leave it to the ol' 135 junk to lower the bar. No offense at all meant towards the hard working 135 guys....been there and I have sympathy. It just never ceases to amaze me that a pilot doing the same thing, only for cheap a$$ charter operators, gets paid less when they actually work harder and typically have MUCH worse schedules.
I know, I know....."the profit margin in aviation...." but you know darn well the operator isn't taking a cut in pay!
Ya, it was a rough year - logged a total of 338 hours. If you can point me to a job that pays better than 355.00/hr and averages more than 18 days off per month - I am all ears.
Hey, if you are typed....there is some really good contract work out there. It may be a little tough to make contacts at first, but there are a few people I have met at recurrent who do nothing BUT contract. Granted they have loads of PIC time...but I can only assume there is a good market even if you don't have a lot of PIC time in type.
Next time you go to recurrent, ask a few of the instructors there. Most of those guys are pretty helpful, even if they rely a little on extra flying themselves. Better yet, if you know a few instructors from previous recurrents, give them a call tomorrow and pick their brains regarding other clients that use contract guys.
If you chose to do some contract.....I recommend calling a few pilots on the contract side and find out what is a realistic daily rate/expense compensation/etc. in the "for rent" pilot field.
Hope it all works for you. I have been told by the guys I have met that you can reject trips you don't want...take the ones you do (i.e. work as hard or as little as you need/want to). The downside is that you have to pay for your own recurrent typically.
Hope this helps....Any contract guys out there please chime in and verify/disprove my general knowledge. I haven't had to do any contract, so all I have is the conversations I've had at recurrent classses.
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