Hi!
PM me with your email for a ton of info on USA Jet.
Short Answers:
usajetairlines.com
activeaero.com
25" callout (for freighters)-bad.
On call 24/7 (you can rotate to the bottom of the list and/or get short time off the callout to do stuff)-bad.
Not knowing where you're going until the last minute (for freighters) Bad? Good? Definitely interesting.
Starting crew rest after checking into your hotel room-Good.
Getting extra rest when you ask for it-Good.
Calling fatigued and that's the end of the story-Good.
Very flexible scheduling-Good.
They take care of you as much as practical for the industry...
Ex: My dad was dying-I found out in ELP at the end of a trip with no easy way to jumpseat out (now we can use SWA and AWA as they're part of USAir), so the company bought me a ticket ELP-PNS.
Moving to Detroit has been changed (finally!). You have to "move here and
at least establish a crashpad." About 1/4 of the guys commute. Furthest is MCI, GSP, MSP. Most guys commute on NWA-USA Jet is CASS.
Hiring IS direct into the -9, and if you meet the quals, we need the pilots there. -9 gets 13 days off/month-usually 1-3 blocks of days off which makes it easier to commute.
About 1/2 the -9 guys fly pax. If you are a "Primary" pax guy during the NCAA season you have a 6 months schedule of 6 on/whatever off. You do some reserve. If you're a "Alternate" you do mostly reserve-2 hour callout.
Cost of living is kind of high, except houses are cheap now. If you have a family and fly only freight, you'll be home a lot, and it makes it easy to sell days off back (4 hours of pay/day). One of our Falcon FOs last year made $7K one month. One of our Falcon capts in Feb made approx. $17K.
Note: I would NEVER live in DTW (well, if someone paid me $350K/yr. I would for a while).
The freighters are freighters. The PAX -9s look fantastic, but they do break as they pretty old. The -9-10s have 50 seats, the -30s 74 seats.
The PAX planes have a mechanic on board (no spares). If the freighters are broken, you either get them fixed or go to the hotel. All the planes have GPS, most Falcons with a color map, and all have RVSM.
DB is a Check Airman in the ABQ gov't operation: 3 -9s, 1 GIII, 1 Lear 35 and 2 Twin Otters. The -9s will be replaced with -737s in FY2009. AH is Chief Pilot in ABG, GW in YIP.
Avg flight hours are 45/month. Some months it's less, sometimes you're at 100/30. We are now taking low time guys (not for the -9), but it takes them a long time to get the hours to upgrade 3000/4000 Falcon/-9 so guys with the time are upgrading to Falcon Capt pretty fast.
We've had 8 guys leave since Xmas: 2 NWA/1 DAL (all furloughees), 3 NetJets, 1 Spirit, 1 charter.
cliff
GRB/YIP
PS-Interviewing now for -9 guys for Aug-if you're interested get a hold of Randy Hotton quick:
[email protected]
734-547-7244
fax: 734-547-7388