ComAir interview, or not?

[SOFHercDude]

I'd pretty much given up on anyone ever calling a 43.5 year old retired AF guy with only C-130 time (5000 hours worth.) 10 months later ComAir seems to be proving me wrong.

Currently flying the mighty (refurbished) 0-2 Skymaster for a civilian company supporting NATO -- have a 5 weeks on/5 weeks off schedule, and pull alittle over 50K per year (no bene's to speak of except frequent flyer miles out ying-yang!.) Time off is great, the Balkans ain't so bad, and the pay supplements my AF pension nicely.

Any reason to go to this interview? I'd still love to land a position with FedEx (who wouldn't) and was thinking that jet commuter time is alot prettier on the resume than big bad Skymaster piston time. But that takes me back to my opening line -- is FedEx really gonna ever call?

Any place to find the ComAir pay/bene sheet?

Adios from Macedonia boys and girls !

 

[NCFlyer]

Sorry I can't give you much advice about taking the Comair interview.

However this should take you to the 2001 Comair contract if I can get the link to work correctly:


www.airlinepilotcontracts.com/Contracts/Comair2001.pdf

Of course don't forget, that just because you went to the interview doesn't mean that you have to take the job if it isn't what you thought it would be even if it is offered.

Good luck.

 

[captainv]

SOFHercDude,

No surprise to me that they'd call. My class of 14 last Nov. had 5 ex-mil pilots, mostly retired in your age bracket. You may want to PM RIchO, a classmate of mine. He's a Guard C-130 driver (although a decade younger than you), he could probably relate much better.

I'd definitely say take the interview and at least check it out. I interviewed at Comair, ACA and ASA, and I got the best impression from Comair. I've been here almost a year now, and it's been great.

Benefits are pretty good. First year pay - you'll break $20k at least, 2nd year on the 50-seater is about $36k.

The big question for you - how much more growth, how long in the pool? I got lucky. Since last november, we've hired @ 300 pilots. That meant only 3 1/2 months on reserve for me. we've now got 150 jets on property, so the big question is how many more will we get. at this point, continued growth is the only thing that would get you off reserve and a chance to upgrade down the line. It certainly looks like it'll be a while until the majors recover and guys start leaving again. You won't get to the left seat through retirement attrition...

if you're on reserve for a long time, i'd recommend living near CVG. You can do it as a commuter, but it's not a lot of fun. We do have a commuter clause, and i commute from ATL. Pretty easy as a lineholder. On reserve, you'll get 11/12 days off a month. You're guaranteed one 4-day block and a 3-day block.

Bottom line, we currently have the best contract among the regionals. So it's more a question of how long you'd want to be at Comair. it'd be a great stepping stone to FedEx, but under current conditions, the step to FedEx seems to be a long ways off.

Hope that helps.

Captainv

 

[FurloughedAgain]

I'm guessing that he's already got WELL over 1000 PIC turbine required by FedEx.

What he is asking is if he should use a job at Comair to pad the resume a bit and make himself look more attractive to FedEx.

I would question the assertion that Comair is a "stepping stone" kind of company ... but to each his own I suppose.

 

[Wacopilot]

How come some pilots seem to hate the success of others????? It has always been an observation of mine. Please remember.......it wasn't to long ago that Comair WAS a stepping stone for 75% of the pilot group. That has changed for now. SOFHercDude, Comair is a great place to make a career or pad you resume. I would recomend it.

Waco

 

[captainv]

>>I'm guessing that he's already got WELL over 1000 PIC turbine required by FedEx.

yeah, i kinda put that together, thanks. i was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly, i don't see anything on their web site) that they also wanted 121 PIC. may have been one of the discounters - my mistake.

>>I would question the assertion that Comair is a "stepping stone" kind of company ... but to each his own I suppose.

i wouldn't. several of our more senior captains have left for JetBlue. it all depends how the market looks after you've gotten 1000 121 PIC. if the market sucks, i'll stay at Comair and enjoy my QOL. but if i could go to, say, Airtran right now, with them about to double their fleet, i'd do it in a heartbeat. don't get me wrong, Comair is a great place to work, but is it so fantastic i'd never look anywhere else? No. I'll always keep looking for a better deal....

 

[Treme]

You're fairly low-time CaptainV. From his profile it looks as though FurloughedAgain has been put through the ringer by his aviation "career" and might be looking at Comair from a different perspective.

Nonetheless, after Randy's little memo today I'll be surprised if Comair is doing any interviewing or hiring for quite some time.

 

[CarjCapt]

Come ahead on. I was hired at age 43 and now soon to be fired by the US govt (age 60).

It's been a great "career" and would do it again.

Fair winds..
Carjcapt

 

[captainv]

Treme,

>>You're fairly low-time CaptainV. From his profile it looks as though FurloughedAgain has been put through the ringer by his aviation "career" and might be looking at Comair from a different perspective.

certainly he may. but that's why i post, to express a differing opinion, even from one of my Comair brothers. his would be a common viewpoint among more senior, more experienced pilots. a great majority of the younger guys can pull up stakes and try something new and don't feel locked in. it all depends on what opportunities the future holds. and profiles don't tell the whole story. i haven't updated my TT in a while, but Comair is the 5th turbine job I've had in my career, although it's my first airline. the bizjet world can be much more turbulent than the airlines. at least in the airlines you can see it coming....
>>Nonetheless, after Randy's little memo today I'll be surprised if Comair is doing any interviewing or hiring for quite some time.

that will be interesting to watch. however, we're still hiring, although not as briskly as before. the CRJ 70s are trickling in, so the deliveries drive new classes. ASA won't get any more airplanes while they're negotiating. CHQ and ACA don't fly CL-65s, so i wonder if they'll spend the money to add a new fleet to their certificates, mechanics, training, etc. (Randy's "gateway to growth" plan centered on the fact that 50 CL-65 orders are floating around out there.) that leaves Skywest as the only other DCI carrier that could easily take CL-65s. and we just don't do that much flying out that way. of course, that's just my logic - management typically doesn't see things my way...