Maine Aviation Mgmt. Company

[flyinby]

Does anyone have any information about Maine Aviation?

 

[Diesel]

Jesus run away. Anybody from maine or in this buisness in new england knows about old Al.

Ha

 

[Lostdog65]

Yeah...I know about them...they sell worn out, crappy 402's and BE99's...I should know...my old boss bought a bunch of them!! LOL!

Yeah...run!

Eric

 

[SlipperyPete]

Jesus run away. Anybody from maine or in this buisness in new england knows about old Al.

Ha

Al as in AJ Caruso? The Frank Lorenzo of commuter airlines?

 

[Diesel]

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner

 

[Count Dracula]

Mr. Caruso was the ambassador of some of our finest regional airlines such as Bar Harbor, Valley Air, Northeast Express, Precision Air........

Some of the bennies.......

N202BH a BE-99 with over 40,000 hrs, hot airport ready reserve, 900 mo/salary, purchase your own uniform, new capts flying with new f/o's, EAL scabs flying with their non-scab brethern, street capts hired over the phone to fly in the northeast with Florida instrument time, 100-110 hrs a month, pilot's cross trained in two totally different types of aircraft, company medical insurance benefit payments stopped......premiums still taken from employees paychecks, as many stand-up overnites as you could stand, very weak standardization, PQI as a crew base, company stopped making payments to mainline codeshare............Bankruptcy

all in all, not too bad.........the check cleared up until bankruptcy

 

[westshan]

Sounds like "Be afraid. Be very afraid." Anyone know of a good company in Maine or Vermont who might be flying Citation III's or Hawkers? I don't mind living in the boonies long as I don't have to fly fire patrol anymore.

 

[Count Dracula]

Jet Aviation in BED was looking for a Challenger 601 pilot a few weeks ago. Try www.jetprofessionals.com They were using them to find a crew.

 

[Gumby]

Mr. Caruso was the ambassador of some of our finest regionals airlines such as Bar Harbor, Valley Air, Northeast Express, Precision Air........

Some of the bennies.......

N202BH a BE-99 with over 40,000 hrs, hot airport ready reserve, 900 mo/salary, purchase your own uniform, new capts flying with new f/o's, EAL scabs flying with their non-scab brethern, street capts hired over the phone to fly in the northeast with Florida instrument time, 100-110 hrs a month, pilot's cross trained in two totally different types of aircraft, company medical insurance benefit payments stopped......premiums still taken from employees paychecks, as many stand-up overnites you could stand, very weak standardization, double occupancy on ron's, company stopped making payments to mainline codeshare............Bankruptcy

all in all, not too bad.........the check cleared up until bankruptcy

YEA!!!! AJ!! My boy!!! I dont remember the double occupancy on the RON's, must've been gone by then....Ahhhhh..The good old days.....The fine RON's in PQI in January....Good times for sure!!!

 

[Count Dracula]

I had to do the double occupancy RON a few times due to hotel problems, but that wasn't the norm unless it was initial training. I do remember the hotels being less than desirable. One guy in my initial class was originally hired as an f/o, but when he got his paperwork on the first day of groundschool, they showed him as a street capt. I got to fly with him after training........he needed to be an f/o for awhile. The 11PM to 4:30 Am training flights in Burlington, VT. was also an added bennie. No traffic during that time frame.......PQI at 5:00 AM was pleasant in January. Did you ever fly with Alex Nicolov? I still talk about him to this day.....

 

[Rick1128]

The 11PM to 4:30 Am training flights in Burlington, VT. was also an added bennie. No traffic during that time frame.......PQI at 5:00 AM was pleasant in January. Did you ever fly with Alex Nicolov? I still talk about him to this day.....

Yes I flew with Alex a couple of times. Walking through the Logan terminal with him was an experience you will never forget. Last I heard he was still in the Teterboro area.

Most commuters who are not using simulators do their training a night. That is when the equipment is available. Much to the distress of maintenance.

PQI and BTV are not that bad. You should try the ramp in PHX is late August or Goose Bay in Feburary.

Some of the FO's they hired from the Flight Safety First Officer program were real winners.

Plus don't forget the MEL items that were carried for the full period, fixed by replacing the part with the one they had removed and signing it off, then after the first flight they would re-MEL it for a full period.

 

[G100driver]

Yes I flew with Alex a couple of times. Walking through the Logan terminal with him was an experience you will never forget. Last I heard he was still in the Teterboro area.

Dr Alex?

 

[Count Dracula]

Yea, I've been in Goose and PHX on similar days as you described. I've also been in Frobisher Bay Canada and Toluca Mexico that were at the opposite ends of the thermometer as well. Most commuters are using simulator based training now due to operating under 121 as opposed to 135 when we flew there. Everything was on the cheap and they still filed bankruptcy......but I betcha I know where the profits got funneled through.........

 

[Cardinal]

I worked with him briefly under the Maine Aviation banner, he's a personable guy, who seems to have lightened up over the past decade. Not exactly the panacea of the perfect pilot's schedule, ie; no schedule, and working 20 or more days a month on the jet fleet. The last time I checked the fleet went from Unum's old Challenger on the heavy side down through a bunch of Hawkers and bottoming out with a couple straight wing Citations. Maybe a Twin Cessna in the mix, but that's staffed with the fresh-faced ex-CFIs. Watched a kid go from my private pilot ground school when he was 16 to Citation FO by 20. Imagine the profane gestures from my C152.

Bottom line, don't expect much, but its a job.

 

[Computer Geek]

This thread has brought back a few memories that I had managed to bury long ago... guess I am going to need more counseling.

I still remember the story Alex use to tell about being shot down in Afganistan.

Ah the good ole days.

Here's too AJ uke:

 

[Count Dracula]

Alex "Smirnoff " Nicolov and I flew a 99 from Bangor early one morning to BOS VFR and he decided to do turns around a point over the Bush compound at Kennebunkport. Of course it was my job to keep us free of the prohibited area, but I don't think he really cared. Then he handed me the airplane after our little deviation and said you land this land this piece of ..it. So I go into BOS and land and then he proceeds to give the loudest applause on the runway as we're rolling out. I'm trying to keep a straight face, but was unable. Low and behold we get a call later that AJ's wife was on board.......old Alex

 

[Diesel]

Man this thread is brining up some good mainah stories.

Never worked for precision, wasn't flying then but I knew a certain Eyetalian from jersey who did.

Too bad he ended up in maine like the rest of them.

You gotta love maine flying!

 

[Lostdog65]

N202BH a BE-99 with over 40,000 hrs, hot airport..

LOL...we had N209BH...nicknamed ButtH0le...let me guess...worn out Dash 20's??? Yeah...try getting max torque before you temp out...didn't matter if it was RNO or SMF!

Eric

 

[westshan]

Thanks, Contrails, I'll talk to JPI.

 

[DO-82 driver]

Having worked for that ScumBag, I would advise anyone...even my worst emeny, to stay away from anyhting associated with that person

YOU WILL GET BURNED IN THE END..... I PROMISE YOU.

I have 6 years of stories to tell to anyone who is contemplating working for the "FRANK LORENZO" of the commuter industry.

Where are my last pay checks and vacation money.....where did my health insurance go?

The best thing I got from Precision Airlines was....my wife!!!!!

For the record...I worked for Precision when Walt and Suki owned it......they were good people.