Retirement is 1.7% x years of service. So 20 years gets you 34% retirement. It's based on your high three earning years.

I would say at this point the only people who should consider this job would be low time Helicopter only guys. The reality of the situation now is that if you have any fixed wing time you should go to ANY airline that will hire you. Over the course of your career you will have way better benefits and earn a boat load more money.

I know people like to complain on these message boards so you should always take all this info with a grain of salt. But I am in one of the better locations in Air and Marine and we have had 4 guys leave to go to other jobs in the last several weeks. There is a reason a high percentage of current Pilots are looking for better opportunities. None of us really know what this agency is going to look like in 5 years. At the current rate of decline we are seriously concerned about whether or not Air and Marine will survive in its current form for us to make it to retirement.

My opinion is that this isn't a terrible job but it used to be WAY better and its getting worse every day due to incompetent leadership and high attrition rate.

Bring back the Super Cubs and I’ll sign up in a heartbeat!

When looking at the possible new hire locations, odds are that you will fly a MQ9, C-206 or AS350. Yes, it will eventually be possible to get into a Hawk in PR or McAllen.

GOOD LUCK!

I must agree with Saywhat. This is a good job for helicopter bubbas, if you are able to live in the new hire locations. There are still some locations where fixed wing guys have a great job but any new hire will never get to them because their days are numbered. The pathways have been intentionally blocked, not out of malice just to meet current needs. Fixed wing, multi engine pilots will probably regret accepting a position with CBP as the spectre of the UAV is too great. Do not expect to come here and build fixed wing time in multi engine turbine aircraft. You could, however, become the highest paid single engine piston pilot in the world.

15 years and have now come to regret it
 

I wanted to post a warning to anyone considering this job. As many others have already posted, its not what it used to be.

WARNING: I'm bitter and jaded. But I speak the truth.

Let me start with our contract rules. There are only two.
Max 16 hour crew day
Min 10 hours crew rest.

LEAP= we don't pay you overtime, and can make you stay 16 hours or have you work on your scheduled day off. For no extra pay.

So LEAP is an additional 25% above your base pay. The expectation is that you will work a 10 hour day a preponderance of the time. What does that mean? It means, 25% more pay for 25% more time. That's not overtime. That means they expect you to work a 10 hour day, 5 days a week, but only get paid 10 hours at the regular rate. What a deal for them. The 40 hour work week is now a 50 hour week. We don't always work a 10 hours day. But....


LEAP allows management to call you in on a day off, and not pay you for it. LEAP has become managements solution to manpower shortages, and catching up on flight hours.

Overtime: Most people at AMO/OAM, whatever we call ourselves this year, don't know this part. Though there are times we can get overtime. Its not at an overtime rate. Its actually at the GS-12 rate. Also, there is a pay period cap on it.


Example (real life story): Monday 0800 shift. Do a "patrol" for 2 hours. Land at 1200. At 1500 management gets a "request", and tells you to stay late. Fly from 1700-2000. Refuel+Red Bull. Fly 2100-2300. Feel good. Caught some bad guys. Land, paperwork. computer locks up. redo paperwork. Leave by 2400.

Supervisor says only 10 hours off. Needs me to do a Mx flight tomorrow.

Get home, cant sleep because of the 2000 Red Bull.

Tuesday: 1000-1800 (6 hours sleep, but risk assessment is still LOW)
Wed-Friday: 0800-1600 Plus some extra LEAP hours
Friday afternoon: We just got a call. You need to work Saturday 1200-2400

So that's 56 hours of work. 1 day off in 7 days, and paid for 50 hours of regular pay. My point is not about pay. My point is, LEAP has become a way for management to solve all its problems. They can write a normal looking schedule. Then completely change it day to day, and it doesn't cost them a dime. There are no consequences or cost to change your schedule.

Am I whining? When I took this job, I didn't appreciate ALPA union work rules. Now I completely understand. Now I understand why airline pilot negotiate new terms. Its not just more pay. Its because management keeps finding a loophole. Here the loophole is the size of Texas.


I'm not trying to whine. I'm comparing this to the airlines. Hence this forum. Some of you remember these days. Here is the important part: IT NEVER ENDS. This goes on every week, every month, every year for 20 years. There is no seniority. No 96 hour squadron stand down. Work ups. Down time. Bidding. Nothing. You can, and likely will be treated the same from day one to your last day. It actually get worse? How? The older you get, the more quals you have. Like Mx pilot or IP. Then they totally jerk your schedule around. You can now be used to fill all the schedule holes.

