Cherry Air

[Lear Wanna Be]

I don't know where you heard that, but it's not true at all. The owners office is right over in the Mx hanger and he's there every day. He's just not supposed to run either the Mx dept or fight ops.

Well, right out of the dispatcher's mouth that thinks he is also a Kostich. If you work there then you know who I am talking about. That has been a few years, so maybe something has changed. As for the MX thing, well maybe the major things get taken care of, but next time you are on the ramp open up the fuel caps to the aux tanks on all the 310s. I have yet to see one that had the chain connected. I think that would be a non-MELable item. Not to mention a potential safety hazard. I suspect that is just the tip of the iceberg. Tell me I am wrong! If so, maybe that means some things are getting repaired around there. Bravo and good for the pilot group. Oh and what got him kicked out of the place was that the piston aircraft were getting top overhauls and getting signed off as major overhauls. This goes back to 1994-1995. In that case some 10 aircraft had their airworthiness certificates revoked and a $175,000 fine was imposed. Later in 2000 a $60,00 fine was imposed for records violations. Just curious, if he can't run MX or flight ops, then what does he do? Aircraft sales? You guys aren't expanding that fast. The Miami Valley Aviation buy-out (so to speak) happened 2 and 1/2 years ago.

Now I don't really care where people go. Seems there is a saying that is becoming popular in this business. "There is an a$$ for every seat". So if someone here doesn't take the position, then somebody will. I just would like to think they made an informed decision before putting their career at risk.

 

[RedGuy]

This last year we bought 4 more Lears and 3 Falcons. What your talking about with the FAA and Mx bust was like 10 years ago. I know I remember hearing the nick names like Royal Scare and such, but our current DM is on top of things. The FAA is also on top of us since then too so they can't slack on the Mx since they don't want to get busted again and they do random bass inspections. BTW there's alot more to running a business than just flight ops and Mx, we run a full FBO too and he takes care of managing alot of that aspect of it.

I agree with you about not caring where people go and they should be informed, but the info coming from an actual pilot there might be just alittle more acurate than what some one else heard from some dispatcher.

BTW I can't think of which dispatcher thinks he's Kostich.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

BTW I can't think of which dispatcher thinks he's Kostich.

What? You must not know the place as well as you think you do. That use to be the big joke around there. Well that would be Rory just so you know.

You know I can't think of the DOMs name right now (Claude maybe?), but he did help me out one day when I had a mechanical problem. I thought he was a pretty good guy and seemed to know his stuff. Everyone around there has always been nice and they have never had a bad attitude when we come up there and pick-up freight. Problem is that you can have the greatest guys around, but unless you can change the system (owner's mentality) things aren't going to get a whole lot better. I happen to know of one guy that is not exactly happy and is thinking about leaving already after just a few short months. That speaks volumes if you ask me. I don't think it is the life style, because he is still willing to fly freight for another operator. Go check those aux fuel caps on the 310s and get back to me. Oh, and N22LE was nicknamed 22 Leaky Echo for a reason and last I checked they gave up on the thing and parked it. Also, how busy is the FBO and fueling non-freight aircraft? I can't ever seem to find a place to park up there with all the space that the Royal junk takes up. Hard for me to believe that NetJets, Flex, Flight Options, and John Doe in his 421 use you guys much. I might be wrong, but there are a lot better options for FBO service around there. At least Royal always tries to be the cheapest for fuel on the field.

Every operator gets random MX and Ops base inspections. Depending on how many aircraft you have and how big your operation is, determines how many times they show up each year. If someone turns you in, then they will come around even more.

I think "Royal Scare" came from the fact that you guys are sent out in almost any kind of weather to fly. I knew a guy that was a controller in the tower at PTK and he always said that if the weather was bad, Royal would be the only ones flying. If Royal wasn't flying then the weather must be really bad and heading for a storm shelter was a good idea. Again, I think folks should know what they are getting into. Pressure to fly and bad weather had a lot to do with the accident at SKY a few years ago.

Now to get back on topic, I think it is important for everyone who is thinking about flying for a 135 freight hauler to know that things are not nearly as good as at an ARGUS gold pax company. The MX is never as good, the schedule sucks, you'll probably spend more nights per month in a hotel, get paid less, and have more pressure to fly. On the bright side, you will probably fly more every month and you will get experience that will make you a much better pilot than those guys flying shiny jets. And really, the only company one should run from is Grand Aire, Tri-Coastal, or whatever they are calling themselves this week.

