Challenger Truckee

BEEF SUPREME said:
I had a fairly basic bitch 2 day trip yesterday and today. Drove my car 35 minutes to SEA. I'm assuming you pay for your car too and your company pays for parking. So we'll call that even. I bought a 7 dollar with tip coffee at Cafe Deletant or whatever inside security. Flew to SJC super early so there was breakfast served on a 1:40 minute leg. That was free. I was going to get coffee at SJC but it was a total crap show at the one coffee place so I bailed. DH to LAS on SWA. They gave me a drink coupon but I gave it away. Tipped the van guy 5$ because I felt bad just tipping him 2$ since I was the only guy on the pick up. Bought dinner in the MGM Park. 25$ with 20% discount then tip: 31$. I also walked across the street and bought a coconut water for 7$ dollars lol. I also bought hot sauce that helps the crew meals but this is amortized over many trips. So, I wont include it. I went to bed early and tried to get coffee. Skunked again. Van was at 6:05 and the Starbies didn't open until 6. Weak. Van ride. Paid for my tip and my FO didnt have change so I covered him 4$ Went to Starbies at LAS 7$ offered to get my FO something but he didn't want anything. They fed us on the 1:50 minute leg from LAS to SEA. Breakfast again. The best of the crew meals and I reupped my Chalula stash. Which I share with the FOs.

The per diem is $2.55 an hour and I was gone 28 hours and 25 minutes = $72.42 My total meal costs were 61 or so dollars.

I have never done the math before. Sometimes I buy the crew coffee. Sometimes I splash out on food and drinks if I feel like it but I rarely do anymore. I probably come out about even or lose a couple hundred dollars a year? I don't track it.
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I started to do the math and then stopped when I realized that day sounded like my personal hell. I’m tired just reading this. Our FRAT has more than 3 legs per duty day as a risk item :p
 
pwttogfk said:
I started to do the math and then stopped when I realized that day sounded like my personal hell. I’m tired just reading this. Our FRAT has more than 3 legs per duty day as a risk item :p
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It was 3 legs over two days. One DH. I always offer the leg to my FO. I flew one leg because my FOs hotel neighbors were apparently going to pound town all night and he didn’t sleep. He asked me to fly the leg.

I don’t commute so I’m guessing life on the road doesn’t cost much. Or anything at all. I don’t try and pocket per diem and I haven’t done an expense report in 3-4 years.

I’m not trying to say one job is better than the other. Just that it doesn’t cost much to be a 121 pilot. If anything at all and no expense reports which is nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
And the other 29 days you do what?
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Just sat at the house...unless I wanted to do contract work. Sometimes our clients fly to Europe and stay the entire summer. And their pilots airline home until they clients are ready to come back. The plane spends a couple of weeks to a month for inspections. The pilots have all that time off. Some clients always do a certain trip for two weeks every summer. The pilots airline the significant others over in conjuction with the clients' trip. There is all kinds of goodies that we have on this side.
 
You guys are spending too much on overnights. :) Now I’m not saying pack 4 days of food for a trip (never cared for guys packing a refrigerator on a trip), but somewhere is a happy medium.
 
KLB said:
I am betting on myself in thar aspect. There is a vulnerability on both sides. My hope is that the airline industry continues to crush it so that I can leverage what is happening on the airline side for my compensation. A lot of my buddies who have been ln on the corporate side for years have made the transition. This has only strengthened my negotiations for increased salary at my full-time gig and the contracting on the side...I have morals. But some operators are in such dire strates that they can't help but pay whatever price that give them.
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My retirement plan is societal collapse.
 
KLB said:
Just sat at the house...unless I wanted to do contract work. Sometimes our clients fly to Europe and stay the entire summer. And their pilots airline home until they clients are ready to come back. The plane spends a couple of weeks to a month for inspections. The pilots have all that time off. Some clients always do a certain trip for two weeks every summer. The pilots airline the significant others over in conjuction with the clients' trip. There is all kinds of goodies that we have on this side.
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What operation type is this? Not a formal NetJets, FlexJet type thing I assume? Is this a 2 or 3 plane operation with 10 pilots kinda deal?
 
