CardboardCutout

This is going to depend entirely upon your circumstances. Single or married? Kids in the house or no? If marred, wife ok with being away long stretches or no? If you're unencumbered, I would suggest that being away half the month and back half is great. If you have stuff at home, less so. Maybe a lot less so.

1SecretSquirrel

I am married, wife is all for it. Of course they may make me think a bit. I have three teenage girls at home, 1 is going to college next year and the other two the following year. They hate me when I'm home but miss me when I'm away. I was away a bunch the past 20 years as I was a federal job that had me travel all over the country and world. The other option may be GoJet. GoJet is offering an 18k bonus over 2 years and starting at 90/hr with 75 min. Either way I will take a pay cut from my current Medflight job.

SEPfield

First and foremost I would recommend you avoid GoJet. You can google the various lawsuits and horror stories if you're interested, but more importantly they are a non-wholly owned airline flying the CRJ-550 for a single carrier. The 550 is a good product, but has performance limitations so it is only good for certain markets. It is also a common type so if G7s performance suffers it is easy to shift the airplanes to another carrier. In fact Skywest has already begun differences training for their CRJ pilots.


The 18k bonus seems enticing, but is actually negligible compared to the 401k at Kalitta. Kalitta has a 12% Direct Contribution, so at Min Guarantee $117hr(1st Year) x 64hr x 12 months =$89,856 X 12% = $10,782. $143hr(2nd year) = $13,178. So over a 2 year period you will end up with $23,960 in a Pre tax 401k vs 18K bonus which is taxed at whatever rate (30%,?)Plus whatever you put in. Bear in mind the current vesting schedule is only 40% after 2 years. That's at minimum Guarantee. I have been averaging around 90 credit hours a month with no overtime on the 747, 777 pilots have been closer to min. Those numbers are based on the current contract. K4 is in contract negotiations currently so we expect those numbers to increase, however promises from an airline (any airline) mean about as much as compliments from a stripper.


Career Progression: Training at K4 is quick, but intense, so you will get to the line sooner and start logging flight hours. It is intense and there is absolutely no issue if you need some additional training.

I don't know how much the FOs at G7 are flying, but I have been logging ~80hrs of Block per month without overtime. I think FOs at most of the regionals are sitting a lot due to the Captain shortage. If you come to K4 you should log Part 121 time much faster as well as have a type rating in a Boeing vs a CRJ, so if you decide to switch airlines after 2 years you will be in a better position to do so.


Family Life: 16 days away is a long time and that can end up being 32 if you end up with back to back lines, but that doesn't really happen very often. With older kids and a supportive wife it should be less challenging and the 14/15 days off allows for much better vacations. As far as getting home if there is a family emergency, Kalitta has an amazing reputation in that department. I have heard multiple stories about the company doing whatever it took to get a pilot home in the event of a family emergency. In recent bids there have been a decent amount of 13/14/15 day lines so with some seniority you could end up with more days at home. I have been told that sub 16 day lines are part of the new contract negotiations, but again....


As far as the Kalitta vs Regional debate I think you would be better off coming to K4. Come fly the 747 and experience the schedule then after 2 years you can reevaluate. After 2 years you will be in a better position to apply to a Legacy/Major or you can go to a regional at that time, but as a direct entry captain. (Bigger Bonus)

Thats K4 vs Regional, however if you can get hired at a Legacy/Major(ULCC) now, then thats a different debate.

1SecretSquirrel

Thank you for the guidance. Yes, I did look at some of the information on GoJet and was quite surprised. I did speak to some of the younger pilots at the RTAG event in Fort Worth and I was impressed with their excitement of working for GoJet. They were a very professional group who may not have had to deal with some of those issues from GoJet's past. I was disappointed to read some of the things they did to their employees. I had previously heard some things in passing when I had spoken with another pilot in my Reserve unit but figured it might be rumor. Besides those issues, I am happy to hear Kalitta is great about taking care of folks who have emergencies at home and you are correct to look at the overall financial picture. I am trying to figure out how the per diem adds up on average pre month or even year. Also, does pay bump up over a certain hour level similar to overtime? Thank you again. I really appreciate the reponses. I am totally new to this type of life.

Puck Hawg

This is one man’s opinion, but I left K4 to go to a regional and get a DEC slot. I hate it. Wish I would’ve never left. Commuting sucks, passengers suck, being on call sucks. It would be a totally different story if I lived in a base, but I live in the middle of God’s country, so I’m not moving. After my 24 month contract with said regional is complete (if not earlier), I’ll be heading back to K4 or Atlas, depending on who has the better contract. I’m hopeful that’s K4. They always treated me well and it’s a good group of pilots.

Outside of living in base, nothing beats homebasing, no crash pads and two weeks off blocks.

SEPfield

So my long reply disappeared so this is the short version. Per Diem is based on an hourly rate, but paid on daily rate. So based on 16 Days you will receive between $980 - $1300 per month in per diem. You will receive more per diem for international flying and most of K4 flying is international so $1200 is probably a good average.

I know some airlines pay more over a certain threshold (125% over 80hrs for example). Kalitta doesn't have that and I don't think we will ask for it. I believe most of us would prefer a higher basic rate than to rely on a multiplier to make more money. That said; Any flying on a scheduled day off pays 150% and if the company is desperate that will offer 200% or more.