PR question
 

What makes PR such a bad place to be stationed? The flying, the area, the facilities, the supervisors...? I'm thinking about PR and I would like to have a realistic picture before making a decision. Thanks.

No, yes, no, yes.







Don't.

What's your problem with "the area"? That it's not transplant-hell suburban anywhere USA? "Shirley" that was apparent to you before you applied for the position.....:rolleyes:

Don't call me "Shirley."

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.
I'm sure several on this board are too young to recall the movie.

How are airframes picked? I see that CBP has a wide variety of planes and a few drones. I think the work would be interesting but I don’t want to fly a drone. (I have thousands of hours of military drone time and instructor qualified) I left the drone world to fly regular planes and if there is a chance they would assign this I don’t even want to apply.

If the location you’re hired into has it you will fly it. Usually the agency picks the aircraft you are least qualified to fly and assigns it to you. However with everyone running the other way, and your background in it, it would be difficult to get away from it. The only way to know for sure would be to apply and see what they offer you.

OP Quote: "Let’s see, work all month 5 on / 2 off for a max of 8 days off each month? Airlines guarantee 13+ days off each month. OAM is going to making you do LEAP standby on your days off (illegal) and then you can’t be unavailable."


I drank the same Koolaid. Of those 13+ days off per month, plan on spending your day off commuting home and a day off commuting back to work. Then there are the times where you are involuntarily extended and lets not forget the winter cancellations and you are stuck in your base. Those 13+ days quickly dwindle down to 4 days, but at least its not all the time. There is no consistency and your body pays the price for that. Many rotor transition guys figured this out pretty quick and bailed. If you live in base, that takes some of the pain away, but it's still pain. I'll take an underpaid government job any day over flying for a regional.

I'm not sure where in the thread you quoted that from, but I feel your assessment of the airlines is pretty off base and misleading. First, regionals are temporary...you say you'll take an underpaid government job any day over a regional, but would you take an underpaid government job over flying for a major? You're comparing the worst pay/schedules in an airline career to a government job where your pay and schedules won't get that much better over time...kind of apples and oranges. The majority of my 30+ year airline career, I will have had 15-19 days off (kind of my choice on how much I want to work). At my regional I got 11-14 days off, but did a lot of day trips and spent a lot of work nights in my own bed. At my major I commute to, I spend a lot of long overnights at home, some 24 hours, so I am "home" on a work day. You probably get more nights in your own bed in your job, but I'd venture to say airline guys get more time off, more awake time at home with their family, and overall have a much better schedule and QOL.

Second, since when does commuting take all day on an off day? Most places have commutable trips, available to most seniorities at least on one side of the pairing (if not both), so commuting occurs on a work day most of the time. And even if it is the next morning, you get home and still have most of the day at home. And in the rare event you get extended to a day off, you get paid...a lot. And depending on the company you work for, after being extended you then have to work less if you drop a trip or a reserve day for the same compensation since you likely just got 150-200% for the extended day.

Commuting to reserve at a regional (or most any airline) sucks. Don't get me wrong. And the airlines are a cyclical industry. But if the government doubled your pay tomorrow and begged me to come do that job, I still wouldn't do it. Guess I'm glad someone's willing to, though.

Not really typical of the industry long-term. Or even mid-term.

More typical is 18 days off, with mostly commutable trips, ie commute on first and last days of trip, not on days off.

Getting involuntarily extended is theoretically possible at some, not all, airlines. I'm getting close to 20 years in industry and have never been extended. And that includes a fair bit of reserve.

Junior reserve at regional will suck if you commute.

I’m seeing a trend in the last few responses to this and I agree. Everyone has to choose their path and what works best for family, but this reads of someone going into things fairly blind and with unrealistic expectations. You can definitely minimize some of the suck of the regionals to eventually get your nicer LCC/legacy job. In rotor speak - gotta be a WOJG fridge bit$h before you can be the W4/5 walking around with the CO offering good advice. Glad things are working better for you.