What happened to the Dayjet Pilots?

[johnsonrod]

Status of DayJet Pilots

Dayjet was a concept way ahead of its time - plus, it unfortunately got started at the beginning of the "Great Recession" which did not help... I know that Dayjet employed probably 20-30 pilots as things started to get ramped up. I still remember hearing that callsign while flying in Northern Florida a few times. That must have been a unique experience for those who lived it for awhile. It was an interesting concept with terrible timing.

So, what happened to many of the pilots? Were they able to find flying work (even in this poor economy)? Did any find other Eclipse Jet opportunities to leverage their Dayjet experience?

 

[timmay]

Dayjet was a concept way ahead of its time - plus, it unfortunately got started at the beginning of the "Great Recession" which did not help... I know that Dayjet employed probably 20-30 pilots as things started to get ramped up. I still remember hearing that callsign while flying in Northern Florida a few times. That must have been a unique experience for those who lived it for awhile. It was an interesting concept with terrible timing.

So, what happened to many of the pilots? Were they able to find flying work (even in this poor economy)? Did any find other Eclipse Jet opportunities to leverage their Dayjet experience?

I'm tried running the numbers on a operation similar to Dayjet and I never figured out how the concept ever stood a chance at making money. Terrible airplane to start with, to expensive, not enough seats, and two pilots.

 

[johnsonrod]

I'm tried running the numbers on a operation similar to Dayjet and I never figured out how the concept ever stood a chance at making money. Terrible airplane to start with, to expensive, not enough seats, and two pilots.

Good points. Wrong airplane for the load but still an interesting concept. Satsair (a similar type of SR22 charter operator in the Southeast) just shut down as well. There are a few other SR22 Air Taxi operators out there but I am sure it can be a tough business...

Wondering if any of the pilots were able to find flying jobs after DayJet's closure. Did any find other Eclipse jobs?

 

[Hawker800]

A friend of mine flew for Dayjet. She is still looking for work and training in another profession.

 

[Nolife]

Got a buddy on with a caravan operator. He was a very senior check airman. I was hoping for the best over at dayjets. Seemed like a great place to work.

 

[transampilot]

Dayjet's problem over other Eclipse charter operators is that they owned the planes. In that you really have to keep an airplane flying in order to make a profit. Other Eclipse Charter operators just manage planes for people who just want to defray the cost of ownership, to maximize their write offs, do not have to keep their planes in the air as the owner operator. The turning point of Chartered hours on the Eclipse for turning a profit if you keep the overhead low is half what for example a Lear 35 would be.
Also when your the customer and you pay a premium for a seat, you want to be able to leave when you want to, like other charters would. But with Dayjet they may have 3 other passengers whom may not be of the same group, with their own schedules. With three to four people in the back if they were strangers before they're going to be friends by the end of the flight because they are in close proximity to one another.
Eclipse is a great plane for what it was designed to do. When the airplane is finally completed with all the promised avionics it should have no problem getting authority to go single pilot 135. Right now only 91 and 135 cargo is allowed single pilot. Single pilot will open up more room for payload and make an already economical jet even more efficient. At 60 gallons an hour at MCT fuel burn total for a jet, you can't beat that. When it is a single group of people or an owners family their is plenty of room for pax and a set or two of clubs. Flight into Known Icing and RNAV upgrades are under way now at PWK and ABQ, with the new owners Eclipse Aerospace. Most everything in the airplane is done for you by the computer so flying single pilot except for the boredom on those close to 4 hour legs is simple. As to the price of the plane you could probably pick up a low serial number before upgrades, like the Dayjet plane that were repossessed and awaiting upgrade, for 600,000. Newer serial numbers with upgrades a little over 1.6mil. For a close to new jet that's pretty good.
As for the Dayjet pilots, most of them had it pretty cushy while they were the doors were still open from what I understand. I knew three of them well that were furloughed in the first round, and met a few others. Of the three the youngest was a check airman and moved to another Eclipse charter operator and has since moved on. The other two were only SIC typed like Dayjet liked to do to keep people around. It makes it tough to get on with an owner because most 91 gigs need the Single pilot rating. I haven't heard from them in a while but both were past retirement age anyways so maybe they decided to sit in the sun in FL.

 

[StarHustler]

Back when DayJet was operating, I was based at BCT Avitat (which was a DayJet 'hub') and used to see all their guys totally filling up the Crew Lounge, usually sleeping...I knew then that it was not meant to last..

 

[SinglePliot135]

Got an offer for interview here, luckily I had something else going at that time. I though it would be one of those great successes or great failures. Guess I was right, sadly.

 

[bunman45]

Back when DayJet was operating, I was based at BCT Avitat (which was a DayJet 'hub') and used to see all their guys totally filling up the Crew Lounge, usually sleeping...I knew then that it was not meant to last..

The same could be said about netjets. Dayjet never stood a chance because it was a suspect business plan based on the success of an unproven even more suspect airplane.

 

[Seadogrun]

So, what happened to many of the pilots? Were they able to find flying work (even in this poor economy)? Did any find other Eclipse Jet opportunities to leverage their Dayjet experience?

Unfortunately the type rating earned at dayjet is nearly useless for any other eclipse jobs. It came with a limitation: SIC Required. To get this limitation removed one would have to go through the entire training program again at the full program price. So other than one having some experience in the plane, there really isn't any benefit for an operator to hire an ex-dayjetter as the training expense would be same to hire someone with no Eclipse rating.

I'm sure by now most have found work, but I'm sure there are some that haven't.