Flight Training and the LE Life?

[PGA07]

From watching these threads in the past I know there are a few out there who were former police officers, detectives, etc. My questition is kind of reverse from what you see on here, but I thought I would post to see what responses I received.

Aviation has always interested me, been around it since childhood, and only recently began primary training. Well, last August I tested for a local department just to see how things went. On Tuesday, I received a call from a detective who was ready to begin my background check. After meeting with him I learn that in the new wave of applicants that they are looking at, I am number 2. This brings me to a crossroads. Obviously, this does not mean I have the job. However, if I pass the BI along with the poly and the psych. I am in. Pay starts at $45,000, goest to $50,000 after 6 months and right now caps at $65,000. They are under negotiations so the cap will probably approach $70,000.

If I pass every thing and accept the job, depending on shifts, will I be able to continue flight training? How much free time do officers really have with the shift work? Having never been in a shift work career, is it hard to adjust? Guess I am looking for any advice you folks may have.

Sorry about the long post, just wanted to give back ground info.

Thank You!

[wsuflyboy]

you can expect to be fairly busy your first year. With your academy and field training it will be somewhat difficult to truly focus on flying. Once you get settled in and comfortable the shift work can actually work to your advantage. I dont know how your agency works but you can expect to work weekends as a newbie. Since your days off are in the middle of the week it should be easier to schedule a plane and hopefully an instructor. A lot of agencies are working 4-10's so this gives you more days off for flying.

Does your agency have an aviation section that is fully supported? If they don't, you may want to think about finding a dept. that does have one. Getting into a specialty section can take years but once your in nothing beats it.

Congrats on scoring so high and good luck with the rest of the process.

[3green]

I've got a friend who scored when he started working for a local Socal PD last year he got the mon-thurs 1600-0300 shift making fri, sat, sun his days off. With overtime(court, parades, getting drafted) he is making alot more than his starting base of around $60,000. Alot of agencies in Socal have 3-12's(3 days/12 hour shifts) or the 4-10's(4 days/10 hours) not sure if they have those in your area. Either way like wsu says once your out of the academy and off probation you should be pretty free on scheduling your flight training. I do know another guy that went from flying corporate to working in law enforcement(although he still does it on the side) for the stability and benies. Hope that info. helps

[PGA07]

Thank you soooo much for the info. This is a very difficult choice for me considering what is involved. However, one thing that is attractive, you mentioned, THE BENNIES! Seems like it could be a great gig once it gets rolling. Again, thanks for the info.

[PositionAndHold]

Pretty much what every one mentioned is accurate. I have worked as a Corrections Officer for the last eight years in a county jail in SoCal. I have been on a 12 hour rotation the whole time(15 days off a month). It has allowed me to get all of my ratings and spend the last year and a half flying a lear 45 part time.

However it is a double edge sword. Since I was in the middle of training when 9/11 happened I didn't really bust my hump to get done knowing that the only choice I was going to have was CFI'ing (no one was going to be hiring). Not that the CFI gig is bad, but when you make decent money it's hard to step back and take a huge pay cut. So I bought an airplane with my Dad and built most of my time that way, on my days off. Again I wasn't in a hurry. But in today's market I would definetly consider the CFI thing and then move on to 135 or the regionals and get the crappy pay part over with. Which is what I am about to do. I will probably start applying to regionals this month. If I get hired, I will take about a 2/3 cut in pay. But I have to do it eventually.

After saying all that, this job has allowed me to almost pay for all of my training and when I leave the only payment I will have is my truck. So if you want to take your time and know it could take several years, then I would say go for the LE thing. If you want to get inot flying as quick as possible it's going to be a little harder with an LE job.

Feel free to PM if you have any other questions.

[3green]

Position and Hold is right, slowly building your time leaves you with no debt. and that can probably help alot when your making in the 20K range starting at some regional. I did it the same way. I wonder what people are thinking when they take out a huge loan to get their ratings(probably cases of "SJS"). I think the lack of job security and bennies probably hurts more than the paycut for those transitioning from LE to flying fulltime. Unfortunately, it all looks good when the industry is on the upswing, but I remember sept. 11 and the whole pilot gig not look'n so hot. But ya' gotta do what ya' love in the end risk or not. Hell, they aren't paying Deputies/Ofc. the money to stand around. Just like pilots its all smooth 90% of the time until the crap hits the fan. Good luck to all the bro's switching from the street to the sky. 3

[meyer336]

I have served as a police officer for 9 years. I agree with the above postings. At least your first year you won't have much time to do anything. Between crappy days off, overtime, court, special details, and probably third shift you will be pretty much book up. I got burned out pretty quick. Got tired of dealing with the same people and the court system not doing anything to them. I had arrested people for soliciting juveniles for sex on the internet which is a felony in Ohio and the court would give them a $500 bond. At sentencing they would get probation. I decided to resign from my position as a police officer to go back to college and pursue my career goals in aviation.