Flops Called...help!!!!

[Flybet3]

Hey guys, I just got a call from the HR lady at flight ops, and scheduled a phone interview with the CP for today!!! cn anyone help me??!!! Can anyone tell me from recent experience what to expect for the interview!!!!!????? The interview is this afternoon....so I need help quick!!! THANX
__________________
My name is Maria

 

[blue_side_up]

Relax. I just did it. Its no big deal. Its all personality or what they can at least hear over the phone. Just flight experience, flight time, stuff like that.

 

[ghostrider64]

take a deep breath and relax. If they can hear you have a pulse over the phone and thet you will do everything they ask of you, you are in.

 

[Flybet3]

take a deep breath and relax. If they can hear you have a pulse over the phone and thet you will do everything they ask of you, you are in.

ooooooooh, ok....I feel a bit better. Did you recently have the interview?

 

[WrknStff]

Lots of negativity has been all managements fault and has been pretty much developed over the past year. Like anything with management it's all based on personality, our "interim" CEO was fired from USAir regional operations where he ran that into the ground and seems to think doing that to Flops will win him the full time job. How he got the job no one knows, everyone, pilots and owners I think, just want him gone. Hopefully this guy is on the way out as soon as they can get rid of him couldn't be soon enough. Just as quickly as it has gone bad, it can also turn around just as quick with a new attitude in the front office. Fingers crossed.

The biggest gripes have been the domicile issue. A lot of long time options pilots have lost their domiciles. Granted these are some pretty out of the way airports, but they were hired with the agreement that they could fly out of there and management reneged on that. That's a lot of bad blood to stir up. Now there are about 22 what they call Tier 1 domiciles that they are requiring new hires to declare as their domicile. Make sure you are willing to live out of one of those before you hire on.

You also won't be working an 8 and 7 schedule. Now they have what they are calling the "Flex" schedule which will be mandatory for new hires. It's based on a 30 day rotation. You have a guaranteed 9 straight days off somewhere in the 30 days and that will be the same every rotation (days 11-19 off every 30 days for example) and that won't change, although you will originally be assigned which 9 days by scheduling your days won't change. The other times you go to work can vary depending on demand each rotation, but you'll never be home for less than 3 days at a time, you'll never be away more than 8 and you'll only work a total of 15 days out of the 30 so you'll be working 1 day less than on the current schedule in 30 days. If you don't mind a little uncertainty about days home, it's not that bad a schedule, especially compared to a lot of aviation jobs out there. I would think it would be better for anyone with kids because you'd be home more often and would probably only work 8 days in a row rarely (if they give you 8 days in a row you get a minimum of 6 off). I guess the worst you could get in a month would be 7on, 6 off, 8 on then 9 off.

But, all negativity aside, the job itself hasn't changed much and I still enjoy it. We fly a lot of interesting places, the days aren't too long and the pay is still decent, especially compared to most regional jobs where you are putting in 16 hour days, 20 days a month, for an 18k paycheck

 

[Hogprint]

our "interim" CEO was fired from USAir regional operations where he ran that into the ground and seems to think doing that to Flops will win him the full time job. How he got the job no one knows, everyone, pilots and owners I think, just want him gone.

Whoa Nelly!!! You know what that means? He's there for the duration! Promoted with honors!

I gotta go back to school and get me one of these CEO degrees. You can run a bakers dozen companies into the ground and still get hired to do it again.

The guy that started Marquis...SIX, count 'em, SIX companies...straight into the ground. Seven times lucky I guess...

 

[psysicx]

Does everyone start in the Beechjet? I'm surprised that there mins are so low.

 

[WrknStff]

Supposedly everyone will start in the beechjet now. All the other small cabins are on the way out. Supposedly.

 

[illeagle]

What is the pay for 1st year FO? What are the current domiciles? Do you have to live in domicile? What are the complaints causing the exodus? Any other experiences from FLOPS pilots would be of interest as I attempt to navigate my way in this crazy business. Thanks

 

[leardawg]

