Fly Your Way To A Homesteading Experience

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Then again, maybe you'd rather not hire on as a bush pilot. Fine: An airplane can still be a particularly handy tool around the homestead. (Who says a plane is too expensive? You can buy a good bush aircraftused-for about the price of a new truck.) As a flying homesteader, you can live—if you wish—in no-roads isolation, where people (and government hassles) are few and where low land prices may well offset much of the cost of your bird. You'll be quite independent, since you'll have your own economical, fast transportation in and out . . . yet you won't be hopelessly isolated from the world if, say, your two-year-old comes down with appendicitis.

Even if you choose to live near a city, on the other hand, you'll find that a good many aviation opportunities (most of them compatible with homesteading) await you once you've earned your wings.

The way I see it, the question is not whether you can afford to become a pilot ... but whether you can afford not to!

OTHERS HAVE DONE IT

In case you think I'm fantasizing:

I know one pilot who makes $50 each weekend towing gliders ... and another who pays for his own plane by hauling skydivers aloft on Sundays. Both are homesteaders.

I know a pilot who worked as a flight instructor for two years-just long enough to save $10,000—then set out for Peru. Last I heard, the guy had flown a stint as a charter pilot and then bought a farm.

A good friend of mine—a middle-aged, former-executive refugee from the Establishment—pumped gas to pay for his flight training while his wife worked as a secretary to support their herd of children. When he graduated and got a job as a flight instructor, she quit her job and they plunked his first month's wages down on five acres of land they'd found 50 miles from town. Then-with his flying income—my friend and his wife built a house and paid off their mortgage ... and in less than two years (with their homestead completely paid for and producing) he cut his flying work to weekends only.

I could go on ... but I think you get the idea. Flying and homesteading are not only compatible, but—in fact —either one can lead directly to the other.

ARE FLYING JOBS REALLY AVAILABLE?

Yes, they are ... if you're willing to go out of your way to find 'em. Which means that this article is not about landing an airline job or a position as a corporate jet jockey. (Those situations are harder to come by than a penniless politician, and aren't compatible with homesteading anyway.) I'm talking about employment that involves flying small single—and/or twin-engine airplanes—either for yourself or a small company—in a remote, scarcely populated, livable part of the world. These jobs can indeed be had.

Not that the going is easy. True, the competition for flying jobs isn't as stiff in the boonies as it is in a big city ... but then, back-country openings aren't as plentiful as the in-town opportunities are, either. Bush—country jobs aren't often advertised, and sometimes don't even exist until you walk through the door. They take some digging to find. Mark my words, though: The jobs are there. And-chances are—if you have the energy and determination needed to succeed as a homesteader, you'll be able to find them.

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