers and U.S. lawmakers have objected to scans that produce revealing body images and pat down procedures that are highly personal.

Pilot Hotel Stay Information and Overnight Fun!

Living on the road isn't easy, and often times you end up in a hotel with very few amenities. The folks at AviationInterviews have created an extensive crew hotel directory with user provided information on thousands of hotels. The database offers crew comments and ratings as well as a list of basic hotel information. Pilots and flight attendants can quickly get information on the hotel like internet connection type, gym information, nearby restaurants, crew room info and more. Users can even rate each hotel.

For more information on the Crew Hotel List go to: http://www.aviationinterviews.com/crewovernights.html

Editor’s note: AvitionInterviews.com is not associated with the 500 Knots Network, FindAPilot.com Inc, or its affiliates.

Aircraft Type Rating Study Guides and Manuals for Free!

If you are looking for free information on a specific aircraft type we recommend Smart Cockpit. Smart Cockpit is a free resource which offers aircraft type rating specific guides and gouges including checklist, systems questions, flash cards and more.

From SmartCockpit.com: "Smartcockpit.com is a tremendous free online aviation library, where anyone can obtain specific information on virtually any topic. Detailed systems summaries, extensive aircraft questionnaires and an Instructor’s Corner section (which includes detailed and well-illustrated briefings) exist for many active commercial aircraft."

SmartCockpit.com is a great resource if you are seeking a new type rating, going to recurrent, or just want to know about a certain aircraft type.

Editor’s note: SmartCockpit.com is not associated with the 500 Knots Network, FindAPilot.com Inc, or its affiliates.

Delta Airlines to Expand International Flights

November 17, 2010

Delta Air Lines plans to offer more international flights, especially to Asia and Europe, in spring and summer 2011 in a bid to gain more business passengers. The carrier said it was offering special introductory fares on new international routes for which tickets must be bought no later than November 30. Delta said its most significant expansion would be in Asia, where it has seen revenue growth of more than 50 percent. The carrier said it applied to the US Transportation Department to start new flights to Beijing and Guangzhou in China, and will expand service to Manila, Philippines. The company said it also would resume non-stop service to Shanghai from Atlanta next year, a route that had been suspended in 2009 as tough economic conditions hurt travel demand. Atlanta-based Delta has moved to strengthen its presence in high-growth markets in an effort to capture lucrative corporate customers as the economy improves. Its statement on Tuesday cited "double-digit revenue growth in most every international business market" over the last year. In August, Delta received approval for a USD$1.2 billion upgrade of its operations at New York's JFK airport, a move it said was essential to luring corporate travellers as it builds a major hub in New York. But it also faces competition for international business passengers from US rivals such as the newly merged United Continental Holdings, which displaced Delta as the world's largest airline earlier this year. For Europe, Delta's new offerings include more flights between London's Heathrow Airport and the United States, and the carrier also said it will launch its first service to Reykjavik, Iceland. The company also said its capacity will rise by between one and three percent next year and added it will end this year with 91 fewer planes than in 2009.

(Reuters)

A Day In The Life of a Professional Pilot - Coming Soon!

The FindAPilot.com Pilot Jobs Blog is pleased to announce a new feature of our blog. We will soon begin delivering real stories from professional pilots in different sectors of the industry. The articles will feature a pilot's trip, segment of a trip or day at work. These no-nonsense articles will give our readers a real-life perspective of a pilot's job. If you are a professional pilot and would like to contribute to our blog please contact us today! We would like to talk to you about offering our readers a look into your job as a professional pilot or flight instructor.

Contract Pilots: Deadbeat Aircraft Owner List

It's 10am on a Saturday and you get a call for a contract trip from a new client. Things are looking up! You are excited to get into the air and ready to show the new client what a great decision it was to call you. But how do you make sure you will get paid? Although having an aircraft is not a cheap endeavor, there are still companies and owners who don't pay contractors, lessees, management companies, fbos, etc. Where can you go to see if your new client is one of those deadbeat owners? How do you mitigate the risk of flying without getting paid? The Aero Liens List is a free resource which tracks and lists leins placed against aircraft owners. You can search the list by Tail number, Serial number and Claimaint Name. If your new client is on the list then you may want to think twice about doing the trip or get paid in advance!

For more information on the Aero Liens List go to http://www.aerolienslist.com. Editor's note: Aero Liens List is not associated with the 500 Knots Network, FindAPilot.com Inc, or its affiliates.

Important Message From Captain Sully About Pilot Fatigue

Please watch this message from Captain Sully Sullenburger.

Important Message From Captain Sully Sullenberger from Gabe Wexler on Vimeo

Provided by The Coalition of Airlines Pilot's Associations. Video by Gabe Wexler. More information available at Airline Pilot Update

List of FAA Airman Certificate Type Ratings 11/05/2010

List of FAA Airman Certificate Type Rating Codes and Designators effective 11/05/2010 FAA Type Rating List PDF Ammendment to original AC 61.89E  Subject: PILOT CERTIFICATES: AIRCRAFT TYPE RATINGS Ac61-89e PDF

Effective August 4, 1997, the following type ratings for helicopters weighing 12,500 pounds or less are no longer issued to holders of airline transport pilot certificates, 14 CFR 61.5(b)(5):