What air to air RADAR is the KingAir using?

Man, sounds like no matter if you’re a helo dude, fixed wing dude, or dual, you’ll be riding the virtual skies in an MQ-9.

Only if you don't refuse the first offer of a UAS location. When you do this they'll cram you into Laredo or McAllen that's already overstaffed, but because that's what HQ wants that's what they get. Forget about going North, and even Southeast locations such as Houston and points East are difficult to get after you've done your time in the Southwest.

All in all, with the special salary rate + location bonus it's not a bad way to make a living. You'll just be stuck someplace along the Southern border between Laredo and McAllen. Hope you like eating at Whataburger.

Appreciate the feedback man, and as always, appreciate the candor on here. Always figured doing time on the border was mandatory, but curious if you’d be able to make it out to Houston or New Orleans after 3-5 years. Completely understand about needs of the agency, but curious how realistic it is for guys to get a way out after paying their dues for a few years. 3-5 on the border is a hardship. But 5-10 could be, well, a bit of a sentence. Thanks again!

Government HR contracts, agreements and policies aren't worth anything. Asking for speculation on what the environment will be like in 5-10 years is silly. You need to make your decision based upon the worst case scenario. Picture whatever that is for YOU and decide if the "benefits" for you out-weigh the risks. Period. If your worst case doesn't play out then life's good.

Thanks Emerson, understood. I didn’t mean to ask for speculation, just commenting on the limited mobility for hardship postings. As always, appreciate the feedback.

king air 350i radar
 

I think the king air 350i uses synthetic aperture radar units developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. :)

"Needs of the service" is an often-used excuse. Right now the needs of the service is to have as many pilots on the Southwest border - just take a look at the most recent announcement on USAjobs.

Houston and New Orleans are both within the Southeast Region. It's not unheard of for a newhire who's done time in a Southwest branch to get New Orleans but it's been awhile. Houston used to be the most coveted branch to get transferred to because of COLA and no state income taxes, but with the special salary rate for AIA's now the salary table levels the playing field. It's still tough to get into Houston, and I would be surprised if someone with less than 8 years of AMO service got it.

McAllen and Laredo used to be hard-to-fill locations in that as long as someone from a higher priority location (Puerto Rico) didn't put in for the same location you wanted to transfer to, you'd get that location over anyone from a northern or south eastern location. Not the case anymore. The reality is if you're a helicopter or dual-rated pilot you're going to have a difficult time getting off the southwest border.

Looks like I've got an interview coming up soon in El Paso, Tx. Any advice or common errors pilots make during the process? Thanks

I was with the agency almost 6 years and was very involved. I started at a new hire location. The reality is, after 3-5 years you’re no longer blind to the problems within the agency, mainly management (almost No leaders). Once you get a top down perspective, you’ll be looking for other careers like many on this forum. Unless you are just one of those employees who works better being told what to do, even when it makes zero sense. That said, you can transfer after 3-5 years but plan on TDYing a lot. My last year I was tdy about 120-130 days. TDYs are not like the airlines, you’re gone longer, and when your home you’re working. I was tdy and worked thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and 4th of July, not by choice. The tdy mission I was on was one of the most worthless operations Ive been apart of, to include military.

Bottomline, I left for the airlines. I’m taking a 65% paycut (short term) and am completely ok with that, but I planned my escape for 1.5 years. I no longer have a job that’s secure, but neither do my Co workers in the airlines to include management.

Most common error recently is, they get hired...

Would any of you old heads care to provide some details on the initial training for a newbie from start to arrival/checkout at the duty location? The family lives in DFW. I suppose the closest location is Alpine. Any thoughts commuting (driving) to/from DFW to there or anywhere close???

Thanks in advance.

[QUOTE=batf15;2936905]Would any of you old heads care to provide some details on the initial training for a newbie from start to arrival/checkout at the duty location? The family lives in DFW. I suppose the closest location is Alpine. Any thoughts commuting (driving) to/from DFW to there or anywhere close???


It is not a commutable job.

You are subject to a recall at any time due to your Law Enforcement Availability Pay, and will be scheduled to work 5 days per week on a 8-10hr shift (or longer if your case/patrol runs long).

Unless you like driving from Dallas to Alpine 5 days a week for 10+ years, I’d say you need to move to your base.

but you get a gun and a sweet fed badge. that alone is worth the $100,000+ that you are missing out on at the airlines.

Unless of course you do the FFDO thingy.

What if you don't want to do the airline thing?

Really - those are the two choices in aviation? :confused:

Pilots ***** themselves out all the time.
Always have and always will.
PFT anyone?
Buying type ratings?
Offering to fly for free to build hours? Free instruction/free BFRs/IPCs.

If you don't consider the work worthwhile - I would absolutely go elsewhere.

But to think that every pilot out there wants to work for the airlines - in any capacity - is just idiotic.

Not at all.

