Originally Posted by
2StgTurbine
All new hires start as an FO. They have been burned in the past when they had to move them to a smaller airplane, or downgrade them if they lost airplanes. They determined they would rather hire pilots who are willing to start as an FO and that can become a captain rather than hire a captain who is unwilling to be an FO.
Also, DPJ does not have its own training department and CAE just teaches you how to fly the plane. It would be risky for the company to send somebody out on their first rotation as a captain. It takes a few rotations to figure out the way the operation works. I know another person with Excel time that upgraded in 3 months, so even if you start as an FO, it would only be for a short period.
As of now, pay is $40,000 for all FOs and $60,000 for small and mid size captains. The pay might be coming soon. They have mentioned having a meeting to compare our pay with others in the industry (except for NetJets).
I upgraded in 3 months as well. I had lots of time and 500 pic in the jet I was hired into. When I was hired in 2010 they were much more selective in their hiring as there were lots of type rated biz pilots looking for work. I will also vouch for the fact it takes a few rotations to get the feel how the operation works.... once you get the flow its like any other charter gig. They have been talking about raising pay since the end of 2011... We will see when that happens. When I was there managment made it clear that they didn't want to make it a career place with senior pilots. They want to keep the pay roll down. It was said that is why they don't want a 12 year fo pay scale. They also wanted to cap captains pay at a 8 year rate. It is in DPJ's best interest to get 3-4 years out of you and have you move on. So they can hire another 1500 hr, 40k pilot... Rinse and repeat! Don't get me wrong that is a great model if you are in management, but for you and me it's not a great model if you are flying to make a career out of this and hopefully one day be able to retire before you are 80 and dead!!