Colgan B1900 bases

[ILS CAT IIIC]

As a new hire any guess as to which base I may end up at on the 1900? I know that it has to do with their needs and there may be no way to tell.

Other question is what are the better bases to fly out of....which ones have good lines and what are some better cities to live in? Thanks

 

[Kaman]

Hello,
I'll give you a brief on the Colgan bases, but it is based strictly on my own opinion(s). You will have an opportunity to change bases within 3 months of your assignment after I.O.E. if a vacancy exists.

Albany,NY (ALB): This is a pretty safe bet for an initial assignment out of I.O.E. Albany is a major maintenance base and there is a variety of flying into major NE airports like LGA, BOS, HFD, PVD, SYR, etc... It's the largest city that has a Beech domicile. Good opportunites for non-rev/JS travel with SWA flying there plus all the mainline carriers. More than likely you'd be sitting alot of reserve though. Albany has historically been a temporary base switching out with Syracuse, but this seems to be stabilized now with more Beech flying out of ALB than the past, so perhaps it will be a permanent base now that Commutair has reduced it's flying there. Purely specualtion on my part and not based on first-hand knowledge.

Altoona, PA (AOO): Not at the top of my list. pay credits are not good, and long duty days/sits between legs. The area is very nice though, rural Penn. and within driving distance to PIT.

Augusta, ME (AUG): I've only done a little TDY there, and from what I saw and have heard it's a good base to be located and lots to if you are an outdoors kind of person. It's also the capitol of Maine.

Bar Harbor, ME (BHB): The only Beech station that I've not flown into personally, but the most experienced Beech Captains in the company are there and would be a great place to learn to fly the line. Coastal Maine is also very pretty, but lots of crappy wx year-round.

Beckley, WV (BKW): Top of my list. Good pay credits/lines, station personnel and airport folks are a pleasure to work with. Great flying too, but rarely out of the area.

Hyannis, MA (HYA): Not at the top of my list for a variety of reasons, mainly because you do a lot of sitting on reserve or hot reserve. It's an expensive area to live and the traffic is always bad. You are located in a major tourist destination, so that has it's good/bad aspects. Flying isn't too bad though when you get to do some. This is also a maintenance base, and tends to have a lot of new-hire FOs assigned there.

Lebanon, NH (LEB): Great location if you like the outdoors, skiing, etc...Pretty good lines/schedules also. Very popular base with the crews that are based there.

Shenandoah, VA (SHD): Great location, great people, but the lines/flying sucks for the most part. I personally enjoyed flying there, but you don't get alot of flight time or overblock opportunities.

White Plains, NY (HPN): Most expensive county in the US (Westchester), but the company gives you a $300.00 stipend to help pay for housing. On the plus side you are close to NYC and all it has to offer.

I hope that this helps, but like I said the bases are pretty fluid with personnel coming and going. Hard to say where the movement is going to be at the present time. There is going to be a pretty decent amount of Beech Captains transitioning to the SAAB. This in turn will allow for some upgrades and FO slots opening up.

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead

 

[BRA]

As far as weather with the beech bases, i would say SHD is the warmest, and the easist to deal with in the winter. Good to know if you care about that kind of thing. No APU on the beech 1900.

 

[ILS CAT IIIC]

Kaman,

Great post! Thanks for your info. You said that Albany has been temporary in that past. If I wanted to stay where I'm initially based is that usually possible or does Colgan force you to move to fill vacancies?

Bra,

Something to consider especially coming from Florida

 

[Wankel7]

DRT!!

Not really...but that would be horrible.

Wankel

 

[greyhound]

Did Colgan stop hiring into the Saab?

??

 

[DHPFLYN]

Go to BHB. You will freeze your ass off in the winter but it will be fun flying. All the captains there are great. You will learn alot from them all. Lots of actual time, crosswind landings, and of course alot of approaches down to mins. You can even fly into Rockland and break out right at mins and find deer or some other damn animals on the runway. So you get to go around and do it again !! It is a blast I had a great time up there

Good Luck

 

[great cornholio]

Kaman,

Great post! Thanks for your info. You said that Albany has been temporary in that past. If I wanted to stay where I'm initially based is that usually possible or does Colgan force you to move to fill vacancies?

Bra,

Something to consider especially coming from Florida

They can only force you to move if they close the base. They close bases all of the time. My base was closed with a NEGATIVE 3 day notice one time. That was fun and was also the last straw and why I left Colgan. Besides that NEVER EVER buy a house at your base. If you do that the base will close within weeks for sure.

 

[ILS CAT IIIC]

Did Colgan stop hiring into the Saab?

??

Yeah for right now they only have a class for the 1900