Winair
 

[LEFT]Hey guys, anyone know anything about Winair down in the Caribbean? I'll be graduating soon and I just want to look into options other than the U.S. regionals. I searched theses forums and didn't find any info, other than some contact information for Winair.

I'm wondering about hiring minimums, if you need to be typed in the DHC-6 before you get there, QOL, pay, and if you need to convert your certificates... That in itself is another question... how do you convert them? Is it just written tests or are there the flight requirements as well? Expensive? any information you have would help me out. I've been looking online and I'm finding conflicting stuff.

Sorry for bombarding you guys with questions, but I appreciate your help.

I'll broaden this up a bit and maybe there will be more replies. I wont necessarily ask about Winair specifically, but how about airlines in the Caribbean in general. Who tends to hire American pilots, and what is the process for that... such as converting the FAA license and what not. I really am starting to get serious about working down there and I'm having trouble finding information.

check out Seaborne Airlines out of St. Croix ... they fly twin otters on whipline floats, you'll need to have a multi-engine sea commercial though and like 1500TT, but I've heard they hire with a lot less.... but they start pay somewhere around regional FO, usually you're home every night from what I hear and it can be enjoyable flying. The cons are you don't build much XC time, and you can loose your instrument and night currency real quick. Life is based out of an Island with a high crime rate.... but they are an American company.

Try Cape Airlines. They are based in Hyannis, Ma but have bases in sju, stt and stx. Pay is pretty good and you can jump seat home when you get sick of the rum and sun...I used too fly for them and I really miss it down there.:cool:

If anyone does have any info on WinAir, I also would be very appreciative! I have called down there, emailed, etc., and never hear anything from the HR contact.

I have vacationed in SXM, I know its cliche for pilots, but to be honest I went for the food, not the airplanes.

I am only 22 and can think of a few worse options than bouncing around the islands in a Twin Otter or Islander.

So, DOES anyone know anything about Winair?

I tried to email them and gmail gave me some kind of error:

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.1.1 User unknown: (state 14).

State 14??? Is Tennessee not recognized as a state in the Carib?

I too would like some info, might be fun to live down there for a little while. Granted I'd be broke but who cares! Who isn't these days.

To work for winair as a first officer you need to have 1500 tt and 500 hours on twin otter (DH6). If you don't have it you have to go through the type rating course for DH6 in CANADA, then you might get a chance to get an interview. It will cost around 8-10000 us dollars.

Have you checked out pprune.org? Everything you need to know about winair. They hire Americans (when they are hiring) and you gotta go to curaçao for a couple courses on Carib flying and to get your FAA cert approved by netherland antilles caa.

I hope they pay well if the have expectations like these...

Thanks for the info guys.

1800 per month starting after taxes starting, which isn't too bad but Sint Maarten is somewhat high on the cost of living index, but doable I imagine

Exactly. I'll bet the only pilots that work there are young, single, no kids, and have a few roommates to help with rent. How else can anyone afford to live in St. Maarten for those welfare wages?