Hey all, currently fly for a purple feeder flying under 121 and I got some questions about Envoy. I have about 2500 tt and 1300 hours turbine with 300 of that turbine single pilot 135 and the rest SIC 121.
QOL is not bad where I am, but freight right now is not doing so great. The goal is a major eventually one based in MIA. If I don't get the call, I'm considering Envoy or sticking out here and upgrading.
Although to be honest, I want to get jet time and move on from turboprops.

1: How feasible is to commute from South America while working at Envoy? My wife currently lives in Colombia and I will have to commute there till the immigration process is complete for her. It's only a 2 hour 40 minute flight from
medellin to miami and many daily flights on AA. I'd imagine maybe being junior reserve might be a challange.

2: How dose the captain pay for FO work? Since I have 750+ 121 time, I qualify for this. I'll most likely be an FO for 1-2 years before I upgrade anyway.

3: Is MIA junior base? Is there short call reserve or only long call only?

Thanks.

 

If you want to get to mainline quickly, this isn't the place for you. They rarely street hire direct from the wholly owned.
Met a few guys that commute from Mexico, so it's doable. It sounds like you meet 121 captain minimums, so I'd imagine you'll get hired as a direct entry captain. You can't sit in the right seat for a better schedule when your qualified to be a captain.
It takes a few months to hold MIA RSV CA, and you'd be on reserve for 3 years or so.

1. The commuting rule while on reserve is your primary flight has to land before your reserve period starts. Your backup flight can land after, you just need to coordinate with scheduling.
2. if you have 2,500TT and 1,000 part 121 you'll be a direct entry captain (as far as I know, I'm high time so this doesn't apply to me).
3. MIA is the senior base. There is long call, but it's only a couple lines, and will take YEARS to hold it.

 

If you have 950+ Part 121 SIC hours, Envoy will definitely require that you train as a direct entry captain. Envoy has mandatory upgrade and they literally won't train you as an FO if you're qualified to be captain. Going directly into the left seat of your first jet would be a challenge. I heard Piedmont is allowing pilots to come in as high time FOs to fly for 250 hours before being required to upgrade.

Rumor has it that a former freight pilot turned Envoy DEC was fired for loudly berating a flight attendant in front of passengers. Not saying you would do that, but taking on the responsibility of managing flight attendants and passengers for the first time can also be a huge step. Envoy seems to be hiring every eligible DEC who applies and then weeding them out in training and during the probationary year. 3 out of 18 DECs in my class at Envoy didn't make it through training and were not given the option to try as an FO.

Miami is the senior base for captains; you will most likely be sent to ORD first but should be able to hold Miami after 7-12 months. I have a 4 hour commute as a DEC on reserve; it's not fun. The FO I flew with last said he submitted a form on the computer saying he had 750 hours part 121 SIC and had captain pay on his next check. New hires will have their logbooks reviewed prior to being hired. There are two lines of long call reserve in MIA, ORD, and DFW but they go senior and mean you are assigned open flying before anyone else on reserve is able to bid on flying open the next day.

American hires very few Envoy pilots outside of flow because it hurts their business to take pilots from the regionals that feed them. I keep hearing flow is 6 years at Envoy now but there are so many factors that could change that for a new hire. Reserve schedules are usually 4-5 days on followed by 3 days off. Junior pilots get assigned short call reserve 0400-1800 first with a 2 hour call out, ORD has a little bit longer call out.

 

Pretty much spot on what others have said as well. I feel bad for that FA, hope she is going allright. Looks like my best bet is to go to an LLC or something like. Appreciate the
responses.