Hooper

I’m seeing two different figures for Cape Air captains and I’m hoping someone can set me straight.

Here on airlinepilotforums.com, in the Cape Air section it says first year captains average $79,000.

Cape Air’s website says approximately $45,000 a year for first year captains.

So can anybody explain to me why the figures are so wildly different?

teddy3412

I worked there a couple years ago. I made 50k. That was with 2 region transitions (2k each) (base change). I never picked up a single day because the flying was already brutally tiring and I wanted to be home for my precious 3 days off. I don't think I've worked a 13 hour duty day since I left there honestly. But if you do pick up flying then they will pay you a pretty penny to do so. But if you don't pick up many days then you will not make 79k. There are people there who work the system and do 6 on 1 off and make 6 figures.

Hooper

Ok great info Ted, thanks. So that extra 30k is overtime then?

When.you say the flying was brutally tiring what do you mean? Long days? Difficult conditions? Crappy airplanes?

teddy3412

Anywhere from 6-8 legs a day. 13 hour duty day is the standard day. If your in an eas station expect this much flying. Most bases have fo's but it's not a guarantee. The 50k is if your a captain. Fo pay is crap. Northeast flying is more demanding, flying in the soup. Midwest is some of the easier flying, direct to everything just hot. Current airplanes are crap, had 2 in flight engine shutdowns, multiple declared emergencies. The bright sides are the company won't push you if you feel unsafe, they never complain about a fatigue call or a sick call. Never heard a thing. Your paid pretty well for what your flying if your a captain. This was just my experience but it's not drastically different than others who left as well.

Hooper

Thanks again Ted. So the standard week 4 on 3 off?

Rcordeiro122592

Heres some current information on pay at Cape,

Scheduling; FO's are all 4 on 4 off
Captains have a few different schedules, the most common are 4 on 3 off and 4 on 4 off, there are also a few 4 on 3 off 3 on 4 off but they are not as common as the others.

Duty Days; Most lines are built to average about 45 duty hours a week guaranteeing you a minimum of 5 hours of overtime a week. (overtime is paid at 150%) Duty Days will average around 11-13 hours of duty. You could fly anywhere from 4 legs a day to 12 legs. The longer routes where you fly 4-6 legs a day you will average about 6.5 flight hours. The 12 leg shorter routes will end up being around 5 flight hours total.

Pay; as an FO I average making about $900 a week... yes making 11.22 a duty hour. I work 6 days on 1 day off and make about 25+ hours of Overtime a week in addition to the 40 hour minimum guarantee. There are first year captains that make into the 90+ thousand range but they also work their butts off.

Summer incentive program; they run a bonus program throughout the summer where if you pick up an extra day to work it is worth an extra 300-500$ a day in addition to your hourly Overtime rate. And at the conclusion of the summer all captains will receive up to a 20k bonus. The company said they wanted XXXXX amount of extra shifts to be picked up throughout the summer and if that amount is met then the 20K bonus will be paid, if that number is not fully met then a percentage of that bonus will be paid.

The first year captain pay at 79K doesn't seem too far fetched but it does include working some overtime and includes bonuses and profit sharing I would assume.

Hooper

Thanks very much Ted, I truly appreciate it. Tons of good info there.

I'm wanting to transition out of my current career (police officer) were I have worked for 25 years and into aviation. I always work days off so that wouldn't be something new.

Cape Air is my hometown airline and it seems they're always looking for pilots. Could possibly be a good fit, and they have new planes on order which is interesting.

Thanks again for your responses.