Need your thoughts etiquette
 

Have a question on etiquette. I am scheduled for recurrent coming up in early April. However there is a good chance i am leaving for an airline this summer. Should i tell my chief pilot that i plan on leaving this summer and that i don't want to waste their money sending me to recurrent (could still fly as SIC till i left). Or just not worry about it, go to recurrent then leave this summer.

What is the best thing to do? I prefer not to burn any bridges but at the same time they haven't exactly gone out of their way to take care of me. Thoughts?

If you don't have a firm job lined up, with a specific departure date I don't think it is unreasonable for you to go to re-current. Then you can continue to do the job they need you to do until you are ready to let them know you are leaving.

On the other hand, I know my boss would not hold it against me if I told him I was exploring other options so I'd feel free to let him know my concern that I wanted to be fair to the company. He'd appreciate the openness and maybe even have a discussion of whether there was anything he could do to make we want to stay.

If you don't have that kind of relationship and you think you'd be punished for looking even if you decide to stay, then better to not say anything until you are ready to give notice.

My $.02 but there are so many variables we don't know about your history with the company that it is hard to give a simple answer.

If you have a CJO and / or class date at an airline then probably good to tell the boss “no thanks” on the recurrent. If not, do the recurrent as if you were sticking around.

Would your employer let you know months in advance if they were planning on downsizing?(ie selling the plane/ laying you off) Odds are they wouldn't. I'd say don't worry about it and go to recurrent, it's a cost of doing business they have already factored in.

From a chief pilot's perspective, you should let him know. That is if you are not wanting to burn any bridges. As you said, you can still fly as SIC and earn your paycheck until you leave for the airlines. If the offer goes away you can attend recurrent at a later date.
Rogersmith made the comment that it's already factored in the budget, but I'm here to tell you that may not be the case. Yes the recurrent is factored in but what about the cost of recruiting, integrating and possibly sending the new hire to an initial. Depending upon the stability of your current flight department, that may not have been factored in. I see to many guys that think the world owes them something. When costs go up the bean counters start looking at places to cut. The flight department is one of the first places they look. Also think about the older guys in the flight department that may not have an airline offer or are too old to start one. Your actions could shutter a flight department and put these guys on the street. Put yourself in the Chief Pilot's/Director of Aviation's shoes, wouldn't you want to know?

Always turns out to be a 1 way street. Pilot is to show the company some respect but the company shows crap when its their turn.
Seen too many operators withhold valuable information right up to the last day.
Rant over

All depends on your chief and how you think he will handle it. Will he respect you telling him or will he just hand you your last check?
Do what your conscience tells you.

describes the way the world should be.
and describe the way the world is.

Go to recurrent and don’t give your employer a heads up. 1) You may choose to go to your prospective new employer for a variety of reasons. 2) Your prospective new employer may choose not to bring you on board for a variety of reasons. If either happens, you will be glad you can continue in your current position.

There is a tremendous amount of movement within the industry. If a Chief Pilot does not have contingency plans and does not have a pilot replacement strategy he is not terrribly smart.

As I said, "if you don't want to burn bridges". This is from my experience from my flight department. If you are comfortable not saying anything, then by all means go to recurrent. You better hope that airline doesn't start furloughing pilots. Corporate aviation is a small world, if you have a questionable moral ethic, word will spread and good jobs will be hard to come by. By the way, any Director of Aviation/Chief Pilot worth his salt will let the guys on the line know if troubles are brewing.

I may or may not have a CJO by the time recurrent comes but probamt won’t yet. We’re a small 2 man shop, 1 airplane. Makes it sort of a harder situation because the other guy is a friend but still technically boss. Other slightly complicating factor is I have a vacation scheduled for the end of May. Little worried If I told them way in advance I was leaving that they wouldn’t allow me to take vacation or force me to quit prior to my vacation if I wanted to keep it.

If it was me, I would inform that I was planning on leaving. That way they can plan to have someone on board when you leave, and everybody is happy because they had time to plan everything out. They should think highly of you for doing it that way. If they want to fire you and not give you vacation at that point, well they are just a bad operation and you don't want to be there anyway. I would be willing to guess that it goes the way of the first part of my post, not the second.