I know in the real world that private pilots can haul cancelled checks and other financial papers, etc for banks. how or where do you go to look for that kind of thing? i want to simulate this in fs2k2 and want to do it as realistically as possible and would like actual routes/airports/cities that are really used for this type of work.thanks for any info would be greatciao!Brian S

You could really fly from just about any city in the country to another city and you'd be ok. At the end of each business day the banks around the country have to ship all their checks from that day to the federal reserve bank in Philidelphia (I think it's Philly anyhow...It could be Washington) Generally how this works is smaller planes (Everything from single engined cessnas and pipers up to things like smaller KingAirs, Navajos etc) pick up the checks at the outlying cities and fly them to a central city where everything is transfered to a larger plane and then flown to its final destination. One of the largest companies that provides this service is Airnet Express (callsign: Starcheck); they have a fleet of Barons, Caravans, Navajos and Learjets which they operate primarilly in the eastern part of the country, though I believe they have runs all the way to the west coast. You can find their website at http://www.airnet.com/There are a lot of companies that fly these routes, but Airnet is the only website I can remember offhand. A lot of charter companies bid for these jobs because it's guarenteed nightly work and it pays fairly well; it's not uncommon to find a small company that only flies one route a night. (The FBO where i learned to fly flew a Debonair to Philidelphia every night with a stop in Albany for more pickups)And just to clarify- private pilots cannot fly these trips because they would be recieving payment for the flight. You have to be a commercial pilot and meet certain experience minimums (part 135 of the FARs).Hope this helps-Rob

wow thanks! thats exactly what im lookin' for!i thought private pilots could fly these routes, the person that told me then is wrong. private pilots can do bush flying? yes? or no? or is there any type of flying that you can earn money for that a person with a ppl do?also another quick question on the airnet website i saw something called "inline agreement routes" what exactly does this mean? and what are the details?thanks again,ciao!Brian S

Brian, your have to be a commercial pilot with a IFR rating to fly a check run... Some times you also need a multi-engine rating also... I ran them in an Seneca T201 being the high time pilot at the small FBO that was lucky enough to take the low bid on the routes. It's a good way to build time including IFR and in my case Multi-engine... All routes were put up for bid on a regular basis so they are not always dependable for smaller FBOs... But it's good work if you can get it... Also keep in mind my experence was some time ago and many things have changed since then...Ron MashburnCFII Retired

There isnt really anything that a private pilot can do for hire. About the only financial gain is that you can be compensated for either flying a Govt offical or charitable organization, and at that they can only comp expenses of the flight. So keep pluggin away and get a commercial..Max

Besides airnet there a bunch of other check haulers out there. I think Ram Air Express in Raliegh has a website with their "runs". It's a good time builder, but they fly in anything....I've heard 737's go missed but alas the package guy in a cherokee lance lands.

I was the ground transport guy for a company in Richmond, VA this summer, picking up bonds and stuff from a big brokerage company in the city and taking them to their mail distribution center in the West End. There was a guy waiting there for me every day to slap an AirNet Express sticker on it with destination: Charlotte. He had about 30 minutes to run it from there to the airport (25 miles away) in the crazy city traffic on I-64. I'm not sure what happened from there as far as what aircraft was used or where it went after CLT, but there ya have it...RIC-CLT around 6-6:30 p.m.

>private pilots can do bush flying? yes? or no?Again, it depends on if you're compensated for your time. If you own a floatplane and take a couple of buddies out to a lake to fish, that can be done with a ppl as long as no money changes hands, other than equally splitting the cost of the trip. If you're paid anything beyond the actual expenses, that requires a commercial and Part 135 rules.>is there any type of flying that you can earn money for that a person with a ppl do?No. The basic definition of commercial privileges is being able to "fly for hire."Dan