Maybe you could share your personal experience with CBP before we start the debate on the pros and cons of CBP vs. ANYTHING ELSE.

:ears

What debate?

You don't like it and are leaving or have left.
That is a personal choice.

Most of the people I know that worked there have left.

A few have come to my job or are looking to come.

We are not debating whether you like the job or not.

I will debate a view point that the only piloting job worth having is an airline job.

Now you can start a whole 'nuther thread for that if you like so as not to get in the way of the information on this thread.

Blah. I don’t think anyone is saying that the only flying job worth having is an airline gig. There are plenty of other good/decent paying jobs that give satisfaction and other Quality of Life perks that the airlines can’t always give, and I don’t begrudge anyone doing them.

But I will warn everyone I talk to AWAY from an AMO AIA job. I used to print out the USAJobs announcement for an AIA and tell the other guys, man, I wished I had THAT job.

I won’t rehash what has probably been said on the drawbacks of the AIA position and the extreme dysfunction of AMO. Plenty of venom has been spewed, and rightfully so I’m sure in many cases.

But I intended to make AMO a career, and was one of the last in my year group to bail as I didn’t think I wanted that airline and being an AIA should be the best job ever. But it isn’t. Not even Close. The drawbacks drown out any minuscule benefits that might be received.

There are better jobs, civilian, government and military than AMO. Go there first, and keep trying. If anyone goes to AMO, keep looking. You won’t be there 1-2 years before the cheap veneer wears off....

I would agree with everything you said Jackalope.

I too had hope to join AMO 'back in the day' and would be there myself if my situation had been different. I started thinking about the job back in 1991 and keep it in the back of my mind till 2009.

Now that I look and see what my contemporaries have to say and how none of them that I keep in touch with are still with AMO any longer makes me feel that fate might have provided a guiding hand in the process.

: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)

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...

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?

"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.

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.

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?

Pm sent. Thanks

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

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?

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.

Hello Everyone,

First off, I want to thank everyone for their candor on this topic. I understand the frustrations that some (or all) are going through. I have read and reread a lot of the post on the posts and I'm still interesting in the AIA position in the future.

With that being said, I have a few questions for all of you.

1) I'm planning on joining one of the other CBP components (OFO or BP) while I build up my hours up. If I was to join AMO at a later date, do I have to do the academy again or can I laterally transfer over?

2) Since the first duty station is a drone site, how many hours do you spend actually flying the drone per day?

3) What is you average day like? That for both drone sites and non drone sites.

Thanks for what you do for this country!

Ok I had applied twice for this position and withdrew my application twice because I thought that the regionals were a better choice for me. However, after almost a year at the regionals, I have seen the treatment pilots get which is very dismal to say the least. My question is: If I apply for it a third time, would they denied my application? Or would I be able to apply and get hired? What are the hard places to fill now days? Is there a recruiter that I can contact? And at which point, during the hiring process, I would know what location will be assigned to me and what airplane I would be flying? Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the club. Regional's were a real pain, so I feel ya. From my understanding, they are hurting for pilots and won't count your withdrawls against you. USAJOBS would be the longest way to get hired. AMO has direct hiring authority, so I'd go VFR direct to them. I hear there are hiring fairs where you can interview and poly in the same day, but I don't know where or when the next is.

Anyone have an update on current manning and projected hiring? Also, anything on what aircraft are used on the southern border? I have read that there would be some consolidation down to a couple different rotorwing airframes (AS-350 and H-60??)

I had heard they were getting rid of the polygraphs.
If still in use.....have they at least changed the process?

I recently took mine. Nothing has changed with the poly process. There has been a H.R. submitted in 2010 to make it easier for vets to get that waived and it failed. It was reintroduced recently by Dan Crenshaw and there has been no movement. Don't hold your breath on congress.

Took my poly last month after being denied my reciprocity request. I hear 206s in McAllen....Laredo helo only....Sierra Vista, San Angelo, and Grand Forks are drone only. Slim Pickens. Interview this month

Doesn’t San Angelo have a PC-12? I was TDY to Goodfellow recently and saw the PC-12 flying a lot.

Regardless I’m definitely interested to hear about how your interview goes.

Rapid Jackalope - Could you enlighten me about these better jobs? Civilian and government?
1200 hr / 400 ME CFI here looking for a new gig. seeking a fun challenging job, looking for something with bush wheels or twin turboprop, BEFORE i spend the rest of my life in an airline. would really appreciate your input.

thanks all for the input about CBP AIA. I was really excited about the job until I read this thread. The politics and BS of a gov run organization would really make the job miserable for me.

MQ9 mandatory?
 

Looks like management is volun-telling pilots they need to go to UAS school at a particular air branch if not more across the country that I don’t know of. For those of you that have been with the agency for awhile, what would be the repercussions if one were to refuse ? Example would be for someone like myself who’s dual rated, flys two airframes for AMO already. Thanks for any input.