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Flying in Puerto Rico, Caribbean

Old 03-13-2018, 09:57 AM
  #1  
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Default Flying in Puerto Rico, Caribbean

Does anyone know what it is like to live in San Juan Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean after last year’s hurricanes?
Cape Air, Ameriflight, Sunshine Air and lots of other operators are hiring right now. San Juan got devastated by Hurricane Maria. I’m just worried about quality of life in some of those areas now.

Also my friend said the flying there can be difficult because there is a lot of convective activity with areas of no wxuplinks. I also heard the air traffic controllers have accents and each island country has different procedures? On the other hand, tropical beaches and no snow sound nice.

Last edited by Tsramb; 03-13-2018 at 10:02 AM. Reason: Added questions
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Old 03-13-2018, 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Tsramb View Post
Does anyone know what it is like to live in San Juan Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean after last year’s hurricanes?
Cape Air, Ameriflight, Sunshine Air and lots of other operators are hiring right now. San Juan got devastated by Hurricane Maria. I’m just worried about quality of life in some of those areas now.

Also my friend said the flying there can be difficult because there is a lot of convective activity with areas of no wxuplinks. I also heard the air traffic controllers have accents and each island country has different procedures? On the other hand, tropical beaches and no snow sound nice.


Living in San Juan, you don't get to see THAT much all the damage done, not anymore anyways. It was hard right after, really hard. Depending on where you lived, you didn't have power for months. LOTS of areas still have no electricity.
The closer to the airport, the better because of safety and also for technical reasons. They always make sure that the airport gets their electricity back first (obviously).
If you live in San Juan/Carolina, you shouldn't have any trouble nowadays.

San Juan didn't get devastated at all. The rest of the island did.

Convective activity....oh well let's say you learn a lot about weather and decision making. (which is good).

ATC in SJU is awesome, super nice and professional. The same in US Virgin Islands (St.Thomas and St.Croix). UK Virgin Islands.....different story. Professional but weird as F* accent. But after a few flights you get used to.

Tropical beaches are awesome, but you'll see them from the cockpit haha.

Because of the employers you mentionaed, I assume you're at IFR mins?
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Old 03-13-2018, 06:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Javichu View Post
Living in San Juan, you don't get to see THAT much all the damage done, not anymore anyways. It was hard right after, really hard. Depending on where you lived, you didn't have power for months. LOTS of areas still have no electricity.
The closer to the airport, the better because of safety and also for technical reasons. They always make sure that the airport gets their electricity back first (obviously).
If you live in San Juan/Carolina, you shouldn't have any trouble nowadays.

San Juan didn't get devastated at all. The rest of the island did.

Convective activity....oh well let's say you learn a lot about weather and decision making. (which is good).

ATC in SJU is awesome, super nice and professional. The same in US Virgin Islands (St.Thomas and St.Croix). UK Virgin Islands.....different story. Professional but weird as F* accent. But after a few flights you get used to.

Tropical beaches are awesome, but you'll see them from the cockpit haha.

Because of the employers you mentionaed, I assume you're at IFR mins?
What about cost of living on PR, driving a car?
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Old 03-13-2018, 06:30 PM
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Originally Posted by SonicFlyer View Post
What about cost of living on PR, driving a car?

Lack of driving skills over there is scary haha, other than that....normal.

Cost of living, depends a lot on your needs. My company had an apartment, ACC has crew housing too, same with Tradewinds. I don't know about the rest. Problem is the electricity bill as I mentioned. Doable
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Old 03-16-2018, 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Javichu View Post

ATC in SJU is awesome, super nice and professional. The same in US Virgin Islands (St.Thomas and St.Croix). UK Virgin Islands.....different story. Professional but weird as F* accent. But after a few flights you get used to.
Then you go to Juliana, or Antigua, and they still have the weird as F* accents, and have zero professionalism whatsoever.

SJU ATC is awesome.
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Old 03-18-2018, 04:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Javichu View Post
Lack of driving skills over there is scary haha, other than that....normal.

Cost of living, depends a lot on your needs. My company had an apartment, ACC has crew housing too, same with Tradewinds. I don't know about the rest. Problem is the electricity bill as I mentioned. Doable
Ha ha ha I recommend purchasing a tank. But seriously driving will take some time to adjust to! Also they have speed bumps the size of a Ford Fiesta.
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Old 03-18-2018, 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted by JetAJunkie View Post
Ha ha ha I recommend purchasing a tank. But seriously driving will take some time to adjust to! Also they have speed bumps the size of a Ford Fiesta.
haha I've seen bumps bigger than a Ford Fiesta

I agree. It's actually one of the factors that drained my patience, how people don't give a F* about the others. Driving or in general.
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Old 08-29-2020, 07:03 AM
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Default Kingfisher air services

Does anyone know anything about this operator? It seems it could be an interesting job to see the Caribbean?
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Old 08-29-2020, 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Andywilso View Post
Does anyone know anything about this operator? It seems it could be an interesting job to see the Caribbean?
Last I heard, 50K a year, 2 year contract and its not pro-rated. You only work on the weekdays, holidays and weekends off to my knowledge.
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Old 08-29-2020, 03:51 PM
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Hi all.

Living in Puerto Rico is actually cheaper than most of the big cities in the US.
For example, a 3 bedroom apartment in Isla Verde, which is a really nice part of town and next to the Airport, will cost you around $1,500 a month. I believe you can get a studio or 1br apartment for less than $1,200 nearby.

If you stay in this area, driving to the airport shouldn't take more than 10 minutes unless you hit rush hour. But its a 2 mile drive usually.

There's all the commodities from the states and many convenience stores are present as well such as: CVS, Walgreens, Costco, Walmart etc.

If you have any further questions, please let me know. I currently live about 30 minutes from TJSJ/SJU and fly for Tradewind Aviation.
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