Turbine Suburban vs. Piston twin

[BGSkyGuy]

Age old question for all you freight dawgs out there.

You've just become eligible for 135 and have 175 hours multi

You have an offer for a caravan job five nights a week, 1.5 hrs a day for 24k. Single engine turbine obviously

You have another offer to fly a piston twin five nights a week, 4+ hours a night, for 20k. Based in the midwest with lots of hard IFR, no auto pilot, ice, etc

Which is the best move, factoring in career advancement and safety. What would you do? Help me out freight dawgs!

 

[mcjohn]

If the cavavan job upgrades to multi I'd do that. Turbine PIC. I'm no freight dog though.

 

[myq2u]

Well, your choices are:

1.5 hour/day in a SINGLE turbine = 1.5*5=7.5hours/week or 30hours/month or 360hours/year in a SINGLE engine turbine aircraft.

Versus

Piston twin 4 hours a day = 4*5=20hours/week or 80 hours/month or 960 hours/year in a piston twin.

You have 175 hours multi time right now? Looks to me like you definitely need more multi engine time, way more if your goal is FedEx, UPS, etc. I’d say get as much multi as you can and look for a multi turbine operation further down the road. Ideally you want multi AND turbine at the same time, but if you have to chose one or the other I’d go for multi because you have so little of it. Good luck to you.

 

[acpilot]

no question

no question, go for the multi

 

[Big Duke Six]

I'll third the Multi over the Caravan. You need both the increased total time as well as the multi time. Turbines are simpler machines, so getting single turbine time now won't necessarily help you land a multi-turbine job later. The total multi time is worth more. You should be a shoe-in for a multi-turbone freight job soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Good luck! Flying freight is a lot of fun, and you can't beat the experience.

 

[Flysher]

Ive revised my opinion of the Caravan, I would go with the Multi offer 100 percent. The caravan is a neat plane but unless theres some incredible QOL to be had by flying it I would run like hell from it.

 

[frmrBUFFdrvr]

I'm gonna throw in one more vote for the multi. Without a lot more multi time, you aren't gonna get into a turbine multi. And that's what you need to move further. I recently hired a pilot with over 4000 hours but just over 100 of it was multi (a lot of it was flying a van.) The only thing I could put him in initially was a piston twin. Once he has a couple hundred hours multi time, he can upgrade into a turbine.

 

[DirtyBeech]

Who is this high time pilot of which you speak, I haven't met him.....

I agree with all above. If you have some fantastic QOL waiting on you to finish a 'van checkride, or something of that nature then you might want to go with it. Or, if you can network like a madman and have some compromising pictures of recruiters for the big boys, then you might go that route too.

Otherwise, go get your multi time up. 'Van time basically tells me you can drive a big whiny 210 around the sky. Show me a good PA31 driver, and I'll show you a helluva pilot.

 

[GravityHater]

Which is the best move, factoring in career advancement and safety.

woah, didn't see that.
Does that change anyone's suggestion?
How much emphasis on each of those factors, brusko?

 

[Princedietrich]

Safety wise, the Van is a better bet. This is because the type is a relatively new model compared to some of the freight dawg planes you'll find out there, so they will be in better shape "in theory." You also have the advantage of a turbine engine and a fixed gear plane so there are fewer chances for a mechanical mishap or an operator-induced mishap. Plus, you gotta love a plane that can do 175 to the middle marker and still put down on the 1k markers.

Career advancement wise, go for the twin. You'll build time faster and it will be real quality time since it's single pilot multi in hard IFR. The skill level will go through the roof. Just don't get your hopes up of flying something shiny and new, odds are you'll be in something with 4 paint jobs at the same time and smells of old oil and beerfarts.

QOL wise, this is hard to say. Obviously the Van job would pay better right out of the gate, but without knowing anything about the companies involved and the types of upgrade potential or bennies an intelligent decision can't be made here. There is also the factor of company stability, because you don't want to get hired on and find out 2 months later that the front doors have been padlocked.

Of course, you could always go for a reserve gig at Airnet and get the best of both worlds: Van time AND piston twin time.

Ultimately the decision is up to you, so consider the insight of the freight dawgs here and think it over carefully. Good luck to you.

 

[time builder]

If the Caravan job puts you in icing conditons frequently, I wouldn't necessarily consider it safer.

