Falcon 50 Pilots

[400A]

G-200 & Dolittle

Be careful on your remarks on 135. you may need it to keep your job and feed your families one day. Dont let these guys fool you, if you do it for the right guy, he may share a substantial amount of revenues with you... hope your flight department budget never gets tight,, ours turned a hansome profit last year.

Anyway, At leat at 14 hours I am done!!! I have seen coutless guys in 91 do back to back 20 hour days on 6 hours rest. If doing a weight and balance on each leg, checkrides every six months, and knowing the regs scares you,, then yeah, we are just PUKES.

 

[flying_gringo]

I read the post and called a buddy of mine... he told me this-

"run away from NGAI. its the b!tch job of southern california. I knew several folks who work there and even in this climate they're having trouble keeping folks working for them.

Its a face time company. Yes you do 91 missions, and yes you do 135 for side work, and yes you also have to be in the office from 9 to 5 just to show your alive. and they will find busy work for you while you're waiting... and yet at night - your still on call. Think duty times are a problem? ask them why the duty time sheets are filled out in pencil. You'll get phone calls for trips late at night after working all day and be told by the head honchos - don't worry about duty time - I'll fix that when I get there in the morning.

the management is horrible... NG is a great company - but in need of a complete change in the folks that run the flight ops side.

if you don't belive me - go find some of their pilots and ask them...

I'd sooner find work outside and unrelated to aviation then go to NGAI under their current management.

You only have one reputation - don't blow it working for them."

that could be part of the reason. The DA-50's were TRW's... the flight department was brought under NGAI's control. Its a sad story.

 

[English]

flying_gringo,

We have a thread running called "shady operators". You might want to copy and paste this info there as well...

 

[Capthuff]

Very valid point 400A.

 

[Rick1128]

I know of several corporate operators that have their aircraft on a 135 certificate. It doesn't make them scumbags. One prime reason is they do not use the aircraft enough to justify owning on their own. But they prefer not to go the fractional route. Another, is for billing purposes when departments or sister companies use the aircraft. And after 9/11, it may allow the company to fly sooner if the airspace is shut down again.

Another reason would be that it allows the company to put a better face on the department to the Board of Directors and the stockholders. Remember the normal flight department is a cost center. With a 135 certificate it becomes a potential profit center. And when times get difficult one of the first things to get shut down is the flight department. Been there, got that.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

400a,

sorry if I came off hard on 135.
Sorry, it does suck.
OK, it feeds your family, etc....thats great. Im glad you are able to in this market today.

20hr back to back duty days Part 91?
rememeber, real corporate outfots have Operations rules similar to 135 rules, including duty time limitations. These rules ARE NOT bent or broken for anyone, including the CEO. They are there for the same reason yours are. Safety and Standardization.

The rules never bothered me about 135, I was refering to the type of operators who go 135 to justify keeping thier aircraft (working YOU to death) 99% of these jobs suck. I have worked for very low end 135 and larger Intl management companies. They are all the same....

You are right, you never know when you would have to do it again to make money, but I sure hope that day never comes.

 

[400A]

Gulfstream 200

That was my point exactly,, just as you have a good and responsible part 91 operation, there are MANY good 135 operators that do not abuse their crews.

Your own comments prove my point, it does not matter what rules you fly under, it is who you work for.. While we may be PUKES, we fly a very nice, very low time aircraft and are looking at a brand new one. we fly 100 hours part 91, and 400 hours part 135. we have 3 pilots and a dispatcher. no office duties (other than myself as D.O.) we get lots of scheduled days off. our aircraft is also only factory maintained.

my point was not to be confrontational with you, just raise the point that any job can suck outloud,,, I have seen (and had) as many rotten 91 jobs as i have 135. I also got a huge amount of job leads while doing 135. that is how I got this one.

It does sound like that one sucks though!