Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Segrave- the worst charter to work for

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

airspeed

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
166
Here is some advice for anyone that cares to listen. If you see ads about every two weeks for pilots from a company such as this one don't be naive like myself and think, hmmmm.... they must be expanding, especially with this "great" economy. Its more like these people treat their employee's like dirt and either everyone gets fired or quits. Two Captains this month, and four last month. No wonder so many ads for pilots! Everyone on this board do yourself a favor and stay away from this company!!
 
Why are they so bad? I hate postings like this because it tells you absolutely nothing. My experience has been that a lot of 135 operators are kinda of shady. ie get the job done and worry about mx and legality later. Why?h
 
Segrave

MX is okay, but everything else sucks. Pay 220/day for CE550 Captain!! 42/day per diem only if you spend the night. No company credit cards, fly all day and come to find out that they never even made the hotel reservations for you, two pilots almost got incarcerated cause our "dispatch" never called customs. All they do is lie, lie, and lie. You have to work there to expierience it. The place sucks!
 
I am not trying to start a bickering match here, however, please don't tell me that just because of what you stated above makes Seagrave suck.

Pay $220.00 per day for a Citation Capt.....not bad for North Carolina. Rates for that sized jet in California are around $300.00 per day......I think our cost of living is quite higher!

Per diem $42.00 a day....close to most 135 operator per diem rates.

Hotel reservations....so what if they aren't made the night before! Unless you are going to the Super Bowl, Colorado Ski Season...etc. If you don't want to spend much time locating a reasonable hotel, make a quick phone call to the FBO and have them arrange.

Customs??? The last time I looked, the PIC is responsible for coordinating customs. Of course, many times dispatch sets everything up....or has Universal, etc...make those calls. However, the PIC should always double check to make sure that the person who was making the calls, in fact...made those calls!

Sounds like you might be new to corporate aviation. We are not like the military or the airlines where everything is done for you! We have to think outside the box, and in many situations, go above and beyond what is required to be a pilot. This is especially true in small flight departments where staffing does not allow everything to be put on a silver platter and handed to the guy that wears 4 stripes.

Maybe your employer does suck and maybe somewhere you have valid points why no one should work there. But just because you don't like the wages, making hotel reservations and doing your duties as PIC of a flight is not a valid reason why Seagrave should be avoided by a prospective employee.
 
TaxiDriver....easy now big fella. What's the point of having company dispatchers if they aren't going to do anything to support you. I have no problem dealing with hotels/customs if that is what I am supposed to do, but if dispatch or charter is supposed to take care of these duties it can cause problems when they drop the ball.

You obviously have some distain for Airline and Military backgrounds. I have both backgrounds prior to my currenty 135 job, and frankly they do some things better. BTW, as a military PIC you have to do EVERTHING yourself from hotels to customs to even dealing with embassy issues civilian air has nothing to do with. You would be surprised the responsiblity military PICs carry.

I work for a quality (as quality as 135 can get) charter outfit in California and there is night and day difference between a good operator and the so called 134 and 1/2 operators. A career pilot can put his future in jeopardy working for a shady operator. Be careful.

My 2 cents.............Chocks
 
I totally agree with you, Chocks. Dispatch is there to support the crew in planning and completing a trip. They are of no use to the crew and the company if they cannot adequately perform their job. I believe that if dispatch is dropping the ball on hotels, customs, etc....then management should rectify the situation. Does this make the company "suck" as the original poster put it? I don't think so.

Do I have some distain for Airline and Military individuals? Nope. I have worked at the airlines before corporate. I have worked with many ex-airline and military pilots in the corporate sector. It was just my experience that around 90% of those guys got bent out of shape if dispatch asked for help. ie hotels, catering, customs...etc. Maybe who I flew with was not a true representation of ex airline and military.

There is a difference in a good charter operator and a 134 1/2 operator. I too, work for a good charter operator. However, with the current state of the US economy....a Part 135 dispatcher has a heavy burden if they are also selling trips as well. You know how it goes...the more trips they sell....the more money the company makes....job security increases etc. If dispatch asks me to help in making hotel reservations because they are busy booking trips....by all means...I am going to help. There is no "I" in team.....and the 50+ pilots that work where I do have the same attitude.

