Central Air Southwest?

[Turbosnake03]

bump.

 

[8AF]

Regions or CAS which one is better?

 

[dougal28]

anything other than cas, that place sucks!! if you want to put up with bad management this would be a place for you. if you want to build good time, its a great place. other than that, its not! people arent happy, you have to deal with a bunch of crap and a crappy job.

 

[CaravanMan]

I've been here at CAS for a few months now and have been treated pretty well. I'm based at MKC and see the management people on a day to day basis. I've never had any problems with anyone. Show up, do your job, and everything will be fine. They've never told me to go fly a broken airplane, and they've never told me to go fly thru any weather that I didn't feel was unsafe, although they do expect you to make good decisions. How anyone would really have a problem here is beyond me. All the pilots and the management people are awesome. Sure, the pay is low, but they tell you what it is from day one, and no one holds a gun to your head to come here. If you come here planning on getting rich you're an idiot. They only ask for six months, which is nothing. Dougal, if your Total time is correct, then I'm guessing you gave lots of money to them. Is that why you're complaining?? Why don't you list some specifics?? Of course, there are tough times here. I don't enjoy having to go out and cover another route for a couple weeks at a time, but you do what you have to do. They do everything they can to work with you too. They asked me to fill in on a run yesterday, and I told them I would, but that if there was any possible way for me not to that I'd prefer not to, because today was my wife's first doctor appointment for our pregnancy. They did not send me out; in fact, they put some office people on the routes to help out. When times are tight, everyone pitches in. I saw the boss, JT, flying a route last night, and I think he's going on another one tonight. He's a great guy...everytime I see him he's always friendly and asks how I'm doing and how my wife's doing. I don't know what you're talking about when you're complaining about bad management. If you expect everyone in the world to serve you cookies on a silver platter, you're going to be shocked going through life. If I had to, I'd come back to CAS in the future. I've had a pretty good experience so far, and right now, you can't beat building nearly 100 multi hours a month.

 

[tecmo]

Good eveningggg Central Air? Don't forget to wipe off the landing gear struts or you won't get a treat from the CAS muffin lady. Is it true they are sending bills to former pilots for employment verifications and record releases?

 

[NoPax]

Is it true they are sending bills to former pilots for employment verifications and record releases?

Probably not to the pilots that honor their commitment of only 6 months.

If you run off after 1 month, 3 months, or 5 months to someother company, who knows??? Who cares???

I've known 3 pilots that have met their commitment and left without any such 'bill'

 

[10ecn]

Yes they do, $25 I think.

 

[Way2Broke]

I just heard that Central Air had a crash last night. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[CaravanMan]

Nice way of phrasing that.

 

[Tug Driver]

CASW has a add on climbto350.com. As of today, they have increased the starting pay to $20,000/year.

I wonder if the existing pilots will get a pay raise?

 

[flytheblue]

Maybe it will show up as your "Christmas Bonus".

 

[NoPax]

I'm probably not going to gross 20k this year

And I don't care for a picture of an airplane I fly 5x a week, no matter how nice a picture it is for my Christmas bonus

 

[CUBMAN]

I remember 2 t-shirts and a $20 bill . I gave the shirts away and the 20 to the PFT co-pilot from Sweden. Although I was hungry I at least had a second job. He was starving and management didnt give the PFT's anything.

 

[Capt. JD]

Wtf

I remember 2 t-shirts and a $20 bill . I gave the shirts away and the 20 to the PFT co-pilot from Sweden. Although I was hungry I at least had a second job. He was starving and management didnt give the PFT's anything.

That what he gets for PFTing... Jesus Christ, was he paying to ride right seat in a piston twin? (By the flight hour?) With any luck all PFTers will starve to death, which could help end the decline of the industry that they helped jump start by deciding to PFT.... I am sorry but I have no sympathy for pilots that pay for there jobs. Fvcking Losers, who the hell pays to do work anyways? You know why they didn't get anything because the company has ZERO respect for them as do I....

I applied with them and they offered me the opportunity to build multi time in the right seat for like 50 an hour.....I dutifully turned them down.

The only opportunity that was about to be given was for a company to put the squeeze on you... & drain the life blood out of you so they could make an extra buck! The love of flying put the blinders on some of you guys....
Bravo, I salute you /(*_*) I have done the same....

 

[CUBMAN]

JD

I agree with you on the PFT thing for the most part, its an abortion to the industry but the Swedish guys had what I'll pass off on as an exception. First of all they were not here in the states to stay and they were adamant about that. They wanted to go home. The situation in Sweden was that flying there was almost impossible because of the cost of doing business, etc, etc.. you know what I mean...in that social government that they have established it cost maybe three hundred dollars an hour to fly a 152. So they came here to build time and possibly go home and find a job. A big gamble. CFI jobs in Sweden are almost non-existent so building time there is extremely difficult.