Extra pay for IP? No
Extra pay for Mx Pilot? No
Extra pay for Saturday work: No
Extra pay for coming in on a day off, because you really do enjoy catching bad guys? No (Our bonus is around $500 a year)


The first 10 years here were great. I couldn't say enough good things. Now the smart ones have retired or left themselves for the airlines.

You will very likely enjoy the first 5 years. Then you will realize how little time you are seeing your family. How little management cares about your well being. That there is no policy you can reference that protects you. How dysfunctional HR is. IT systems that don't work. Hours to do a travel claim and spending months for it to be paid. How unreliable, lazy or incompetent some of the mechanics are. Your favorite and trusted mechanic got laid off with the "new contract". Your supervisor has never flown an airplane. Your director hasn't worked a weekend or past 1900 in 5 years. Important positions in the branch go unfilled.

Then you will look at your friends at places other then CBP. Their lives have been improving over the 5 years while yours just keeps getting worse. With no seniority, policy or rules. But you will get 10 hours crew rest and random days off that may or may not match your families.

Good luck. Are you single and dream of flying big iron? This may be the perfect job for you. Does your wife want to live in Laredo for 5 years and your days off are Friday and Saturday? Do you want your kids to go to a decent school? Do you want to participate in the after school lives of your kids at least half the week? Do you want to take orders from a person that has never flown an airplane, works M-F, peaked in the 9th grade and weighs 300 lbs?

LEAP and Overtime
 

LEAP: LEAP stands for Law Enforcement Availability Pay. Here is what it means:
- LEAP is your basic pay x 25%
- We are exempt from FLSA Work Rules (Fed Labor Standards Act)
- We are expected to work a 10 hour day, 5 days a week
- We are not paid for unscheduled or unforeseen work. Any changes that happen during the current work week are not paid.


Examples or LEAP (no extra pay)

- Saturday is your day off. Boss tells you Friday afternoon to work a 8 hours shift the next day.
- Your shift is 0800-1600. Someone gets a "tip", and you need to do a patrol at 2000 because there is nobody is scheduled that night.
- TDY and scheduled for a 12 hour shift. This is considered only 2 hours of overtime. Not 4.


Overtime: Overtime is only authorized if you are scheduled for it the week prior, and only for hours beyond a 10 hour day OR if you are scheduled to work beyond 5 days in normal 7 day week. DIRTY SECRET: In the rare times overtime is scheduled and approved. The overtime pay rate is LESS then your normal salary rate. YEP! I cant find it, but basically you get regular GS-12 pay. Not your GS-13 rate+LEAP. More hours and less pay. Remember I said we are exempt from FLSA.


So to recap: We are short pilots. So how do we keep up? Work more LEAP and schedule overtime pay that is cheaper then hiring a new pilot. Win+Win for AMO.

Scheduling
 

Scheduling: Are schedule is basically done by "Pay Period". Which is 14 days. 99% of the time you will get 4 days off per Pay Period.
- is always a Sunday through Saturday (14 days)
- there is no rule which 4 days
- nothing says you will get two days off in a row
- nothing says you will get a Friday or Saturday off

Example (not typical, but does happen):

Off Sunday and Monday
1400-2200 for 10 days (Tuesday though following Thursday)
Off Friday and Saturday

Shifts:
There is no national policy on schedules or shifts. Each branch has sets their own shifts and days of the week. Ive rarely seen two do it the same way. Many places will have 2 or 3 "groups". Group A may be 0600-1400 Sunday through Thursday. Group B Tues-Sat 1400-2200. Group C 1800-0200. They may switch monthly or quarterly. You may move around a lot due to training or to cover holes in the schedule.

8 hour day: you must work at least 8 hours a day and 40 hours in a 7 day week. So no matter what. You must be at the office. Even if all the planes are broken, the Wx is awful or you just cant fly, you will stare at the ceiling (not really.. see next post). There is no 96 hour liberty or "on call" at home. Home doesn't count for anything, and we don't have G vehicles. So unlike our Boat Drivers who can drive around in their G rides and take a 3 hour lunch with the guys or go visit a Marina on the way home when they are unable to float, we sit in the office. Sometimes we can take a g ride to a local airport... but.. you still have to bring it back to the office at the end of the day. That gets stupid and boring fast.


