135 Charter Job in FXE

[Art Vandalay]

Taking out glass insurance in your car? Risking your life to fly at FXE???? I fly in there once-in-awhile and am curious what this means? Also, what is so bad about Ececstar? I was thinking about going to work there and want to know what I am getting into.

Arthur Vandalay, Judge, Latham, Mass.

 

[The_Russian]

Yeah shut down execstar please. I have had many friends over the years that worked there for short periods after near misses with death.

 

[pc12_driver]

I think everyone needs to look at the BIG picture here and realize that it's not all about execstar. They are one of the better operators on the field. FXE is the only place that I've ever seen 'soft-sided' airplanes; ie; "Even though that's ONLY 1000lbs of cargo, I think this generator will fit if we just leave it here in the door!!!"

 

[Sunnfun]

I think everyone needs to look at the BIG picture here and realize that it's not all about execstar. They are one of the better operators on the field. FXE is the only place that I've ever seen 'soft-sided' airplanes; ie; "Even though that's ONLY 1000lbs of cargo, I think this generator will fit if we just leave it here in the door!!!"

Which brings me back to my point made above. If there's pilots who fly broke airplanes overweight with less than minimum fuel and/or over their duty time, then don't complain. You're the PIC, period. It's your ticket on the line. The pilots are their own biggest enemy sometimes.

As long as there are pilots flying for outfits like Execstar, there will be companies taking advantage of them. I've met pilots who told me unbelievable stories about Execstar, but still they took the trip...

I just want to make it absolutely clear, that I've never felt uneasy about flying a trip for the company I've posted the initial job opening for (which has been filled by the way). Sure, I've been faced a couple of times with the situation that someone (NOT the company themself, mostly subcharters for others who expected a 402C and then I showed up with a 402B) wanted to put more in the airplane, but I refused. And the company backed me up. Lucky me, huh?

 

[CUEBOAT]

Taking out glass insurance in your car? Risking your life to fly at FXE???? I fly in there once-in-awhile and am curious what this means? Also, what is so bad about Ececstar? I was thinking about going to work there and want to know what I am getting into.

Arthur Vandalay, Judge, Latham, Mass.

Glass insurance, i personally know(this isnt 2nd hand info) a pilot that worked there for a good while. Had a gear problem in a 207(or whatever single engine cessna execstar uses). The nose gear wouldn't come down. Anyway he landed at FXE, 3 bladed prop its pretty difficult not to ding the thing. Anyway he was being told to pay for the prop an argument ensued and the owner broke the windshield of his car. Also Execstar is PFT for the kingair.

 

[flydaddy0499]

Concerning Execstar - They have a C-207 in ATL in which one wing is higher than the other. You must hold continuous LEFT rudder just to hold straight and level. Rudder trim is ineffective. They will not fix alternator issues, they will wait until you have NO radios and NAV equipment to fix anything. They will expect you to fly into Class B airspace with no comms, aircraft unairworthy by a major margin (ie the high wing on the 207, not just the small stuff). They expect you to write up maintenance issues on anything but the log, etc. The list of sqwaks must equal to the total time on the airframe before they will fix ANYTHING!

I had a complete electrical failure in IMC and Class B. I had to use a handheld GPS and some very tricky flying to make the approach. On top of all that; they expected me to have the aircraft hand-propped and flown back to FTY with a handheld radio and GPS. Of course, that was the last straw for me.

The thing that really pisses me off is that the FAA will go apesh!t over a pilot not having a chart or a rivet missing during a ramp inspection but these unsafe operators continue operations unabated. What the he11 GIVES?

 

[mmmdonut]

LOL... would that be N97AK? hehe... ahhh the good ole days

 

[767200]

Concerning Execstar - They have a C-207 in ATL in which one wing is higher than the other. You must hold continuous LEFT rudder just to hold straight and level. Rudder trim is ineffective. They will not fix alternator issues, they will wait until you have NO radios and NAV equipment to fix anything. They will expect you to fly into Class B airspace with no comms, aircraft unairworthy by a major margin (ie the high wing on the 207, not just the small stuff). They expect you to write up maintenance issues on anything but the log, etc. The list of sqwaks must equal to the total time on the airframe before they will fix ANYTHING!

I had a complete electrical failure in IMC and Class B. I had to use a handheld GPS and some very tricky flying to make the approach. On top of all that; they expected me to have the aircraft hand-propped and flown back to FTY with a handheld radio and GPS. Of course, that was the last straw for me.

The thing that really pisses me off is that the FAA will go apesh!t over a pilot not having a chart or a rivet missing during a ramp inspection but these unsafe operators continue operations unabated. What the he11 GIVES?

I'm sure the local FAA FSDO would be interested in listening to this (and other stories). Did you or anybody else reported it?

 

[Groundpounder]

I work for an FBO at FXE, and Execstar is a scary place. They have an Aerostar that from what I saw doesn't have an artifical horzion on the pilots side of the aircraft, but they still fly it all the time. Also, someone ran one of their barons into a king air a few weeks ago.

 

[flydaddy0499]

Well, my experience with reporting a company to a FSDO is not very promising. It basically boils down to a disgruntled employee squeeling on the big bad boss man. In the end, maintenance logs get changed, and the "go ahead and prove it" attitude ends up scaring the Fed's every time they get into court. The burden of proof always lies with the government and that seems to be very elusive in today's 135 business. The FSDO office never ends up backing the pilot and my license is all of a sudden in play; no thanks!

The only way to catch these guys is to have recorded conversations that are not admisible in court. The only way to shut them down is for the pilots to stay away and not fly for them. But we all know that hungry CFI's looking for multi time are not going to pass up that opportunity as it is a major stepping stone to the regionals.

Just once I would like to hear of someone like Execstar going out of business because everyone is too d@mned smart to darken their doors.

Boycott? Not as long as there are hiring minimums.