Star Marianas Air
 

I have a SKYPE interview with this airline. They are 121/135 and have a small ($1,800) pro-rated training contract. Contract requires 6 months to a year depending on how much of your training you want to pay back.

I am looking for info on scheduling and housing. I was told by HR flying is single pilot VFR in the islands and to Guam. Up to 100 hours per month. Pay is minimum 60 hours with additional pay above 80 hours. Some type of housing allowance..

Also, I am afraid of snakes.

If any of you work there or know anything at all please advise or warn...;)

Huh, this is the first time I have ever heard of this airline. You sure they're legit? Skype interview? That sounds fishy as all get out.

Edit: Wow. It seems they are legit. (http://www.starmarianasair.com/home.html) PA-32's in the islands, that sounds pretty awesome. Not a huge resume builder though...

If you are afraid of snakes you should probably avoid Guam.

The Brown Tree Snake on Guam

I believe there is info on the forums about this place. And stuff about lady men over there too. It looks like it would be fun to fly there.

I had a few friends fly for them, and overall, they said it wasn't terrible. The flights are like .6 each leg, and you do many of them in one day. Not sure on management/aircraft but I know they had fun doing it. Guam is far out there though, why not instruct or anything like that?

$1800 for a PA-32? Ouch. Do you get an ATP at least?

Probably covers the cost of the trip out there.
I can see a Skype interview for an outfit based in Guam.
Yeah - except for total time it might not be the best for the resume, but it ought to provide some interesting conversation fodder; and for a young single guy looking to start out I'm sure it could be a short lived adventure.

Good luck tkr and let us know how the interview turns out.

USMCFLYR

schedule varies. some pilots had 2 days off a week, some had none, some had 4. they are day and night ops. regular duty day is 12 hrs, so 7am-7pm. i never flew 100hrs a month....more like 40-50 give or take. and my pay was salary regardless of how much flying i did..maybe they changed it.

they are 135. cargo only to guam and rota for now.

housing can be cheap. when i was there we could only live on tinian. i guess they're letting pilots live on saipan now. saipan is the bigger island with a lot more to do. i lived on tinian and paid $350 for rent. electricity was expensive, often $300 a month unless u can manage to live with minimal A/C.

it's a good gig to build time. the islands are beautiful. go scuba diving if you can. you won't regret it.

pm me if u have more questions.

Okay, so HR says 60 hour guarantee with extra pay over 80. Can you live on 60 hour pay? Don't be surprised if the schedule is 79 hours per month. Looking at the map and their destinations, the longest flight would be a bit over an hour (Guam to Saipan). So, an average of 0.6 per flight sounds reasonable. Assuming about 80 hours that yields about 130 flights per month or about 6.5 legs per day, five days per week. Looks like you'll keep busy :)


If you like the water, fishing, and diving, have no family to whine when you are gone for months at a time, I think it would be a BLAST..... at least for a year or so. I lived on an island for four years and have FANTASTIC memories. Sell everything but your laptop and GO! There will be plenty of chances to tie yourself down to plane-Jane 121 job in Everytown, USA.

Just make sure you keep up with your instrument skills: get and use MS Flight Simulator, and review IFR regs regularly. I had the great pleasure to interview a VFR guy, and the great DISpleasure of having to send him home because he forget the regs.

Go. Take a year long "working vacation." Enjoy yourself. And every night as you sit exhausted, having that first beer, take a moment to pity the rest of us poor slobs overnighting in Peoria or Del Rio.


Tourist town riddle:
Why did G*d invent tourists?
So locals could get l@id too.

Do most pilots go there for 6-12 months and leave, or do any of them stay for longer periods of time? Any chance they grow and start flying larger aircraft?

I've probably spent four months on Guam over the past five years and have never ever seen a snake. I've even looked for them.

Sincerely,

Willie Edwards

Pm me with your questions.

It depends on the person. Some have been there for 3 years, others leave after 1 yr, one even left after 6 months.

They are trying to buy Navajos. They want to do pax service to Rota, and then Guam. But do NOT go based on the HOPES of flying multis here. It has always been a "believe the rumor when you're sitting in the navajo ready to take off" kind of thing. They fed us with talk of Twin Otters before I even got there; and in my 1 yr 4 months there, I never saw a multi with SMA pilots flying it.

So what is the pay?

I'd be interested in knowing the pay as well. What about cost of living? Someone mentioned $350 a month rent but what does that get you? A plantation house or a efficiency apartment in the barrio?

If its the cherokee side, I've been there and done that, PM me.

Bob Christian? OMG, run awaayyyyyyy.

no, go for it. I flew for PIA back in the 90's, PA 32's, I made 36 landings in one day once, SPN-TIN-SPN, all day. then flew the Shorts eventually.