TDY: I generally feel that TDYs are a good deal. Go someplace new. Do something different. Catch bad guys. get per diem. Stay in a decent hotel and get hotel points Ive been to good places. Ive been to terrible places. But I knew that part when I took the job. So cant complain. TDY is good because the work is sometimes hard. Like 0200 patrols, but at least you get per diem, and get decent sleep in quiet hotel room. I enjoy TDY, because at home we take off and land at the same airport. Nothing like 70 hours a month and never landing at a anywhere but your home base. Are we there yet? Circles

Typical Day
 

Typical Day: Most places start with a shift brief. There isn't always a flight schedule, if there is, its not in stone. So there will usually be a shift brief. Figure out who came to work, what aircraft are working, which need a Mx pilot, a Wx brief and intel. This is the good part. when you come to work, you never really know what you will fly, where or with who. But that is a double edged sword.

When you are not flying, there is often plenty to do. A mix of things that are actually important:
- gun range each quarter
- tactics training each quarter
- duty desk
- online annual training
- admin stuff: timecards, travel authorization, travel claims, misc

Then there is the stuff that will make you scream:
- IT systems that lock up
- outdated or poorly designed systems that require an expert to understand
- HR persons who hate their job, are incompetent, both and are generally unhelpful.
- Unfilled support positions. People who quit or retired, and take months to replace. Payroll person, travel person, Mx officer. Those jobs you can live without, but make things much harder to do.
- paperwork: Its the G, we love paperwork. We don't know why we are doing it, but it has to get done or someone, somewhere may have to work or not get their bonus for the year.

The Staff
 

- Aviators: tough one to describe. We are not a professional aviation organization. I don't care what some may say. Our organizational model is not designed like a aviation unit. It is BP model. leadership is not required to have any aviation background. Their is no leadership path or position for experienced pilots. An IP or standards pilot is still a GS-13 and gets paid the same as a line pilot who only has a rotor or fixed wing rating. There is no chief pilot.


Supervisors: A BP agent can lateral to AMO and become a supervisor. An AIA can ONLY become an SAIA. We cannot lateral to BP or supervise boat units. Every unit is different, but supervisors are generally discouraged from flying. This breeds two issues. Weak pilots applying for supervisor. Lazy pilots applying for supervisor. Not saying all or even most are poor or weak aviators. But the system does not reward good aviators who are experts in aviation and want to take on more aviation leadership. I can say that the best pilot in any AMO unit is a line pilot, and not a supervisor. There are good Sups, but the really good pilots very rarely apply for SAIA. This allows weaker aviators or people with little leadership experience to rise quickly. You will not be impressed with the leadership.


Typical Supervisor: Typical may be the wrong term. But here is what many look like, and the number is growing:

-less then 3000 hours (if they are a pilot)

-Not a pilot. Former radar operator, boat driver, BP agent

- Overweight: my point is that we claim to be Law Enforcement, but our leaders set poor examples

- No college

- peaked in high school


Support Staff: This is another area that is really seeing a decline. HR staff is getting smaller. Those that remain are now bitter and angry to have more work and same pay.


Mechanics: Another area in decline. The last maintenance contract gutted our most experienced and motivated mechanics. The contract removed requirements and lowered the bar on hiring. Many with advanced experience either left, were laid off or took a pay cut. Again, more work, less pay, decline in morale. Years ago the mechs were absolutely motivated and trusted. They would bend over backwards. Stay late, help you load the helo, answer questions, or just plain hustle when their was a real mission and everyone was in a hurry to go catch a bad guy. They were part of the team. Most places now have a stressful relationship with their mechanics. Planes that take forever to get fixed. Slow progress, and overall us vs them attitude. Not the ideal relationship for a professional aviation organization. Low readiness rates, slow work, and distrust. Not everywhere, but many places and growing.

Just a quick question for the AMO guys, what's happens to a pilot that has a medical issue pop up or ends up losing a medical? How does AMO handle that?

The Good
 

Ok.. so I went on a tirade and whined for an hour. So there must be some good. Well there is.

