Netjets latest & greatest:
12-11-2017, 07:54 AM
#2991
Super Moderator
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Posts: 5,544
Originally Posted by GeeWizDriver
Tell your young padawan to go into the basement and invent something or bury himself in a computer and create the next big thing in software. Then he can fly himself around for fun....
Thanks for the words.
12-11-2017, 02:24 PM
#2992
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2013
Posts: 350
Originally Posted by crewdawg
Yo Gents, mentoring the son of a family friend, and was wondering if I could get some insight into the operation at NetJets. When I was in college, I was dead set on never going to the airlines and NetJets was my goal (after a few years as a starchecker)...well neither happened as I went off the military and now I'm an airline guy. Figures...
Anyway, I understand the basics of the fractional business but some info on the pilot life would be greatly appreciated. I want to pass some good gouge and not just how awesome the airlines are (right now...).
Bases...I see the list of bases. Are certain jets paired by bases or are the bases just locations they'll allow you to start/end trips? I assume mostly air lining to wherever the jet is located?
You pick the freebase you want and it’s yours. You can change bases every 15 days.
Bidding...is it based on everyone in your seat/aircraft in the company or just your base?
Schedule/vacation/monthly PTO bids are by fleet and seat. Aircraft and upgrades (if there are any upgrades) are by company seniority.
Pay...I seem to remember that guys say you can expect to make ~10% over the published rates, does that still hold true?
10% is a general ballpark.
Schedules...I get the 7/7 but what are the other schedules? Can anyone get them or are they limited/have to bid for them? Are they more like an airline schedule where you bid for particular days off, over the 4 month period?
The number on the CC schedules is how many days you will work over the 4 month be period. Trips on those schedules can range from 3 (very rare) to 8 if you choose the long tour option.
Any other insight into the operation you think would be pertinent would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
Anyway, I understand the basics of the fractional business but some info on the pilot life would be greatly appreciated. I want to pass some good gouge and not just how awesome the airlines are (right now...).
Bases...I see the list of bases. Are certain jets paired by bases or are the bases just locations they'll allow you to start/end trips? I assume mostly air lining to wherever the jet is located?
You pick the freebase you want and it’s yours. You can change bases every 15 days.
Bidding...is it based on everyone in your seat/aircraft in the company or just your base?
Schedule/vacation/monthly PTO bids are by fleet and seat. Aircraft and upgrades (if there are any upgrades) are by company seniority.
Pay...I seem to remember that guys say you can expect to make ~10% over the published rates, does that still hold true?
10% is a general ballpark.
Schedules...I get the 7/7 but what are the other schedules? Can anyone get them or are they limited/have to bid for them? Are they more like an airline schedule where you bid for particular days off, over the 4 month period?
The number on the CC schedules is how many days you will work over the 4 month be period. Trips on those schedules can range from 3 (very rare) to 8 if you choose the long tour option.
Any other insight into the operation you think would be pertinent would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
12-11-2017, 04:03 PM
#2993
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Posts: 824
Originally Posted by crewdawg
Anyway, I understand the basics of the fractional business but some info on the pilot life would be greatly appreciated. I want to pass some good gouge and not just how awesome the airlines are (right now...).
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Bases...I see the list of bases. Are certain jets paired by bases or are the bases just locations they'll allow you to start/end trips? I assume mostly air lining to wherever the jet is located?
Bidding...is it based on everyone in your seat/aircraft in the company or just your base?
Pay...I seem to remember that guys say you can expect to make ~10% over the published rates, does that still hold true?
Schedules...I get the 7/7 but what are the other schedules?
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
Can anyone get them or are they limited/have to bid for them?
Any other insight into the operation you think would be pertinent would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
12-11-2017, 06:00 PM
#2994
Line Holder
Joined APC: Feb 2017
Posts: 92
Originally Posted by CA1900
I'll try to give you my perspective. I was a pilot for Netjets for over a decade, and left for the airlines because my career progression was non-existent. It took me over nine years just to move into the right seat of a slightly more comfortable airplane. I was on track to be a 15-year first officer, and when I finally upgraded, it would have been into the tiniest jet in the fleet (with no APU), most likely until at least age 60.
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
12-11-2017, 06:04 PM
#2995
Banned
Joined APC: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,919
Originally Posted by CA1900
I'll try to give you my perspective. I was a pilot for Netjets for over a decade, and left for the airlines because my career progression was non-existent. It took me over nine years just to move into the right seat of a slightly more comfortable airplane. I was on track to be a 15-year first officer, and when I finally upgraded, it would have been into the tiniest jet in the fleet (with no APU), most likely until at least age 60.
