Ameristar is Hiring Pilots

[KingAirKiddo]

What type of availability do you have on your days on? In other words, are you "on the pager" 24/7 until your days off or do you have "call out windows" (such as 6AM to 6PM for example)?

Does somebody have a link to websites for each of these companies (Ameristar and USAJet)? I tried plugging them into Google and Yahoo but couldn't find a link.

Thanks...

KAK

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I think every 135 on-demand outfit has their pilots on a pager 24-7 for all of the days they're on duty. If they didn't, they wouldn't be competitive with the other organizations.

THe FAA is re-writing -135 (& getting rid of -125), especially the rest and duty time sections (to include the -121 rest and duty times). They are due out next summer, so the 24-7 situation my change for the industry. I think that's the only way it will change.

Cliff
OAK

 

[Clyde]

What type of availability do you have on your days on? In other words, are you "on the pager" 24/7 until your days off or do you have "call out windows" (such as 6AM to 6PM for example)?

Does somebody have a link to websites for each of these companies (Ameristar and USAJet)? I tried plugging them into Google and Yahoo but couldn't find a link.

Thanks...

KAK

Kiddo,
This info is a few years old, but this is how it was at AJC when I was there.

Each month you had days on and days off. Depending on which month and what time of the year, you had more days off than in others. Also, being based in YIP at the time, I was home quite a bit because a lot of trips ended there.

Days on: at 0600cst on day one, the pager went on. It stayed on continuosly unless you were in crew rest or on days off. Pager goes off and you call the 800 number and talk to crew scheduling. You have 30 minutes to report to the airport, and supposedly 15 minutes after that to get airborn. I say supposedly because there were variables such as fueling, loading of cargo, paperwork, etc. The big thing was to get to the airport quickly, after that I would call and keep them informed. Never had any issues.

If you were on the road, than you proceeded to the airplane as quickly as feasible. Communication and effort were the big things.

Now, this made life easier: when I was on call in YIP, I would call scheduling to see what number on the list I was. If I was number one, I stayed put or went out with stuff in my car. If I was further down the list (especially without an FO or an aircraft in town) I would venture out further. I would let CS know so that if something did pop up, they could give more notice. If I was really far down the list, sometimes they would let me shut off my pager for a while. Example is if I wanted to go to the gym and didn't want to work out with my pager. This worked out really well.

One more thing: I always kept my bags packed and ready to go when I was on call. (I had certain clothes I used only for trips). If evening was approaching, I kept some food that could be cooked very quickly so I could eat on the way to the airport.

It's a different lifestyle, but it was the most fun I've had in aviation. I will caution, however, that this lifestyle isn't for everybody. Before one commits to this type of flying (especially where a training contract is involved) research it very, very carefully.

As I said before, there were other avenues I could have gone. But, this route gave me a lot of jet time, quick upgrade to the left seat, good pay, and very valuable experience. The flying doesen't get any harder than this.

 

[KingAirKiddo]

Thanks for the info.

I'm just trying to evaluate different options in the event things start to get nasty at my regional airline (don't really have the warm fuzzy feeling right now ). Lifestyle/QOL isn't all that big of a consideration for me right now since I'm currently single...money and relative job stability are my driving factors, as well as a chance to upgrade in a reasonable amount of time.

Anyway, thanks again.

KAK

 

[Clyde]

Thanks for the info.

I'm just trying to evaluate different options in the event things start to get nasty at my regional airline (don't really have the warm fuzzy feeling right now ). Lifestyle/QOL isn't all that big of a consideration for me right now since I'm currently single...money and relative job stability are my driving factors, as well as a chance to upgrade in a reasonable amount of time.

Anyway, thanks again.

KAK

Kiddo,
Anything I can do to help. Being single is a big plus in this part of the industry. As far as pay, that will vary from company to company and during certain economic times, but in my experience pay was relatively higher on this side of the fence. Again, I left in 2001, so things could have changed.

As far as stability, cargo has to move and it seemed like there was always lots of it. People tend to flock to cargo when the others are laying off, that's what attracted me to it.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. On-demand definitley has it's pro's and con's, and it will pay to research them both.

 

[Xfr8dog]

What Clyde said. Nothings changed. The only difference is at USAJet its a 20 minute callout not 30....

ATPCliff, what have you heard about 135 being rewritten? Rest and duty changing? Is that wishful thinking or do you know something specific?

 

[canadflyau]

USA Jet schedules-

How do you choose schedules? I have heard that there is not a seniority system, so how do you bid/schedule? Is it 7ON/7OFF or some combination for every 28 day cycle?

 

[RideTheWind]

The job posting says 10 off per 28 day bid, sounds more like 7 0n /3 Off

 

[canadflyau]

Surely someone on here has some facts.... 7/3 would only be 6-7 days off per month..

Thanks

 

[pilotyip]

USA Jet Days Off Bidding

The crew scheduler builds 28-day bid lines that run Wed to the Tue four weeks later. She builds crew daily staffing requirements for each position based upon a number of factors to include business expectations, i.e. Sat not as busy as Wednesday, ground schools, vacation etc. This includes lines with 10 days off in a row, or two 5 day weekends, or one four day weekend and two three day weekends, and other combinations. Three weeks prior to the start of the bid period, bid sheets are published and placed in the pilot's mailbox. Pilots have 10 days to fill out and return the bid sheet with their preference. Lines are assigned by seniority alone. One bid sheet for each crew position. As far as I know everything at USA Jet uses the seniority system

 

[RideTheWind]

Surely someone on here has some facts.... 7/3 would only be 6-7 days off per month..

Thanks

You need some help with your math.

10 off per 28 day bid period, in other words 7 on and 3.88 off, or 18 on and 10 off, or 9 on and 5 off.

 

[canadflyau]

Pilotyip-

Thanks for the info... So typically they do group the days off together? (That was basically my question.)

Sorry ride I didn't think my math was bad, I just looked at a 28 day bid period (7/3) starting with a day on, on, on, on, on, on, on, off, off, off, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, off, off, off, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, off. So there would be 28 days... of which doing 7/3 you have 7 days off.. I guess I was looking at it probably way too simplisticly! I have no idea how on demand schedules work, thus my questions.... Just assumed like a RSV line works where I am now. So I like what yip says, they group the days off together in different groupings to bid on, and they do it by seniority.. sounds good to me. I read a post on aviationinterviews.com that made mention of upgrades and soforth not being done by seniority but by merit and I was unclear how everything worked at USA Jet...

Thanks for the input!

 

[Xfr8dog]

Before the threat of a union almost a year ago the company was upgrading out of order occasionally and not honoring pilots days off. When the union was voted out they changed all that and have honored both things ever since. You can count on your days off now and an "in order" upgrade assuming you meet the insurance minimums.

 

[Mahi]

it's 10 on, 4 off... got a friend interviewing next week
anybody got the gouge for Ameristar?

 

[canadflyau]

You can count on your days off now and an "in order" upgrade assuming you meet the insurance minimums.

Outstanding!

What are the "Insurance Mins?"