Anyone from Flight Express?

[planedriver]

I'm supposed to start training on December 1 and I am wondering if anyone knows if Kansas City is fully staffed as a domicile or if there is a chance of me holding it? Thanks.

 

[rumpletumbler]

MCI seems to always come up as the place they need someone so my best "guess" would be that you could have it forever and ever if you wanted it since nobody else seems to want it.

They are hiring you with VFR 135 mins?

I had heard they were purchased by Airnet and there were to be about 50 layoffs in a few months, however, how all that intertwines with FE I don't have a clue.

I was really looking forward to going with Airnet or FE in another couple hundred hours and was very disappointed to hear that the company may be going downhill.

Do you have any details?

 

[planedriver]

My flight time I have listed on here is not accurate, I meet 135 IFR. As far as layoffs in the future go, I'm not sure but I'm in a hiring pool somewhere else so FE is hopefully not going to be a permanent stop for me. And on that note, if you don't work for FE how do you know that MCI is always short on pilots? And are the planes based at international (MCI) or downtown (MKC)?

 

[rumpletumbler]

I thought I remembered MCI but I'm going from my shoddy memory.

John Glenn was their former recruiter.

Try reading through these.

http://forums.flightinfo.com/search.php?searchid=1980615

http://forums.flightinfo.com/search.php?searchid=1980618

 

[Captain Josh]

Im supposed to start Dec 1 myself. Im hoping to get LUK. If anyone knows please let me know.

 

[Dassault747]

Kansas City routes are out of MKC

 

[Boris Badenov]

Last I heard they were paying extra for MKC. Of course you never know what's going to be taken when you get out of training, but if I were to guess I'd say you have a good shot. If not immediately, then certainly in a month or two.

I don't think they have 50 pilots to lay off anymore.

 

[1flier]

Hey I left there almost 3 years ago and Kansas City was always a problem to fill. Alot of the pilots didnt like the winters there, why work for a company in Florida if you have see snow I guess. Talk to Gary the recruiter, he is a straight shooter with you even through he is the recruiter, DO admin and just about 10 different hats there. I never seen him lie to a pilot or not be upfront with them. About Airnet buying them, anything is possible in this environment, but very doubtful with about 100 aircraft plus a owner who is tight on a dime, he probably would ask way more than Airnet would be willing to pay for 60 C210's let alone the Barons. Around January or so this year they were advertising Kansas City with $15 per duty hr because of the lack of staffing and also its a max duty day right up to 14 hours. Also, they said an apartment was available in the hanger at no charge. That was January before alot of the stuff hit the fan so the pay may have changed back to standard $12 per duty hr. Even if thats not available, its a good company to start out with. The flying you do with them will teach you more about instrument flying than you can imagine. The maintenance is good, if a plane had a problem they fixed it. Unless its changed since I left, they dont use an MEL so if something is broke, they dont question it. The old trainer Austin is the Chief Pilot now, interesting fellow when it comes to personality but fair. The DO Ernst may come across as a harda## but as long as you do your job and dont bend airplanes or break rules, he leaves you alone. Especially if you are at an outstation, unless you screw up somewhere, you will never hear from management. Paychecks never bounce, direct deposit, medical, pretty much every bank holiday off and weekends off. Average runs were about 9 hours 9x 12 = 108 x 5 =540 x 26208 per year. Thats not great but better than most regional 1st year pay and other 135 ops. 4 hour runs are great if you want to go back to school or spend more time with family, 4 hours of work but paid for 8. Hope this helps, I think Boris was ORL or JAX based so he maybe able to give you some more insight.

 

[Dassault747]

Gary has moved on to bigger and better things. I don't know who has filled his position.

 

[jaxpilot]

Adam is the recruiter now, he also helps Austin out with ground/flight training.

I was in CRG the whole time I worked there, got the Baron in 7 months. Great place to go and solidify your instrument PIC skills after instructing. I had a good time there.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Everything said so far is right on the money, except they did get bought by the same company that bought Airnet (Bayside Capital, which from what I've read is a company that buys "troubled" companies and "fixes" them...I leave to your imagination what that means). A little birdie suggested to me that JK took a bath on the finance sector collapse and was all too glad to unload. I was surprised too, but we live in interesting times. I'd bet that as long as Ernst is still running the show, things will be much the same which is mostly good. Can't help too much on the Florida stuff, I was CPS based 95% of the time. My brief experiences with TDY down south suggest to me that the frozen north is the place to be, though, as you're a lot less likely to wind up covering someone elses run or having weird "pop-up" extra legs.

Frankly, if I were at 135 mins right now, I'd probably take just about anything that payed a living wage. Add to that the fact that FLX is a good place to work (especially for a first-step 135), and I'd say go for it with extreme prejudice. Good luck. If you have any other questions you think I can answer, feel free to PM.

PS. And yes, Gary has left for greener pastures, which is too bad, because Gary is The Man.

 

[rumpletumbler]

Those who started on Dec 1, what's the scoop?

 

[John Glenn]

Do these Fishnet stockings make me look fat?

Hey guys!!!!!!

Miss the hell outta aviation! So much so that I am working on CFI reinsate!

Really miss the crew and the ppl that came thru the doors.

Based on my intell pilots will be taken care of with all of this. Still always remember it is aviation and is a love-hate relationship. Kinda like dating your wife's sister.

Anyway, I check back here from time to time so if you need me try [email protected].

PS I was thinking about applying to fly the Shuttle