Not hating 135 life

[MissionBrevity86]

Just wanted to vent/share my thoughts since no one in my life is in the industry.

Recently-ish started over at a 135 freight operator as my first job in the industry since getting my cert a few months back. Everyone and their mother (plus the few posts from pilots about us on here) told me I'd be miserable and this place would suck hard. To put it simply- I was scared • I'd end up hating life.

It's certainly a lot of PITA paperwork and not strictly dispatching (thankfully no sales), but it's not the doom and gloom I was told that I'd experience. Easy-peasy M-F 9-5 schedule and pretty okay pay. Still in the honeymoon period, but I still think it's nuts that I get paid to do what I do. All in all, I think that I may stick with 135 for the foreseeable future, no rush to get to the 121 grind quite yet.
-MissionBrevity

 

[bbmikej]

I did some part 91 stuff for a few years with a large flight plan provider and it was some of the most fun flight planning I did. Since it was 91 I didn't have to do any of the paperwork. Just take phone calls and help people plan routes from England to India and LA to Tahiti. No stress because my cert wasn't on the line and I got to learn a ton about global atc and flight planning.

 

[Burrito]

Welcome to 135, and welcome to the first gig. If it's similar to a prop shop I've personally experienced, it'll be a load of paperwork and data entry, and getting very familiar with the same pilots flying the same planes to the same airports, over and over again. Make sure the trucks are there, make sure the ramp is clean, can you call the van again, why is the deicing equipment on fire. You know, the usual phone calls. @bbmikej Did you have to do the FBO dance at your place with "Well the customer will be there when they'll be there," and basically stand ready to go? I loathed the one-and-done contracts for those reasons, but it really was a great entry into flightplanning.

And hey, @MissionBrevity86 way to be a pathfinder among your own friends and family into the industry. Keep the bridges open and you'll find faces start getting familiar soon enough. 121, 91 or wherever.

 

[bbmikej]

@bbmikej Did you have to do the FBO dance at your place with "Well the customer will be there when they'll be there," and basically stand ready to go? I loathed the one-and-done contracts for those reasons, but it really was a great entry into flightplanning.

Nope, that was the best part about it. The company made the software to do flight plans and we were kind of a tech support, where most of the support was a pilot would call in from a barbecue (you could hear everyone in the background) because they didn't want to do it themselves or they were going to Europe for the first time and needed some help with how to route there. We were only involved in making the flight plan.