We have some good aircraft:
AS-350: Dual FADEC, A/C, XM Weather, great helo
UH-60 L/M: full glass, painted black, lots of power and just a baddaxx helo. Good missions.
MEA/King Air 350/C-12: Well good and bad.
Good: ProLine 21, new aircraft, good sensors
Bad: poor performance (slow, underpowered)

Bad aircraft:
PC12: good plane, only have 2 or 3 nationwide
C-206: junk
EC-120: cool looking, underpowered, no FLIR

The mission: tricky topic. There is definitely a mission. Plenty of bad guys on the land border, on boats and even planes. We have some cool programs that pilots can volunteer for. Comm stuff, airborne snipers, tactics stuff. Mostly underutilized but once a year you may support the Superbowl, or some other high visibility event. TDYs as I mentioned before can be a lot of fun. Stay in a good hotel, catch bad guys, eat good food, fly over new terrain, repeat for 10 days.

Guns: if you like guns, we have guns and plenty of ammo and range time. We go to the range 4 times a year, and the shooting is decent. Its not the military style of robotic shooting. Fairly tactical and usually fun.

VFR flying: one of the best parts. We rarely fly IFR. The job is VFR looking for stuff. This is not the airlines, with the autopilot on, talking to ATC and grandma in the back. This is often NVGs, or at night. Looking. Doesn't always pay off, but when it does, it feels good. A good car chase, or drug bust. Flash bangs, car wrecks, or chasing something or someone. The flying can be very good.


People: we do have some good people. Lots of different backgrounds and some really good pilots. Fighter guys, helo guys, freight guys, or guys who learned in BP. Most of us fly two different aircraft. You may fly the helo in the morning, and get a call out to fly the C-12 that evening.


So the flying part is good. But that only about 15 hours of the week. Its the 30-40 hours in the office that frustrates most of us.

But there is a dark side to the flying too.....

The bad
 

So I mentioned the good. Now the bad.

Schedule Changes: I have no idea what my schedule will be in 2 weeks. And whatever is posted has a 50% chance it will be changed. My wife doesn't make dinner anymore unless I tell her Im on the way home,

Seniority: We have absolutely no seniority. Except the rate we earn leave. Besides that.

There is no seniority for
your schedule
your days off
your vacation days
what aircraft you fly
who go TDY
when and if you PCS
what you will do tomorrow at work
any position in the office (training, instructor, firearms)

So a pilot with 30 years and age 56 just jammed worse then a new pilot with no quals.


Vacation Time and Days at Work:
This is interesting. After a few years many of us prior military will earn 8 hours Vacation Time.

Here are all the benefits you may be eligible for. Per year.
26 vacation days (work days NOT calendar days)
10 paid federal holidays ( you will likely worth half of them)
15 paid days for guard or reservists
13 days paid sick leave (plan on using 5 per year)


That's 10 weeks of excused and paid work or 42 weeks.

42 weeks x 5 days = 210 work days per year or 17 days per month.


so you say.. hey, that's about what a SWA flies. Well not really.

That's 17-20 days per month your entire career. Remember. No seniority. No moving up. No long haul. No bidding reserve.

Your last year WILL be as painful as your first year here.

Ohh.. but we sleep in our own bed every night?

Well not so fast. We do often go TDY to garden spots like Tucson or McAllen, and at home we often work nights. So that means working until midnight. Driving home. Sneaking into the house at 1am. Sleeping in your own bed, then having everyone in the house wake you up at 7am when they go to school.


Its not terrible. But it must be considered.


How do others do it??

MEDFLIGHT:
12 hours on, 12 hours off. 7 days on 7 days off
Wow.. 7 days off in a row sounds nice.
Sleeping during shift sounds nice too.


Almost forgot. The flying. We have become very focused on flight hours. Don't know why. Maybe its the pilot shortage. Competing with USCG or plain stupidity. But flying circles over the same stretch of desert or water gets old. We aren't doing overnight trips to Cancun with 20 hour layovers. It can be 6 hours in the same 20x20 mile box. With little to zero hope of actually accomplishing anything because the weather is marginal, nobody on the ground, or just no real intel. Just "patrolling".

About as exciting as driving a fire truck around the Sahara desert looking for a house fire.

Good friend is a fireman. They stay in shape. They are meticulous about keeping their equipment in top working order and they sleep and rest when there is no fire. That truck goes to fires, schools and the local Applebees. When there is a fire, they are ready and so is the equipment. We fly to fly, land tired, then go back up flying because somebody may have seen a fire.

