Hop-A-Jet

[Pilot356]

Anyone have experience or information on this Fort Lauderdale company?

 

[landlover]

a freind of a freind worked there like 4 years ago. back then it was yoru typical crappy 135. clean the airplanes on your "day off", office duties, running cheif pilots errands etc..

 

[McLovin]

I know a few guys that worked there! You don't clean aircraft. They will call you at 3am though. You'll fly a lot. You'll start in the 35 or 55, then 60 then 604.

It's one of the best 135 on the field. Look at Presidential, but I think XO bought them or some other company.

Good luck!

 

[Pilot356]

Thanks, I appreciate your help!

 

[StarHustler]

I fly out of BCT, the word down here is stay far, far, far away from them and 'A-OK' jets also....

 

[landlover]

I fly out of BCT, the word down here is stay far, far, far away from them and 'A-OK' jets also....

best bet is to just stay away from that airport all together. its like a time warp from 2001

 

[GIVSP]

I have a friend who is looking at a maint position at A OK. Whats the scoop? The owner wanted to hire him right on the spot.

 

[8ball]

the place sucks...typical so florida operations...owner is cheap and so is his company....stay away...

 

[cr7driver]

I agree! If you can, stay away from S. Florida aviation at all costs. I used to work for a 135 Learjet operator at BCT, and they worked you all day long (cleaning, jepps, "office work" etc etc) and then expected you to fly a trip at night to some cesspool on a medical charter. The aircraft were'nt well maintained and writing up and aircraft was a punishable offense as far as the owner was concerned. ALL the flight planning including setting up hotels and catering was the sole responsibility of the FO. And after flying a trip, the FO cleaned the aircraft no matter what time of the night it was and after that the FO did all the paperwork for the trip (all fuel, catering, food rental car receipts were organized and an expense report was completed). By the way, the only thing shown on the duty time sheet was the flying hours, and nothing else! This was my experience in the late 90's, and I left that outfit as soon as I got my TT up to a respectable level. I cannot comment on the conditions now, but like I said this was my personal experience.

 

[learflyer]

what a bunch of pu$$ies. We were all happy to clean aircraft to get a little jet time, including the ones bad mouthing everybody.. Alot of us got the start at some of these places. Doesn't mean you have to do it you're whole life. Get in, pay some dues, get out. WTF else are you going to do to get experience? Doctors have it way worse than we do, when going through internships, etc.

 

[landlover]

what a bunch of pu$$ies. We were all happy to clean aircraft to get a little jet time, including the ones bad mouthing everybody.. Alot of us got the start at some of these places. Doesn't mean you have to do it you're whole life. Get in, pay some dues, get out. WTF else are you going to do to get experience? Doctors have it way worse than we do, when going through internships, etc.

you're a pu$$y for putting up with it.

 

[LearAv8r]

rut......

 

[learflyer]

rut......

yo B. grab me that creeper.

 

[cr7driver]

you're a pu$$y for putting up with it.

Thats true! I was tired of putting up with that type of treatment and found a better job elsewhere. Heck! even the regionals treated me better. For the same pay, at least all I did was fly, and time off was my time off and not attached to a beeper or cell phone. There are other options out there....I understand that regional flying isn't for everyone, but this is the time where we as pilots have a more choices than we did 10 years ago.

 

[landlover]

Thats true! I was tired of putting up with that type of treatment and found a better job elsewhere. Heck! even the regionals treated me better. For the same pay, at least all I did was fly, and time off was my time off and not attached to a beeper or cell phone. There are other options out there....I understand that regional flying isn't for everyone, but this is the time where we as pilots have a more choices than we did 10 years ago.

i worked at one of those crappy lear ops down there for 2 weeks and told the cheif to go f himself and take this lame ass job and shove it. i couldn't believe the sh!t expected of me, and the fact that there were 5 dunces putting up with it for some lousy jet time and ohh yeah, and 20k a year. pencil whipped checkrides, forged wyvern/argus approvals. real first class operator. they are all the same, most got there start running blow in the 80s & 90s. all on a razor thin budget. oh yeah my favorite, training to fly a jet in a jet. really smart!

 

[learflyer]

Thats true! I was tired of putting up with that type of treatment and found a better job elsewhere. Heck! even the regionals treated me better. For the same pay, at least all I did was fly, and time off was my time off and not attached to a beeper or cell phone. There are other options out there....I understand that regional flying isn't for everyone, but this is the time where we as pilots have a more choices than we did 10 years ago.

yeah, that's because this was 10 years ago!

 

[cr7driver]

yeah, that's because this was 10 years ago!

So, have things changed? Or is it still the same game down there in the S. Florida charter scene?
I would love to hear that the pilots are treated as professionals, but honestly knowing the mentality of the operators down there I sincerely doubt it.

 

[learflyer]

yep, still the same ole' crap. 135 is 135.

 

[FastJP4]

Have a good friend working there, and he says as far as a 135 operator, they are in the top 10%. He fly's the 604, shows up and flies - returns and goes home. His job after returning is checking the oil (automatic system on the 604) and shutting down the aircraft. That's it. He says they have a ton of line guys and the "cleaning the hanger" is totally untrue. Said 1st year FO was 60k and 1st year CA 90K. He's been there 6 months and seen one MEL on one of the 604's - and says mx is excellent. Says the CP is a good, down to earth guy and they have a good pilot group. He seems to be pretty happy with the exception of the legality of being "on call" all of the time. Overall he says a good place.

 

[cr7driver]

I would say that if you have to work flying 135 somewhere, then Hop-a-Jet would be it. I am glad to hear that the pilots are treated as professionals. Back in the day, it wasn't so. But as the previous post mentions, there are some legality issues, (ie: duty times, training ect etc).
Some operators had "real" training (Simuflite, Flight Safety), but most did not. I guess that they are having trouble finding pilots down there hence they are probably upping the pay/standards.
Good Luck, and hope it works out for you.