PC12 / Grob SPN

NJA_Capt said:
I have no dog in this fight, and I have respect for the folks at AF and CS who operate this way. But allow me to offer this anecdote.
You happen to live in FLL and flew for them for 5 years do the best you can.Another guy has been there for 1 year and brings donuts to the girls in the office and goes to lunch with the CPs on his days off, you'd be OK if he were to upgrade ahead of you?

Merit works great with small departments where everyone works out of the same office. Merit is very hard to prove when you operate from different cities and may only see your CP once per year.
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Works in my office, and I'm not even a professional pilot. ;):D
 
Andrew_VT said:
I stand by the statement I made in this thread 2.5 months ago that merit based upgrades 'seem like a really bad idea'.

The name of the book is Flying the Line right?:)

The seniority system is like democracy... it's far from perfect, but its the best system we've got.
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The seniority system is totally unlike democracy. In fact it sounds Marxist to me. Stand in line for your bread, comrade. Stand in line for your vodka, comrade. Stand in line for you promotion, comrade.

However, if those who believe the seniority system is their best chance for promotion, well then stick with what works for you, brother! As for me, I will take my chances with a merit system. And I like my chances.

Stonefly
 
Stonefly or anyone, how does the domicile system work for them? If all the aircraft are based in PSM, what happens if you want Ft. Lauderdale or Peachtree? Why would you need to live within 120 mins if you are on a 7 on 7 off sched?
 
TheOneMarine said:
Stonefly or anyone, how does the domicile system work for them? If all the aircraft are based in PSM, what happens if you want Ft. Lauderdale or Peachtree? Why would you need to live within 120 mins if you are on a 7 on 7 off sched?
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Good question. You beat me too it.
 
TheOneMarine said:
Stonefly or anyone, how does the domicile system work for them? If all the aircraft are based in PSM, what happens if you want Ft. Lauderdale or Peachtree? Why would you need to live within 120 mins if you are on a 7 on 7 off sched?
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Basically, they have exhausted the market for pilots that are willing to live within two hours of PSM. So, to appeal to a wider pool of potential pilots, they have opened two bases, PDK & FLL. If you are out-based, they will most likely airline you to PSM, or where ever an airplane is. I'm PSM based (love New England), but Docflyer is PDK based, so he may be better able to answer those specifics.

The reason that even with 7&7 that you would have to live within two hours is that even though you may be "on duty", you may be at home waiting for a phone call to come in and go fly. On our current 6&4 sched, you are not necessarily gone all 6 days. The word is, though if we go to 7&7 that we are more likely to be gone more.

Stonefly
 
Stonefly said:
Basically, they have exhausted the market for pilots that are willing to live within two hours of PSM. So, to appeal to a wider pool of potential pilots, they have opened two bases, PDK & FLL. If you are out-based, they will most likely airline you to PSM, or where ever an airplane is. I'm PSM based (love New England), but Docflyer is PDK based, so he may be better able to answer those specifics.

The reason that even with 7&7 that you would have to live within two hours is that even though you may be "on duty", you may be at home waiting for a phone call to come in and go fly. On our current 6&4 sched, you are not necessarily gone all 6 days. The word is, though if we go to 7&7 that we are more likely to be gone more.

Stonefly
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Ok, I see. But why Peachtree and Ft. Lauderdale? Can't they fly you from any major airport like FlightOptions? I know I should be asking the CP, and I will if he calles me back (sent app monday) but I'm curious to know how this works. thanks :)
 
TheOneMarine said:
Ok, I see. But why Peachtree and Ft. Lauderdale? Can't they fly you from any major airport like FlightOptions? I know I should be asking the CP, and I will if he calles me back (sent app monday) but I'm curious to know how this works. thanks :)
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No problem, I'll answer what I can. The CP is good to go, a Marine from the 60's, flew A-4's. I too am a Marine, vet of the First Gulf War.

Semper Fi,
Stonefly
 
PDK & FXE both have Pilatus service centers, so as I understand the theory is that once we have enough crews at these bases we can bring the planes back to PDK or FXE instead of PSM and maintenance can be performed if needed. Then we won't have to reposition to PSM and the company won't have to airline us home from New Hampshire. Right now they have us airlining up to PSM most times because we don't have enough captains down south.
 
docflyer said:
PDK & FXE both have Pilatus service centers, so as I understand the theory is that once we have enough crews at these bases we can bring the planes back to PDK or FXE instead of PSM and maintenance can be performed if needed. Then we won't have to reposition to PSM and the company won't have to airline us home from New Hampshire. Right now they have us airlining up to PSM most times because we don't have enough captains down south.
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Thanks Docflyer. I think the root question I'm trying to ask is, is there anyway to be allowed to live a little further than 120 mins from the bases? Say, 3 -3 1/2 hours or so, or is it something that won't even be considered?
 
Currently the rule is that you must live within 2 hours of the bases, that being said I don't know if they are allowing any exceptions to that rule. When they get back to you on your app I would throw that out their and see what they say.
 
taseal said:
you guys gonna get CASS anytime soon?
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No, we're not an airline. There is no way that we can reciprocate. We can't tell our fractional share owners, "Oh and by the way, Mr. Southwest Airlines Pilot is going to be riding with you today."

We do airline fairly regularly though on company expense, so you can earn miles that way (goes for hotels too). It's not CASS, but then again you're not making 18k/year working for a regional that does offer CASS. I haven't yet figured how to feed my family CASS.

Stonefly
 
So if you got hired with 500tt the future would look somewhat like this:

year 1-2 pc12 first officer
year 2-4 pc 12 captain
year 4-6 grob first officer
year 6-8 grob captain

No seniority list, way more single engine props than jets, jets will probably not arrive on time, most expensive part of the country.

8 years just seems to be a really long time for a company that is somewhat new, you could do 3 or 4 years here and still be no better off than a cfi who instructed single engine for a few months.

With those types of times you might as well go with American Eagle in Boston.
 
athomeinthesky said:
So if you got hired with 500tt the future would look somewhat like this:

year 1-2 pc12 first officer
year 2-4 pc 12 captain
year 4-6 grob first officer
year 6-8 grob captain

No seniority list, way more single engine props than jets, jets will probably not arrive on time, most expensive part of the country.

8 years just seems to be a really long time for a company that is somewhat new, you could do 3 or 4 years here and still be no better off than a cfi who instructed single engine for a few months.

With those types of times you might as well go with American Eagle in Boston.
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You know, to each their own. We've covered the seniority issue. If being promoted by merit doesn't work for you, so be it. Yes, it's single engine. If you measure your self-worth as a pilot by the number of engines your airplane has, don't come to AF, you will be shortchanging yourself. Jets probably won't arrive on time, but that is a manufacturer issue-has nothing to do with AF.

I came to AF as it allowed me to return "home" to New England. Will I be here for the rest of my career? Who knows? I have been a Crew Chief on an Airtanker (and have my sic type on a Lockheed P2V), flown Smokejumpers in Alaska, so I don't have anything to prove to myself or anyone else.

AF allows me to live in an area that I love, have a predictable schedule, and fly great equipment. Everyday is new, flying to different locations all the time. You will not get rich at AF, but the pay is better than a regional. As for moving on, people do move on and get into airplanes with more power-levers.

I enjoy flying as much as the next guy. In fact, after Airtankers & Smokejumpers, flying at FL250 doesn't compare to what I've done. But what is more important to me, and why I walked away from fire aviation, is my family. I want to work for a company that fits in to my life, instead of the other way around.

Stonefly
 
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