Some of these 135 operators can be some downright awful, ****ty places to work man. I had an absolutely terrible experience at a company in the beginning of my aviation career and they pulled some pretty shady crap similar to what people are saying goes on at this joint. The people I’ve worked for were some of the most awful human beings I’ve ever worked for. I came from another industry, and was a ‘career-changer,’ and I thought I had some really bad bosses at some of my non aviation jobs, until I worked there. You will hear countless stories from pilots who have or had worked at 135/91 jobs that have some horror stories to tell. It’s very common. I remember when I was a brand new CFI visiting the FBO next door to the flight school one day. There was a 135 guy in uniform, I forgot which company he said he worked for, but was telling me some of the horror stories of working in 135, and how one shop decided to fire him over his refusal to fly a broken airplane. Said that’s somewhat common in that sector of aviation. Said he was trying to improve his resume and trying to get out of 135/corporate and trying to go to the airlines, but he said it was extremely difficult trying to get a call from a regional. He suspected that previous shady operators were bad mouthing him when they called for references, and that’s what made it difficult for him to move on. Seemed like a genuine guy that tries to do the right thing.

You don’t wanna be in a situation where you’ve accepted the job, and then once you’re in, you realize how nightmarish it is and at the same time, it’s difficult to leave said place, especially with said trashy employer that will try to tarnish your reputation on the way out.

When it comes to this particular sector in aviation, there can be some really good apples, and some really, really bad apples. And of course there’s the operators in between those extremes. I’ve heard it said that the best job in aviation is some corporate job, and that the worst job in aviation, is also some corporate job.

With the internet these days, people really are without excuses when they find themselves in one of these companies and they experience immediate buyer’s remorse. They will usually give off multiple red flags to a candidate, but, sometimes (most of the times) out of desperation, the person takes the job anyway. Then they realize what a huge mistake it was. Suspicions at that point are confirmed. This same thing happened to me. Even without knowing about them online, I was still given multiple warning signs that I should not take the job offer. But i did anyway out of desperation, and realized that I should have listened to my gut. You will be thinking long and hard about your hard earned certificates and ratings that you spent thousands on, which could be at risk with a sketchball operation.