Flight Express

Tommay85

Tommay85

Well-Known Member
Just got the email the other day for invitation to the January 4th class.

Anyone else going?

Sounds like they're opening up an OMA and STP base(ex Airnet I'm guessing). I was told by Jason that they may dual certify me in the Baron if I were to get OMA. Based on my own internet stalking, it seems most, if not all the Barons are parked. I'm not DYING for some Baron time, but it would be nice!

Anyone have the current low down on Flight Express? Everything else I find is at least a year old and of course there's not much on the website as far as routes goes.

Overall, it doesn't seem bad. Not the best, but I'm not getting a vibe that it's the worst either. The pay is better than the regionals at least, but so was aerial survey(4 times as much)! haha Just trying to get my foot in the door in the part 135 world.
 
UAL747400 said:
Just got the email the other day for invitation to the January 4th class.

Anyone else going?

Sounds like they're opening up an OMA and STP base(ex Airnet I'm guessing).
Click to expand...

I'm way out of the AirNet loop nowadays but it's disappointing to learn of so much restructuring to help a bean counter's quarterly balance sheet look prettier. I feel for the guys who've diligently stuck it out there and kept the company afloat.
 
ljg said:
I'm way out of the AirNet loop nowadays but it's disappointing to learn of so much restructuring to help a bean counter's quarterly balance sheet look prettier. I feel for the guys who've diligently stuck it out there and kept the company afloat.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear ya. I can sense the tension having these two companies under the same ownership. I just hope it doesn't get directed towards me.
 
Congrads on the email invite. Im a newbie at FLX and so far it has been great - exactly what I was looking for to get into the 135 world. They will ask you a thousand times before, during, and after training if you are ready, willing, and able to fly single-pilot, single-engine IMC at night. That is exactly what the job is all about. The "training department" consists of one guy (Austin Collins), and maybe one other part-time check airman if he is available. Since you have already recieved the email invite then you probably also recieved the attachments for the study materials. I recommend (as others have posted) to print out everything, put everything into 3 ring binders, and use the time you have before class to study. Doing this is the only way I got through the ground school. The previous gouge on this site is still valid, even if it is from a few years ago. I used flightaware.com to get a general idea of the routes before joining the ground school, then to be extra nerdy, I flew some of them on my desktop sim.

As far as bases go, I have not heard anything about OMA and STP, although there is constant movement in current bases. Pilots are leaving to regionals or to get multi time somewhere else, and overall we are understaffed.

The pilots here are a great bunch- super friendly and down to earth. Its a good work environment- no micro management, just do your job and go home at the end of your duty day. Its amazing how fast a 10 or 11 hour duty day goes by. The only thing I know about the link to Airnet is that they process our payroll and other benefits. The direct deposit works good and they were prompt to send health insurance cards.

Hope this helps. Good luck. Also, a big thanks to other pilots who posted stuff on FLX, it helped me out when I was doing my homework on this company.
 
Red5 said:
Congrads on the email invite. Im a newbie at FLX and so far it has been great - exactly what I was looking for to get into the 135 world. They will ask you a thousand times before, during, and after training if you are ready, willing, and able to fly single-pilot, single-engine IMC at night. That is exactly what the job is all about. The "training department" consists of one guy (Austin Collins), and maybe one other part-time check airman if he is available. Since you have already recieved the email invite then you probably also recieved the attachments for the study materials. I recommend (as others have posted) to print out everything, put everything into 3 ring binders, and use the time you have before class to study. Doing this is the only way I got through the ground school. The previous gouge on this site is still valid, even if it is from a few years ago. I used flightaware.com to get a general idea of the routes before joining the ground school, then to be extra nerdy, I flew some of them on my desktop sim.

As far as bases go, I have not heard anything about OMA and STP, although there is constant movement in current bases. Pilots are leaving to regionals or to get multi time somewhere else, and overall we are understaffed.