The tree snake thing is a VERY old story.

Only part of Tinian is inhabitable, the Navy owns half of the island.
Saipan is great, lots of old relics from the war. Good people, great locals, good food, and seafood. Tinian also.
Don't worry there are lots of mainlanders, teachers, Dr's, etc.
have fun!!!

Looks like a nice time builder

If anyone knows, or has heard, I've got a few ?'s about SMA and living there....

What is the pay schedule like? I saw somewhere that they pay a fixed salary regardless of number of hours flown. I supposed that's good if you're only making 15 minute hops between Tinien and Saipan all day. Is it enough to live on and still have enough to put away into savings?

Are SMA pilots still required to live on Tinien or can you live on Saipan? I would want to bring my wife and she'll be in the market for some kind of a professional position (she's got a business degree). It looks like there would be more opportunities for that on Saipan

If pilots can/do live on Saipan, what's the best way to get to work if you're based out of Tinian?

What are the schedules like? Is it a four 14 hour days on / 3 off type schedule or more like 8-5 five days a week?

Where do most pilots live? I've been looking at garagesale.saipan.com to get an idea of cost of living and it looks like a basic apartment is going to be in the $400-$600/mo range. There are some posted that are significantly cheaper but I would be concerned about the neighborhood.

Is owning a car pretty much mandatory? I read that there's no public transportation. I would imagine having one shipped over there would be prohibitively expensive and it's better to just buy one there then sell when leaving. Could one make it with just a bicycle or scooter of some kind?

Does SMA have any kind of cooperative, CASS style agreements with any airlines? Living so close to Asia, it would be really cool to hop over to Japan, Thailand, or Manila for a few days to check out those places. I've never been anywhere outside of North America and the Caribbean.

Thanks!

I'd do it for a year if I was low-time. Plenty of diving, snorkeling, hiking, etc on those islands. Natives are friendlier than many places.

Lot of strippers on Guam, imported from Cali. They cater to Japanese tourists...if you're not a Japanese tourist, you can date them. Watch out for the local "girls" though.

it's been over a year since i left but i can answer based on when i was there...here we go:

paid every other week. yes it's salaried, about $26000 i believe? give or take. it's definitely enough to live on there. i acquired some savings while i was there while paying loans, rent, utilities, groceries, gas, etc.

when i was there, we could only live on Tinian. after i left, i heard they let pilots live on Saipan as well. so you have a choice; Tinian is more desolate, but pretty cool if you're down for the island life-style and low-key living. but if you're bringing family who plans on working, Saipan is probably the better place to live.

the company does have a cessna you can use for private rentals in case there are no empty seats on the charters. but you'd only be able to ride on empty/pt 91 legs. i think they keep at least one cherokee on each island now, so if you live on saipan, you don't have to worry about getting to tinian for your work day/night.

schedule varies. it is a 24/7 operation and shifts were 7am-7pm and 7pm-7am when i was there. i usually had 3 days off a week max. but it depends. someone i talked to recently had only 1 day off, so it depends on how business is going.

i can only speak for apartments on Tinian, but we had a 3 bedroom place (2 floors) for $550/mo. and split that between 3 pilots. after our other roommate left, we moved into a 2 bedroom that was $350/mo, but there was no hot water in that one. you should be able to find a halfway decent place through word of mouth. electricity is pretty outrageous. with AC running almost all day long, we'd get bills as high as $350/mo for electricity. the only place you'd have t oworry about the neighborhood is on Saipan. there's more crime there and stuff. Tinian, like i said, is a bit more desolate. you could probably find a house up in the hills for like $700/mo and have it be a pretty decent place.

car, scooter, bicycle, is necessary. on Tinian, I rented a scooter for 3 months, then bought it off her for $1500 I think. If you're on Saipan, get a car. the drivers are crazier. but on Tinian, a bicycle or scooter would suffice. a bike can easily get you around town on Tinian, but if you wanna explore, maybe get something a little easier on the legs haha.

and finally, no CASS. find friends who work for Delta and use their buddy passes. that'll be your best bet to get to Tokyo. Or United.

oh, and if you scuba dive or want to learn, seek out harry blalock. his diving business is called Axe Murderer Tours. worth every dollar.

No snakes in Saipan or Tinian or Rota and very few to be seen in Guam!

The ones on Guam are hard on the local birds (they're an imported pest, not native), but they're small and non-toxic and like you said you rarely see them.

Don't forget, Guam is America. The Natives you mention are Americans.
The Japanese comment is also borderline unnecessary.

And why watch out for local 'girls"? what does this mean exactly?

