Anyone ever hear of this operation? Good, bad, typical 135 freight?

 

KA sells jobs as a Grand Canyon sight seing pilot. You could start out in a 207 and move up to a twin (if you can afford it). It has been a long time since I was in Vegas and there are several companies who sell jobs there things could have changed. I would check it out if I were you.

SkyHigh

 

Not for me. Saw a job announcement and some one asked about the company. I never heard of them.

 

I believe King has been around for quite some time, I think they were instrumental in the practice of FO's paying for right seat time in 400 series tour airplanes.

 

King flies grand canyon tours in C-206/7, & C-402's. You do have to pay a $500 fee for the initial part of your training. The company has been really turned around over the past year, which a lot of people don't realize. There used to be some cowboys flying but a new chief has turned things around. I enjoyed flying there. Not necessarily the company its self but the pilots I flew with were great and the flying its self was fun. Its fun for a while to build some good twin time, all single pilot VFR 135.

 

So there is a $500 fee for training. What about the above posts that speak of paying for the job (PFJ)? What is that all about? If paying 500 dollars for training is all that it costs then it is not that bad, although I don't agree with it. It's like McDonald's charging the filler/bagger to learn how to put the order in the bag.

L.S.

 

King is ok. There are some ex king guys that fly at Scenic with me. They make ok money with there tips. They only fly to the West rim of the Canyon. Scenic or Vision might be a better place than King

 

For the 500 hour pilot, paying 500 bucks for training to be PIC for your first Part 135 job isn't bad when you realize they're gonna spend more than that on your gas during training. And that includes the transition training into the 402. Bob Trout is the new chief pilot, and he's keeping things pretty tight over there.

Keep in mind:
They hire 500 hour pilots, train them in a 135 environment in 206's and 207's

Transition those pilots into a multi engine aircraft, PIC, within 6 months, when I was there.

You can make tips! That was half my pay.

After being there a year, I had 400 hours of 206/207 time, and 400 hours of C-402 time.

It was the most enjoyable flying, in a team environment, that I've done so far. So you don't make bank.... you're in Vegas, flying over the Grand Canyon every day, and you're a 500 hour pilot!

 

What kind of pay do you receive? Any other benefeits?

 

Just to give you guys a glimpse of how hard it was to get experience as a pilot. In the early 90's King Airlines sold 207 jobs for $5000 and would sell 402 jobs for $16,000. At today's prices I think it would be around $8000 and $24,000 respectively. In addition they promised to put you through the ringer and to charge you more if you required extra training. We could be headed back to those days soon if oil prices keep climbing.

SkyHigh