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Hung Start said:Cokie:
If your name indicates you worked for that 310 operator out of Albany, then you have seen bad maintenance first hand. That guy had to be the winner!!!
I bet Airnow looked like the Rolls Royce of repairs compaired to the other guy.
Hung
Cokie907 said:Hey Hung,
Yeah, working at Northland was my first 135 experience and it was hard fought to get in there. Would you f'n believe? It was spring of 1995 and pilots weren't a dime a dozen, they were a PENNY a dozen. I had instructed at two USAFB's, one at KBED and the other at KCHS and things were so dismal, I was getting ready to give up. When my CFII got hired at Chatauqua, he recommended me for the position. Northland required an ATP with 200 hours in the C-310R...HA HA HA. Compare that to today's environment of PCL hiring Gulfstreamers with 500 hours.
Anyways, I did the summer of '95 flying out of ISP for Pablo and after several thunderstorm penetrations, I was anxious for winter. Then, the engines started making metal and overheating. That was when life got ugly. I hung on for 4 more months but ended up quitting flying at the end of January 1996. I enjoyed my furlough from prison until late 1997 when the hiring boom Kit Darby talked about all through the 90's, finally kicked in. The only job a non-current former freighter could attain was at good ole Business Airfreight. Go figure, 2 years later I'm sharing the pilot lounge with Pablo's guys at Signature Albany, NY. Flying the same routes, in the same equipment. The highlight of my career was when the CP at AirNow took me through the treetops during my C-310R requalification!!! You should have been there!
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Life's paradox!
Oh, almost forgot. Northland is out of business now, for about 3 years. They had a crash at EEN (as did Business Airfreight) and after that the Feds were all over Pablo like stink on you know what!