My gripe with PFT is the usual stuff that all of us feel. Nothing new there. I wouldnt hire an American if he/she were a PFTer but there are individual exceptions there also. Individual cases require individual consideration. Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

And one more thing before I go. There was a guy that was a PFT at a former bottom feeder cargo outfit that I flew for...and the owner couldnt kiss his butt hard enough it seemed. Treated him very well. Gave him watches, called him buddy, gave him a great letter of recomendation probably. But he paid for 500 hours of FO time (I think it was 500, it was a lot). He left to go to Comair where he paid for another FO job. He's probably a Captain now, maybe flying something big. Life was never fair in aviation. BTW, owner of the bottom feeder cargo joints airport car was a BMW. His sons car was a BMW. So was his daughters. Probably his wifes. He loved his PFTers. Aircraft maintenance wasnt good though.

 

[CJII]

i know people don't respect pft, but I know what pft has done for my aviation career. I only pft for a low number of hours before i got my corporate job. I have more opportunities than I would if i had not done it. I have also been personally denied from regionals b/c of it. Regionals highly frown upon it. If someone wants to go there, you should not pft. The corporate world doesn't seem to frown upon it. you have to have so much time to get insured, its a lot harder to get insured corporate. going to the airlines you need a lot less time and experience. i have got banner tow jobs, fo jet jobs, and sic jobs from respectable cargo companies b/c of pft. the best thing that came out of it was the experience. you would never get that experience flight instructing. i am very comfortable in the worste weather situations, situations i would never be in b/c airline and corporate flying doesnt fly through that type of weather. MOST, not all, of the pics are great to fly with and will teach you a lot. theres always that one a$$ hole of the group that lets it known you mean nothing to him, and he will not help you out or let you fly. i was fortunate for the most part i had a great pic, until he moved on to bigger and better things.

i wish i had done pft with another company other than cas b/c of the way the sic program is run, to be a pic is a different story. the management is all messed up with the sic program. the daughter runs it and is a total flake. she will tell you that you owe all this money when you have not flown the time all ready paid for. Basically, she has a hard problem keeping things together, keep track of all your receipts and flight time. she makes the program a bad experience.

the owner jt is a great guy, you need something he will get it done right away. he emails me every now and then to see where i am at in life. he also has a great business ethic, obviously that s why he is where he is in life. he knows how to make a penny. his son used to fly for the company, he may still, he's a nice guy, too.they do give post cards of the commander out for the xmas card, but why should they give more? it is not a career job for most people, they will just be leaving in a 6 mo. period. btw, the daughter drives a jaguar, son drives a bmw, owner and wife drive a jag!

 

[Future SNA]

Need I remind you that even prostitutes get paid for their service?

 

[RichardRambone]

So the pay is really only 20K/year? I live in KC and wouldnt mind sticking around to build up some more multi time. What are the odds of staying KC based? I'm gonna wait until 135 mins to apply anywhere but the pay is horrific. If it is more like 24K I wouldnt mind but it sounds like Im getting two different pay scales on different forums. I will probably have around 140 total multi by that time. Should I still apply what do u think? My goal isnt a regional but rather corporate.

 

[CaravanMan]

Yeah, the pay sucks....bad. It went up a little bit right before I left, but I never really got to see how much. I can tell you that in the 6 months I worked there (probation pay) my W-2 showed UNDER $7000!! WTF?! I didn't realize how bad the pay blew until I got my W-2. The company's not bad, and I'm glad I worked there; the only thing that really was bad was the pay. PM NoPax, he's worked there much longer and can give you a more accurate pay figure when off probation long term. Be prepared to eat Ramen noodles...actually, maybe you should buy a box of .22 ammo and kill some rats. That might work out a little cheaper for food than Ramen. If my wife didn't work there would be no way we could have survived. It's a shame, because I did have a good experience there. Working there did open bigger and better doors for me, and I'm glad I decided to take that job when I did.

Oh, to respond to your odds of staying KC based... it depends on the needs of the company at the time you apply. You may get offered a job, but it might be in Detroit or some other frozen wasteland because that's where they need someone. And, if you DO get KC as your base, don't be surprised to find yourself on the road for weeks at a time covering other runs until they can be filled. Since you're at the home office with the biggest number of pilots, it's easy for them to ship you (lowest in seniority) off and have one of the management guys fly until you get back. They do pay for mileage/airfare, hotel and food while you're gone though. Seriously, don't be surprised to be gone...a.....LOT.

 

[RichardRambone]

Thx a bunch! The company sounds good and my main thing is if I could be KC based I know enough people to be able to stay somewhere for free so the pay part wouldn't hurt me. Thats mymain concern. But I do understand the need for pilots elsewhere and I would be the low man on the totem pole so the odds are against me. Thx again though Ill check it out closer when I get my hours.