I know a bit about these guys as I was involved in a PC-12 frax that never made it. I flew with an ex-Alpha Flying (Plane Sense) pilot and learned a bit about them.
Here are a few insights:
They seem to treat their guys well enough and he didn't complain about working there. However, he was related to the chief pilot...
I think this must be from a long time ago; no clue as to what you are talking about. See my above statement.
He logged time that I KNOW FOR SURE could not be logged as anything. You can't sit in the right seat of a single engine turboprop requiring one pilot and expect that time to be worth diddly! He had 2000 total and had something like 1700 PIC turbine. Give me a fricking break! They made him a capt. at 300 hrs? I think not.
Before 91K, you are correct. It is a whole different ball game now. Our op specs require all program flights to have 2 pilots. Take a look at 91.1049(d). Now, what is the good of logging SIC SE tubine time, not much, IMHO. The only thing it really does is get the total time of our co-pilots up to the required 1500 for "captain" upgrade.
The time flying the aircraft is not really all that quality. It counts for total time and turbine, kind of, b/c it's not ME time. The pay, last I checked was in the 40K range to start, which is not quite enough to live in Manchester, NH.
Not quality time? I may not be a jet jockey, but I sure am having fun going in and out of 3000' grass strips one leg, then doing 180 to the marker at IAD the next leg!
I'm not giving away any state secrets by saying that FO pay is 25K 1st year. It's not great, but it beats flight instructing, and the food is a heck of a lot better on the road! Capt. pay is pretty good, also. We have some very senior guys here, about 8 years now, that are doing very well for themselves. Let us not forget we have 21 scheduled weeks off a year, not including vacation, sick time, etc.
The aircraft, however new they may be, are relatively neglected and always very dirty.
Neglected? I hate to sound like a jerk, but no, you don't know what you are talking about. This airplane is a big King Air nacelle. If I do 6 legs in one day, the airplane looks like it has not been washed in weeks. We are always getting wash jobs on the road, and get a great cleaning when we return to MHT.
The clients are definitely on the low end of the income scale, so don't expect to make a whole lot of networking connections that will actually go anywhere as far as leading to greener pastures.
If you only knew!
If you need a paycheck and have 2500 total with some turbine in there, it is a good way to get paid, but it is not necessarily a good career move.
Different strokes for.....blah blah blah. Alpha is a great move for some, but maybe not for others.
The company is solid and you could make a career out of it as I believe they are there to stay. If you could be happy flying a PC-12 for a long time, then go for it!
I'm very happy here, and think I will be for some time to come. BTW, we are always looking for good, IFR experienced folks to come on board.
Hope that helps!
Shanon