Computer Systems: I swear there is some sick IT jokester at our HQ. We constantly change travel systems, nobody seems to know how to work out the bugs, HR is absolutely no help. Our systems are probably our number one enemy. A day doesn't go by that somebody in the office has some sort of IT based issue. An error message, locked up, cant figure it out. Whatever. It is incredible the amount of lost time we spend battling our own computer systems. Our IT systems:
Payroll
training
flight logs
travel
DHS training
Im sure I forgot one. Mind boggling how poorly they function.


Like someone said. You can be the highest paid single engine piston pilot in the entire country... before your divorce.

As has been highlighted before, folks do these BP related jobs (and yes I'm pointedly lumping everyone under the BP banner, I know AMO hates that) because they have ties to the local area. Being paid GS-13 to live in proverbial McAllen, Sierra Vista et al is all about local ties, not a flying progression worth putting up with those places. Most of the folks I knew in Del Rio (non-pilots) were doing it for a lateral to other agencies. That either would take years or their loved ones would give up on them. It's the reason we could never hire ARTs in my AFRC unit down there and the command finally wised up and knocked it off with the ART nonsense. Even AGRs go unfilled in this hiring environment, or they get filled by airline guys topping off their retirement then they're gone.

I certainly was about to geo-bachelor my family by moving them to bona fide civilization, in order not to lose them if I didn't get a transfer in time for the kid to turn school age. That took me 7 years of my life. I ain't getting that time back, and I'm certainly never doing that again, my life is finite after all lol.

Only the local-tied would be copacetic with that mediocrity, and from their perspective you really can't beat a GS-11 thru 14 in these places, compared to the median income on these places. So sure, a good reason as any for someone in that situation, but it's just not a good setup for most who are not local tied, especially in this aviation hiring environment. To each their own.

I’m curious why CBP doesn’t bring down the hiring mins, considering their manpower shortage and especially that you’ll really only be able to fly a piston single or RPA.

You don’t need 1500, or even 1000, to fly a C206 in a law enforcement capacity. I believe USFW and the National Parks will hire law enforcement pilots at 500 hours.

Birmingham duty location
 

I'm halfway along the hiring process and my application shows my applied duty location in Birmingham, AL. Does CBP have a base in Alabama?

Too Old...
 

Has anyone been successful into getting into AMO while retired over the grade of O-4? Recruiters are saying not possible without disability points for veterans preference due to being (way) over 40.

If you are a retired 0-4 or above, you must have a disability letter from the VA, of 0% or more, in order to get the age waiver. In 1978, the Civil Service Reform Act amended the employment preference for retired officers by denying it to those retiring at the rank of major (O-4) and above.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-over...s-faqs/?page=2

100 hour currency requirement
 

Just saw on the main page CPB is waving the 100 hours within the past year requirement for applicants. Between the experience requirement reductions, no more dual rating, and this recent additional reduction in minimum requirements, I really am curious of what the organization will look like in 1-2 years.

Also, given the most recent comments on here, am curious if there would be any benefits to rolling CBP OAM into Border Patrol or some other restructure that would increase the quality and capability of the organization.

All that said, crazy time to be a pilot given the strength of the economy, airline industry, and bargaining power rated aviators have within the industry depending on ones goals.

Lastly, appreciate everyones' candor on here.

To answer your question. No, we dont have an air unit in Birmingham, AL. What we do have are incompetent and lazy people in our HR department. Not all, but enough. They cant even get your applied location correct.

When HR cant get the simple things correct, just guess how your pay and benefits will be.

Nobody in AMO is accountable, except line pilots. I've never heard leadership take any responsibility for anything. Its never their fault. Its not IT or HR.

Good luck with that application. Just a taste of what you will experience for 20 years. Unpaid travel claims, downright incompetence.

Please share your experience getting that corrected.

Does AMO HQ read this forum? I hope so.

Don’t kid yourself no one at HQ cares.

This on the other hand is interesting.

https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=oppo...=core&_cview=0

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bandit612 View Post
Has anyone been successful into getting into AMO while retired over the grade of O-4? Recruiters are saying not possible without disability points for veterans preference due to being (way) over 40.

If you are a retired 0-4 or above, you must have a disability letter from the VA, of 0% or more, in order to get the age waiver. In 1978, the Civil Service Reform Act amended the employment preference for retired officers by denying it to those retiring at the rank of major (O-4) and above.

