emersonbiguns

:shrug Maybe CBP vs. 121? Especially regarding people looking at their options in the position at the CBP/121 fork in the road and which direction to choose?

Do you have experience in either? I can honestly say that over the last twenty years in USCS/CBP the overall state of affairs has continued a steady, if not accelerating spiral to oblivion. But that's just my personal opinion based upon personal experience.


LOL, probably because it's such a great place to work?


I'm not sure if that's the position that I presented. My position is that a new guy looking at the long term viability of CBP vs. 121 is probably more likely to see a better return on job satisfaction, pay and QOL from 121 than CBP. But that's just my opinion (based upon personal and recent experience with both), and that's all.


Can you define the information that is relevant regarding this thread so I can better meet your standards? (not meant to be snarky, an honest question that I'd like to hear your opinion of why my personal experience isn't relevant and what you think fits within the bounds of the approved information of this thread)

cpagdog

Curious about something...of all the cbp pilots posting here. Are you all in hard to fill locations? I understand the tdy and never home on holidays (done it last ten years, standing a post). But for 45k more a year, getting back into aviation, and continuing my govt service, it seems to good for me to pass up this opportunity...

Poly scheduled for next month. Love all info being shared...

kaputt

Is there a legitimate path forward to any of the other airframes the agency flies? Lets say you tough out your 3-5 years on the border, do you then have a shot of moving to the Dash-8, King Air, PC-12, or maybe even P-3 locations?

I'm sure that there are people moving on either by retirement or choice from those locations as well, so who ends up back filling them?

NattyBumppo

"Hard-to-fill" is a misnomer. Three to four years ago many of these places on the SWB were hard to fill. Now, I'm willing to bet Laredo, McAllen, and Puerto Rico are overfilled. Best part about these "hard-to-fill" locations is you'll rarely go TDY, and more than likely you'll be off for the holidays.

If you're increasing your pay by $45k a year - and working significantly fewer hours - then I'd say this is a no brainer for you to continue your government service. Sure the SWB towns blow. Healthcare seems to still be more third-world down here. But there is movement to other SWB locations and even Southeast Region areas within a relatively short amount of time spent at these tough locations.

PM me if you have more specific questions.

NattyBumppo

Sorry buddy, no rhyme or reason as to who gets what after their first assignment on the southwest border. I've seen folks with zero multi engine time get the King Air and Dash-8, and others who have multi time and are MEI's put in for locations that have the King Air and get denied. Politics at its finest.

kaputt

Well as someone who’s currently on Active Duty, it sounds familiar and I’m not shocked haha.

In addition, what exactly qualifies one for the flight hour waiver? It’s unclear in the job postings exactly how that works. I’m sure that military time works for that, but I’m a non-flyer so all of my flight time is civilian. Is there any flight time I can get that would be eligible for that waiver?

cpagdog

Pm sent. Thanks

MilDriver

Is there truth to this? Current C130 pilot, looking at career options.

RCpilot2018

Yes, there is truth to this. HQ doesn't really give a damn what you've done. Pilots are all the same to them. If you are a new hire you'll go to one of the 5 or so garden spots. Period! If you are already in the system, and trying to lateral to another site, then your past experience is everything to the selecting official at the site you seek. There is one caveat to this. The P3 units are able to direct hire certain individuals. Example of certain individuals are those that have 3 or more lunar landings and can walk on water.
Nuff said?

DustoffVT

There is truth that some executive management would like it that way. Unlikely for several reasons, including retention and training capacity.

As a current C-130 dude, I would consider AMO only if you want to live in Jax, Corpus, or PR. P-3 in Jax/CC and dash 8 in PR.

But - you can come here and fly a P-3 on a nine day det, and still come to the office or fly the pred between trips. Or go to a decent airline, exceed our max pay in 4-5 years, and be on your own time between trips.

It’s really not much of a choice.