I left FLOPS recently after almost 3 years. 90% of the reason for my leaving was upgrade time. I was told to expect 12 - 18 months to upgrade to PIC; after 3 years, I was still looking at at least another 2 years, by my estimate. With a family to support, I just could not get by on SIC pay (36K after 3 yrs) any more. I was initially attracted by the promise of long-term security, quality of life, and work conditions described to me by friends already working there. The other 10% of my reason to quit was how much the job changed, especially in the last year I was there. Once Scheeringa took over, a lot of nasty rumors started to fly. Many of them started showing signs of becoming reality. When I was hired, Flight Options was described as a "Pilot's Paradise". We could live where we wanted, fly state-of-the-art equipment, and have 14 days off a month. We would stay in decent hotels, and accumulate airline and hotel points. FLOPS claimed to seek to attract and keep the best pilots in the industry; I counted myself among that group, and can attest that the vast majority of those I had the privilege to fly with fit that description. During my last year there, things started to go downhill. One by one, the benefits and perks that attracted most of us to the job started showing signs of going by the wayside. I became appalled at the level of dis-service to the owners, which led me to the conclusion that FLOPS was headed to hell in a hand basket.It seemed as if the MO at the Operations Control Center was to say anything to the owners or pilots, in order to get throughyour shift and and let the next shift deal with the clusterf**k. There seemed to be a complete lack of quality control, supervision and accountability.

My advice to anyone considering working at FLOPS is to go in with both eyes open. It's a much different environment than it was a couple of years ago. It's probably still a good entry-level job, better than flying freight or checks. When I first got hired, the pay was 34K plus per-diem, which amounted to another 8k per year. I have heard that the first year pay may be going down, and that pilots will be expected to spend most of the per-diem on meals (whereas previously we could count on pocketing about half of that amount, on the average, because our crew meals were usually catered at company expense). You will not be able to live where you want any more. I am totally convinced that the current management team led by Scheeringa will drive the company into a deep, smelly grave. Only a drastic change bought about by the current board members will turn things around. This could still happen, and I could be kicking myself in a couple of years for leaving (although I can attest to the fact that there is great life after Flight Options; my professional and personal life have improved dramatically since leaving). If you have an "IN" with Citation Shares or Flexjet, I would consider those first. Hiring on with FLOPS is a gamble which could pay off, or result in a sh**ty experience in your promising career. Right now, it's a real crap-shoot.

Good Luck!

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

Flybet,

Did you do the phone interview? How did it go?

 

[FISHINGOR]

Rumor has it that during the first hiring event in over a year Flt Ops did very poorly. The pilot and flight attendent hiring was for the 21 day schedule, and ATL domicle. Flt Ops sent out 130 pilot employment offers and only got 10 pilots to accept. Of the 10 pilots 5 did not have ATP's and the other 5 did not have any turbine time. All the 10 pilots did not have min. requirements for Flt Ops. Time will see how many make it to end of training. Bets are that only 4 will make it to the line. Of course all will be SIC's for at least 7-8 years, so those that do stay around that long will make good pilots. Co-pilot for 8 years when regionals are close to 2-3 years at present. PSA is hiring and upgrade time maybe less then 2 years. Company goal was to hire 20 pilots during ATL event. On any day 10-15 airplanes are sitting without crews and they are chartering over $1 million per week. Next hiring event will be Dallas area. Time will tell how many they can hire in Flex's back yard, when Flex is paying more to start. If anyone has a postion flying with regionals stay there and DO NOT MOVE TO FLT OPS. My freinds tell me not a good place to work at present time.

 

[Mason]

Rumor has it that during the first hiring event in over a year Flt Ops did very poorly. The pilot and flight attendent hiring was for the 21 day schedule, and ATL domicle. Flt Ops sent out 130 pilot employment offers and only got 10 pilots to accept. Of the 10 pilots 5 did not have ATP's and the other 5 did not have any turbine time. All the 10 pilots did not have min. requirements for Flt Ops. Time will see how many make it to end of training. Bets are that only 4 will make it to the line. Of course all will be SIC's for at least 7-8 years, so those that do stay around that long will make good pilots. Co-pilot for 8 years when regionals are close to 2-3 years at present. PSA is hiring and upgrade time maybe less then 2 years. Company goal was to hire 20 pilots during ATL event. On any day 10-15 airplanes are sitting without crews and they are chartering over $1 million per week. Next hiring event will be Dallas area. Time will tell how many they can hire in Flex's back yard, when Flex is paying more to start. If anyone has a postion flying with regionals stay there and DO NOT MOVE TO FLT OPS. My freinds tell me not a good place to work at present time.

Let me clear up some nonsense in this post.

I am in this class of which you speak.

True-Five of us don't have ATP's, of those who don't we ALL greatly exceed the requirements and have the ATP written completed.

You say that all of us didn't even meet the requirements for FLOPS--this is BS
All have between 2500-3000 hours and a good amount of multi-engine jet or heavy t-prop time.

