AVJET Westwinds?

[Fred Garvin]

To get back to the Avjet Corporation subject...

To those in the know, why is it then (in your opinions) that the pilots are leaving in unusually high numbers. Are the pay-rates out of wack? What are the Westwind entry rates? Left seat? Right seat? If they are indeed "national average" (as someone mentioned), that's nice if you live in your "average" north american city, but living in the LA area is prohibitive at those rates. And once on the property, where do the payscales go from there? Are the pay raises based on a defined number of months/years with the company? Does anybody know about their 401K package? Do they match you up to the limit? Any chance to commute?

From a previous post, it sounds as though the fellow pilots and flight attendents are fun/good to fly with...how about the "management" side of the house? Professional and responsive to those doing the work? Is the "chain-of-command" functioning over there? What are they doing to retain these pilots? These are questions I hope can be answered before pursuing a job over there. My concern comes from the fact that I have unfortunately experienced organizations that have lost a good number of "vital/valuable pilots" due to a company losing perspective and fixating on increasing their bottom-line to the max extent possible. All this bean-counting ended up leaving the pilots feeling over-worked and "nickle-and-dimed" to death. These pilots attempted to ask for well-deserved raises, with no response from middle-management. The company made great money in the short term only to be burned shortly thereafter by pilots bailing-out of a dysfunctional organization. I am simply trying to figure out why folks are leaving before I decide whether or not to drop them a resume. Any one care to comment?
Thanks in advance.

 

[English]

To those in the know, why is it then (in your opinions) that the pilots are leaving in unusually high numbers.

I know there's been some upward movement lately - two guys just left to go to Toyota.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Thanks for the response 'English'.
Can you be more specific on the upward movement? From what aircraft are these pilots moving up from and to what aircraft are they going to? How long did they work at the company before they were given the opportunity to move into something better?
Thanks again,
Fred

 

[Makesheepnervus]

To answer Mr. Garvin's questions;

The openings at Avjet are due to a combination of some pilots leaving and some additional aircraft joining the fleet which has resulted in some upward movement within the company.

The pay is on a par with national and local averages and can be described as "Competitive". Pay raises are annual, taking effect on the first of the year, and again are "Competitive".

Management wise things are pretty straight forward, and Pilots are not overworked most of the time, although I sure everyone has had a busy month or two here and there followed by some quiet months as well. It is just the nature of the business. I really wouldn't describe management as "a bunch of bean counters", although some people find the expense reports to be a pain in the butt, they really are not any worse than other operations. If you write something up on an aircraft it gets fixed and there is no pressure to fly a trip with a broken aircraft or operate in an unsafe enviroment. It really is pretty straight forward; you show up on time, do your job, follow procedure, finish the trip, close the airplane, go home and wait for the phone to ring for the next trip. If you are not flying, they don't want to see you around the office.

One last thing; while they are open to new ideas, they don't want a know it all who is constantly telling management how things should be run.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Overall, sounds like a pretty solid and straight-forward operation to fly for...thanks for your input.