I'm Here Doing It...at Avantair

[wacoflyr]

I am sorry. That truly sucks, but they have resumes coming out of their ears. Word is that they have gotten very picky. They had no choice, with classes of only six every three weeks or so.

Things will change, and the market will swing. ATP to be required at the regionals, age 65 in two years, and the puppy mills priced out of a market. The Vietnam vets are retiring, and the military doing all it can to hold on to their pilots. It will again be a pilot's market. My prediction is 2013. And you know how good my predictions are.

 

[PC12Cowboy]

Waco...
thanks for the support, but by 2013 I will be foreclosed on my house and living off of lawn mowing business I started..wont be able to afford to fly..Hoping one of the regional kicks in

 

[Whine Lover]

Avantair still have a training agreement for new hires?

Unfortunately...YES.

I successfully completed the phone interview and after being invited to Florida to interview the following week I was sent their briefing package which included the $22,000 one year training contract.

I called immediately and respectfully declined the offer.

I still believe Avantair is a class act, with a helluva business plan and product, and I would still love to work there.

However, I can not and will not sign a training agreement that could leave me on the street, jobless, and with a fresh new debt of many thousands of dollars.

And yes folks...training contracts ARE enforceable and Avantair's is written so well that you would have NO recourse if you decided to leave for personal reasons, lost your First Class medical (that's right having to default to a second class medical is grounds for termination ) or heaven forbid they just decided they didn't like you.

YKM

 

[BoilerUP]

$22k training contract....one year...for an airplane that doesn't require a type rating???

 

[netjetwife]

Sorry, Cowboy... Hopefully things will turn around in the next 2 years. Good luck with the new business.

WL....wow! A classic example of the need to read the fine print. That situation is just one more reason I'd like to see industry standards that provide a base level of fair treatment to frac pilots. Kudos to you for standing up for yourself. NJW

 

[gutshotdraw]

$22k training contract....one year...for an airplane that doesn't require a type rating???

I thought it weighs more than 12,500 lbs ergo type required. Anyone?

 

[gutshotdraw]

Of course, I'm not disputing the notion that a training contract, even in this economy, is TOTAL crap.

 

[hangarrat]

I thought it weighs more than 12,500 lbs ergo type required. Anyone?

12,100 - no type required. Training is at FSI.

 

[glasspilot]

No, it's a 12,100 lb plane. No type required.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the training contract. Truth be told I thought they got rid of it. I think it's a hold over from when everyone was hiring and they were afraid folks would come here from 121 to get the corporate time and bail to some other frac or be a private Piaggio pilot in competition with them with their training.

Either way it's outdated in my opinion.

 

[wacoflyr]

12,100 pounds max gross, so no type required. Two plus years ago, when I hired in, the training contract was pro-rated over one year. My understanding is that people were let go within that time without the contract being enforced. I don't believe they would enforce it for an issue such as a medical. The contract, I think, is there to stop abuse. But I'm not management, so I can't say for certain.

A training contract is hardly unique. I'm not going to defend it or repudiate it, but I would rather work here than at various other fractionals that don't have training contracts. Industry wide standards on these matters would be a terrible mistake. I have standards that other pilots would not agree to, and I know that some of the fractionals have rules and unions that I don't want to work with. I respect the pilots who work there, and their right to choose. That would be pilots, by the way. Who work there.

The plane is fun, but busy. No type required, but the sim and checkride are more difficult than the only type I do have. Not much background to go on, but it certainly is more difficult than the four jets I have time in.