You say that five of us don't even have any turbine time-that is just simply wrong--all but one have considerable jet experience (except the c-130 driver)

Here is a breakdown of the class-

1 military with almost 2000hrs of C-130 time--some in actual combat.

2-121 Jet FO's

2-135 Lear and Falcon freight dogs, one of which is a dual rated helo pilot and instructor.

1-135 charter pilot who has prior 121 jet experience and who holds a type rating in the GII--yeah, he'll probably wash out.

The other four come from FAR 135 on-demand and have been flying (and typed in such aircraft as the LR-Jet, and BE-400)

Just a hunch, but that sounds like a pretty qualified group of people to me.

We all made it through basic indoctrination just fine and I foresee every one of us to do just fine down at simuflite.

Please get your facts straight rather than posting "rumor."

For the record, I was impressed with the training and feel that everyone was up front with us. Any you know what? If we don't like it then we can LEAVE.

Feel free to ask me any questions regarding anymore "rumor." How about asking me the next time some of your friends give you some more info about the company.

 

[choppengruven]

Dude! You better check the attitude before you go out on the line. It will get you in allot of trouble with what are some already disgruntled pilots. You'll find out soon enough that with a pilot group this size rumors happen all the time and 90% of the time they are wrong. Man if you just got started here and you cant let a simple rumor bounce off you without blowing up your in for a long road ahead. Welcome aboard and check the attitude in CGF becuase no matter how nice they trreated you while you were there you are now the enemy.

 

[Galaxy]

I got to meet a bunch of the new hires and talk a bit of thier experience. They all seemed fine to me. No attitudes found there. I would not mind flying with any of them at anytime. The biggest question I had to them is why here? Most of them were leaving crappy 135 or crappy 121 gigs. So, this job could seem better than what they came from. Remember FLOPS is no longer a career move, just another stepping stone to something better. Time will show its true colors and the mgt will treat these guys and gals the same as we get treated. But them again, they have had nothing taken away from them yet. To all the new hires-Congrats and good luck and see you out on the road.

 

[dime line]

Hey Mason


Just remember, send in your card when you come here!

 

[FLOPSouth]

I was in the recent new-hire class. FLOPS has a lot going for it in comparison to several 121/135 carriers. Yeah, mgmt did tell us how great and perfect the company is, but was also recieved the bad and ugly, the "Dark side" and RTA from various departments and pilots.

No company in the aviation industry is great right now, but all of us are looking for different things. Look at the previous posts it describes our backgrounds and right now FLOPS is a good choice.

If you think your job at FLOPS is so bad then leave as others have, and just as I did from my last spot, because I'm glad to be here.

Southside

 

[dime line]

"If you think your job at FLOPS is so bad then leave as others have, and just as I did from my last spot, because I'm glad to be here."

The original cop-out from somebody who thinks there life is so good and perfect. Hey just look at your paycheck. It will take you at least 5 to 7 (thats a #7) to upgrade. So that means for the next LONG while ( I hope you love your new job) cause you already know what your sorry pay will be. So being that you and I will probably fly together, yes we will have fun, enjoy your new dead end job.

 

[leardawg]

It's good and natural for new guys (and gals) to start off with a positive attitude, and no one should fault them for that. Getting a job you're seeking, when many others have been turned down, is always something to feel proud and positive about. I wish all of them the best of luck and prosperity with Flight Options. Having said that, there is the old saying "the newest broom always sweeps the cleanest." We all started out in this job with positive and upbeat attitudes for the future. I would encourage the new people to take it from those who have been there, and take action now to safeguard their future with the company. I, by nature, tended to resist the idea of joining a union, for reasons too lengthy to list here. I finally threw in the towel and sent in my card (before eventually leaving for a better opportunity). I wish I had sent it in a lot sooner.I still don't believe that unionizing is the solution for many professions. In this case, however, I have concluded that it is the only way the pilot group can have any say and any clout against arbitrary changes in their working conditions and quality of life. As highly-trained professionals to whom an enormous responsibility is delegated, we deserve that level of say and influence. We're not talking about assembly-line widget makers here. I would strongly urge newcomers to consider sending in a card, not to be in a position to make unreasonable demands, but simply to have a voice in these arbitrary decisions. Unionizing will not solve or prevent all problems, but without this clout you run the risk of becoming simple "flunkies" in every sense of the word, expected to do what you are told and shut up. I guarantee that most of the newbies will be cursing and moaning about their lot in life within a couple of years, and kicking themselves for not doing something to influence things while they had the chance. Take it from one who's been there!

 

[dime line]

leardawg you said it a lot better than I could have. Thanks