 

[RedGuy]

Our DOM isn't Claude, when was the last time you where even at Royal? Royal doesn't get a ton of transient A/C, but that doesn't mean that there's still not alot to do. Line service still has to take care of all Royals A/C too. We're no Million Air but I think it's alot nicer FBO than a few other FBO's out there. Our planes may look like junk since alot of our A/C have crappy paint, but there's not a plane there I would feel the least bit unsafe in. I don't know why they parked LE, they parked it about 8 years ago long before I started there.

They don't push me to go into any weather I'm not willing to fly into. I've told them I couldn't go due to weather before and they never have a problem with that. They'll either cancel the trip, move it back to a time when it is possible to go, or change the destination. We don't fly in any worse weather than any other freight operation. BTW that accident at SKY wasn't due to weather, it was because the guy was a moron! He proceeded to land down wind on a short icy runway, even after the guy on unicom repeatedly told him he was landing on the wrong runway. He then predictably over ran the end of the runway and went through a snow bank ripping the gear off.

Also you'll find disgruntled pilots pretty at pretty much any outfit, there's always a few. Do I think this is the greatest job in the world, absolutely not. The schedule SUCKS! Living off a pager is no fun, but I make good money, fly alot, and only spend about 1 night a month in a hotel.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

I get up there every few months. That might not have been his name, but the MX issue I had up there was about two years ago. Like I said, nice guy and real helpful and knowledgeable. That is the only time I have had any reason to seek out a maintenance specialist at RAX.

Well if all you say is true, then it does sound like things are getting better up there. Beats the days when my buddy was a Bandit FO and watched a line guy that was helping unload freight at LAF go through the floor of the aircraft. My buddy decided to leave when he saw a Lear go out on a MX flight and they could not get the door closed, so they just used a cargo strap to secure the door. That was the final straw and he went back to flight instructing. You know it had to be bad to go from turbine equipment to flight instructing.

Good luck and be safe to all the freight doggies out there.

 

[RedGuy]

Yeah, that does sound pretty bad, sounds like the bad old days. I know they had to put down diamond plate on the Bandit floors because they where getting tore up real bad. As for the door thing, I've heard about them doing that in the past, but that wouldn't fly with me or any of our current captains. The only time an A/C flies broken is if the captain chooses to fly it broken, personally I choose not to and nobody's given me any grief about downing an A/C.

This job is as safe as you make it. If you choose to fly broken A/C that's your choice and your A$$ too. Don't worry about being fired for refusing to fly due to weather or Mx, because if that's the kind of company they are, then you don't want to work for them anyway. That's the way I look at it.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

Hey RG,

I here that 310KS was involved in some sort of incident the other day. What's the story? How bad is the damage?

 

[RedGuy]

I don't really think now is the time or place to discus it, but the pilots OK and only got a busted lip.

 

[VABB]

My two cents, if you want to go adhoc cargo, then Cherry or IFL are probably not a bad places to be. Other than getting stuck at FL280 with Cherry's non-RVSM birds they seem to be OK. The air condition units have been removed to save weight, so it gets hot in the summer. At least the Falcons have windows that open, but in the lear you suffer. Other things get removed to save weight as well. One I can think of is any kind of sound proofing that they can get a hold of. I didn't work there, but I have had dinner with more than one Cherry crew and these are the stories they tell.

Kalitta, USA Jet, Ameristar, and Grand Aire are probably best left alone.

Royal Air you will get a lot of flying and maybe make a few bucks, but there are always issues. The owner is not allowed on site as a term/penalty by the FAA and that has been going on for years. That should tell you enough.

Sounds like some sort of third-world pax start-up airline.

 

[Capt. JD]

Cherry

My two cents, if you want to go adhoc cargo, then Cherry or IFL are probably not a bad places to be. Other than getting stuck at FL280 with Cherry's non-RVSM birds they seem to be OK. The air condition units have been removed to save weight, so it gets hot in the summer. At least the Falcons have windows that open, but in the lear you suffer. Other things get removed to save weight as well. One I can think of is any kind of sound proofing that they can get a hold of. I didn't work there, but I have had dinner with more than one Cherry crew and these are the stories they tell.

Kalitta, USA Jet, Ameristar, and Grand Aire are probably best left alone.

Royal Air you will get a lot of flying and maybe make a few bucks, but there are always issues. The owner is not allowed on site as a term/penalty by the FAA and that has been going on for years. That should tell you enough.

Talked to the chief pilot @ Cherry Air, seems like a nice guy. Who is IFL? Do those 3 letters stand for something? Sooo Cherry Air pilots spend allot of time on the road? How much time does one fly in a year? Scheduled days on/off?