The truth, summary, history, explanation etc. about GoJet.
As a former pilot for Trans States Airlines (the same people who run GoJet, did you know?) here is how GoJet came about...
The rumor mill started, and then was confirmed that Trans States Airlines was going to get a 70 seater for United. Negotiations started on the pay scale and everybody got excited for the opportunity to move up, upgrade etc. Everybody who got the CRJ700 was expecting a nice raise in the neighborhood of $5-$10 an hour, especially the 20 year ish guys. The usual back and forth went on for a while and then there was an apparent stall coming from up top... Maybe the company was reconsidering the new type??? Then word leaked from the FSDO that there was suddenly a new certificate for a company called GoJet that was going to be run by the same people at Trans States... trouble. The whip saw. The old one-two.
The whipsaw:
A company has a pilot seniority list that goes from 20 year captains down to new hires. The most senior guys make a lot more money (obviously). So when a new type comes onto the property with 40% more seats (pilots say 40% more revenue) the company can expect to pay their well-established ALPA represented pilot group more money. So, instead of taking care of the professionals who have been dodging Midwest thunderstorms, dealing with 9/11 cuts, and maintaining one of the only profitable bottom lines in the industry at the time, they start a "new" airline run by the same people with every pilot on year 1 pay. Saves a lot of money.
So in the ALPA represented pilot group there began to be a lot of turmoil. People saw the valuable opportunity to jump right into the left seat and get PIC time, CA pay, and a more modern aircraft. People feigned solidarity and then the floodgates opened and it was a race to see who could get the lowest employee number at GoJet. Needless to say there was a lot of hate, anger, etc. that came from the situation. Then came all of the fbombs in the terminal, the refused jumpseats, covered radio calls etc.
TL;DR
So here is the answer...
Trans States Holdings runs their airlines like WalMart. They do everything as cheap as they can. They give you photocopied manuals (how's that internship treating you?), they use remaindered furniture from all of the floors they don't use in the old TWA building they inhabit, and use old, unheated hangars from the Boeing production line at Lambert field. They are smart about how they do business. The company was/is headed by an intelligent accountant who turned it from a losing company into a Billion-dollar piggy bank (Hulas' piggy bank, not the airlines'). An accountant will take everything they can from you and give you as little as possible. It is good business, especially with the captive employees that all pilots groups are.
If you go there, know what you are getting into. If somebody interviewing you for a future job after GoJets has a chip on their shoulder from the whole Trans States Airlines experience you will probably not get the job. Realistically at the majors they could give a sh!t about regional squabbles.
That said, the Midwest/East are great places to learn how to deal with crazy weather, ATC delays, etc. I think if you go to GoJet you will learn how to fly in the airline environment and make good decisions. You will be mentored well by your captains. Your pilot group will have a high degree of camaraderie and you will have a fairly quick upgrade. Your training will be bare-bones, your pay will be among the lowest out there, and you will be greatly on your own to get through training. The company will spend as little as they can on you in every aspect of your employment. period. It might work out, and it might not. Kind of like going to a very cheap college and competing with all of the other grads when you want to move on, but if everybody needs pilots like they say... all that will matter is that you are qualified and well experienced with PIC time.
X-posted from a previous GoJet thread, originally authored by... me.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/re...s-gojet-3.html