I just felt reading the original post from airspeed, he just wanted to do some Seagrave bashing because they made him work outside the cockpit. That's all.
 
Hotel Reservations

I've made my own hotel reservations...I don't mind doing that. As a matter of fact, usually it means I get to pick where I stay. (Hard Rock in Vegas on a Friday Night Rocks!!) Out of the cockpit duties don't bother me unless I'm doing it because the person who was supposed to do it is just being lazy.

Rental cars - usually they are set up..if not, I do it myself and just submit the expense in my report. The biggest problem we have had at my company deals with slot times. The dispatchers get the slots (for ski areas) and occasionally they mess up the date/time. Or they get the only slot available and don't change the takeoff time. We fixed this by requiring a copy of the slot off the web page in our paperwork...not just the slot number. We flew our asses off this winter (I flew 95 hours between mid December and mid January) and occasionally there would be a problem with slots....not like Net Jets...Three days in a row I heard Center tell Net Jets they couldn't get into Sun Vallley or Twin Falls because they didn't have valid slots. Hello Boise!!
I think they eventually fixed their problem.


Fly safe...
 
Segrave

Okay, ket me explain a thing or two. First off I have been doing the Part 135 and corporate for over a decade. SHould have never left the Navy. I have no problem making my hotel reservations, filing flt. plans, booking rental cars, etc. I am not a primadonna in anyway. Here are just ten examples of how bad this company is. You show up for a flt where there is supposed to be one or two people. #1They show up with six or eight and you have already fueled the a/c. Oh c'mon they say, it will do it. #2
Hey your going to MTH and will be there for three days. You get there and dispatch calls you after you went to the hotel asking where the hell are you, your supposed to be in PBI. We told your copilot that. Talk to the FO, they never said anything. #3 Fly over 9hrs a few days in a row. We get to our last destination for the day and guess what, they never even attempted to get us a hotel. #4 We have scheduled days off, what a joke! They accept charters that they know will be done on our days off and then leave us way away from home unless we accept the charter. No extra day off, no extra pay, nothing. #4 We get 42/day per diem which is crap if your going to be in St. Thomas for a week, and you don't get a cent unless u overnite. #5 It takes three mnonths on avg. to get reimbursed for ANYTHING! #6 None of the crewmembers are issued credit cards so half the time we are putting the rental cars on our card. Expensive ya think? #7 read question #6 and look at # 5. Get my point? #8 The owner is a real liar about everything! #9 They don't care about wx, a cancelled trip means a demerit. # 10 You just have to go there and see. Look everyone, lets face it there are alot of us looking for work. I got into flying cause I love it, its my life. Now I am not 18 anymore, I am done with the Navy and I have to pay bills. I want to get paid what I am worth. I do not believe AT ALL that crap about pay differences because you may live in Maine as compared to NYC. For example. Avg rent in Conneticut 700 to 1000/month. in North Carolina 500 to 700/month okay about say 400/month cheaper. Thats 4800/yr. Lets say your car insurance is a grand or two cheaper. Now we are at 7000 grand a year less expnesive to live. Food is pretty much the same and gas is too. So why does a Captaiin on a DiamondJet get 40000/yr at this place and 60000/yr up in CT? Your gonna tell me its 20K a year cheaper to live in NC? NO WAY!!! As I said we are all hungry for work. Learn from my mistake, don't settle. If you do your only doing yourself and your fellow pilots a diservice because your letting these employers pay less, want more and treat us worse. They **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** well know that there will always be someone waiting in line to take the job, thats always been the problem since for most of us flying is a passion, not usually something you just say you do for work, its in your blood. The insurance companies have gotten on this bandwagon too as there rates and requiremtns are outta control. If I had to goto school to stay current per the insurance companies requiremtns I would be a full time student. Enough said, good luck to all.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top