Cape Air Questions

[CD427]

For those of you on here who fly for Cape Air I was hoping you could answer a few lifestyle questions for me.

1) Are you required to move to the Caribbean every 6 months, seasonally "as needed" or is it optional?
2) If your spouse is a professional and needs to be planted in the same location year around how often would you see them if you have to live in different cities? Just on weekends?
3) Do most bases have crash pads or do most of them get leases on apartments?
4) What does the typical schedule look like? How many days on/days off in a row?

Seems like I would be okay with everything including the 30K commitment if I could get my spouse a good job where I will be based. But my understanding is you won't know where you're based until you start training and even then you might only be there for 6 months, is that correct?

 

[Zidac]

I have a couple of friends at Cape and it's true that there's a lot of base moment involved. It's the major factor that caused me to look elsewhere.

Hopefully someone in here can fill you in with the details.

 

[msmspilot]

I left 9K about 14 months ago, so my information is slightly dated.

1) you're not required to move per se. Every 6 months there is a system wide bid for bases. As a junior guy, you'll almost certainly either be in the Caribbean or Montana in the winter and not in the Caribbean for summer. Once you have 1-1.5 yrs seniority, it starts to get easier to get the base you want.

2) More likely during the week. Although you might get a weekend off schedule, you'll probably fly at least some weekends until you've been there a while. You have CASS, so you can jumpseat home, wherever home is. I picked up a lot of open time while I was there, and sometimes only got home every third week. Had I not picked up that time, I could have gone home every week.

3) Depends on the base. The places I was based, either a couple of pilots would rent an apartment together or rent a bedroom in someone's house. Be aware that if you're in the Caribbean, car rental is another expense you may have. San Juan has decent (not good, but decent) bus service, and some islands you can hitchhike with no trouble, but some you'll need a car.

4) Schedules vary. Most seemed to be 4 on/3 off with some 4/4 and a 5/5 thrown in there. The 5/5 was on one or maybe two of the islands, and usually went senior.

Again, with the disclaimer that my info is a year old, please feel free to PM with further questions.

 

[CD427]

Thanks for the responses so far.
Just out of curiousity why is it sometimes referred to as 9k?

 

[msmspilot]

9K is the IATA (International Air Transport Association) code for Cape Air. It's the same as Delta is DL or jetBlue is B6.

Also used is KAP which is the ICAO code for Cape Air. You'll use KAP to file your flight plans.

 

[CD427]

Great explanation, thanks.

 

[CD427]

As you guys can see I'm new at this, do you think I should move my forum to a different category so that it gets more responses?