I’ve been here just under a year, and so far so good. I enjoy the job, the people I fly with and my large blocks of time off at home. On the other side of that, the large blocks on the road take some getting used to, but all in all I’d say this is the best job I’ve had yet as a pilot. Home basing and zero dollars spent for crash pads/hotels has made this job a lot less stressful. I simply log on, choose my flight, enter my rewards number and get the points while company pays for my positive space ride to work. Hoping that stays put during future negotiations, the pilot group seems to hold that very high on the list.
Just make sure your personal life can handle two straight weeks of your absence from home every month, because that is the majority of our schedules, very few trips with less than 16 on in a row. Rumors are they may try to start some week on week off more efficient flying, right now we average 24-30hr layovers between flights. I average around 16 legs a trip. Circadian swaps are normal here though, those take some discipline to make sure you are adequately rested for the opposite shift the next flight day.
If I would have listened to the advice I got on here last year, I wouldn’t be two weeks away from hitting a six figure income, finally living somewhere with a backyard in the town I want to live in and being able to afford some quality healthcare for my kid. Looks like I’ll break 70k on first year pay not including per diem, which is more than I planned for. Try not to read too much into the negatives on the forums, just make sure you know that your life can handle two weeks out at a time. if it can, I’d say this place is a pretty good place to be.
As others have said, this is ACMI, so this year could be great and next year we could be without a job, since our flying is all contracted. As ATI has only expanded with Amazon, we are pretty much relying on that flying. If that goes, so does all of our jobs, something to really consider to be honest. Having a plan B is a good idea, I’m working on a business degree just in case, since the global aviation industry seems to be a dumpster fire right now.
If you have any more questions feel free to message me