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Part 135 Part 135 commercial operators

www.eaglejet.net ?

Old 09-09-2008, 05:12 AM
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Default www.eaglejet.net ?

I just got my AMEL and was looking to build some time. I was browsing websites and came across Eaglejet.

Does anyone have any experience with these people and their operations? Is is worth spending $20,800 for 250hrs of SIC time in a Shorts-360?

My instructor wants me to get my MEI instead and start teaching first, kind of leaning towards getting the MEI and adding the I, and II later.

Any tips is highly appreciated!
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Old 09-09-2008, 06:12 AM
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If I where you I would listen to your instructor. You could spend about the same and go to gulfstream...I would not think it would be worth it, you have already spent allot of money on this. I know Key Lime Air has a similar program and I think after you pay your $$ They will pay you min wage to sit right!!!!
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Old 09-09-2008, 08:37 AM
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are you serious? tell me you are joking? pay $20,000 to sit in the right seat? as in you pay them? are you kidding? if you pay them, why don't i just pay my company, why doesn't a delta 767 captain pay them to have the privilege to fly such an aircraft. if you pay someone else to fly, you are completely devaluing our profession! where did this start? what other job out there, any job, makes you pay to work for someone? this is the most absurd thing i've ever heard. not to mention, in today's economy, $20k is not going to be made up easily. ugghhhh...i can't believe i read such a thing. this is the worst thing you can do for the entire profession, and operations like this place should be shut down. you have a commercial pilots license, which makes you a professional pilot, time to act like one!
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Old 09-09-2008, 08:46 AM
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and this is what i emailed to the company...

From: EMB145 pilot <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 11:44:36 AM
Subject: Disgusting

Your operation should be shut down. You are everything that is wrong with aviation. Charging pilots to work for you is absurd! What other industry charges its employees to work for them? The only thing more disgusting is the pilots that actually pay for this bull****. You are preying on innocent and naive people, and truthfully, I don’t know how any of you sleep at night. Your operation shouldn’t exist, and I hope your business fails miserably!



EMB145 Pilot
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Old 09-09-2008, 08:49 AM
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Chill out flyinaway411, I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I understand that you value your job as a pilot very highly and that paying someone to gain experience is a no-no according to your beliefs.

I am not paying to work for them, I am paying them to log the occasional PIC time. They also have PIC time for Twin Otters. Take the time to read what their programs offer. I know this is not the way most people would go about aquiring experience, and neither am I. I was merely curious to see if anyone had any experience with these folks.
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Old 09-09-2008, 09:16 AM
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i actually did read the description, in detail. and unless i'm missing something, your paying a lot of money for flight time, bottom line. and its not just my beliefs, its the beliefs of most pilots out there. truly not worth it. don't ***** yourself out
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Old 09-09-2008, 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by flyinaway411 View Post
i actually did read the description, in detail. and unless i'm missing something, your paying a lot of money for flight time, bottom line. and its not just my beliefs, its the beliefs of most pilots out there. truly not worth it. don't ***** yourself out
I agree, that should be a paid position not some way to scam money out of you to increas there profits. There are other places that would charge less for you to build time in a semonole or an aztec, no you would not be flying with an airline but you would be building time for less $$$. I could try to find the place that does that and send you the info.
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Old 09-09-2008, 12:47 PM
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Originally Posted by flyinaway411 View Post
you have a commercial pilots license, which makes you a professional pilot, time to act like one!
Extremely well said.
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Old 09-09-2008, 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by AirTrucker View Post
I agree, that should be a paid position not some way to scam money out of you to increas there profits. There are other places that would charge less for you to build time in a semonole or an aztec, no you would not be flying with an airline but you would be building time for less $$$. I could try to find the place that does that and send you the info.
I think the sentiment that flyinaway is trying to convey is that there is no place for this in aviation... period. Just because one might be able to find Company B that only charges half of what Company A does to sit right seat and build experience doesn't mean it's a better deal. It's a bad deal no matter what the price. The problem is that as long as pilots are willing to shell out thousands or tens-of-thousands of dollars to companies like this to "build experience", then there will always be companies that do this. If a company has to use this sort of "pay for experience" model in order to make money, then I submit that their business plan is flawed.

Operating aircraft in a commercial venture costs money. PAYING pilots to do their job is part of that cost. These costs must be passed along to the customer. If the customer doesn't want to pay what it costs then they can find another, less expensive (and usually less efficient) way. If the operator can't find enough business to support the venture then they should probably find another line of business. It would serve the commercial aviation world well if there was a thinning of the operator ranks, with a resulting drop in overall capacity. This would allow the remaining operators to re-adjust what the paying public views as an acceptable rate and which more accurately represents the cost of doing business.

Oil was closing in on the $150 a barrel mark over the summer. Jet fuel prices were through the roof and the airlines were taking it in the shorts on operating costs. Consumers were feeling the pain at the pump as well, yet for some reason they thought they should still be able to get that $39 fare from Seattle to Miami. To make matters worse... the airlines were giving it to them. The phrase "We're losing money, but we're making up for it in volume" never rang so true.
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Old 09-09-2008, 09:39 PM
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One of the eaglejet programs places guys in the right seat of a B99 at Amflight. It's not taking anyones job away and you're not "working for free" cause you're not really "working". The plane can go without you, and normally it does. In fact, you can be bumped for freight.

Is this time valuable? Maybe a little bit under certain circumstances. But I'd put time as a CFI as more valuable, and right seat timebuilding programs shouldn't be a substitue for that. Certainly, 250 hours is way overkill and not necessary.

I agree that nobody should ever work for free. It's not good for the profession and gives management bad ideas. My test for these things is "can the airplane go without me". If the answer is yes, then you're hardly taking a job away from anyone. If the answer is no, then you should be paid.

Somebody will say "well, how can you log the time if you're not a required crewmember". That's a good question for eaglejet. But I believe Amflight has something in their ops specs that allows these guys to log the time. I know they have been doing this program for years.
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