Don't know if this is your situation but I believe you still get the preference if you are retired from the reserves.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-over...professionals/

CBP questions
 

I just applied through the April announcement. They drug their feet on the last couple applications; they timed out. I have a couple questions, assuming this application goes through.

Does the application process still take the better part of a year?

How long is FLETC for AIA? I saw conflicting numbers, but the lowest was 73 working days. That's a long time if weekends are not counted.

Is CBP feeling the pain of the pilot shortage? APC shows about 500 pilot on staff, but CBP official websites says they have over 700.

The application process still takes a while, it is hard to give estimates because a lot of the hangup is your clearance, which varies for everyone. We have started running one-stop hiring events where you do the face-to-face, poly, etc all in one day. You may want to ask about getting into the next one, I don't know when the next one is.

Figure 3-4 months for FLETC/Spanish.

500 is closer to the truth. We have been told of a raise to boost retention, but no start date yet. It is most likely coming, as DOD/DOS/DOJ/NASA/NOAA GS-13 pilots all saw a significant raise as of 1 JAN.

DustoffVT,

Thanks for the info. Can you share what FLETC is like for AIA trianing? Basic daily schedule, how intense is the physical training and do AIA's have to do the room searches and other training that would be more intense for ground agents?

Thank you
 

[QUOTE=aeroengineer;2797881]Quote:
Originally Posted by Bandit612 View Post
Has anyone been successful into getting into AMO while retired over the grade of O-4? Recruiters are saying not possible without disability points for veterans preference due to being (way) over 40.

If you are a retired 0-4 or above, you must have a disability letter from the VA, of 0% or more, in order to get the age waiver. In 1978, the Civil Service Reform Act amended the employment preference for retired officers by denying it to those retiring at the rank of major (O-4) and above.


**Many thanks to Aeroengineer and Shifty101...now it's hurry up and wait for the VA to get through the 4 month process of confirming I can't hear anything anymore...

I am surprised you are applying on USAjobs when there are so many resources to apply directly to the agency. CBP AMO has direct hire authority. I recommend you reach out on the APC link below and click on the "contact us here" link. That said, if you made it this far in the forum and you still want to apply, click below.

https://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/...ine_operations

I didn't realize there were other ways to apply. I already submitted my app through USAJOBS, so I'll wait that one out. Do you happen to know which veterans can have the poly waived?

Grumpy, dont make this process any harder on yourself. When you get recommendations on here, you should probably take it as free advice. That said, do not go through usajobs its a broke system, which is why AMO has direct hire authority.

You may qualify for a poly waiver if you have an active Top Secret with a SCI (read on or not read on) but you cannot have received that TS on a waiver. One common waiver is a financial waiver.

again, usajobs is a broke system the has failed many agencies. Stop making things harder and reach out directly, again, free advice...

Thanks for the advice. USAJOBS definitely is a broken system.

Puerto Rico
 

I know this has been asked a few times over the last 18 pages, but only halfway answered once. Are there any relatively new hires that have been stationed in Puerto Rico that could comment on the living conditions.
Do our kids have access to the DoD school that is there?
Is it a safe environment for a family, crime wise?
Are there realistically any nice places to live? Most of the neighborhoods look pretty junky.

I've been to San Juan a few times, working narcotics with the USCG, but that was 12 years ago.


Also, on a semi different topic... Are there any requirements for how far away I live from work (anywhere, not just in Puerto Rico)? Lets say I lived in the USVIs, could I fly my own C172 into work (~ 1 hour flight). Same if I worked in Miami but lived in the FL keys. Is flying into work in a personal plane realistic at all?

Any feedback is appreciated!

PR questions
 

I am also looking at Puerto Rico as a helo pilot. Can anyone provide work conditions and tax issue information? Thanks.

I actually LOL on this...how is relying a Cessna 172 to fly to work everyday realistic. I get it, you're thinking living the big life in the islands but common man, lets get back to reality. You are required to work 8 hour days, with an additional 2 hours available (LEAP) 5 days a week. Not to throw spears, but I also question your decision making if you are really thinking of flying a single piston engine over the ocean for 2 hours a day...every day...

That said, focus on the west side of the island. It is not a glorious location, which is why it remains a new hire location, and also remains the top location for AIA's to transfer out of. Put it this way, I have been with the agency 6 years, I am in a top location, and I have a start date with the airlines.

Best of luck!

What is a "Top Location?"

Pretty much by definition, it’s anywhere but PR, Laredo, NASO, Alpine or McAwesome.

