What would it take for you to stay
 

I can’t understand why a majority of you are not jumping ship for “gr$$ner” pastures. With current raises at the airlines and more coming you guys are severely under compensated. And working 7 days in a row away from the family must be a grind. I’m not sure how you can fly around the wealthiest sob’s in the the world for peanuts. But honestly, they need 40-60% raises and unlimited cc52 in the next 6 months or I’d be gone. Also, sounds like you guys work your a$$ off. Hopefully things get better over there.

Why is it that people who are either former NJA pilots or even those that never were are so interested in giving us advise?

Sounds like it’s a good thing you’re not over here. Everyone has their reasons for coming to NetJets, and many have their reasons for staying. I agree wages need to increase, but there are a lot of other QOL issues each person considers. I’m sure many are looking at and evaluating their options now, and will continue to do so as the Majors come to agreements on their contracts. But NetJets will always be the secret sauce for some…just not you.

Without fairly hefty improvements, I believe there will be a very large amount of newer pilots leaving and serious issues hiring. I also think there will be increased levels of pilots that have been here for 15+ years leaving also, but mostly those in their 40s or under. Any non scheduled job will always require a lot of flexibility and will always suck at least a little bit because of that. That would be the same even if the pay was higher than Delta and FedEx.

The pay is actually not horrible if you don't have a clue as to what we are really paid. It needs to go up for inflation and because we work harder and deserve more. 40 to 60% would be great, but that will never happen. A current PIC on the 7&7 is probably averaging around 250K with all the soft money. There were SICs that made over 400K last year and at least one that will do it again this year. The amount of days working to accomplish that is ridiculous, but it is real.

The stability of the 7&7 schedule is a major selling point to many pilots, but I admit 7 days gone is not easy for every family. I would love to see more 52 day availability, but I seriously doubt that will happen. I would say it is more likely to have less 52 day than more, but with the company paying more to get rid of or shrink it. For those that have been here a long time and are 50+ years old (the current majority), it isn't as easy as you believe to leave. Getting hired somewhere else wouldn't be the hard part. Starting over on reserve and with a possible bad commute and little to no vacation comparitively for a long time would be a big issue. Those who have been here a long time have entwined the scheduling, basing, and vacations that this job offers into their personal lives deeply enough that starting over is just too much. Most would just choose to work some extra days to make a bit more money rather than start over. I also believe most will choose to fight hard for big improvements once again if it comes down to that rather than to leave and start over again.

Many NJA pilots of rapidly advancing age and more than 15 or 20 years on property (myself included) don’t have enough career runway left to make up the initial pay cut. If I were only 5 years younger, I would have pulled the pin 18 months ago. There are lots and lots of people who just had unlucky career timing, ended up at NJ and now have golden handcuffs. It is what it is.

But I would encourage any pilot under the age of even 50 to look REALLY hard at a major. Apply. Take an interview or two. You can always say no. The math really is overwhelming.

There's another consideration. The type of flying. The airlines can be like "groundhog day", you see the same airports over and over. I was at NJA 2005-2017 (medical) and it was rare I didn't see a new airport during a 5-7 day tour. And there was some very challenging flying. I liked the tours where it was just the two of us and we kept the same jet the entire tour. I declined recall to USAirways in 2007 because I was close to upgrading and I liked the flying a lot better. Had some pretty good adventures, both good and bad. Flew some very cool people and some not so cool although not many.

Working the CC72 day schedule with little soft pay because FDP wasn't a thing yet in 2017 I still made $202K my last 12 months. I had finally switched to the 7-7 but bailed on medical before I ever flew it.
A quick word on vacations for those with 10+ years of service and flying the 7-7. That is 21 days in a row off 4 times a year.

With the regionals paying $90-$100/hr to new hires the pay will need to come up. On other forums I've seen pilots say they went from a PPL to flying for a legacy carrier in as little as 4 years.

Yeah, I mostly do the same five airports. And occasionally maybe another five. Then there's a few more resort destinations that go very senior (I use my seniority for family schedule, not exotic overnights with super-senior FAs). And that's a narrowbody lol


Mathematically that is entirely possible and not terribly uncommon right now. Can the fractional system handle commercial pilots without turbine experience, or even wet commercials? Or is that too hard on the average line CA?

To add that number into context, you were a 12 year captain (I think?) who made 202k on the 12th year. Even adding 75k for FDP which is completely unrealistic, those numbers really need to shift up to compete salary wise to any airline right now, regional or not.

Yep, no doubt I fly to less places in general at the airlines. If varied airports is a top priority, airlines are NOT the place for you. I flew into some really cool spots at NJA and other 91/135 jobs, but I also flew into a lot of worthless crapholes too. Defiantly a much larger spectrum of airports, so many of which are super cool and unique places to fly depending on the fleet you're on.

Unrealistic?

Many pilots are well above that level already with months to go, but anyways…. Let’s listen to a guy at Alaska who left NetJets for Virgin America after flying at NJA for a year.