Leave the airlines?

[t-ride]

If you had a chance to fly a king air 350 for the government would you leave the regionals?

I have an offer to work for the government but not sure if I should go. The pay for the government starts at $55,000/year and tops at $75,000/year (government pension). Work 4 days a week, could be weekends or weekdays, but home every night. 2 year contract.

Ultimately I would rather fly for a major or LCC, but not sure how long until I can get on with one. I currently fly 121 and meet everyones minimums for turbine PIC but I am still relatively low TT with 3000.

 

[350DRIVER]

This depends mainly on your personal preference and what job is going to make you happier, only you can answer that. If it were me, I would take the gov't job without a second thought. $55,000 to start is probably close to double what you are currently making and the raises I am sure would be nice. Many pilots have made the jump from flying a 350 or similiar aircraft to a major. Southwest, ATA, AWA, Frontier, etc, have taken guys with no prior 121 PIC time. QOL will probably be much better, better schedules, vacation time, days off, etc, etc, ... The list can go on and on.

The 350 is a nice bird, you will enjoy...


3 5 0

 

[Dep676]

Hey if you don't take it let me know where it is and I will take it.

BTW- Where is the job at and how do you find the jobs like that? I was on the FAA website and USAJOBS site. Any other place to look?

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

Work 4 days a week, could be weekends or weekdays, but home every night.

The choice is between pay and quality-of-life. Spending every night in your own bed and flying turbine equipment during the day sounds like a wonderful opportunity. How much is spending time with your family worth in terms of dollars and career progress?

Keep in mind that if the position with the government lands you in the left seat, you will be accumulating ever-coveted turbine PIC time. After the contract is up in two years you may still apply to the major airline of your choice.

Personally I would love a job like the one you described. For the rest of us, how did you find out about this position?

 

[bafanguy]

I'm not sure you gave enough info in your original posting. Are you a captain now in your 121 job ? Is it TJ or TP acft ?

Will the gov job be as PIC ? If your aim is to increase your total time, how much flying will you do in the gov job ?

It might be a tougher call than it appears at first glance. Good luck.

 

[t-ride]

I am currently flying captain on a 121 TP. The government job will be flying about 300 hours a year. The rest of the time is sitting in an office waiting for something to do.

QQL of life is a big issue, but so is pay. I thought it was a no brainer when offered the job, but the more I think about it the more I wonder. In two years I will only have gained about 600 hours total time and no real new experience. Also pay only increases about $1000/year.

 

[AA717driver]

Ok, we'll dig a little deeper...

Can you upgrade to TJ equipment at your current company? Are they one of the stable(don't laugh!) regionals?

How old are you? If you're under 30, you have time to look around.

Just dissecting the problem.TC

 

[bobbysamd]

United Airlines v. United States

If you had a chance to fly a king air 350 for the government would you leave the regionals?

I have an offer to work for the government but not sure if I should go. The pay for the government starts at $55,000/year and tops at $75,000/year (government pension). Work 4 days a week, could be weekends or weekdays, but home every night. 2 year contract.

Might this be flying a King Air doing flight check, i.e. testing IAPs and navaids?

I would do it in a New York minute. For one thing, you know the eagle will always sh!t every two weeks. You'll have twelve days off a month and be home every night. Money is not half bad at all. I assume government health benies and holidays off. Moreover, at the end of the contract, you could go back to airline flying. In the meantime, you will have made new contacts which could lead to better things.

A great thing about working for the government is the ease of moving from governmental branch to governmental branch. I had a friend who was working for the Bureau of Reclamation. She was a pilot and was able to be hired as a FSS specialist. Undoubtedly already being a government worker facilitated her transition to the FAA.

My only reservation would be the two year contract. Any chance of the contract being renewed or you being transferred to another government flying job. If the answer to either is "yes," your next response should be, "where do I sign up?"

Hope that helps. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[FN FAL]

They are thinning out the herd of state pilots over by us, each one is sweating whether or not they will be cut from the budget. Everytime they brought up the state flying department in the last election, they beat on the Republican incumbant with the fact that they had bought three brand new PC-12's to replace old queen airs and a King air 350 for hauling the governor as well. Seems the state has a program for hauling blind and retarded kids around in the old queen airs and that was good enough for the democrats that thought these kids didn't derserve the luxury of a safe plane.

But anyway, the state job you are describing isn't as easy to get as one would think. And unless you can retire on the what you make in two years, it's just that, a two year contract.

 

[t-ride]

Believe me this job was no easy job to get. It took a long time to get this far. It is a two year contract, but I have a feeling it would take me two years to get on with a LCC or major (if they ever hire again). But you are right, every election year, the government flying job gets looked at. But I think I am pretty safe for two years.

 

[FN FAL]

sorry was running short on time when I posted before.

I was looking into state flying jobs for at least a decade...when I finally got the offer to come in and test for one of the jobs, I already had something I didn't want to quit, so I decided not to take a stab at it.

Eventually budget cuts started hitting home and they decided to start selling some of the pistons used for DNR work. Dummies seen what plane values were up to and though an extra million in the bank would save them...but wait till they gotta have those planes back again...hahahaha.

Government jobs are very political and depending on who is the Gov...your job or joblessness could be governed by their whims.

Discontent at the airlines is nothing new, not too long ago a dork jet captain with skyways was asking me how to get a caravan job at the feeders.