Gulftstream Academy

[Checks]

Before you go the Gulfstream route 1st Go to every airport in the general area you want to live and hand out resumes. Talk to the line guys about who is who. Go back at night and do the same thing. Go back in a couple more weeks. Get your CFI and instruct part time while your still in the Army.
You do need to get the minimum amount of FWME time but there are better routes than paying 20K for it. I cant remember if you said they pay you during the building of your 250hrs but dont forget living expenses and where they might send you. I cant think of anything that would piss me off me than having to pay for flight time than to also have to pay for the hotel/crash pad, meals, uniforms, phone calls home, ect ect. I know of a guy with the same quals as you who went straight into the right seat of a Lear flying checks 4 nights a week. About 1 year later he went to work for a big corporation making nice money.

 

[bobbysamd]

Confused



Doesn't rotor turbine time count as turbine time? I know there is some kind of technicality that you can't count multi engine helicopter as multi engine time.

I agree with Flydog, although, as I said above, our gentleman, in my .02, could stand another couple hundred of multi airplane, in ANY multi airplane, just so he would be competitive at this point in time. A year and a half ago - two years ago, he would have been snapped right up by any one of half a dozen commuters.

I remember that Mesa used to like ex-military with similar quals.

 

[350DRIVER]

" "So the "CFI route" is not for him so he should "buy" turbine time" ".....hmmm.- Once again as the others have said make a third pot of coffee and read some other threads concerning Gulfstream. Age is not at issue it is more of a copout in my opinion, there are many many other alternatives for you if you just take the time to do the research. I wish you the best of luck and everything else....

 

[Anaconda]

you've recieved a lot of good advice on your situation...have you decided anything?

 

[soleary]

to anaconda

Thanks to everyone for their input. I have about 6 months to retirement from the Army and am now in the process of doing research, as so many of you suggested. Nobody in my circle knows much about any of this so I am looking for all the input I can get, from any source I can find. It's very frustrating to learn that the 20 years I spent flying all over the world, in a very demanding environment and in a very demanding aircraft, doesn't amount to "paying my dues". I would challenge the CFI time builders to try it that way and see if they don't see things differently. To answer your question Anaconda, I haven't made any decisions yet. I have to balance the short time scale I have to work with against the stigma that is attached to this route.

 

[Phrog-guy]

Fly hard for the next month and get over the 200 ME hump
then apply with Comair. All your helo time will count with
them. I know of several helo-bubbas who did this pre 9/11,
with several regional/commuters, but Comair is the only one
still hiring, so the rest don't matter.
Best of luck!

 

[Timebuilder]

Let's see.

You have over three thousand hours in turbine powered aircraft.

You can easily hook into the military pilots network for job hunting.

You are younger than I am.


It seems that I, a "CFI time builder", would have a better excuse than you do for going the PFT route.
We have simply tried to give you a good heads-up on the SOP for civilian pilot jobs.

With helo experience, and the challenging flying you have under your belt, why in the world don't you exploit that with a civilian helo job? There are many outstanding aircraft to be flown, and you could be just the guy they would like to have on their team.
If you like, I can send you some links when I return from sun n fun/job search this week.

At any rate, good luck.

 

[bobbysamd]

Paying dues v. "paying" dues

I fail to see a stigma to what you've accomplished. No one doubts that you've paid your dues. No one wants to see you "pay" them again.

Three thousand hours of military turbine time is a great qual in and of itself. I maintain that with your current quals you can get some regional interviews right now. You would be in a stronger position if you had more airplane multiengine, but I don't feel that you are in a weak position. In any event, you should finish your ATP.

Good luck with your plans.

 

[Anaconda]

what stigma?

honestly, coming from comair, i can tell you that you would not get an interview with 200 multi in the current climate. you have to have 121 or 135 time in turbine acft (fixed-wing).

i spoke to a comair interview just the other day. he told me what they are looking for, and he mentioned that they are hiring gulfstream guys quite a bit. doesn't sound like a stigma to me. i point blank asked him if they are cool with guys going out and buying 250 hours in a metroliner and he was very enthusiastic about it. it's the difference between getting the job or not getting the job.

i wouldn't worry about any "stigma". helo guys with half your time that "bought" time in a metroliner or something similar are getting jobs at comair while the cfi's are sweating it out in the tomahawk or 152. seniority is everything in this industry.

there are other options besides gulfstream. i've read about them on this board. eagle jet i think is one of them. sorry, i don't know all the names. respectable operations that don't get as much negative flak as gulfstream.

when i was in your shoes i consulted several cfi's at the school i went to and they all said the same thing. given the credentials i had they all said they would "buy" time as opposed to being an instructor. i'm not knocking the cfi profession at all you just have to consider your own personal situation.

again, i invite you to check out www.aptap.org. i believe you will find it to be educational as well as motivational. there are a lot of guys out there in the same situation as you.

 

[aero99]

I don't support or even get involved with the whole PFT issue and companies like Gulfstream. But, if you are getting out of the military, your GI Bill will pay for part 141 training. I looked into it briefly a while back, so don't know the qualifications, but seems you might be able to go to a school such as ATP and build up some multi training and have Uncle Sam pay for most of it. I don't remember the % they would pay, but seems like it was high, like 65% of the total training bill.

Maybe someone here went that route and can give better answers on how do go about it.

Just a thought no one brought up yet.

Bobby, do you remember any of your students having used the Gi Bill to help pay training cost?