The registration on Aptap is not working so I cant post there. Can any of you current 2181/1881's give me some info on what your day to day job is like. How many days/hours per week do you usually work. How much do you typically fly? When you are not flying as pilot or co-pilot, what other duties do you take part in? Does it differ if you are fixed or rotary wing? I know that it probably depends on the station, so multiple replies are welcome.
Hello;
My experience is from the legacy Customs perspective, keep that in mind as it may vary from the BP view.
Quality of life and actual duties vary alot between branches.
You have to put in 40 hours a week. That is hard and fast. How the branch schedules you varies. There are a surprising amount of variations in scheduling the 40 hour week. On top of the 40 hours you are on the hook for an addtional 10 hours a week to make your LEAP. Law Enforcement Availability Pay. This makes up 25% of your salary and if you don't work leap you lose it and can never earn it back. There are many strategies for earning LEAP and it is not as bad as it looks on paper for interfering with your personal life.
Day to day job. Again, totally different based on your local. But all branches have missions of course. Some locations may go weeks without any significant activity. During that time you will fly (if budget exists for fuel) to maintain proficiency or maintenance checks or even just area familiarity. You will be assigned collateral duties. You could become a firearms officer or take safety classes, there are many collateral duties. The collarteral duties cause travel to and from schools and meetings etc.... Of course there is flight training and recurrent training that keeps you busy as well. Most branches have a workout facility of some sort on site and encourage you to use it within limits. Many branches have kitchen facilities also.
If you get a mission at a low pace branch it is normally going to be some sort of support. Surveillance, contraband transfer etc.... So you may stay busy for a few days and then go back to your previous pace. It is law enforcement and most guys are pretty good about putting in the time when a mission requirement comes up even when it changes the schedule significantly.
Also plan on reporting to the SW desert at least a few times a year to support the Spring, Summer, Fall ramp up of the illegal immigrant mission. TDY's are usually 10 days away from home.
The higher paced branches have more consistent mission taskings. Tucson is probably the highest paced local right now. They are working 24/7 staffing which is a recent change resultant of the new structure. In Tucson you work all three shifts rotating throughout the year. Alot of pilots in the office, many ground agents now mingling into the office, the largest collaboration between the former BP air and Customs air. Helo guys fly probably 12 hours a week in the A-Star, maybe a bit less in the Hawk. Fixed wing guys fly about 8 hours a week in the Citation. I don't know much about what the legacy BP guys fly in a week. I would say they fly 16 hours if not more.
Why the flight time difference? BP has less pilots than aircraft, Customs has less aircraft than pilots. Why? The Legacy Customs guys used to work in the back of the BlackHawk and the back of the Citations and A-Star on the various electronics packages and as bust team members. Since the merger that is happening less and less as BP ground agents are being tasked with the bust team duties. However manning still reflects the overage of pilots to work non-flying positions and available flight time is obviously limited. You should see the Legacy Customs guys doing more flying. Especially as almost 50% of the Legacy Customs guys can retire in the next 3 years and pilots are cross trained on the BP fleet and vice versa.
That is it in a nutshell. The smaller the branch the more involved you will be in the day to day running of the place. I have done everything from assembling gear lockers to flying VIP's. You never know what is going to happen next. But like most Aviation jobs it is usually hours of boredom punctuated by seconds of excitement. World events can change a slow branch to a high paced branch overnight. So be ready for anything. Pay is on the GS scale starting at 11. Add 25% for LEAP. Top out at GS13 unless you go into management.
Good Luck