Also can be defined as any branch/unit likely to lose slots in coming years.

Well that’s subjective but I think I would also add Del Rio, El Paso, Tucson, and Buffalo to DustoffVT’s list.

Top Location can also be summed up as any location that would require the same amount of luck to get to as picking the winning powerball numbers. Good luck you’ll need it.

I started the Fast Start Program at the end of January and got a formal offer after completing everything including working through a hearing loss issue, at the end of March. I was told the normal process takes about 8-9 months but with the Fast Start Program they try to get you through within 90 days. You have to stay engaged in the process and my recruiter asked me to call him at least once a week. That is probably the best advice. They are working with many applicants and you need to stay on top of your own application. The online system still shows I'm waiting on several things, but I am reporting for duty on April 29th and start FLETC on May 6th.

You needed "luck" when HQ was still "realigning the northern border" from 2010 to 2016 and forcing guys to take "prime locations" else where, causing the "flow" from the stated above locations.

Anymore, you can pretty much go anywhere, as every Director is facing shortages due to attrition rates (retirements), but mostly high turnover rates due to pilots leaving AMO for the Airlines or other private sector jobs.

If any of you are interested in the difference between attrition and turn over, and you should be, check out the link below.

https://business.dailypay.com/blog/e...r-vs-attrition

I could be wrong but I find that statement to be highly unlikely. Perhaps it’s easier now to move than it has been in the past but good luck getting to a highly sought after location. Easy to be accepted at a new location, not so easy being released by your current location since you already said everyplace is understaffed. No director will release you without a backfill. The crap locations have always gotten priority when it comes to staffing and I’m sure that hasn’t changed.

I’ve also heard a rumor that PCS moves are off the table and the best you can hope for is a VRP move. I bailed for a major airline about a year ago so maybe someone still sailing on the titanic can confirm that.

Well I can assure you, what you have heard is rumor and most of what you are claiming is not accurate, more speculation. This is just bad information that you claiming.

PCS moves from the SWR are currently off the table, but you can transfer within. There were several AIA lateral announcements in 2018, one announcement had 24 of the 35 air locations and that other had like 28. The new announcements, which was just out, had full paid moves for GS11-13 with no minimum time (3 years). They did this because no one was putting in to transfer to the El Paso's, Tucson, Alpine, San Angelo's etc. Long story short, every director is short on pilots. I know of 3 pilots in the last 1 month to resign from 1 branch to go to regionals or cargo, for the long-term goal of getting on with a legacy carrier.

Also PR is getting priority in their PCS. This means they can trump anyone in the SWR for locations. Did you also hear they opened up P3 branches in Corpus and JAX to try and luehr in pilots with heavy fixed wing time? Well they did.

Please I assure you that everything I say is accurate. You sound just like a recruiter. Are you? I lived through this nonsense for 11 years as did many of the others who post on here to put out accurate information for new hires. Not some made up nonsense to sucker them in. Tell them the truth and let them make up their own minds.

Moves from the SWR are currently off the table? As it has been for a decade. Hired into some horrible location on the southwest border only to be told you can move yourself to some other horrible location on the southwest border but no where else. Meanwhile people who have never been to the southwest border can move two or three times because they aren’t limited/punished by such a nonsense rule.

As far as listing locations on an announcement...means absolutely nothing when you are hired into the southwest region and you are restricted from leaving. One of the many flaws in this agencies thinking that caused the mass exodus to the airlines.

Without having seen the announcement I’ll bet you that eliminating the 3 year minimum time before being eligible to transfer was limited to just the locations you mentioned. Which will do nothing to fill them because no one wants to live there. Realistically you are looking at twice that time frame to transfer. Something you don’t want new hires to know.

PR has PCS moves because the agency was sued and lost. You can quit the agency and they have to pay your move back to the states. They can’t leave you stranded in PR which had previously been done. Thank you to the person who took the time to set the agency straight by filing the lawsuit. Listing PCS moves in the announcement also means nothing for anyone but PR. They are very limited depending on funding and must be approved if they are even still available. Which I doubt because my sources are pretty reliable.

No clue what you are talking about with the P3s. They are legacy customs branches that have been around longer than AMO or OAM or whatever it is the agency calls itself now a days.

Now let’s get back to focusing on the important things. It’s about time for a new name change so we can get new creds, badges, and uniforms!