I'm sure you were their first choice to be an off the street captain.

I've seen the ads from SIM CENTER. The F/Os and F/Es are contract employees with SIM CENTER as their employer. They are leased to CAT at normal rates of cockpit pay. Those who have been flying as CAT crewmembers have recovered their training investment within the first year of flying.

Can't say that for COMAIR, MESA, or PINICAL Academy grads... can you?

 

Yeah, assuming that they do not eat, pay rent or do anything else with the money they paid to get the job to begin with. You can't recover 33k in "training costs" while making 30 bucks an hour.

 

Do you think they can make recover their investments faster than earning $17an hour with a regional or commuter such as Mesa, Pinnacle, or Comair, while spending essentially the same amount of money?

 

I worked for CAT from back in 2002-2003. All I know was back then it was a crappy place to work. No schedule to speak of and the pay sucked. But what was really hard for me to take was the management. Tommy Duckworth the DO and Eastern Scab is one slippery dude. Anything you do for them is only to benefit them NEVER you. If he gets it in his head that it's OK to fly with a problem then you best tell him to fax you written proof. When I was there if you stood up to him then you were targeted. I rememeber after that I was left out on the road for absurd lengths of time with some excuse as to why you couldn't go home. I remember the scheduler couldn't give you any answers until it was glossed over by the DO. There are some guys there who think he's a genius but be forewarned he's as crooked as they come. The Chief Pilot now is JJ Scott last I knew. He will do the right thing for you if it's OK with Tommy. If not then see my above comments. I flew for them for their short lived HNL-GUM mail contract. I saw some of the most creative interpretations of FAR's and MEL's I've ever seen in my whole 20+ years of flying. As for the Pay for Fly guys from SIM Center. I flew with some that were SCARY. Some were pretty good considering their lack of experience. But it's a scam between the DO and Henry George (another Eastern Scab). That's a whole other issue though. I have heard it's much better there today but it's coming from guys who never worked anywhere else so it's not like they have anything to compare it to. The big issue there is when DAY shuts down what are they going to do?
Now for the guys reading this that want to tell me how misinformed I am it's not the worst place I have ever been either. That would be where I left CAT to go to........... AMERIJET. At least CAT didn't try to hide when they screwed you. Amerijet acts all hurt when you call them on it. Anyways I hope you are able to find employment someplace better.

 

They had some real interesting characters flying for them right out of the Star Wars Cafe. I remember "Insane Zane" the king of the check airmen. what a real pip he was. He went to another carrier as chief pilot and failed his line observation check with the FAA twice! Yeah I heard more stories of CAT from 3 years back... about the Honolulu - Guam debacle.

Things have gotten better there... mx and ops wise. They established a direct deposit program in the fall of 2004 along with partial payment of the major medical insurance for singles. Familiy coverage is borne by the employee.

New schedulers came on board in 2004 as well. They have improved on their scheduling as well... trying to get people home on the weekends.

Best place to be? There are others which are worse such as Kiletta II Charters, Amerijet, some other no name 727 operator out of Michigan.

I think the smaller cargo carriers such as Expressnet, World, Kitty Hawk. etc... will be affected by the KDAY closure effective 30 June. Where are the crews going to go... to other bottom feeders such as SAT, Tradewinds? sitting right seat on a 747 for $38,000 a year?

What are the alternatives?

 

Go for it dude against ALPO... and I do mean ALPO. I saw some good friends... good airmen lose their jobs from CAC. Its tought no matter what. Hope you are at a better place where they treat you with respect.

 

I too worked for CAT during the Pacific Days...maybe we know each other L-1011...remember "Mustang Sally"?...anyway, the last straw for me was flying out of DTW (Metro, not YIP), back and forth to Indy...and Tommy Dickworth hadn't paid DHL's handling bill, so they rightfully witheld their services...no oil had been added to the engines in 6 days, and CAT wanted the PFE to do the daily and sign the book, even though his authorization to do so had expired...I refused the flight on my last day, (I'd had enough of this crap) until they sent one of our "mechanics" from YIP...

Needless to say, I didn't fit the mold of a "CAT Captain" (Thank God, I can still look myself in the mirror) so that was my last flight with them...Nov 2002...

Any of you CAT guys know if Sean ever got to drive the "race car"???

 

Wait a minute, now with Simcenter and Jet University offering PFT F/O and F/E seats, what makes anyone think that they can stay with CAT after their 250 or 500 hours are up?

Aren't they gonna kick you out, and let the next guy who paid the $33k in to the seats?

 

...until he realize he couldnt make captain...and went somewhere to be co-pilot again, just when he was to upgrade at MG.

 

I know a number of ex Champion guys at CAT. I'm sure they will know about "Thedude"