BobDDuck said:
You'd have to imagine that most of the ex corporate pilots that you've flown with were the ones that *didn't* have the absolutely awesome corporate jobs, right?
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I've never seen a unicorn. Definitely don't want to pick a fight and I want to stay in my lane but I'm still convinced that the vast majority of corporate jobs are made to sound a lot better than they actually are by insecure pilots.
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
I've never seen a unicorn. Definitely don't want to pick a fight and I want to stay in my lane but I'm still convinced that the vast majority of corporate jobs are made to sound a lot better than they actually are by insecure pilots.
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And to also be transparent, a lot of the things you hear from airline pilots (not as much on the open internets) are cherry picked awesome stories that aren't repeatable on your average month, or at least aren't the reality of life for quite a long time. I'm sure derg's stories aren't cherry picked, but he's been working a long damn time to have that life. I say that mostly in the sense that I try and give a more honest explanation of life to the younger active duty guys I know who have just been inundated with this "you'll work 5 days a month and be rolling in more cash than you can imagine" line that they so often get from more senior guys we know. Yeah it will be that way some day, probably, but the first year is a grind, and you need to be ready for the fact that it isn't a whole ton better than the military.......its a big pay cut even at the majors, and you are still gone a lot. I say this mostly so that they can prepare their spouses for this reality. I have a really good buddy, our wives are BFFs, and he just started at southern jets a few weeks ago after doing non-airline stuff for a few years. She is convinced he is going to be making 300k+ in a year or two. I think that might be some math he worked out, based on really fast upgrades, but man, she is only gonna be let down for a while. I'd say it might be in the realm of possible if he wins the AE lottery and works his ass off, but she also wants him home more. So that isn't going to end well.
 
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///AMG said:
And to also be transparent, a lot of the things you hear from airline pilots (not as much on the open internets) are cherry picked awesome stories that aren't repeatable on your average month, or at least aren't the reality of life for quite a long time. I'm sure derg's stories aren't cherry picked, but he's been working a long damn time to have that life. I say that mostly in the sense that I try and give a more honest explanation of life to the younger active duty guys I know who have just been inundated with this "you'll work 5 days a month and be rolling in more cash than you can imagine" line that they so often get from more senior guys we know. Yeah it will be that way some day, probably, but the first year is a grind, and you need to be ready for the fact that it isn't a whole ton better than the military.......its a big pay cut even at the majors, and you are still gone a lot. I say this mostly so that they can prepare their spouses for this reality. I have a really good buddy, our wives are BFFs, and he just started at southern jets a few weeks ago after doing non-airline stuff for a few years. She is convinced he is going to be making 300k+ in a year or two. I think that might be some math he worked out, based on really fast upgrades, but man, she is only gonna be let down for a while. I'd say it might be in the realm of possible if he wins the AE lottery and works his ass off, but she also wants him home more. So that isn't going to end well.
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She’s not going to get both. She needs to understand that.

Hell, this place has been a bit of an “adjustment” for my own relationship too.
 
The biggest difference between Corporate and 121 flying is that now I'm in full control of my life and schedule. I'm normally pretty lazy so 14 days of work per month is good enough. This summer I focused on getting as many Europe trips as I could to take advantage of the increased transatlantic flying and make a bit more money in the process. That lead me to feeling more tired on average than I usually am. So for August I bid a really minimum schedule and since I was missing Puerto Rico, made sure the trips had San Juan layovers. Those usually involve a lot of Florida shuttle and my last two 4-days ended up being a disaster with holdings, diversions, and decent layovers turning into min rest due to the weather that's been coming through the SE. On day 4 of my last one I was feeling pretty beat so I decided to dump the Mexico city turn I had picked up after the bid awards to pad my credit a little bit. It would have been 2 days later and I'd rather stay home the rest of the week and relax. I wasn't going to miss that money. Posted it on the swap board before leaving the hotel and it was gone by the time we got to the airplane. Later that day a 5-day with a 24hr Honolulu layover popped up M-F and I swapped it out for my last trip of the month which was another FL shuttle and San Juan on the weekend. That gives me a break from afternoon thunderstorms and frees up the weekend to do some activities with the girlfriend that we had originally postponed since I wasn't going to be home. If I miss the money from dropping that daytrip I can always try to grab a single day greenslip at the end of the month on a day I have nothing to do and am well rested.