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
12-12-2017, 05:07 AM
#2997
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jan 2014
Posts: 35
Originally Posted by CA1900
I'll try to give you my perspective. I was a pilot for Netjets for over a decade, and left for the airlines because my career progression was non-existent. It took me over nine years just to move into the right seat of a slightly more comfortable airplane. I was on track to be a 15-year first officer, and when I finally upgraded, it would have been into the tiniest jet in the fleet (with no APU), most likely until at least age 60.
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
It was certainly a gamble moving to the bottom of a new seniority list, but after 10+ years, I was only 15% up the list at NJA, so I honestly didn't lose much ground in that respect. There's no retirement age. I believe at this point they have some 80-year-old PICs.
Anybody can use any base on that list; you're mostly airlining to/from your base. The jets aren't really "based" anywhere, and if you don't happen to pick up one at your home airport (it happens, but rarely), you'll get an airline tickets on each end of your work week. You'll keep the frequent-flier miles (and hotel points), which is nice. There's no ability to jumpseat, so that's your only option for free flying.
Company-wide. Seniority within your fleet/seat applies for vacations and schedules.
More or less. For 2016, it was 9% for me. Some years was as low as 6%.
The others are the "Crew Choice" (CC) schedules, the CC52, CC60, CC72, and CC76. Those refer to how many workdays you'll work within the 4-month bid cycle. The CC72, for example, would average to 18 days a month, which can go up or down by 2 days at scheduling's sole discretion, as long as the total doesn't exceed 72 days in 4 months. So you might work 16, 20, 20, and 16 days in a cycle.
The specific workdays are created as a monthly schedule bid using a preferential bid system, and scheduling will publish your schedule by the 15th of the month prior. Seniority plays very little role in the PBS, and in most cases you'll only be able to get one preference (e.g., a single day off, or want to work holidays) with any degree of success.
If you agree to 8-day tour lengths, there's a 3% pay override for the bid period.
There are limits. I don't have the CBA in front of me, but if memory serves, the CC52 (lowest-working) schedule is limited to 10% of the pilots in a fleet/seat, as are the schedules with a maximum of 5-day tours. Also, the schedules with 5-day and 6-day tours are limited to a smaller subset of the bases that have significant airline service and a large amount of Netjets customer flights.
One thing you can't bid on is the particular trips, which makes sense because everything is on-demand. You never know where you'll end up, so you'll bring warm and cold weather clothing on every trip.
There are a lot of ancillary tasks in addition to the flying, including loading/unloading luggage, restocking the snacks and drinks, cleaning up after a flight, removing all the liquids every night (and replacing them in the morning) when a plane is parked in freezing weather, and so on. There's a little help from the FBOs, but for the most part it's just a two man show to keep the jet in passenger-ready condition.
When you're on duty at the airport, catered crew meals are provided. Quality varies wildly and is usually mediocre, but it's convenient and fully paid by the company in addition to per diem.
It's a fatiguing, hard job on many days. Circadian shifts are commonplace -- you may report at 10am on your first day, 4am your second, 10pm your third, and be expected to put in a 14-hour day no matter when you start. There's a fatigue policy that most pilots are very familiar with, because you'll be scheduled until you cry uncle with it.
Days are frequently augmented with hours of "hot spare" or "tentative" duty where you're trapped at the airport in case of another assignment. If your scheduled day of flying is less than 10 hours, you're all but guaranteed to have one of these assignments tacked on to bring you up to 12 hours. (More than 12 pays overtime, so that's usually where it stops if nothing comes up.)
It's not a bad job by any means, but it's a lot of work for not a lot of money, comparatively speaking. I think airlines are a far better bet from a career earnings and sanity standpoint, but they aren't for everybody. I wish your friend's son luck in his career!
Don't let the NetJets facade fool you.
12-12-2017, 08:24 AM
#2998
Speed, Power, Accuracy
Joined APC: Sep 2007
Position: PIC
Posts: 1,699
Originally Posted by Hardcharger
I'll admit that I just troll this page to see what's being said. I reside in the Cbus area, and NetJets has been on my radar for quite some time now. I'm currently at a WO regional airline, and have thought about applying with NJA. The more I have read through the pages of this thread, the less I've wanted to apply. Your response here pretty much helped me make that decision, along with the fact that Delta's WO, Endeavor, has just raised the bar on regional pilot pay, so it's looking like from both a pay and QOL standpoint, I'll take my chances with the regionals.
12-14-2017, 12:49 PM
#3000
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Posts: 824
Originally Posted by Das Auto
How many crew meals do you guys typically average a day? Do you order them for dinner and take them to the hotel or just go out to a restaurant?
Given the lackluster quality of most crew food, most guys (myself included) would rather spend our money at a real restaurant.
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