 

[BGSkyGuy]

Maybe I can help fill in a few blanks. The caravan operator has no multi equipment whatsoever. QOL is great. I can stay where I am, (NC) w/ my sugar mama (from what I understand all freight dawgs need a good one) and still do a little flight instruction on the side to pay back some school loans. The multi job means a move to MI (not so bad since I am originally from OH) less pay, fewer bennies, and trying to convince the old lady to chase after me (might be kind of tough this time). I know you guys probably don't need to hear all of this but it's the little details and the QOL thing that is making this a tough call. I really want to do the twin thing but the caravan gig is about as cushy as they get for the time being. But like all of you have stated it's clearly not the best move for my career.

 

[Princedietrich]

With those extra tidbits of info, I'm starting to lean more in the direction of the Van job now. But this is from the viewpoint of someone who's been furloughed twice and is more concerned with QOL than career advancement so take that for what it's worth.

You would definitely advance the career at a more rapid pace if you took the multi job, there's no doubt about that. On the other hand, your level of sanity and peace of mind will be higher if you take the Van job since you say it won't involve having to move (always a plus in my book). And always remember the words of wisdom: "If she ain't happy, YOU ain't happy." Granted there are no multi prospects at that particular company as you say, but the last time I checked NC is a big state. I'm sure there are other opportunities that will appear close to home. Are you based in CLT or RDU, or somewhere else entirely?

Anyways, the advice from this retired freight dawg would be to take the option that will provide the better QOL and therefore take the Van job. But like I said, take that for what it's worth. If you're young and full of fire, as I assume you may be, then grab on to that multi opportunity and hold on for dear life because the QOL will come later down the road.

 

[U2FDX]

What about Mountain Air Cargo ?? http://www.airt.net/macflightdepartment.html

I have not worked there but, the planes are owned by FedEx(kept up very well).They have ATR's,F27's, and Caravans and are headquarted in NC.

I flew piston twin 135 freight for years and it is a means to an end but, If you can find a job with good equipment and quality of life as well as the chance to move up into larger equipment then......

Best of luck

 

[frmrBUFFdrvr]

woah, didn't see that.
Does that change anyone's suggestion?
How much emphasis on each of those factors, brusko?

I considered the safety aspect and it doesn't change my suggestion. Safety is more what you do that the airplane. If a plane isn't safe, don't fly it. Period. If the company gives you grief about it, you probably don't want to be there anyway.

As for the QOL, that is a tougher one. If you're a young guy and have dreams of Southwest, JetBlue or even one of the surviving legacy carriers (they have to start hiring again SOMEDAY!!! ) )then you might want to give up some QOL now to have more later. But if you're an old fart like me, QOL could be a bigger thing.

And age of the airplane doesn't mean a thing. It's how it is maintained. As you can see from my ID and avatar, I used to fly one of the oldest still actively flying planes there is. MX is the key. Always be nice to your mechanics.

 

[Princedietrich]

MX is the key. Always be nice to your mechanics.

He's right, never underestimate the power of a six-pack and some pizza.

:beer:

 

[CaravanMan]

I went the Caravan 1st, multi-engine 2nd route. If I had it to do all over again, I'd go with multi-engine first. The Caravan's a really fun airplane to fly, but it really won't get you anywhere fast (no pun intended, lol).

 

[mcjohn]

Where in NC? I'm in AVL. Oh, and about your woman. If you're not married yet and she doesn't want to move and all then maybe she's not the one for a "pilot." I'd imagine to "advance the career" you'd have to be flexible on moving. I've spent much time talking about all that with my wife and she's cool with it. As long as it advances the carrer as quickly as possible. Recently I bought a pristine 1977 F150 with a 460 engine to haul restored airstreams that my wife and I shop on Ebay. I'm trying to convince her that moving is FUN!! and worthy of a hobby........yeah right.

 

[myq2u]

When it comes to safety I like one of the replies here - if it's not safe - don't fly - Period.

Otherwise it sounds to me like you worry too much about quality of life issues, your sugar mama, etc. Think of it this way, FedEx & UPS are hiring like crazy RIGHT NOW and probably will for the NEXT FEW YEARS! WILL YOU BE READY???

You should focus 110% on how you can make yourself marketable to them as soon as possible! That should be your main concern right now! You see, once you reach that goal you won't need no sugar mama and instead you'll be someone's sugar daddy!

Seriously, don't make the mistake of worrying about the QoL issues too much, the hiring spree at the cargo outfits might be over in 2-3 years and then you'll be regretting you wasted your time on flying a caravan just to be near your sugar mama. No offense to all caravan folks; I just think multi-engine time alwats beats the sooped-up C172 time! .

Again, this is just my opinion; I'm frequently wrong though so what do I know? ;}

Good luck!