T-1 guys

[Otto77]

Just curious how many of you guys in the reserves/guard world put the Beechjet rating to good use? I was thinking it would be a great backup to reserve flying to get on with a Beechjet operation. Just wondering how feasible this is and also if coming out of UPT even with low hours helps to land a corporate job b/c of the training endured. Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[LJDRVR]

Hey Otto,

There are those from the rated community that can answer your question with a bit more depth than I, but as a former 135 guy who was also involved in the management end of it (Safety) here's my .02 worth:

The primary Beechjet users out there are the fractionals. There are however, quite a few airframes in service both in air taxi and part 91.

Once you're qualified on your MWS, you're gonna have under 300 hours plus whatever you brought to the table as a civilian. Although on the low end of thing experience-wise, there's a good chance that with heavy networking and personal skills you can land a position in the right seat of someone's Beech. They're not going to save any money by hiring you, the insurance will require you head of to FSI or SF for training. (With the type rating and time it type, you may get by on a short course, which will save them a little bit of money.) The key thing will be you being a local guy who is eager and wants to spend some time with them. It would help greatly if the guy doing the hiring is prior military.

The biggest obstacle you'll have to overcome is convincing your employer that even though you'll soon be deployed to DirkaDirkastan, that it's still worth bringing you on board.

If your unit is in a large enough town, consider asking a Beechjet operator to pay for your short course in exchange for a discount on your services as a contract pilot. Then market yourself with other Beech operators in town as a contract pilot. Hit or miss, but it will put hours in you log book, and give you something to do other than bumming around your unit.

If you're successfully with the contract thing, I wouldn't go talking much about it to your bro's. You don't want any competition from the folks in your unit.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Otto77]

LJDRVR,
Thanks for such a great response! Definitely good points to think about. I think I could do ok being that Ill be up in the NJ/NY area so there should be plenty of outfits to try to fly with. I had forgotten about insurance req's though..that will probably be one of my bigger challenges!

 

[RedDogC130]

Are you going to the real heavy side or the C-130 side. If going to the -130 world I would go to Corpus and get on the TC-12. Much better QOL you get a type in a BE-200 which is very rare and the QOL out weighs the type in the BE-400. Trust me, you will thank me later

 

[Otto77]

reddog,
I'm going real heavy side flying tankers..so no chance of going to Corpus

 

[BoilerUP]

I'm goin ANG 130s

Why is the -44 or -12 or whatever they have in Corpus better than the T-1 track? I've heard the T-1 guys "work alot harder" during training, but already having flown a 400A I would like a type if given the opportunity. Not that I think I'll have a choice in the matter, but...

Thanks for the insight!

 

[cougar6903]

LJDRVR,
Thanks for such a great response! Definitely good points to think about. I think I could do ok being that Ill be up in the NJ/NY area so there should be plenty of outfits to try to fly with. I had forgotten about insurance req's though..that will probably be one of my bigger challenges!

What unit will you be with?

 

[joepilot111]

Are you going to the real heavy side or the C-130 side. If going to the -130 world I would go to Corpus and get on the TC-12. Much better QOL you get a type in a BE-200 which is very rare and the QOL out weighs the type in the BE-400. Trust me, you will thank me later

Rare? There is no B-200 type in the civilian world as all the civ. B-200's MTOW are <12.5.
There is a KA350 type, but it is a completely different A/C from the B-200.

 

[Workin'Stiff]

I guess that qualifies as rare in my book, with no civi equivilant...

 

[Mooseflyer]

I was thinking it would be a great backup to reserve flying

Hilarious. Isn't reserve flying supposed to be the backup? I guess that says a lot about the industry today. FWIW, I often think the same way. As a matter of fact, I still think of the military as my "primary" job even though I've been off of active duty for 2 years. Two of my UPT buds have been bums for 10 years, so I guess it works.