Actually, if  you’ve already done all that, you are putting the cart before the horse!  I mean to say that there are other things you need to consider before all the expense of equipping your vehicle.  After you read this, you may not want to get into this business.

This is NOT an easy life!  First of all, if you are the homebody type, you really need to think seriously about the pilot car industry.  There are some people who can stay at home and take short day runs or maybe one or two day runs, and make a decent living.  In my experience, those folks are in the minority.  On the other hand, if you like to travel, this might just be your special place.  Just don’t get the idea that this is a way to pay for a vacation.  If you want to earn a living, you must stay busy-always lining up a follow on load and then rushing to get there in time for the load to move.

If you want to make a good living, you’re gonna have to live like a truck driver-only without the sleeper.  Do the math:  let’s assume that your rate is $1.50 per mile.  Your actual out of pocket expenses (not counting vehicle payment, insurance, payment to yourself, etc.) is going to be about 40% of what you get paid.  In round numbers, that leaves you about $0.90/per mile in gross profit (that’s what you have left BEFORE you start paying your other expenses.  You’re gonna have to pay all those hidden expenses out of what is left.  That figure varies by person, based upon their credit rating, where they live, and lots of other variables.  You can figure that your cost per mile, counting all related expenses, to be in the range of $0.80-$0.90 per mile, leaving you with about $0.60 per mile as net profit.  So, you’ve got to decide how much net profit you want to make over a one year period.  If you want to earn $60,000 in net profit, then you are going to have to drive about 100 thousand miles a year.  That’s about what long haul truck drivers put in each year.  The point is that if you have a family at home that needs you nearby, this is not the business for you. 

If you are the kind of person who needs 8 hours of sleep, this is not the business for you.  Here’s why:  In most states, oversize loads can move from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset.  In the summertime, that means the load can be moving for 15 hours per day.  If you have breakfast before the load and dinner afterwards, you only have about 7 hours of the day left and you haven’t even gotten to your motel room.  What happens if you travel all day and then get to an area where you have to move at night…the SAME night?  The winter hours are shorter, of course.

If you need to go “potty” every hour, or stop to get a fresh drink and a snack every couple of hours, this isn’t the life for you.  It is not uncommon for the load to stop only for refueling during the day.  Many drivers will consider your needs, but you cannot plan on it.  What’s more, if the load has to stop often, you will get a bad reputation and no one will want to hire you to escort their loads.  Most drivers are like us, they make their money by putting on the miles.  Every time that load has to stop, it is the equivalent of cutting about 45 minutes out of the day (about 45 miles), according to some truck drivers.

If you are a timid or courteous driver, or sensitive to other four wheel drivers cursing you or flashing one fingered signals at you, you should reconsider getting into this business.  That was the hardest thing for me to change about myself.  When I got started in this business, when my driver said he needed the left lane, I would wait until there was a gap in traffic.  Sometimes the driver couldn’t wait for that, so I had to learn to be an assertive driver and claim that left lane almost immediately.  If the load needs to weave through railroad crossarms, or traffic signals, sometimes the escort must put themselves into the oncoming traffic to provide a safe avenue for the load.  It is a frightening and dangerous experience and very stressful.  So, you need to consider all of these things before you choose to enter this career field.

Now, let’s talk about training.  I know some people who just flagged up and went forth and escorted and did a fine job.  They have been successful in this business for years.  Those people are the exception, not the rule.  I’ve never asked them, but I would venture to say that they would not advise doing what they did.  Your best bet is to find someone near you who already has been in this business several years and is willing to let you ride with them.  I have trained a couple of people, and I required them to travel about 1000 PAID miles with me.  For the first several hundred miles, they sat in the right seat and observed and listened.  When I felt they had the general concepts in mind, I put them in the driver’s seat and I observed and made recommendations and suggestions.  All of this training only qualified them to lead or chase a “normal” oversized load.  It did not qualify them to operate with a high pole, perform route surveys, or escort “superloads”.  Those things require many many more miles before I would recommend a new person take on one of those loads.  Just how long varies from person to person.  There are some people who never will qualify for anything more than lead/chase for the smaller oversize loads.  I know others who have been capable of running high pole, superloads, and route surveys after only about three months on the road.  Even truck drivers who want to get into this business need to have at least SOME training.  They do have the advantage of having that “road sense” that is so important in this business, but it is an entirely different thing to “intimidate” other four wheelers with a big truck or another four wheeler with lights and flags.  When I trained other people, we shared motel rooms and they paid for their own meals.  It varies from person to person, but I don’t personally know of anyone who has paid a trainee during this time.

