I heard that the next PC cycle will involve taxiing to make sure crews don't get lost and end up at Atlantic.

 

🤣 sorry we thought you wanted us there, we also accidentally topped off...

 

For y'all that have left NJA for the FAR 121 world, is the NJA pilot group good?

Perhaps I've been at NJA too long (close to 15 years now), but the stories F/Os tell me about the PICs they fly with...it's difficult not to be disgusted at times.

Our CBA really shortsighted the F/Os, so much so it is embarrassing so many voted "yes".

65, 70 and 75 year old pilots that are well aware they are a liability yet mouth off and literally abuse the younger pilot sitting next to them that is forced to take in the slack.

Our union leadership is often regurgitated personalities that shift from union to management and back to union. Recalled and they boomerang back. Those volunteers that are doing a good job are often discarded for a lesser candidate but someone that knows how to suck up.

So what is it that makes the pilot group at NJA good? I fail to see it. Sure, we have some outstanding pilots here that care about who they work with and the job they do, but it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. One thing I find interesting at NJA, management and the union often discard the hard working and caring pilots for those that are yes men (and women) that know how to tow the party line.

I wonder if FAR 121 groups are better. Perhaps it is the nature of the beast, but at least if you are dealing with an unpleasant co-worker in the FAR 121 world you are unlikely to be stuck with them for 12+ hour days for 7 days straight.

I'm not trying to stir the pot, just looking for the observations from others. I've been at NetJets since 2003-2004, and the same dysfunctional nonsense and personalities that come with it that existed back then are alive and well today. It's a shame the place doesn't seem to grow or mature. Low-brow people fighting to keep their place, I guess...I can't quite figure it out, and I've stopped trying.

 

I won't really start worrying about the next airplane until the displacements actually start.

But I'm crossing my fingers that Cessna will build the Hemisphere and Netjets will buy it. With .90 speed, stand up cabin, 4500 ish range, and a Planeview cockpit, the Hemisphere would nicely fill a niche that replaces the GIV and G450, DA 2000, and especially the POS, disaster of a purchase, won't touch it with a 10 foot pole, Challenger 605 (the 650 title belongs to somebody else). As currently projected for entry into service, it would nicely coincide with the drawdown of the Gulfstream 450/550 and its price point is attractive. Best of all, it meets the Large Cabin criteria.

The fly in the ointment is the trouble they are having with the engine. It already contributed to killing the Falcon 5X program. It's probably too late to switch to a different engine and Cessna has never built anything this big before. I give it 50-50 on being built, 80-20 on NJ buying it if they do.

 

Just had my phone interview with NJA yesterday, basic HR questions. Reading this thread has put me a bit off of working for them, but I am trying to get back into flying full time, and have enjoyed the corporate/135 side of things....

Also at 6' 4" it sounds like I may wash out of the pool merely due to height, I've been crammed into a Lear 35A for the better part of 2 years now, and it doesn't sound like the Phenom is any bigger

any words of wisdom?

 

NetJets is full of people that think they and NJA are the tip of the spear. HR believes it, management preaches it, and pilots buy it because they were told to.

Would I say 121 pilots are better or worse? Not sure I wanna start that fight. What I will say is that overall they are different. The worst/weirdest/odd/non standard pilot I’ve flown with at my airline has not come close to the worst/weirdest/odd/non standard pilot I ever flew with at NJA. But I also flew with guys at NJA that I genuinely miss flying with. There are lots of great people there.

There were plenty of normal guys that were totally cool, totally chill, good pilots and had a realistic outlook on things. But the odds of getting a pipolar, cross eyed, political extremist nutcase who also can’t fly to save his/her life, and would do everything in their power to to destroy QOL for your trip because they were those “mission complete types, were higher than they should have been and in a much higher percentage than at my airline. We have a “fab 5” and everyone knows who they are. I would say NetJets has a “fab 20%.”

I would say the signwave of what captain you were going to get paired with at NJA for 7 days had much larger swings than I’ve experienced in 121. Doesn’t mean we don’t have our share of oddballs. I flew with a guy that dry heaves if he even smells coffee and he was militant in having no coffee in the cockpit. That was a hard 4 days lol. But I also think back to the craziest, most infamous captains on the Phenom fleet and the fact that they still had jobs and weren’t thrown on their ass into the streets years ago is mind boggling.

 

Try to be shorter?

 

Sadly femur reduction surgery is outside of my budget

 

You don’t wanna be 6.4” in a Phenom trust me. The Phenom is only slightly bigger than the 35 series Lears (I’ve flown both). Maybe look into Wheels Up or XO. Wheels Up just bumped their pay and they have Citation Xs coming on property.

Hopefully NJA can put you in a sovereign or something since that’s where you wanna be.

 

Not at all picky about where I want to be, I have applications in with XO and Flex as well. XO being the "best" option from what I've heard