King Airelines Pay?

[mocaman]

What do they pay new hires at King? Also does anyone have fairly recent experience with them? thanks

 

[Kawasumi_Kichou]

Are you talking about the King based at HND in Las Vegas? One of my students just got hired by them to fly a 207 in The Ditch. He just finished ground school and is waiting for flight training. He says they just lost a bunch of their 402 drivers to Scenic so he thinks he'll upgrade to the twins pretty quickly. I'll ask him what they're paying these days.

 

[mocaman]

Thanks man, Yeah, that is the King that I am referring to. I know the place kinda has a bad rap, but I thought I would try to find out first hand what its like. Also, I heard that they may charge a $500 training fee?? Is that right? If so, I would not even consider going there to fly any airplane. Anyway, thanks for replying!

 

[Kawasumi_Kichou]

They've had a regime change. Admittedly second-hand word is the new chief pilot is trying to clean up some of the messes left by the previous occupant. Will know more late next week.

 

[moving2vegas]

best of luck

last I remember (couple years back) a friend that worked there said they paid extermely low and it was based on number and type of trips flown. He said he typically made 600$ a month plus tips. Try living in vegas on that.

 

[DesertFalcon]

What do they pay new hires at King? Also does anyone have fairly recent experience with them? thanks

Pay is $30.00 or $55.00 per trip depending on the route flown.
They start their new pilots in the 207 and move later to the 402.

The new chief pilot is former FAA.

Only 3 Fixed Wing Canyon operators left.

Scenic
Vision
King

 

[Jim]

Only 3 Fixed Wing Canyon operators left.

Scenic
Vision
King

And Grand Canyon Airlines
And Air Grand Canyon
And West Air
And the group that flies Metros out of somewhere

But the three you mentioned are the only ones out of Vegas.

 

[TriStar_drvr]

And the group that flies Metros out of somewhere

I think they're out of Hawthorne, California. Ten years ago there used to be a lot of operators that would fly from the LA area to GCN. I had the pleasure to fly Navajo Chieftains out of BUR to GCN for a year then. It was a lot of fun. Haven't been back to GCN since. I keep thinking of renting something and going back. It would be fun to report "the crack" or "the square" to the tower controllers again. I'm guessing with the demise of so many operators, GCN just isn't as busy as it used to be.

 

[English]

TriStar drvr, did you work at Argosy? I might know you...

 

[Kawasumi_Kichou]

Yeah, Bob Trout is the new CP. He was with the local FSDO and was a POI for several local 135 operators. He was also a canyon pilot before that, back when I was flying part-time in the ditch.

I see pay hasn't changed much. I flew for Lang Aire and was paid $60 a trip in the 207... in 1982. Still, will ask my student what they're paying starting 207 drivers these days.

 

[Eagle-ista]

I don't think that's who's driving the Death tube...

I think they're out of Hawthorne, California. Ten years ago there used to be a lot of operators that would fly from the LA area to GCN. I had the pleasure to fly Navajo Chieftains out of BUR to GCN for a year then. It was a lot of fun. Haven't been back to GCN since. I keep thinking of renting something and going back. It would be fun to report "the crack" or "the square" to the tower controllers again. I'm guessing with the demise of so many operators, GCN just isn't as busy as it used to be.

Capt. Leonard and his band of pirates, er, I mean pilots, don't operate out of of HHR anymore. Back in the old days, when I used to fly Chieftains to the ditch from the LA area, He operated a Metro 2, a Metro 3, and a MU-2. We used to fly his overload when Alpha Air had too many Japanese tourists for his fleet. I remember looking for the FAA maintenance inspectors that would hide in the bushes by the FSS until you shut down the engines, then they would ramp check us.

I do remember holding at the "square", flying over the "key", and even being sent over to the east pattern when it got too busy. And, who could forget lunch at the Maswik or the Yavapi Lodge. I also remember trying to count how many pictures I posed for with tourists in front of the plane. It was in the thousands...

