Central Air Southwest

[Firefly]

Does anybody have any information on Central Air Southwest. I know they fly Aero Commanders.

 

[krewmeel]

I flew for these guys in the mid '90s. This is a good outfit to go to if you want to get a lot of twin-engine time. Be careful, this is sink or swim flying and not for the timid. Lots of bad wx flying around thunderstorms in the midwest. The aircraft have tks (weeping wing) de-ice systems which work well. There is no radar, autopilot or fancy avionics, however. Maintenace was pretty good for this kind of outfit. The aircraft are pretty old now, some of them were 35 years old and had 60k hours on the hobbs when I was there 10 years ago! I remember freezing my a$$ of during the winter as the janitrol heaters often failed. The owner is John Towner and is kind of a weird bird. The chief pilot Murray Brown (if still there), is a good guy. You will get a lot of good flying experience there and any other job after that will be easy by comparison. Just be careful, there have been a few fatal accidents there.

 

[Jetsi]

Flew for them in the late 90's, stayed 18 months, and was number 3 on the seniority list when I left.

I only had one engine failure, so figured the maintenance was pretty good. The TKS system is awesome in ice, and you will fly you butt off and get a lot of good experience doing it.

The only fatal I knew of involved a couple guys dogfighting. There may have been more, but I don't know.

To make the job truly great, don't be based in KC. Base at one of the outlying stations, then you can wear shorts and a t-shirt to work instead of business casual.

I recall making 27K when I left, which I thought was pretty good money starting out in a cargo op. I also held a job at my outstation working for National Car Rental.

Murray and the gang gave me a break when I needed it, and I am grateful, or else I wouldn't be in my current position. Take the job.

Jetsi

 

[Tug Driver]

was there up until december. we had a fatal in november. i think that it spooked a lot of people. there were several pilots who quit the following day. since then, they have increased the pay and added a per diem. its a pilot mill with a high turnover. airplanes are old, averaging 15-25,000 hours. no autopilots. Murray is still there and is a great DO to work under. I got thru training in 4 days, 6 hours in the a/c. You teach yourself the part 135 regs, cuz they don't.
The main reasons I left were #1- my friend/coworker was killed, it just bothers me how the company handled the events surrounding the crash, ie no communications with the pilots in the affected domicle.
#2- there were too many times where I said to myself "God, if you would just get me thru this....I would really appericate it..."

You can PM me if you have questions.

 

[coogebeachhotel]

Stay away. Towner is an ass. Murray is ok. The Kansas City FSDO absolutely hates John Towner(he is a TWA guy who could not hack it). Any chance the FSDO has to screw Towner or get a pilot adds to their case to shut Towner down. Google Central Air Southwest. You will see some BS that they have done to their pilots and competitors.

 

[CaravanMan]

I worked there for six months this last year and had a decent experience. I was MKC based, but got shipped around a lot to cover runs where other pilots had left. After the crash this year (mentioned above) I spent a lot of time on the road because a few guys left with no notice at all. The planes are kept in good shape, and I never had any pressure to fly if I felt the weather was too bad, and the previous posters are right about the TKS; it works great...just remember to turn it on before you get into ice and carry enough fluid!!

The pay was low when I was there and the only way my wife and I could afford it was for her to work. There has been a pay raise, but I only had one paycheck (before I left) to reflect that and it didn't seem too much higher.

They ask for a six month committment, which I gave 5 months and 2 weeks, then had to leave for a better job because my wife was 5 months pregnant. NO WAY could we live on the pay there once my wife stopped working and Jr. popped out!! JT, MB and I always seemed to be on good terms, and MB wasn't upset at my leaving 2 weeks early. I had given 2 weeks notice (unlike the most of the guys who bailed after the accidet) and offered to re-imburse CASW for the remainder of my training expense (pro-rated would've been about $150 or so if I figured right).

I would still recommend them to anyone in need of some good M.E. experience. I was flying 100 hours a month when I left, and because of that I was able to land a good paying job that allows me to be at home a lot with the Missus and baby (T-minus 3 months and counting). The people at CASW are good, just do your job, do your paperwork right, and stay off the radar. If you go there with the understanding that you work for the company, and the company does not work for you, then you'll be fine.

 

[CutEmUp]

If the aircraft in thier fleet do not have autopilots, wouldnt they need copilots?

I looked at thier website and saw no hiring information about copilots. They only gave PIC info. Are they just not hiring SICs right now?

 

[Tug Driver]

autopilots are not required for part 135 cargo only operations. No copilots are required either. CASW does have a SIC program, but it is PFT, so if you want to sit in the copilots seat, you can pay them $45/hr.

 

[CutEmUp]

Thanks. Question answered.

 

[NoPax]

I've been here for over a year, outstationed, and got to take a 1200 hour vacation last year (paid).

I'll back what Caravanman said about the place. The planes are good, maintenance is good, and I've had no problems I couldn't handle.

The regs are in the Training Manual, if you bother to read them.

The fatal in November left us strapped for pilots, since 3-5 bailed without notice...something interesting is going to come out of the accident, and I don't think it was mechanical, or training/skill related...we'll see.

As for JT being a "strange bird" that's your opinion, but he has been very kind to me, and feel the comment about the FAA 'trying to shut us down' is unfounded - anytime I've met the Feds on the road they have been courtious, and friendly, and not found anything with my airplane to ground it.

Probation period has been cut to 4 months, and pays $1700/mo. There is still a 6 month agreement. On most runs you'll be home everyday and weekends - pay is about $24k/year.

BTW...CutEmUp...I know that's not your airplane...it's 7715X, right? You know the owner?