What's going on at Flight Express?

[mcjohn]

Then Ram is one the best paying multi-engine IFR experience building jobs out there. Upgrade said to be at 2 months right now.

 

[Big Dog]

small clarification...

The pay for new hires at Ram Air is now $90/day, with the potential of $3000 in bonuses the first year. Second year is $115/day.

In other news, Mr. Boris is right on talking about weather. It's been my experience that the Wx always looks worse on the radar on the ground than in the air with your eyeballs. As you gain experience, you'll develop stratagies in dealing with Wx. This could be above, around, under, through or sit and wait. It varies so widely I'm not even going to generalize. One thing I would encourage you to do after you've been through some bumps; as soon as you land get on the computer in front of some radar and look what you flew through. Try to look at the local radar sites (their data is almost always more true) as opposed to the larger, regional views. You'll be suprised to find that sometimes the yellows and oranges barely gave you a bump but you may have gotten pounded in areas with no echos. Also keep in mind that ATC radar shows only precip, not turbulence. ATC seems to equate precip with bumps but that's not always true. At times the smoothest air is in the rain. Experience is the best teacher, but that means exposing yourself to some weather. Be careful, and when in doubt, you are the PIC.

 

[mcjohn]

Deleted double post

 

[mcjohn]

Hey Big Dog, I was in the Concord area (Charlotte) the other day and I cruised by to see if I could find Ram's hanger. I found what must have been it behind a fence with Package Express signs on it. A bunch of folks were hanging around working on Lances and some bigger planes in the hanger. I was about to see if someone would let me in but everyone looked too busy. Are you in the Raleigh or Concord HQ?

 

[Boris Badenov]

Everything Big Dog says matches up with my (much lesser) experience. In short "weather is where you find it", and unless the bad stuff is right over the field, it usually pays to at least go up and have a look. This is particularly true during the summer, when 95% of the time you can stay VMC below the overcast and pick your way through the storms.

ATC is almost always helpful. Sometimes a little too helpful, since they're used to RJs wanting to stay 20 miles away from the nearest rain shower, and therefore want to send you home by way of Timbuktu. On the other hand, I once broke out of an overcast about a mile short of flying in to the middle of what had to be at least a level 5. One of those really concentrated summer cells about 5X5 miles, and nothing but showers on either side (it was one of those days the midwest got clobbered by tornados). Controller didn't say a word (to be fair, he was very busy). The moral of the story is be wary of embedded storms. They're pretty much the only weather that still gives me that wonderful buggy-eyed alert feeling (as opposed to the slap-yourself-to-stay-awake feeling you get every other day after month 11 on the same run).

We have a couple of airplanes with strikefinders. As far as I can tell they're mostly just good for scaring the everloving turds out of yourself. Maybe ours are a bit "oversensitive", or I don't know how to use the thing, but I eventually just turned it off, since it spent most of the time doing a good imitation of a christmas tree.

FLX runs are about 80% daytime, I think (I vaguely remember that figure from training...if that's wrong, it'll be more than 80%, not less). It seems like they just operate the company as though you were based at your destination rather than your actual base, if that makes sense, which keeps people flying during the days and also makes lots of very long duty days (good for the $$).

As to the DO playing favorites or going out of his way to make anyone's life unpleasant, I haven't seen it. Ernst is what I'd describe as "tough but fair". He'll definitely make clear to you exactly how much your screwup has cost the company in excruciating detail if you ever have to do the rug dance (for example, if you suddenly need a day off you could have asked for three weeks ago, but didn't, and now he has to charter the run...not that I'd know.) But he doesn't hold a grudge and understands how hard you're working. If you give him fair warning he'll to his best to help you out. It probably helps if you manage to show up for work on a regular basis and don't start unneccesary drama at FBOs and soforth. My lord I'm longwinded. In short, it's not real hard to get along here and stay under the radar.

Finally, FLX also offers a $1000 ($78something after taxes, I think) bonus. If you stay 6 months you keep it, otherwise, you can just keep the check and send it back to them when you leave. This is in lieu of a training contract, which FLX does not have. If you get Nashville or St. Louis, you can live in the hangar for free (you get what you pay for...especially, I hear, in Nashville. Dormitory style living.) One of the Florida bases also has hangar beds, I think, although I'm not sure which.