It is strange that when you go to HNL, there is a sign for Air Nevada as you drive into the terminal parking lot.

 

[ackairpilot]

F King

 

[mocaman]

Do you care to expand alittle on the "F King" comment? Do you fly for them? 402's? Love to hear about it.

 

[FlyWithSean]

King is not the answer for flying time. You need 500 hours to work there but Scenic Airlines (10000000% better operation) only requires 600 and 50 multi. I would pick Scenic hands down. Turbine 121 vs VFR only 135 Piston. I don't think there is even a question of which one you would pick.

Pay at King is very poor
206/207 pay is as follows
$30 for an air tour
$45 for air ground tour

402 pay is as follows
$40 for an air tour
$55 for air ground tour

You can not fly more than one air tour and one air ground per day. There is a slim possibility that you could fly 3 air tours in one day but it is slim. You may also go in to work and not fly at all and in that case you would get $10. When the chance of getting the $10 for nothing comes out you luck out with one air tour in the afternoon.

The aircraft at King is in a horrible state. These planes should have been put down years ago. I used to fly there and can tell you if you can find somewhere else to work do it. If you want to fly the ditch Scenic is the only choice. I also lost a good friend and pilot at King.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041215X01993&key=1

Do you need more input to F King?

 

[Snakum]

Now THIS ...

I heard that they may charge a $500 training fee?? Is that right? If so, I would not even consider going there to fly any airplane.

... is a proper response to the request that you pay your own training expenses. If you're ever in RDU MocaMan, lunch/dinner/beer is on me.

 

[mocaman]

Thanks man, I will take you up on that if I ever venture over to RDU.

-Matt

 

[Kawasumi_Kichou]

Forgot to ask my student what the current pay scale is. Will ask Thursday. He's flying the line now (36 hours in his first two weeks). C-207 to Grand Canyon West (1G4). VFR only as per their ops specs. He made no mention of PFT there. There is talk of getting rid of the 402s soon and going to Caravans.

 

[Delta Whiskey]

"There is talk of getting rid of the 402s soon and going to Caravans."

Haha...I remember that same rumor about 5 years ago. Gotta love that Dave King.

 

[pilotlbs]

Well I am currently working for King Airelines as of March 15, 2005. I've lived in Vegas most of my life and have been around the flying community here for a few years. I know the old rumors that have been floating around Vegas for the past coulple years with regards to King. However, I must say I am definitely impressed with the improvement since Bob Trout our Chief Pilot taken over. Maintenance is maintained much better than it has been (from what I was told from senior pilots there), the cowboys are gone, there is definitely a much more professional environment now which I am enjoying. Unfortunately yes, there is a $500 initial training fee. Personally, I was instructing before this and I had absolutely no problem paying $500 to get on with King. I don't yet meet the 600/50 hours mins for Scenic, nor did I want to pay $12,000 dollars to go work for Vision (one of their pilots informed me of that cost), and I did not enjoy instructing so it wasn't a problem. King is a job, and yes they have older planes and fly the same routes all the time VFR. But I personally look at it as: I'm safe, my passengers are safe, my co-workers are great people, my Chief Pilot and management personel are very professional and realistic, and overall I'm having a good time. I'm young, building PIC 135 time and hopefully hop in the 402 within a few months. I'm also making much more than I ever did instructing, which I know is not a lot to some people.
The pay scale I don't currently have in front of me for the twins, however for the Cessna 206/207 the pay is:
Air Only: $30/Flight
Air Ground: $45/Flight
"Helis" (Similiar to air ground): $45/Flight
Tips- Good day: >$100
Really bad day: $0
I hope this helps you guys, thanks!

Luke Simons

 

[mocaman]

Thanks for the Info Luke.


-Matt

 

[mocaman]

Ohh yeah...why do they spell "airlines" weird? Thanks

 

[pilotlbs]

Air-E-Lines haha

LOL I don't know Matt, I don't know if its a copyright deal or what. I just call it Air-E-Lines, haha.