Compare 135 Companies.

[Stealthh21]

Anyway, its all good I guess.

 

[MNR]

3 pilots per plane. Pilots on that plane make their own schedule. Most do 2 weeks on one week off. 2 weeks vacation, 3 weeks after 5 years. First officers start in the 50's Captians in the 70's, Lr 31s, 35s, and 60s. Maint is done asap. We use MEL's but the planes get fixed when they can be scheduled for it. Good benifits overall. Im happy where I am at. Will most likely move on eventaully but I don't want to leave the city I am living in so it will take longer to move on. When I do make the jump it will be a local fortune 100 Part 91 outfit. There are plenty in the local area.

I think the company I work for is by far one of the best 135 operators in the country. Especially when I hear some of the stories from some of you.

 

[G-force]

To Stealthh21

The reply post I made about a writing course was for "partypilot1" not you.That dude needs some help .No offense intended.
You posted a VERY GOOD thread about QOL at 135 operators,I don't think it exists but at a very FEW operators and certainly not at M88 Nashville.

 

[Archer38416]

I am new to Charter and found this thread to be very interesting

First of all, I requested 1 day off for Christamas, one day for Thanksgiving and New Years off. Expecting to get at least of of those days off I was denied for all three.

Is that normal to not get a single holiday off?


Also, our ops manual says each pilot gets 5 hards off per month (not more than two days in a row). In reality though, if our pilots do not fly on a given day, our CP/owner considers that one our days off for the month. Request for days are questioned extensively. Also, pilots are encouraged to help out in the office if they are not flying for an extended period of time.

From talking to numerous charter pilots, charter seems to suck until you make it to a company that respects their pilots.

 

[G-force]

Archer38416

It sounds like you are employed by a "bottomfeeder" . About 3 out of 4 Pt.135 operators are in this category.Its definitely time to start looking for another job.You might want to consider Pt.91 corporate operators.

 

[Stealthh21]

The reply post I made about a writing course was for "partypilot1" not you.That dude needs some help .No offense intended.
You posted a VERY GOOD thread about QOL at 135 operators,I don't think it exists but at a very FEW operators and certainly not at M88 Nashville.

Yeah no worries! Took me a second to figure it out but I did see that was for someone else! No offense taken!! The operator I work for is not perfect. But, it is a good company, with good people running it. I just wanted to see what others were doing. 135 can be hard to keep up with sometimes.

Happy Turkey day!!!

 

[SpatialD]

On 1hr. call 24/7 with a 2 weekends off, one on cycle. They tell me I make good money for a low time FO, and that's probably true, but still qualify for food stamps. I think the CA's make better than average money too, but most have relatively higher TT and all other aspects of the job suck in my opinion. Good place to build some time - bad place to get stuck when you're old. Thinking about going to a regional, but now I'm so close to 135 mins I just don't know...

 

[cl604driver]

lets see, 7 on 7 off, airline to and from my base to plane, 2 weeks vacation a year, healthy overtime pay for days worked when you are off if you want to volunteer, short and long term insurance, 401K, loss of medical, and above average pay i think, but hopefully another raise in light of the new ta at nutjets and citation shares. Overall a wonderful company

 

[EastCoastLR35]

They All Suck A$$ Get Out While You Can. Esp If You Dont Like Being Someone Elses Bi^ch. Like A Previous Post Said Were All Just A Bunch Of Chess Pieces. They Dont Care About You, They Just Wanna Make A Buck. So Buck Them All. Cant Wait To Quit When I Get Back Form This $hitty Trip. Yea Im A Little Pi$$ed Off!!!

 

[CFIcare]

Breeeeathe.....

EastCoastLR35....take a deeeeeep breath.

Go get a Mountain Dew, dude. It's the turbo-caffeinated crappy trip antidote. Drink enough and you can channel Bill Lear himself on long dark night flights over Kansas.

 

[EastCoastLR35]

Ill try that just needed to vent thanks

 

[SpatialD]

Yeah, I know just how you feel East Coast. I know just how absolutely resolved you can be to quit your job when you've been up for 30 hrs. after some horrible trip and you finally check into the hotel only to find that it's a filthy craphole, etc., etc....

And I really can't stand the guys who try to sugar-coat everything and say they like this sh!t just because they know they're never going to get out of it and they're trying to make themselves feel better. Face it folks - it's not a very good job (although I realize some companies are much better than others). It can be a good job to have at certain points in one's career, but that's not the same thing as what I would call a 'good job'. Still, I wouldn't quit over one trip. It's funny what a couple beers and a nice long 16hr. nap will do for your perspective sometimes!

 

[Shamus]

My first full time 135 job was flying air ambulance in Lear 25/36. The starting pay was $36K per year. That was in 2000. That very same job is now paying $24K to start. And that's if you can get hired instead of some foreign scab who comes here and PAYS $25K in the guise of training and buys that SIC Lear seat.

Days off? You will find that most 135 operators are flying short handed (2 pilots to a plane); will wake you with a phone call during your rest period for some mundane task; you will fly aircraft that you have squawked the same item more than once and your 4 days off per month will be after the fact ("you know those four days you didn't fly last week? Those are you hard offs.).

If I had to do it all over again and work for less than standard pay, I would go the regional route, get benefits and passes and work a real schedule. After 5 years you can move up to Omni Air, Evergreen et al and fly big iron freight.

Just remember, it's not what you know but who you know. Get out there and network at the FBOs. Stay in touch with your flight instructors as they are a great source down the road for employment.

Good luck.

ha! ha! did you work for Aero Jet International?

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

I can't complain too much about my 135 company. We fly most of our trips for brokers, out for eight or nine days, home for the rest of the month. When we are at home, we might fly one or two day trips during a week.

I was hired as the chief, so I put in some face time at the office, but the other pilots have a good schedule. They don't do anything on their time at home. We are on call, but a pop-up trip happens once every six months. Most everything is scheduled a week or two in advance.

If I want time off, I take it. We'll close the office up one or two days per month to go to the lake or go hunting. When we fly for brokers, we negotiate our crews are home for all the holidays, they fly us home or airline us home.

The pay is a little below average, but our boss is working on that. This is our first year with the jet, so we are still trying to keep operations smooth. Once the first year is up, the payscales will be renegotiated.

Mx is good. If it's broke, we fix it. If we are on the road, we are grounded until it gets fixed. We don't fly junk and we keep it in good shape.

Overall it's a good company. I have a lot of time at home with my family and that's what was most important to me.

 

[T-DOGGIN]

I was hired as the chief, so I put in some face time at the office, but the other pilots have a good schedule. They don't do anything on their time at home. We are on call

If I want time off, I take it.

The pay is a little below average, but our boss is working on that. This is our first year with the jet, so we are still trying to keep operations smooth. Once the first year is up, the payscales will be renegotiated.

Mx is good. If it's broke, we fix it. If we are on the road, we are grounded until it gets fixed. We don't fly junk and we keep it in good shape.

Overall it's a good company. I have a lot of time at home with my family and that's what was most important to me.[/quote]