If you plan to take long haul oversize loads, you will need to get some certifications.  There is a growing trend among the states to require “best practices guidelines” certification training.  Generally, that entails taking an 8 hour classroom course.  This is not something you can do online.  You actually must physically go to the classes.  Currently the states that require that certification are Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, and Washington.  At present, only one state-Utah-has traveling classes.  You can check uspilotcar.com to see where they will be and when.  Costs of these classes vary.

Other states require certifications in their states.  For example, New York state has a certification that is good ONLY in that state and they will not accept other state’s certifications.  In that case, you must go to the state of New York physically to take the test.  The only other state that does that is Virginia.  They do accept out of state certifications, but if you live in Virginia, you will need to take their test in person.  A couple of years ago, the VA certification was the “standard” and you could have a local official (teacher, librarian, police chief) administer their test, but it’s not that way anymore.  Kansas requires superload certification.  If you have a CDL it is no problem.  Even if you don’t have a CDL, it is simple to do.  All  you have to do is take the Defensive Driving Course from the National Safety Council and send them proof.  You can take the course online and then fax your certificate to Kansas DOT.  Generally they will fax your superload certification back to you within hours.

New Mexico and Louisiana have so-called certification programs, but they really are vehicle inspection programs.  Nevada and Georgia require amber light permits before you can legally operate amber lights, strobes,  light bars and etc. in those states.  They are inexpensive-maybe $5.00 each.  Nevada just recently has begun allowing you to get your permits online.  As far as I know, you still have to use snail mail for Georgia.

In summary, the REALLY hard part is deciding if you can live up to the lifestyle that this career requires, and then you need to get some training!  Certifications also are an important component of your preparations for this business.

This load was far more problematic than any with which I have been involved, and apparently the problems began LONG before I got involved.  They began moving this load back in September from Torrance, CA, through the state of Arizona.

I first got involved around the first of November when the dispatcher called to ask me to perform a route survey for this load.  I was in Las Vegas at the time, having just dropped a load there.

Typically, when I do a route survey, I make personal contact with the various utilities along the route.  That is time-consuming, so my rates reflect that.  It involves stopping and getting pole numbers, circuit numbers, etc., and then researching to find out who owns the utilities.  Then, I contact the line supervisor or operations manager for each utility, and if possible, meet nose-to-nose with that person.  If I believe we will need traffic control help while going through various communities, I personally contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.  During this process, I develop a contact list in the order we will need to call them.

The dispatcher asked me if I would give her a break if I let her do all the utility contacts.  She assured me that she would deal with them and they would know where all of their low road crossings were located.  Not having to do all that I normally do would have cut the time required to do this survey by half.  Since the load already was sitting because of the lack of NM permit, I was willing to accept her offer of help.  LITTLE DID I KNOW!  That will be the recurring theme of this blog.

On the first and second days of the survey, I broke my pole.  That should have been adequate warning to me.  After repairing my pole, I completed the survey and submitted it to the trucking company.  Later, they called and wanted me to research another potential route that involved 75 miles of dirt, rock and gravel road.  If it had worked out, it would have saved about 500 miles for the trucking company.  It took me five hours and two rear tires to survey that route, only to learn that it wouldn’t work because there were about a dozen cattleguards that were about 8 inches too narrow for the load.  I saw only three vehicles during that five hour period.

Days later, the permitting company called me and wanted me to run the route again, marking every low wire, about how high it was, and what type of wire (fiberoptic, telephone, power, etc.).  They said THEY would use that information to contact the various utilities along the way.  I did as they requested at my own expense, since I should have done it in the first place.  Unfortunately for me, I had relied upon the dispatcher to take care of that side of the survey.

Throughout this process, the dispatcher was contacting the utilities she could identify along our route, seeking letters of approval for the route from them.  In one specific case, a large telephone company responded in writing that they had no overhead wires along our route and there would be no problem.  I immediately saw that was erroneous and contacted the company representative myself with specific information.  After he went out and reviewed our route in person, he called me back to say that there was one particular fiberoptics line that was already as high as he could move it, and it was too tight to be lifted three feet by our bucket trucks.  That meant I had to review another route around that section of road.

