Kalitta Charters Lear Jet Operator

[johnsonrod]

I have a friend with some limited Lear time who is looking to apply to this company - he also lives in the Detroit area. I have, not surprisingly, read a few negative posts about this company.

Does anyone know if they separate the 135 pax crews from the on-demand freight crews? Do the Lear pilots fly both the pax and the on-demand freight on and off? Any positives about this company or the flying they do besides give you a chance to build Lear time? You can PM me if you prefer.

Thanks

 

[foshizzlepilot]

I believe they are your standard issue part 135 op. Typical bottom feeder.

 

[Junkflyer]

I don't for sure, but think that they all live on the pager.

 

[Heavy Set]

Mix of Lear 35s and older 24s I believe. Not sure if the pilots fly both interchangeably.

 

[BeechCowboy48]

I saw a Kallita Falcon 20 the other day in CLE, so I guess they have those too.

 

[kamikaize]

Ameristar Is also looking for lear pilots based out of Yip

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

Kalitta has around 8 cargo Falcon 20s. They purchased Reliant's Falcons a few years ago and one left over from the Kitty Hawk days.

Unless things have changed, the pay and schedule sucks. Their bread and butter is freight. Not sure how much passenger stuff they do. I do know they do some air ambulance work. Also, it seems that Kalitta cargo (121) does not hire any of the Kalitta Charters guys.

There are better cargo haulers around Detroit to work for. Ameristar and Royal Air come to mind. USA Jet has a Lear 25 they use for passenger work. Maybe Pilotyip will let you know how they hire for the passenger side. Ameristar, Royal, and USA Jet have all been looking for pilots lately. I am sure your buddy would not mind driving a Falcon also.

 

[xdrvr]

LAst I knew about the KFS was 24/7 pager 20 min radius YIP. OK pay dues company They're all gonna have their quirks. Ameristar had hard days on/off but they tried to make their pilots jumpseat home at the end of rotation - instead of buying them a rev ticket... not unusual to spend your 1st day off gettin home. Also had that Lear? that suffered cabin depressurization, both pilots died and the company still used the airplane... freaky. We used to call Royal Air, Royal Scare, there for a while they were having frquent incidents - a lot of single pilot runs

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

I was talking to the Royal Air DOM about a year and a half ago and I inquired about a 310 that got banged up at SKY. He said, "I don't remember which bird that was, they have all been crashed once or twice." Things seem better at Royal vs. the 90s. I knew a guy that was the FO and saw a line guy go right through the floor on a Bandit that he was helping unload. Told me that he finally decided to leave when he saw two pilots get strapped into a Lear one day. Literally! The door would not close and it was just an FCF so they put a cargo strap around the fuselage to keep it closed. But now that the FAA has banned the owner from the premises, things are a lot better. However, they are still the first and last ones to fly when the weather is bad.

My 2 cents, freight hauling on demand is all the same. Marginal at best on the pay scale, bad schedule, flying through the weather in equipment that is not exactly top notch.

 

[AZ Typed]

Somehow our company talked a guy into buying an old Connie K Hawker 400. Needless to say, it's been in our hanger about 5 months now (most of that time it's been on maintenance) has caught fire twice, non of the avionics work, crews hate the thing, and worst of all this poor owner (new to owning jets obviously) must have shelled out 25% of the purchase price in additional labor. Earlier this week the maintenance guys were cleaning a massive nest out of the tail air intake. No wonder the pack wouldn't work! It was sitting in the hanger again today - collecting dust. If that airplane is any indication of Connie K's overall operation, I'd run - not walk, but run. Good luck - I miss Detroit this time of year, but I'd never come back to fly a CK airplane after seeing our experiences with this Hawker 400.

AZT

 

[pilotyip]

Fly everything

At Kalitta you fly both LJ and DA, it was $250/wk to start, no pre-deim unless over night then they gave you $10. I believe ithey nterchange crews on pax and cargo, with some marked as first choice for pax. Do a scearch under Kalitta there has been a lot of posts our the past couple years. We have hired a few Kalitta guys, all have turned out to be good catches.

 

[PUNISHER]

It's amazing how fast pilots bash a company they know nothing about.
Here is the low down:
Owner: Doug Kalitta
Aircraft: LJ-25,35,36, DA-20, BE-200
20% Passenger, 50% Air ambulance, and 30% Freight.
FO's fly all types and configs.
Most Captains are dual qualified for LJ and DA20. Some captains are DA20 freight only.

Pay:
based on guarantee(variable), milage(variable), perdeim($1.50/hr) , and wait time($15/hr)
FO's
First year tipically $18,000-22,000 depending on how much you fly
Second year $32,000-40,000

Captain's
$55,000-90,000+ about a three year upgrade

Schedule: 2 weeks on 1 week off. I know exactly what days off I have for the rest of the year! I like the company but it definetly has its down sides like any other 135 on demand. You are on call 24 hours during your 2 weeks on, this means being within 20 min from YIP or MOR. You are at home about 50% of your two weeks on. The aircraft are old but are standardized and maintained well. Unlike some freight only operators, Kalitta's A/C look half way acceptable.
If you don't mind being on call then kalitta is the place to be. If you can't handle flying several different models of Jets in all different types of configs (PAX,Ambo,Frt) all over North, Latin, South America, and Europe then this is not the job for you.

 

[pilotyip]

Punisher, but am I wrong F/O base pay is $250/wk for the first six months with no per-diem the first six months, training contract, hire Capts off the street? I am only trying to verify information I have been given by pilots I have interviewed. No intent bash or slam, just collecting into.

 

[PUNISHER]

YIP
First 6 month base pay is $250 per week, with no mileage(mileage starts after 6 months). You start getting perdiem on your first trip, $1.50 hr. and wait time $15/hr. There are no training contracts, that is probably why the pay sucks for the first year. They try to upgrade within as much as possible but there are 3 captains that were hired off the street in the past 5 years or so.

 

[pilotyip]

Thanks for the info, Erik and Caleb are working here now doing a good job for us.

 

[cgwilk2000]

Just a quick queston if I may. At one time I believe this operation had a B-727 for cargo. Is that aircraft still on line, and if so, does anybody have any information on Flight Engineers slots, requirements and other particulars?

Thanks

 

[pilotyip]

The 727/DC-9 is Kalitta Charters II, a seperate 121 certificate from the 747 operater. I believe they have 1 DC-9 and 3 727's. The DC-9 flies on-demand, the 727's are on the Emery runs.

 

[1013dot25hPa]

What is the typical schedule like for a Kalitta Charters pilot? Are you on pager duty? Hard day's off? Commutable?

 

[WMUSIGPI]

Is there anything at YIP that doesn't involve short callout times? It seems that everything around there involves 30 minutes or less callout, with very few days that you don't have to be packed dressed and ready to run out the door. Does anyone operate scheduled stuff that can be bid for day one?

 

[PUNISHER]

Kalitta Charters II has 4 727's. I don't think they are hiring right now.

The schedule for Kalitta Charters I is; two weeks on one week off. This is the standard FO schedule and it is now being offered to all new captains. They are taking resumes for future classes.

Callouts: Freight 45 min
Pax/Ambo 2 hour