My most recent shift up in Western Alaska flying the Casa featured classic August Nome weather–which was strange since it was only July. (Hopefully that means August will be all sunshine and clear skies!) While circling the Bering Sea waiting for a Special into the Nome airspace, I was thinking about a recent discussion on the Oddball Pilot Network.

We’d been talking about how to make a pilot resume stand out from the crowd. This led me to the realization that very little thought has been given to how to plan out an unconventional flying career. The path to an airliner is pretty well established. But how do you plot a course to flying fire bombers or floatplanes for a living?

The interviews on Oddball Pilot have offered some insight by looking at the career paths of individual pilots. But I was convinced there’s a more organized way to plot out a disorganized course through the aviation world.

So, seeking some input from other pilots, I Shanghaied my F/O, grabbed some pizza and beers, and headed over to the Era pilot house for a group discussion. The topic: “How to structure a non-conventional flying career.”

Some pizza and beer got folks talking.

It was either the beer or the nature of oddball pilots, but we wandered off topic several times and the results were inconclusive. Nonetheless, the conversation was interesting and certainly has whetted my interest in exploring the idea of structured oddball flying. This is definitely a topic we’ll keep exploring for you.

If you have questions of your own, let us know in the comments below.

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