The squadron ART position

[dudemize]

Mooseflyer, you figure out what you're gonna do yet?

I have a good shot at picking up an ART position in my squadron in the next few months and must say it seems much more appealing to me than the airlines. As I get older I'm becoming much more of a "be home every night" kinda guy (especially with a 17 month old at home). Although as indicated in this thread, I don't expect being an ART to be all fun and games.

I'm gonna keep pursuing the airlines til I actually have the ART offer in hand though. My CAL contact says to expect an interview call in early January, we'll see.

 

[JungleJett]

I have never heard one single technician (Air Guard) complain about a full time position. In fact, many traditionals would kill for the job. Maybe it is something about the reserves compared to the Air Guard...

 

[Mooseflyer]

Aha! My thread resurrected from the dead. To answer your question dudemize, no, I haven't figured it out yet. I just got another year of full time orders approved which will take me through next fall, so that takes some pressure off. One of our ARTs just left for FedEx, so there will be a slot available once it makes it through all the wickets, which could take a few months.

I suppose my choices come to the following:
1. Go back to my LCC airline next fall approaching 3rd year FO pay (which would still be around a 35% pay cut from active duty, not to mention fully taxed). This would also require a cross country move.
2. Interview for and accept the ART job if offered.
3. Continue my 3 year search for a better airline job.
4. Go back on active duty if possible (yikes)!
5. Be a TR and find a career totally unrelated to aviation.

Who knows what will pan out? Certainly not me!

Regardless, Merry Christmas to all you guys - especially the ones overseas for the holiday. I'm fortunate/lucky enough to be home, but will be gone for New Year's.

 

[dtfl]

Aha! My thread resurrected from the dead. To answer your question dudemize, no, I haven't figured it out yet. I just got another year of full time orders approved which will take me through next fall, so that takes some pressure off. One of our ARTs just left for FedEx, so there will be a slot available once it makes it through all the wickets, which could take a few months.

I suppose my choices come to the following:
1. Go back to my LCC airline next fall approaching 3rd year FO pay (which would still be around a 35% pay cut from active duty, not to mention fully taxed). This would also require a cross country move.
2. Interview for and accept the ART job if offered.
3. Continue my 3 year search for a better airline job.
4. Go back on active duty if possible (yikes)!
5. Be a TR and find a career totally unrelated to aviation.

Who knows what will pan out? Certainly not me!

Regardless, Merry Christmas to all you guys - especially the ones overseas for the holiday. I'm fortunate/lucky enough to be home, but will be gone for New Year's.

Im making as much as I would back at DAL as a bum. I do not, nor (unless there was a major change in the magnetic fields of the earth) would I EVER want to be an ART. At my unit they work longer hours to get a day off every two weeks....and the first 14 days of the month you have NO days off due to UTA. Add to that the flying they do after work pulling 16 hour days...and then I see that many (not all - and this has been my impression of other DOD and GS employees) rise to their own level of incompetence..meaning they hit a point where they do as little as necessary to only get by.
Just my $.02

 

[BengalsFan]

I'm not an ART, but from what some of my ART buddies have told me, it depends on where you are. At my unit they work 5 days a week... well most of them... but at my buddy's unit, they work 4 - 10 hour days... and always have 3 day weekends... so that sounds very appealing.

But that is a lot of hear-say. My opinion, is that its all personal. But when the airlines are back on their feet, and the bums are not longer "fulltime," the ART job becomes a lot more difficult, because they have to pick up the unfilled local lines and stay on the flying hours program.

Me, I'm going back onto Active Duty, get my 40-50k retirement check (backup) when I hit 43, and then try this whole civilian flying thing again.

Good luck to you all, nothing is perfect, you just have to find what fits you best.

 

[Mooseflyer]

Good points from dtfl and BengalsFan. I agree it's largely unit dependent - I've flown with some guys from other units and, like BengalsFan, have heard reports on both ends of the spectrum. I think it's also airframe dependent. In my particular aircraft, our days can be quite long and there is opportunity to earn significant comp time. For example, a few weeks ago I flew a Fri-Sun 3 day stateside trip. If I had been a TR (I'm currently on orders), I would have gotten 3 days of pay. Had an ART been on the trip, he would have earned 4 additional days of comp on the trip, so essentially 7 days of pay. Granted, the TR burning TPs or UTAs is going to earn more than the equivilant of 3 active duty days of pay, but I think my example stands. In addition, the ART would be able to bank those comp days for use at a later date if desired.

BengalsFan - If you don't mind, how far have you looked into the return to active duty option? Is it a done deal? What's your yeargroup? Feel free to PM. I haven't looked into it yet at all, but I figured with the VSA going on, the chances were pretty slim. I don't really think I've quite come to terms with the fact that I'd be doing the same job I was 3 years ago, but with the knowledge I passed up a quarter million in bonus $$ to do it.

 

[bssthound]

It does depend on the unit. Being in dtfl's wing, I can assure you he's not exaggerating. Also, the pay is great if you're a Capt/GS-13 IP. As you get promoted in military rank you approach parity with AD pay. Also, it's easy to burn out since you have to stick around 'til age 55 to retire. All the nonsense you end up bearing witness to by that time will definitely have worn on you. Another negative is that your problem children will hide behind civilian status: "You can't get me for that 'cause I wasn't in military status when it happened." Sorry, do I sound like Stan Eval? Yeah, the hours are long if you're gonna burn all your TPs and get an extra manday or three but you do spend most nights at home. For some guys it's perfect and for others it's a complete A$$PAIN. Please forgive my stream of conciousness style on this one but today I'm too lazy to organize it into paragraph form.

 

[dtfl]

It does depend on the unit. Being in dtfl's wing, I can assure you he's not exaggerating. Also, the pay is great if you're a Capt/GS-13 IP. As you get promoted in military rank you approach parity with AD pay. Also, it's easy to burn out since you have to stick around 'til age 55 to retire. All the nonsense you end up bearing witness to by that time will definitely have worn on you. Another negative is that your problem children will hide behind civilian status: "You can't get me for that 'cause I wasn't in military status when it happened." Sorry, do I sound like Stan Eval? Yeah, the hours are long if you're gonna burn all your TPs and get an extra manday or three but you do spend most nights at home. For some guys it's perfect and for others it's a complete A$$PAIN. Please forgive my stream of conciousness style on this one but today I'm too lazy to organize it into paragraph form.

True. One man's heaven is another man's hell.

 

[JDriver]

10% of the people accomplish 90% of the work

ART leadership piles the workload on the working 10% b/c they know that these folks will get the job done. Hard work and diligence is rewarded with other additional duties.

The other 90% will get by doing as liitle as possible. Leadership mostly overlooks the 90% b/c it will take more work/paperwork than it is worth to get the same job done.

Overall - a really good job, but you cant let the little things eat you apart if you want to make a career of it. Short memories, flexible standards, and watching f-sticks getting promoted becomes common.

dtfl - did I miss anything?

 

[dtfl]

10% of the people accomplish 90% of the work

ART leadership piles the workload on the working 10% b/c they know that these folks will get the job done. Hard work and diligence is rewarded with other additional duties.

The other 90% will get by doing as liitle as possible. Leadership mostly overlooks the 90% b/c it will take more work/paperwork than it is worth to get the same job done.

Overall - a really good job, but you cant let the little things eat you apart if you want to make a career of it. Short memories, flexible standards, and watching f-sticks getting promoted becomes common.

dtfl - did I miss anything?

All I would add is that the 90% work-burden should be shared by ARTs and TRs and BUMs that are capable and want to work...other than that -
Enjoy Fed Ex. I guess this last statement says a lot about "your" ART job