Finally, we got our permit, letters of approval and a private bucket truck and began our move on December 3…one whole day.  On the second day, the lineman for the power company showed up to let us know that there was NO WAY we could travel the approved route because of multiple high voltage low wires.  So, we spent the entire day looking for a new way to get around El Paso.  Ultimately we had to have the El Paso police department shut down four miles of a four lane divided highway so we could get through El Paso.

On day three, we moved along quite well, until we neared the Ruidoso, NM, area.  About ten miles from Ruidoso, the head of the NM DOT permit office called me personally and said there was NO WAY we were going to get through Ruidoso, and to get the load to the nearest safe place and shut down.  Remember that we already had a permit approved by her office.  She informed me that we could not go through Ruidoso, despite the permit, because we had completely missed notifying a major telephone provider.  They had four low and tight fiberoptic lines that they would have had to cut to get us through on that day.  The director of the state permit office said that I needed to perform a route survey for a new route around Ruidoso and to request a new permit.  That process took another seven days and numerous phone calls on my part to work out varioius problems.

In the meantime, the trucking company repowered the load.  In other words, they replaced the initial driver with another one because he had lost his wallet, including CDL, medical card, fuel card, cash in various currencies, and etc.  The new driver had brought along his own escort.  Somehow, the state permit office thought I was going to be pulled from the load, and they were going to refuse to let the load move without either me, or a new route survey.  We got all that worked out and moved the following day with two high pole escorts.  We also picked up a new rear escort, an executive with the shipping company.

After that, we moved along fairly well.  I ran in front with the two bucket trucks (the executive ordered a second one for us).  When I hit a low wire, I stopped and one or both of the bucket trucks would pull up under the wire to lift it.  The second high pole came forward and stopped under the wire to let the bucket truck know how far up they needed to lift it, while I moved on to the next low wire.  We repeated that process for about 1400 miles.  Throughout this process, I was on the phone trying to identify the next utility company (primarily power companies) and notify them that we would need their help.  I also was calling the next community or political entity (county sheriff’s office or city police) to alert them that we would be coming through their area and would be having a negative impact on traffic.  It was a slow process.  We were averaging about 140 miles per day, and taking about ten hours to do that.  Do the math:  we were averaging about 14 mph.

Finally with the help of an outstanding Houston police motorcycle escort team, we delivered the load shipside at a Houston port late on December 16th.

As a result of this experience, I will NEVER EVER allow the customer to do the utility contacts.  Under about 18 feet, there are few problems, but for loads higher than 18 feet, prior coordination is critical!  I have found that if I give the utility companies adequate advance notice, they generally do not charge the trucking company to move their wires.  After all, it is in their interest that we notify them and involve them in the process.  That way, they do not suffer damage to their equipment by some company that sneaks through with an OD load, tears down wires and then disappears down the highway.  For those companies that DO charge, that is a reasonable expense of moving the load that the trucking company should expect to pay.

Here are the other problems we encountered:  there is no single source of information for identifying the above ground utilities that might be impacted by our load route.  There are “one call” centers in all the states, but their systems are not set  up to handle requests for above ground utilities.  For one to issue a list of utilities, their systems apparently automatically send out notices to every single utility, underground as well as above ground.  The end result is that we wind up getting letters of approval from everyone from private pipeline companies to city water departments and beyond.  During our second permit request in NM, the permit office abruptly changed the rules and REQUIRED us to go through the “one call center”.  I think they may have backed off of that requirement for the time being.

We also encountered utilitiy companies, and even some political entities (such as the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation), who approved our routes without actually traveling or at least specifically reviewing the requested routes.  The Mescalero reservation very quickly found us a new and better route through their area.  As I mentioned before, in some cases, the “worker bee”, that linesman who had to escort us, let us know that we couldn’t use those routes, despite letters of approval and permits.  That is the problem when dealing with the desk drivers and not directly with the “boots on the ground”.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this experience, and will apply them to all future route surveys for high loads.

Of course they have all sorts of questions: can you make money at it? How much does it cost to get into it? What do I need to know? What certifications or permits do I need? What kind of equipment do I need to get?