This power to control my schedule almost day to day is something I never had on the Corporate side and it's taken away a lot of stress in my life. I had arguably what was the coolest job in aviation fling Part 135 but the constant dread of the phone ringing, having to drop plans to go on a trip and not knowing exactly when I would be back was putting a strain on my daily life. At a previous company to that when I was on an 8/6 schedule, the predictability was nice but it wasn't flexible. Those were your days and you had to stick to them.
 
luke3 said:
The biggest difference between Corporate and 121 flying is that now I'm in full control of my life and schedule. I'm normally pretty lazy so 14 days of work per month is good enough. This summer I focused on getting as many Europe trips as I could to take advantage of the increased transatlantic flying and make a bit more money in the process. That lead me to feeling more tired on average than I usually am. So for August I bid a really minimum schedule and since I was missing Puerto Rico, made sure the trips had San Juan layovers. Those usually involve a lot of Florida shuttle and my last two 4-days ended up being a disaster with holdings, diversions, and decent layovers turning into min rest due to the weather that's been coming through the SE. On day 4 of my last one I was feeling pretty beat so I decided to dump the Mexico city turn I had picked up after the bid awards to pad my credit a little bit. It would have been 2 days later and I'd rather stay home the rest of the week and relax. I wasn't going to miss that money. Posted it on the swap board before leaving the hotel and it was gone by the time we got to the airplane. Later that day a 5-day with a 24hr Honolulu layover popped up M-F and I swapped it out for my last trip of the month which was another FL shuttle and San Juan on the weekend. That gives me a break from afternoon thunderstorms and frees up the weekend to do some activities with the girlfriend that we had originally postponed since I wasn't going to be home. If I miss the money from dropping that daytrip I can always try to grab a single day greenslip at the end of the month on a day I have nothing to do and am well rested.

This power to control my schedule almost day to day is something I never had on the Corporate side and it's taken away a lot of stress in my life. I had arguably what was the coolest job in aviation fling Part 135 but the constant dread of the phone ringing, having to drop plans to go on a trip and not knowing exactly when I would be back was putting a strain on my daily life. At a previous company to that when I was on an 8/6 schedule, the predictability was nice but it wasn't flexible. Those were your days and you had to stick to them.
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That's fair. Some people really dread the "not knowing when the phone will ring part". A 4 pilot part 91 account is optimal when it comes to corporate flying. Bonus points if the client gives the flight crew all planned trips way out. The least optimal is sitting by your phone daily on short callouts and not having any scheduled hard days off. But that is becoming less and less in the current climate.
 
luke3 said:
The biggest difference between Corporate and 121 flying is that now I'm in full control of my life and schedule. I'm normally pretty lazy so 14 days of work per month is good enough. This summer I focused on getting as many Europe trips as I could to take advantage of the increased transatlantic flying and make a bit more money in the process. That lead me to feeling more tired on average than I usually am. So for August I bid a really minimum schedule and since I was missing Puerto Rico, made sure the trips had San Juan layovers. Those usually involve a lot of Florida shuttle and my last two 4-days ended up being a disaster with holdings, diversions, and decent layovers turning into min rest due to the weather that's been coming through the SE. On day 4 of my last one I was feeling pretty beat so I decided to dump the Mexico city turn I had picked up after the bid awards to pad my credit a little bit. It would have been 2 days later and I'd rather stay home the rest of the week and relax. I wasn't going to miss that money. Posted it on the swap board before leaving the hotel and it was gone by the time we got to the airplane. Later that day a 5-day with a 24hr Honolulu layover popped up M-F and I swapped it out for my last trip of the month which was another FL shuttle and San Juan on the weekend. That gives me a break from afternoon thunderstorms and frees up the weekend to do some activities with the girlfriend that we had originally postponed since I wasn't going to be home. If I miss the money from dropping that daytrip I can always try to grab a single day greenslip at the end of the month on a day I have nothing to do and am well rested.

