Hello andymsn,
Tell your buddy to diffinently not work at Execstar at FXE. The owner, is abusive, underpays, skims on mx, and has a bunch of people with work visas working for him.
I have a friend that worked for them and would tell me stories I couldn't believe. He said the pay was by the mile, and one pay period after flying for him for 55 hours in two weeks, he received a check for $550, which at most places flying down here is around $1400 or more. He has heard the owner calling some of his black employees racial insults to there face in front of others. The guy constantly cusses, its his nature. He can't control himself, when he is mad he makes threating verbally abusive comments, I'm told. My friend was also slandered all over the airport by this guy, after he left.
Another story is he was headed off on a flight and the plane was past the ten hour grace for its hundred hour, he went back into dispatch and they printed up a new log sheet on the computer, and off he went. He said it never had 100 hour until the next time around. They also recently had a Baron crash, thank god the young man flying survived. I remember always hearing how he didn't have a choice in flying the hurricanes in the fall, and when it came to weather, whether zero zero and part 135, or lines topping FL600 these guys were forced to go, all with out radar.
Because of all of this he left to another operator after a month.
There are plenty of operators that fly light twins in south florida, I suggest he moves down here and starts looking. Busy season is close by and there will be quite a bit of hiring going on. If he is current with a 8410 in a C-400 series or Navajo, it will help. With his time he will find something, if he had his ATP he would be better off, as some of these guys are having drastically higher insurance rates because of a few recent tragedies.
good luck to you and your friend,
Dude