Quest Diagnostics

[Medic1277]

Anyone have any info on this company? I see they are hiring out of Reading, PA.

 

[CitationXDriver]

I know they take a heck of a urine sample.

 

[mobie]

I have run into some of their pilots and have heard nothing but good things.

 

[jaxpilot]

I know they operate C-310's and TBM700s out of LZU (Lawrenceville, GA, just NE of ATL). Seems like an awesome job.

 

[Lou3]

The pay starts out around 60K, however, I have heard that they are tough to get on with. I fly for one of their competitors (and I wish our pay started at 60K, LOL!).

 

[PC12Cowboy]

Squad 51 squad 51 man down 4358 la brea...time out 1353

 

[Medic1277]

Squad 51 squad 51 man down 4358 la brea...time out 1353

Yeah, I love that show!! I currently work as a paramedic in PA and absolutely love the job. I wouldn't go back to the airline business for anything. Just thought a part time flying gig in a TBM700 might scratch that itch to fly!!

 

[Medic1277]

And NO, its not that kind of itch. LOL

 

[flyinlow67]

I currently work as a paramedic in PA and absolutely love the job

That's funny! I worked as a paramedic for 16 years and left to be a pilot! How long have you been doing it now?

 

[Gearmunky]

I've got some friends who fly for Qwest. They seem like a pretty good company, I also caught a rumor that they are unhappy with the TBM's and plan on switching over to Eclipse jets when the time comes. Good Luck if you apply.

Gear

 

[Medic1277]

I've been a paramedic since 1995. I got my EMT in high school back in 1984 and volunteered for a long time. Went to Riddle and did the flying thing for quite a while. 14 years at a USAir regional. When I got furloughed the first time back in 1994, went to medic school and then worked part time after I got recalled. I've been a full time medic for over a year a would never go back to the airlines! In a way, I miss flying, but I sure as hell don't miss the lifestyle. Never saw the wife and kids. Now I'm home every night...well almost except for a few overnight shifts. Anyway, I love being a medic and I see a supervisor spot coming soon! I heard through the grapevine that Quest has a few pilots out of RDG and I live pretty close. Didn't know if they hire part time guys to fill in now and then. Just curious.

Best of luck in your career.

 

[flyinlow67]

And to you also.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

I met a guy in CFI refresher course about 5 yrs ago that worked for Quest. Its seems like a very good job. I would love to work there if I could be based out of LZU. I could be home every night and keep the wife good and broken in. On a side note I have completed one quarter of 3 of my EMT-I. I hope to get a descent schedule so I can finish it sometime. I really enjoyed my clinicals although I don't know if I would want to me a medic/emt fulltime. On one of first runs I got to BVM a guy. Kinda remined me of doing IOE.

 

[AirMugsy]

anyone have any contact info for their flight dept?

 

[That Guy]

I have run into some of their pilots and have heard nothing but good things.

Beatings will continue until morale improves. Obviously, it worked.

 

[captainv]

after my first corporate job went TU, i pumped gas for a couple months at LZU. Back then, the Quest guys were flying C-310s, and they were my main customer on the graveyard shift.

didn't come across as a stepping stone job by any means. most of the pilots (this is early 2000) were in their 40s, had no desire to go anywhere else. one of the senior CFIs on the field finally wrangled an interview. apparently it was a little bumpy over the hills on the last leg, TRI-LZU. he was white as a ghost as he got out of the airplane, and he never bothered them about a job again. you'd better be sheet-hot on your IFR skills as well.

i recall a number of feathered props, but otherwise the 310s seemed to be in good shape.

what I remember most is the "war stories" the pilots would tell. i hope they were exaggerated, to impress the naive pilot that I was at the time.

-one guy came in with a prop feathered on the New Orleans (Lakefront) - LZU leg. i asked him how far out it had quit. About halfway, he said. Halfway TO New Orleans. (Again, this is all hearsay. For all I know, it quit on short final)

-another story: Lakefront was fogged in one night. Pea soup all the way down. He said he hit 200 feet and kept going. At 50 feet, he cut the power and floated in. Zero/zero all the way. Couldn't see the taxiways after landing, either, so the van drove out to the runway to pick up the load.

-One guy came in with a bunch of ice on the airplane one night. It was, and still is, the most ice I'd ever seen on any airplane. i expressed my surprise, and the pilot, who was from either Finland/Denmark/Sweden, told me stories about flying DC-3 freight in Scandanavia with up to 3 inches of ice on the wings. probably BS about the DC-3, but that 310 came in with ice virtually covering the entire airplane.

i also remember that some nights LabQuest (in a Navajo) would cancel for weather. I don't ever remember Quest canceling on a night that I worked, except for a mechanical.

I remember hearing they wrecked a 310 with a new pilot, sometime before I was pumping gas. went missed at LZU, missed at ATL, ran out of gas on the way to RMG.

toward the end they started getting the TBMs, but I remember hearing one wrecked in TRI (frost on the wings) and I though I heard another went down....

All of this is memory/airport grapevine from several years ago. I could be mistaken, and hope I am, on several fronts.

 

[AirMugsy]

Anybody know how to get in contact with them?

 

[Medic1277]

There was a guy I used to fly with at Allegheny in MDT as a DHC-8 Capt that became Dir of Safety for Quest in RDG. Nick Pagerly was his name. This was a few years back, like 02 or 03, but maybe its a start. Hey Nick, if you're out there, PM me. You'll know who I am. You asked me the second time I flew with you: "well, did I like ya last time?" LOL

Later