Starcheckers, a question
- Thread starter Blip16
- Start date
1. Yes.
2a. The website still says yes, but I haven't heard of ANYONE having success with this program. Maybe someone else has so take it for what it's worth. (I wouldn't count on it.)
2b. Who knows? You take whatever is open after your checkride. Stick it out though, and eventually you'll be able to bid into the base you want. How long will it take? 1 week to a year! It all depends.
3. Yes. As long as they take your app and you pass the phone interview.
Nope. I'm just a wealth of knowledge grasshopper.
If it absolutely isn't an option then I suggest you look elsewhere.
Blip16
Well-Known Member
how would it work with an on demand 135 op? maybe i just don't understand the schedule or how Airnet is setup, because i thought it used to be like Monday-friday. please help me understand better. this is honestly the 1 company i have wanted to work for for the last 5 years
90% of the runs you work Monday night through Friday morning. Giving you Friday to commute, spend all weekend at home, and then commute back Sunday night or Monday morning(risky).
There are also floaters out there that are on an 8 on 6 off schedule.
The thing is there is no way me or anyone else can possibly assure you that you will get STP as a base. If anyone does they are simply giving you some Koolaid. Perhaps for a few months late last year Airnet was hurting for pilots and they may have looked into hiring pilots into a base, that is no longer the case. We are still hiring and will continue for the considerable future. As of right now it's how it's always been, you finish training and you choose from the available runs, or how some of us did it, you wait for a run to open.
Also as you stated it's on demand. Things change. STP could close as a base tomorrow. It's happen before and I assure you it will happen again. It's just the nature of the beast. If you are that tied to STP then like I said I would consider looking somewhere else.
It's a great job but sacrifices are going to be made, if you want to go places. I went from Prop SIC to Lear Captain in 18months. It took a little luck but also my willing to be flexible as to where I lived and how much I flew. I got ripped on alot that I had no life and flew non-stop. At the end of the day I like the view from the left side and the paycheck difference from base pay prop. Each to their own.
Blip16
Well-Known Member
i am not that tied, but for my wife getting a job in another state, even though most places are hiring Special Ed. teachers, it not easy. she needs to take tests and apply for licenses for each state. plus leaving a job every year or so to move doesn't look good on her resume. if i was single it would be very very easy, but i am not.
so with the 8/6 schedule i would assume you just have a crashpad, and then you actually work those 8 days? How about floating, that could be ok too
No matter where you are based - the company wants you at your base 10 hours prior to check-in time. There's really no way they can check on that or enforce it, but if you don't make your departure it's your ass.
I know there are floaters who commute. The travel to and from is on them.
I hear ya brother. To move up in this company, you almost always have to move. If you have a jet at your base you can hold out for that slot, but if not (like me) you'd have to move to change seats. Can be tough for us married folks. That's the life, and as long as you know it coming in you'll be fine.
The good news is, the company pays for moves to a new seat position (to include lease breaking/ closing costs, etc.)
I know there are floaters who commute. The travel to and from is on them.
I hear ya brother. To move up in this company, you almost always have to move. If you have a jet at your base you can hold out for that slot, but if not (like me) you'd have to move to change seats. Can be tough for us married folks. That's the life, and as long as you know it coming in you'll be fine.
The good news is, the company pays for moves to a new seat position (to include lease breaking/ closing costs, etc.)
Blip16
Well-Known Member
i am guessing most of the members here don't commute and live in base, which would be ok if i could have an idea of where i would be because it is so difficult to just pack up and leave with my wife's situation
how does the floating work, they just give you a call and you have to be there?
how does the floating work, they just give you a call and you have to be there?
It's typically Wednesday to Wednesday. I, personally, love floating. I get an e-mail every week telling me where I'm going and what I'm doing. Sometimes they airline me (I did that once this week and I get to "enjoy" 4 airline flights next week) and sometimes they schedule me to ride the system flights. Just make sure you're legal on rest and you aren't fatigued and show up where you need to be when they tell you that you need to be there. It's pretty simple. Not always easy, but still simple.
The worst part of floating can be the multiple equipment types...I'm going to have to study hard to know the "numbers" for my 6 month ride. Right now it's all "blue line" and "red line" and a few 'van numbers that are easy.
Also, training takes longer. It seemed like I was in training for an extra month getting transition done, which can be tiring...and during that time I was on a 5/2 schedule. Monday through Friday with weekends off. Problem was I was having to commute to/from assignments on Saturday and Sunday, so I was getting 24-36 hours at home. If you can make it past the wait for transition training, the 8/6 is the way to go, IMHO. I think there's a few floater spots out there that are 5/2, but I don't know anything about them.
As for money, one week you're on a base pay run, the next week you're getting 15 hours of "rig", etc. It varies a lot. Also, sometimes (like next week) you get the chance to "extend" if you wish. That means extra pay. Extended days are paid at...........eh............something. Time and a half or time and a quarter. The other airnet guys probably know how pay works better than I do. I'm just starting to really understand it.
There's also travel pay (when you need to travel and it isn't a "work" day) and per diem ($36/day out of base - keep hotel receipts so your CPA can deduct the difference between the $36 and the "actual" per diem allowance...this year it was something like $58. I got a huge deduction from that just from IPTP!)
In addition to pay, make sure you sign up for all of the hotel/airline free programs that you can. The points add up REALLY quick. Next thing you know, you've got free rooms all over the place.
All in all, I'd say I've had a 7.8 out of 10 experience here being a floater. I know I'd drive myself crazy if I had the same damn run every night, four days a week. I couldn't handle knowing all of the enroute frequencies. For some guys, they like that sorta thing. I like variety.
Floating has it's challenges though, normally the first night or two that you do a run it's #########s and elbows trying to figure out where to park, how much and when to order fuel, making sure you met all of the couriers, making sure you unloaded all of the work...even in the nose...not that I've done that. After that, you get 2-3 days of "easy" since you've got it figured out, then you move on to somewhere new.
Another negative to floating is all of the charts. For some reason I'm lugging around an entire US set of approach charts and enroutes. Some floaters may just take charts for the route they're doing (they'd have to answer to that...I don't know that they do or don't), but I'm too paranoid they're going to call me wednesday and say "hey do*chebag, go to PIA tonight instead." and all I've got is charts for NY/NJ/PA/WV, so I lug them around. If I can just get us to go to EFBs.....
While most of the time it's a good time, last night I kinda got hosed...was supposed to go off duty at 5ish am and ended up getting assigned to a few more legs so I didn't get off until 9ish am. What ya gonna do...s-happens. More often than not, it works out in my favor...so I bite the bullet when it goes the other way.
If you're partial to STP but want to float, I'd think floating LCK and living in STP would be doable. I think there's a jet that goes STP-LCK M-Th that you could probably ride on to get to/from work, assuming you had to report to LCK for duty. Sometimes they'll airline you out of a "local" airport. I think I've gotten to do that 3-4 times.
Anyway, I can't think of a whole lot else about floating. I definitely enjoy it and I know others that do as well. If you have any questions drop me a PM and I'll be glad to answer them.
-mini