GlobalPizzaMan

How does the schedule work? For example 5 on 2 off? Can you string together a long stretch of work days followed by a longish stretch of off days? Do you bid? Does it get assigned?

Thanks.

USMCFLYR

You are thinking like this is a pilot job. :-)
Thus is a Federal Law Enforcement job in which you happen to use an airplane (or UAV) as your mode of patrol/transportation/surveillance.

I’m sure our AIAs will be along shortly to fill in the details.

rabbo

I've been talking to recruiting some but I'm not an AIA - in this role you're flying law enforcement. It's not a pilot job you can commute to. Those of us familiar with the military understand "needs of the service" and that logic has to kind of apply. It's a job where you fly drones, helicopters and or piston airplanes VFR looking for bad guys. Sure they have others but come to terms with the fact that you might be a career Cessna pilot (worst case, remember "needs of the service"). It isn't the airlines - it's a law enforcement role with a mission. The hiring process is gonna take several months and there is a lengthy academy so it's basically a career change not an intermediate stop.

Turbine

So CBP will hire fixed wing pilots and possibly immediately train them to fly helicopters ? Is this a rotor craft add on to their ATP?
I'm curious what this training program would be like, length, difficulty/success rate etc. Is the training similar intensity to 121 airline training ?

Scubidopapa

I know of fixed wing only guys that was send to helicopter add on. And I know of helicopter pilots that were sent to flight school for a fixed wing type rating straight out of the academy. AMO doesn’t really do any “initial” or “basic” training. Type ratings and initials are done by private companies. All In house training is job specific. Such as, search and rescue, NVG’s, mountain flying, maritime patrols, air to air intercept, surveillance.

GlobalPizzaMan

How lengthy is the academy? When do you get on the payroll? Thank you.

DustoffVT

It's a rotor add on to your commercial. Done at a vendor in So-Cal. About 3 weeks to month. R-44, not even close to airline training. We require 250 in category and class to become a PIC, so you'll ride around on the Astar for 200+ hours and then go back to the vendor for Astar initial (1 week). Then PIC mission training at the branch and a full check ride. Sounds like a lot but it's not that bad.

And, it might not be immediate. All depends on funding, where you're at in the FY, etc. Remember its the gov't. Pay isn't dependent on what you fly, like at an airline (although it used to be).

USMCFLYR

Dust - You say 'although it used to be'. I didn't know that. When did that stop.
Pay across the board sounds pretty standard for gov't flying so I'm not surprised. Actually I am surprised that the pay ever differentiated.

We - like you then - have a standard pay rate based on Level and step which has to do with longevity (not even seniority in the operations). Our GS14/1 Domestic King Air pilots make the same as GS14/1 International Challenger pilots. Now a difference in our in travel pay. International guys make a lot in Per Diem (like Tokyo if they don't spend it all ), then a KA guy in Fort Worth and a crap ton of OT for much of the travel and flying - but base pay is for being an ASIP - not the airplane you fly.

I'm just curious when you say pay did depend on aircraft - what was the range and how did the aircraft plan out?

DustoffVT

Back in the dark ages, most legacy customs pilots were GS-12s. There were only limited -13 slots, reserved for PICs in multi-tubine A/C (-60, citation, etc). I think it was about a 1:4 ratio and the 13 slots were non-competitive “merit based”. The ultimate good ol’ boy network.

I’m not exactly sure when the practice ended and everyone became a -13 but it was well before the merger, ~late 90s. Well before my time. The P-3 PICs getting GS-14 is another story, but even that is no longer the case. New pilots in P-3 branches will no longer get a 14.

USMCFLYR

Understood Diver and Dustoff - thanks.