Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

In defense of USA Jet

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

pilotyip

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
13,629
USA Jet was the finest DA-20 operator in the business. Our training programs were good enough to train anyone who had basic flying skills. USA Jet did all of its training under Part 121 N & O; the DA-20 had 5 weeks of full time ground school prior to starting sim training, which ran one week and 25 hours for F/O's. All DA-20 F/O's received 25 hours of supervised IOE prior to being released to line operations, we observe 100 min time in seat for pairing restrictions and in the past have turned down trips because of only low time pairs available. USA Jet had not hired a Captain off the street since 1998. We have had pilots go to major airlines and tell us, except for fancy bells and whistles, the USA Jet training was as good as they got at their major. DA-20 maintenance was conducted under Part 121, crews were not forced to fly what they considered unsafe airplanes, and a pilot could write up anything and put it in the logbook. We had been inspected many times by both the FAA and outside audit companies, they came away with the same findings: USA Jet was one of the finest operations they had ever seen. We did it right and stood by our standards which went well beyond that required by the FAR’s. While in full time ground school pilots were paid full pay of $35 K per year to start. We have program on track for 6-figure pay in 6 years for all Captains. 10 hard days off every 28-day bid period. We established the policy of hard days off and gave the pilot the option of being flown home or getting additional pay for selling their days. No training contract was required, if you did not want to work for us, we would let you go. We had a very low turnover and the pilot who left went to better jobs. We had the highest guaranteed pay of any on-demand operator flying DA-20 sized equipment. We introduced more days off, increased pay, and hard days off to the on-demand industry. Our completion had to match us in order to attract pilots. We raised the bar. All of this excellent came with a cost and its was cost not being carried by our competition, in the end we were not competitive in the on-demand business. Faced with a choice of cutting pay, cutting days off, getting rid of expensive training and maintenance by going back to the 135 ride along program and abandoning our excellence the company did not lower the bar. BTW I know a lot of people think it could have been differently. To all who were cut, you have great skills, you were fantasic employees, you will succedd in this business, do not let hard feeling eat you up.
 
Very nice post Yip, but it almost sounds like a ulegy for a dying company. :crying:
 
All the things cited in defense of USA Jet are past-tense, because the DA20 program is over. In the end, the company terminated their employees with no notice, despite planning it out and knowing what they would do. The company didn't wake up one morning and decide they had no choice...they simply elected to blindside their people with no notice...and that's just not defensible.

So far as meeting regulatory training requirements...well, that's just compliance with the regulation. Nothing more.
 

The game we are playing here is closest to the old game of "Christians and lions."​
— Robert L. Crandall, CEO & President of American Airlines.

The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.
— Warren Buffett, annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, February 2008.
 
If you have ever managed any business of consequence, you would know why one never gives advance warning or notice of shut downs or terminations. In big companies, it often means security comes to your office and escorts you to the door checking everything you are taking.
 
If you have ever managed any business of consequence, you would know why one never gives advance warning or notice of shut downs or terminations. In big companies, it often means security comes to your office and escorts you to the door checking everything you are taking.

You got that right. Seen it happen in the corporate world a few times. One guy managed to escape and was bawling in a partners office. Very pathetic to watch.
 
You got that right. Seen it happen in the corporate world a few times. One guy managed to escape and was bawling in a partners office. Very pathetic to watch.

+2

I realize aviation is sometimes a different animal, with respect to how layoffs are handled, and so expectations are often that one will have advance notice, severence, recall rights, etc. But what happened at USA Jet was nothing more than what has happened to of thousands of folks in manufacturing and IT right here in NC in the last ten years. You show up for work one day and you're met by private secuity ... escorting people in groups to get their stuff. No notice ... no warning ... no apologies ... nothing.

I've been there, and so I hurt (seriously) for those who were affected at USA Jet. Those pilots have families to feed and it sucks beyond all measure. But I think animosity towards Yip might be a bit misplaced. I'm sure he wishes it could have been handled differently, but he didn't have a vote. I know Yip to be someone with integrity, someone always willing to patiently suffer dumb questions, and always willing to lend a hand when he could.

Is he a bit of a cheerleader for USA Jet? Sure. Is that a bad thing? Not in my book.
 
Last edited:
If you have ever managed any business of consequence, you would know why one never gives advance warning or notice of shut downs or terminations. In big companies, it often means security comes to your office and escorts you to the door checking everything you are taking.

I understand the rational behind the move. Pilotyip posted here at one point showing that he knew about the impending action a month before it occured...but was blindsided himself with the actual date, later on.

That busineses do this does not make it defensible or right. There's no comfort, and no ethical morality in the assertion that "it's not personal...it's just business."

It's personal.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top