The pilots here are a great bunch- super friendly and down to earth. Its a good work environment- no micro management, just do your job and go home at the end of your duty day. Its amazing how fast a 10 or 11 hour duty day goes by. The only thing I know about the link to Airnet is that they process our payroll and other benefits. The direct deposit works good and they were prompt to send health insurance cards.

Hope this helps. Good luck. Also, a big thanks to other pilots who posted stuff on FLX, it helped me out when I was doing my homework on this company.
Click to expand...


I can't quite tell, but it looks like your avatar is from the air looking across shelter island and lynn canal towards St. James bay on a really nice day in the canal.
 
Flight Express has some good and bad. Many people like working there. That is the good.

The bad. Single engine piston time. Barons are pretty much completely gone. Their work is drying up fast as well. Banks are going digital and FLX/Airnet have been feeling the hurt.

As I recall there were several Airnet Barons in OMA. The work probably has shrunk to the point where a 210 is more economical.

Personally I would look at all the freight companies and see how they would help you get to your ultimate goal in your career. At this point FLX pilots look like they are just treading water. Good flying experience, but insurance companies want multi and turbine time.

There are many companies that are hiring at Part 135 IFR mins that will put pilots into caravans or multi-piston aircraft. Definately a much better career decision IMO.
 
ppragman said:
I can't quite tell, but it looks like your avatar is from the air looking across shelter island and lynn canal towards St. James bay on a really nice day in the canal.
Click to expand...

You nailed it. Summer of 2007. Sounds like you've seen that view many times yourself.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I'm going here solely to get my foot in the door and get some additional good flying experience. The pay seems relatively great as well and the main thing, their non of the bases are places I wouldn't want to live.

I'm coming from an aerial survey company that surveys all over the nation, so I'm used to LONG cross countries at night and IMC conditions. Main thing, that experience wasn't all that consistent. Day to day, perfect VFR was required, however surveying in a bravo is pretty intense. I always enjoyed the relocation flights the most and those occasionally were far and few between, not to mention living in a hotel for 7 months straight.

I realize certain things I do in my career won't necessarily help me get a job, but I feel that I'm a much better pilot/person because of it. This will add to that. I'm an oddball with this opinion I'm sure, but I feel most people that are flying right seat at the regionals aren't qualified to be there experience wise. They meet the numbers requirements, but the experience isn't there. Flight instructing at UND was relatively worthless experience compared to the survey job I used to do.

While stalking on Flightaware, I've noticed only 1 baron is flying right now. Kind of a downer, but I think this will be a great stepping stone to other things.

Already ahead of you with the studying. I should be good to go by the 4th. I'm absolutely ecstatic and can't wait to start!
 
Just curious... How is the maintenance at Flight Express? Are the planes ragged or are they well maintained. Has anybody had an engine failure there?
 
LeonPhelps said:
Just curious... How is the maintenance at Flight Express? Are the planes ragged or are they well maintained. Has anybody had an engine failure there?
Click to expand...

The planes are obviously well used. I think on average, airframes are around 15,000 hours total time. I would call them ragged, but a very well maintained ragged.

I wouldn't expect any of them to win best in show but they get the job done. Never have I been told to fly a plane that was unsafe. If you have a problem, write it up and let them deal with it. It's part of doing business and they work around it.

Engine failures have happened. Luckily none for me. A friend of mine in my class had one within a month of finishing training. Most recently I think there was one near MKC. Both walked away unhurt thanks to good training and some luck.


Sent from my iPhone
 
LeonPhelps said:
Just curious... How is the maintenance at Flight Express? Are the planes ragged or are they well maintained. Has anybody had an engine failure there?
Click to expand...

I have never had a problem getting things fixed. You have to be willing to stand your ground with Maintenance sometimes, but, as long as it's a legitimate write-up, DO and CP will back you up. By legitimate write-up, I mean don't write it up for paint flaking.
 
That's good to know, thanks! One more question:

How is the daily paperwork? Is it pretty easy or are you filling out page after page when you are finished with your trip?
 
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