About the jump seating, Continental allowed us years ago, even though we were a 135 operator. Check with some one at United/CAL. United back in the allowed it also.

Anyone know what the skype interview consists of? Any suggestions?

Any updates?

Depends. What's your time?

Guam - Where America's day starts. I've been to Guam and the islands many times. I never saw a snake. It's a beautiful part of the world.

I don't know anything about that airline, but if all checks out, go for it and make the most of it. YOLO

Do not go here if you value your life or certificates. Check your PM.

Oh, and here is the quality of people you'd be flying with.
Marianas Variety - Pilot hurt in moped crash on way to work at airport; faces DUI charge, says DPS

I have mixed emotions about SMA.
Saipan is a beautiful place. Paradise. There is great hiking, snorkeling, diving, and all that outdoors stuff. The way of life is really laid back. Most of the local women are pretty nasty but there are a lot of good looking American girls there that work nursing or teaching contracts. I did manage to meet the love of my life there, which makes me kind of biased on the whole experience there.
Looking back it was a great experience. You'll get out of there with more stick and rudder skills than you'll ever know what to do with. You'll VFR into IMC so often that you will wake up in the morning at see that its 3sm and overcast at 1000 and think it's a nice VFR day/night.
The problem is the Cessna guys work six days on, one day off. And since you're part 91, the incompetent dispatchers have no qualms about calling you in on a day off to right seat in a Navajo or sit around for twelve hours watching your coworkers fly. So you don't have time to snorkel, hike, and all that fun stuff you came to the island to do. Not that you could afford it anyway on your 19k a year (pre-tax, pre-"bonus" that they take out).
After a few months of flying wannabe TopGun Chinese tourists around, you upgrade to the Cherokee Six and get better pay. It was 30k a year, but they were trying to drop it down to 24k. That schedule is 3 days on, 1 day off. They'll call you in on days off if they need someone else to sit around at the airport doing jack, but will honor the one day every seven rule set by the FAA. The daily schedule is 14 hours of duty time, but you're only at work for about 12 of those. After a month flying the Cherokee during the day, you'll move to the Cherokee at night spend a little less time at work. After three months on nights, you'll get the privilege of flying cargo to Rota and Guam and get ATP cross country time.
If you're lucky, you'll upgrade to the Navajo PIC and get Multi Time. The pay is the same until you get your ATP (after a checkride with the Honolulu FSDO that to date only the chief pilot has passed.) where it goes up to 48k a year, but the QOL gets a lot better. Navajo guys work four on, two off.
Maintenance is good. They have dozens of Filipino mechanics and a couple A&P's that do everything. My only complaint there is that when the A&Ps aren't around, the mechanics can get kind of lazy so you have to pre-flight another plane since they're not going to fix yours anytime soon. But that's no big deal.
If you go, just know that the company is going to drive you insane. You're going to get so sick of the locals and your tourist passengers. You'll get tired of the corruption and bureaucracies. You'll see highway signs on dirt roads so the governor can pocket the federal highway money. You'll see a local person walk into a grocery store with a food stamp check, buy a pack of cigarettes, cash out the rest of the food stamp check, then proceed into the video poker room to gamble it all away in a night.
You'll go out to happy hour on the beach with your buddies then crash your scooter on the way home and laugh about it. You'll spend your day off hiking down onto some coral and onto a hidden beach where you can see the sunrise perfectly. You'll go onto a dinner cruise and spend an hour happily dancing with your girlfriend while the sun sets behind you and the sky a heavenly canvas.

When you leave, you'll miss it.

Just got an email back from them asking for copies of certificates, medical etc. Any clue if they will allow you to skip right to the Cherokee Six's?

I'm going to be as nice as I can about this. RUN AWAY. FAR FAR AWAY. You will regret ever working for that awful company. Island is cool. Ppl are cool. Lifestyle is cool. Company is a nightmare in every way. They're reducing service now and don't even do a 24 hour operation anymore. You won't get the time they promise and may die trying to get it. RUN. You've been warned.

Any update on this place now that we are in 2017?

Weighing my options, but this place doesn't seems the place to bring my pregnant wife and 2 yr old while I'm off flying. I have a Skype interview scheduled for late next week anyone currently there or having recent experience with them would be great.

I have an interview w/ them tomorrow. So we'll see how it goes! I'll keep y'all posted.

It's a place to go if your single and looking for adventure. Not sure I'd bring kids. It was my first job outside of being a CFI and I enjoyed it immensely. They had 2 fatal accidents during my tenure there though. They give you just enough rope to hang yourself if you don't know what you are doing.

are you still flying in Saipan

Star Marianas
 

Any one flying for Star Marianas now.

How did your interview go

I was there for a bit.

Let me know if you have any questions.