This power to control my schedule almost day to day is something I never had on the Corporate side and it's taken away a lot of stress in my life. I had arguably what was the coolest job in aviation fling Part 135 but the constant dread of the phone ringing, having to drop plans to go on a trip and not knowing exactly when I would be back was putting a strain on my daily life. At a previous company to that when I was on an 8/6 schedule, the predictability was nice but it wasn't flexible. Those were your days and you had to stick to them.
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This is high on my list of reasons to move over. Another one I previously mentioned, your years of service mean nothing schedule wise. My coworker who has flown for the program for 30 years through 3 or 4 vendors has the same schedule as the new hire FO who has never touched a jet before.
 
luke3 said:
The biggest difference between Corporate and 121 flying is that now I'm in full control of my life and schedule. I'm normally pretty lazy so 14 days of work per month is good enough. This summer I focused on getting as many Europe trips as I could to take advantage of the increased transatlantic flying and make a bit more money in the process. That lead me to feeling more tired on average than I usually am. So for August I bid a really minimum schedule and since I was missing Puerto Rico, made sure the trips had San Juan layovers. Those usually involve a lot of Florida shuttle and my last two 4-days ended up being a disaster with holdings, diversions, and decent layovers turning into min rest due to the weather that's been coming through the SE. On day 4 of my last one I was feeling pretty beat so I decided to dump the Mexico city turn I had picked up after the bid awards to pad my credit a little bit. It would have been 2 days later and I'd rather stay home the rest of the week and relax. I wasn't going to miss that money. Posted it on the swap board before leaving the hotel and it was gone by the time we got to the airplane. Later that day a 5-day with a 24hr Honolulu layover popped up M-F and I swapped it out for my last trip of the month which was another FL shuttle and San Juan on the weekend. That gives me a break from afternoon thunderstorms and frees up the weekend to do some activities with the girlfriend that we had originally postponed since I wasn't going to be home. If I miss the money from dropping that daytrip I can always try to grab a single day greenslip at the end of the month on a day I have nothing to do and am well rested.

This power to control my schedule almost day to day is something I never had on the Corporate side and it's taken away a lot of stress in my life. I had arguably what was the coolest job in aviation fling Part 135 but the constant dread of the phone ringing, having to drop plans to go on a trip and not knowing exactly when I would be back was putting a strain on my daily life. At a previous company to that when I was on an 8/6 schedule, the predictability was nice but it wasn't flexible. Those were your days and you had to stick to them.
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Good points all. However, a stand-by Part 91/135 or Part 91K operation is NOT the same as “Part 91 Corporate Flying”; more like an apple-orange comparison.

I have flown the same company, same planes, same people to a huge variety of place both domestic and international. No on-demand or scheduled charter, just Corporate flying. Flew less than 300 hours, schedules put out in advance, great money, and less than 40 overnights over a year’s time.
This really boils down to personal preference and what works for you. Doesn’t mean one group is more unsafe than the other, just different. I never had the desire to be a Commie so I went the corporate route…personal choice…
 
65B6170A-96EF-4481-AF07-812C18A32850.jpeg


Heh
 
Autothrust Blue said:
She’s not going to get both. She needs to understand that.

Hell, this place has been a bit of an “adjustment” for my own relationship too.
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I can't remember if it's you or @tcco94 but I thought one of you is in this position.......................


"Honey, I'm off to work!"

"But I thought you are working tomorrow evening?"

"I am, but I gotta commute to NYC tonight."

"Oh?"

"Yeah honey, it's the 757ER to Europe."

"Um, babe, couldn't you just fly the 737 right here outta SLC and be home more, like, tonight? Why you gotta commute?"


"But that's not the same thing as the 757ER to Europeeeee!"



*Wife/GF blank stare*





This moment of first world problems bought to you by When Keepin It Real Goes Wrong. ;)
 
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