Flight Options

[Dep676]

What has JN done for you?

NOTHING!

Life was MUCH better under KR. If you were original TA, you wouldn't understand. You had to be here to understand the differences in QOL for the crews.

I never said that JN did anything for me. I do know one thing that the MX is better than now than it was with KR at the helm. I know I want to live to be able to look for another job. Things being pencil whipped and hours being rolled back on planes. That a comfort in QOL huh?

No I came after the merger. Although I have only flown with TA guys from day one of my employment. I do know that they did not work as hard as we are now. Therefore had more rest time. They did not have to recover trips for other fleets all the time. They did there own trips and that was it, usually. A couple of rotations ago all we did was recovery trips. We did not do one XP trip the whole week. It was always a CIII, 800 or a BJ trip. Most from the pre-owned side too. So do not talk to me about QOL issues.

Like I said before I feel better about our MX now than I ever did with KR there. It still is not perfect but it is better.

 

[Hobbes]

You know, there are lots of 800 pilots flying your AIRPLANES, let alone flying your trips on their airplanes. You guys in the XP won't even fly the 800s so I really don't know where you are coming from when you are complaining about covering the preowned sides trips. I mean I am all about improving QOL and not just getting lip service about it so I am pretty much on your side, but who cares whose trips we cover just as long as our airplanes are working and not flying on the strength of the infamous pencil whip.

I personally don't fly too many trips for owners in my program but I don't care as long as my plane is green and the inside of my status book is more white than fluorescent orange.

JN really doesn't impress too many of us that have been in aviation awhile, but you know, things are probably going to change seriously for us again soon anyhow. KR was pretty cool to work under.

 

[Frac Daddy]

What has JN done for you?

NOTHING!

Life was MUCH better under KR. If you were original TA, you wouldn't understand. You had to be here to understand the differences in QOL for the crews.

For the last time: Kenn is gone. Get over it.

(I am glad he is.)

 

[Dep676]

For the last time: Kenn is gone. Get over it.

(I am glad he is.)

Amen brother. I will second that.

 

[JetCapt69]

For the last time: Kenn is gone. Get over it.

(I am glad he is.)

To borrow a quote from a friend of mine, "Bl0w M3"

You always seem to have a demeaning comment about anyone's opinion on this board. It cracks me up the Dep676 is such as strong JN advocate when he didn't work under the KR regime.

Fact is, this company is failing fast. Maintenance is NOT any better than it was 4 years ago. I still have maintenance coordinators wanting me to fly broke airplanes. Unlike many captains, I refuse. If its broke, its written up and I don't fly, end of story. You can try to sugarcoat maintenance all day and say things are better, but they are not. How many repeat write-ups do you see on your aircraft? I see alot. Quick fixes to get them flying again. Ask your program managers, they see the same thing.

KR was better than JN in one way. He was on the pilots side and could relate to the pilots QOL on the road. JN said after the company survey results that COMMUNICATION was the #1 concern from our group. He promised that he would resume weekly messages. The last message was Sept 13.

I guess he doesn't have much to say about our impending downfall. Look at our lastest and greatest hotel selections. I don't know about you, but our fleet is starting to stay in lower class hotels. The days of the Embassy's, Crowne's, Hilton's is slipping away. Hello Ramadas, Raddissons, Best Westerns, Holiday Inn Express, etc.

Hiring is frozen through the end of the year. You think you are working hard now, just wait until peak travel. We prepurchase charter to cover trips, which costs this company over $100k a day in some instances. Our fleet has been offered overtime to cover aircraft that are sitting uncrewed. Here's a thought, hire more people to cover the mass exodus that is occurring.

There have many rumors about JN losing his job or FO's being bought out by some other company. In my 5 years of employment, I now hope for this change. My QOL was much better, that is a fact.

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

Fact is, this company is failing fast. Maintenance is NOT any better than it was 4 years ago. I still have maintenance coordinators wanting me to fly broke airplanes. Unlike many captains, I refuse. If its broke, its written up and I don't fly, end of story.

I don't know about you, but our fleet is starting to stay in lower class hotels. The days of the Embassy's, Crowne's, Hilton's is slipping away. Hello Ramadas, Raddissons, Best Westerns, Holiday Inn Express, etc.

Hiring is frozen through the end of the year. You think you are working hard now, just wait until peak travel. We prepurchase charter to cover trips, which costs this company over $100k a day in some instances. Our fleet has been offered overtime to cover aircraft that are sitting uncrewed. Here's a thought, hire more people to cover the mass exodus that is occurring.

Glad to hear it. Mx is still crummy. We wrote up an airplane and had a mx coordinator ask us if we would carry the write up for another three days until it's scheduled mx time. We said no, and he asked if a day of OT would help, and they would send us home on day seven. A phone call to my PM about it, he told me to keep quiet because the mx coordinator would say he was kidding if asked about it. That's real nice, bribe the pilots into flying a broken airplane. That being said, this happened about six months ago, and hasn't happened since. But mx still sucks.

Ha, ha. That's funny you mention the hotel thing. I was in SDL and one of the Netjets guys said the Embassy Suites van was on the way, and and asked if that's where we were staying. I told him we weren't, hoping he wouldn't ask where we were actually staying. He did, and I told him we stay at that dumpy Best Western behind Corporate Jets. I thought he was going to pi$$ himself he laughed so hard. I was real proud of my employer at that particular moment.

I was told by a check airman in our fleet we have between eight and ten airplanes sitting uncrewed at any time. They plan on having at least that many broke at any one time, and they staff our fleet accordingly. The fact is we are short eight to ten crews on any given day. Without accounting for vacation and sick calls, we are at least 16-20 pilots short in my fleet on any given day. It's no wonder we work our @sses off all week, every week.

 

[waveoff]

I spoke to the guy who does pilot hiring and they are in fact still interviewing but there are no new hire classes going on right now. My advice to everyone out there is to go look for a job elsewhere. This place is a sinking ship, a black hole, a roach motel...you get the picture. They told me when I was hired that I would upgrade in about one year maximum. Over 3 years later and I'm still an F/O. For those of you that are still working here, don't let your PM's, or whoever, pull the wool over your eyes and tell you that there aren't any other jobs out there. I could go on and on trash talking this place but it just falls on deaf ears. My gripes are the same as everyone else's. Put it this way. It tells you something when a company refuses to hire more people, begs people to work overtime to pick up the slack from people who are leaving in droves, uses contract pilots (paid over $800/day!!!) to pick up more slack and is selling more airplanes than they are getting new ones. Recently, a Hawker 800 crew had to declare TWO emergencies, in the SAME PLANE for the SAME PROBLEM within a 3 week period. What's that tell you about our maintenance? They evidently pencil whipped the $hit out of the status book after the first emergency.

 

[hawkercpt]

well...

first,
"To borrow a quote from a friend of mine, "Bl0w M3""...I think I know the guy who says this!

second
"uses contract pilots (paid over $800/day!!!)"... Fred, don't use quotes that are incorrect. It is $400/day and there aren't that many doing it, if any right know. You need to watch what your doing buddy. Don't dig a hole you can't get out of.

third
"You always seem to have a demeaning comment about anyone's opinion on this board. It cracks me up the Dep676 is such as strong JN advocate when he didn't work under the KR regime."

I agree. How can you make a comparison without ever seeing the other side.

That is all.

 

[Dep676]

Well so you can get your facts straight I have worked under both regimes. All I said is that I came after the merger. I never said that I did not work there when KR was at the helm. I did work there when that slimball was at the helm. He's a crook and always will be.

 

[hawkercpt]

Pre merger...

was a different realm.