Not to get in to a bidding war for your future attentions...my only interest is that of a relatively happy employee. Ram and the other operators definitely have things to offer that FLX doesn't. To each their own.

Good thing I have all of this time on my hands, I'm finally writing that dissertation on the internet.

 

[Dustin H]

My experience with FLX 2001-2002


Pros:
Put me in a twin with only 15 hours of multi experience


Great for getting IFR experience


Outstanding training program – Austin really knows his stuff


Chief pilot is very easy to get along with (if Matt is still there)


Cons:
The equipment is fairly ragged out / very old and beat up


Maintenance is sub-par to every other operator I've worked for. I've heard things have gotten better in that department since I was flying there. I don't know that for sure. Back in the day, I had to pump the gear down or go in nordo on several occasions. The worst was the heaters going out on the Barron's in the winter. I'd have to bring a thick blanket on my runs so I wouldn't freeze.


The TKS systems doesn't really work that well. Ice would accumulate in patches and TKS fluid dose not do much for preventing ice on the windscreen. Plus the TKS fluid would run out faster than the book would suggest.


The comment about the DO making life hard on people who didn't deserve it. I can only speak for myself. After ground school I had a class score which allowed me to choose the open base of my liking. After choosing Opa Locka I was asked to reconsider and go to Kansas City as a favor by the DO. Well after flying under the radar for over a year with the company with no tardies or absentees I asked to redeem some of my earned vacation time and was told by the DO “why should I do any favors for you?” That kinda stuck out in my mind for a while.


Over all it's a good company for building time, but that's it.

 

[Boris Badenov]

The planes are definitely old and beat up.

Maintenance at CPS is great. Planes are old, stuff breaks, stuff gets fixed right the first time. Can't speak to the other maintenance bases.

I've never had any trouble with TKS at all. I also don't have anything to which to compare it. I've heard it's not as good on the Barons as the 210s. Haven't had the pleasure of trying it on the baron yet. You definitely have to make sure it's primed before you fly. After sitting and not being used for a while, the panels will dry up and not be able to bleed out the fluid. It also needs to be turned on before you hit the ice. My runs have never had any legs longer than about 1:20, so running out of fluid has never been an issue. I definitely carry extra jugs of fluid, though. Oh and yeah the windscreen is kind of a weakspot. The problem I've had is it sprays it on, which melts/prevents the ice, but then the fluid sticks and makes it pretty hard to see, also sometimes fogs up.

I haven't had a bad experience with the DO yet, but maybe I've just gotten lucky. He definitely plays hardball with "requests" and soforth, but while I've gotten barked at, I've yet to feel a bite. This may have something to do with the relative scarcity of pilots now versus when you were here, though.

PS. Matt is still here and he's still easy to get along with.

And yeah, while I have good things to say, I'm definitely not planning to make a career here. They don't expect you to, although inexplicably, some people wind up doing so.

 

[mcjohn]

I love this thread. I can feel ya! One of my recent past bosses and I were great friends but when it came to work he was a frequent "barker" and I'd usually bark back but he knew I needed him and he knew he needed me. When knowing you "really have to go" but don't want to coincide there's bound to be a little drama. I've had it so bad that I've been called LAZY 'cause I didn't want to go. Well, call it lazy or whatever, but when you've been in the air 7 plus hours already with only a 15 minute refueling it's nice to stick the ol feet on the ground.

 

[Art Vandalay]

FLX Alumni 2004-2005.

I had a great time while I was there. Ernst, Austin, Matt, Gary, and the whole crew were all easy to work for. While it was difficult to get a day off, I cannot think of any negatives besides that. Yea, it would be better to start in a twin, but that will come with time. I had a great run out of LUK where I was paid to sleep and work out during the day while on a layover.

I love my job now working 135 charter, but miss the M-F schedule with all bank holidays off.


Take Care,

Art V.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Man, Art spent all of his time working out and sleeping. I spend mine typing on the internet.

How are things in the flight levels?