Others far more experienced than I have written on these subjects, so I am in good company when I attempt to answer these questions from my own perspective. This is the first in a series of articles that I will be writing on the subject. I invite my colleagues to comment on these articles and to correct me when I am wrong. I also invite questions from the readers of this series.

The fundamental question that a “newbie” should consider is this: do you REALLY want to be a pilot car operator?

This is not an easy life, particularly for someone with a family. If I had family obligations, including a wife, children at home, ailing parents, etc., I doubt I would be IN this business. It is true that some people can make a good living in this business with relatively short runs, thus allowing one to maintain the semblance of a family life. Unfortunately, this is rare. It generally depends upon physical location. For example, if one lives near a state line where there are differing pilot car requirements. The best example I can think of for this is those people who live along the Oklahoma panhandle. The panhandle is only about 40 miles wide between Texas and Colorado or Kansas. Often, oversize loads need escorts just across the state of Oklahoma. Thus, people living in that area could easily stay busy just running short runs for a fixed rate, and make a good living, while being at home every night.

The challenges we face in this business are almost the same as the challenges that big rig (over-the-road) truck drivers. I believe that truck drivers probably have an easier time getting loads. There are load boards available, dispatchers, or trucking companies to whom drivers can lease. While there are some pilot car load boards, they are not nearly as sophisticated or as numerous as for the truck drivers.

There is wear and tear on your vehicle to consider. Even more important, do you have an extra vehicle that you can use for this business? Surely you do not want to leave your family without transportation while you are out on a run.

One should consider the financial aspects of being in business for one’s self. Of course there is a lot of freedom when you work for yourself. On the other hand, you miss the “bennies” of working for someone else. Foremost, especially if you have a family at home, is the availability of health insurance through an employer. Add to that the workers’ compensation insurance in the event you are injured on the job. In our business, I do not know of any independent pilot car services company that offers workers’ compensation. There may be some states in the New England area that require this, but that is the exception, rather than the rule. Working for someone else means there is an hourly wage or a salary that you can depend upon (providing you keep your job and your employer doesn’t sell out or shut down).

This business can be a “feast or famine” type of business. To a certain extent, it is seasonal. Obviously, more oversize loads (or OD loads) move during the warmer months of the year. In the southern tier of states, this is not such a problem, but if you live in the northern tier, it COULD be a problem if you want to stay in your immediate area. There are ways to avoid the seasonal aspect, or to prepare for it. It simply takes self discipline and/or planning.

That brings us to the critical issue of self discipline. You MUST be self disciplined in this business, like any independently owned business. Self discipline is important for a variety of reasons. You must be reliable, meaning that if you give your work to meet a load at a time and place, you must be there. You must exercise self discipline in the maintenance of your vehicle, your paperwork, your business relationships. If you are not a self starter and want to be in this business, work for someone else.

There are many issues that you need to consider before getting into this business. My next issue will deal with the financial aspects of owning your own pilot car services company.

One of the biggest space users is our safety cones.  Three eighteen inch cones occupy 1.54 cubic feet.  Three twenty-eight inch cones occupy over 7 cubic feet.  I have found an alternative that takes up much less space:  collapsible traffic cones.   I purchased a set of four 28 inch collapsible cones that take up a little over 1/2 of a cubic foot.  That is a HUGE space savings, and yet the price per cone is comparable with the non-collapsible types.  Those of you who carry enough cones to conduct night moves in Utah, for example, could reduce the cubic footage needed for all your cones dramatically.  That equates to a savings in fuel economy, because they are not as heavy as the stiff cones, or the ability to carry more “stuff”.

Prices vary.  When i bought mine more than a year ago, they cost me about $140 for a set of four with a carrying case and no lights.  Today, when I googled “collapsible traffic cones”, I found more than 10 pages with some listings as low as about $12 each, including the LED lights.  Here is a word of caution, though:  be careful NOT to buy the inflatable cones.  In an emergency situation where you need the cones quickly, you will not be able to inflate them fast enough.

You are welcome to check out our rates and services offered. We have photographs of our equipment and loads that we have escorted, as well as other pilot car operators we have met along our travels.

Please browse our website and sign our guest book. We welcome your comments and your suggestions.

Above all, we welcome your business. We have contacts all around the country. If we cannot help you directly, we surely can find an escort near you in short order.