Northern States?
 

Okay so I KNOW this isn't a 135 operation...but I wasn't sure where to post this.

Anyone worked for them? QOL? Pay? What's the travel like? Anything???

Thanks so much,
Jonathon

I never worked for them, but I worked for Desert Wind.

Their season begins in October, and you will be on the road the whole time until summer rolls around. Double occupancy hotel rooms, all single pilot.

I was with them for the '07 - '08 season. If I didn't get the job I have now, I'd have gone back. Pay was great, but I won't go into specifics bc the boss-man gave me a nice talking to last time I did.

QOL... it's what you make of it. You'll be in a hotel 100% of the time (unless you have buddies in some of the cities you'll be in). There will be times when you're on your own doing a job and there will be times you're with five other guys.

I enjoyed it. I love the travel. I was in Dallas for two months with a few other guys, that was awesome. I was in Pensacola by myself for two weeks, and that was awesome too.

No autopilots. You'll have to hand fly some long days, +/- 100' - 200' and within 125 feet of the centerline of your course. pitch and bank limitations too... 5° pitch I think and 10° bank maybe? Someone else can probably verify that.

The most I logged in one day was 11.0 hours. It's not uncommon to be sitting in the plane for 5 hours or more, landing for fuel, then going up for another 4 or 5 hours. Logging 8 - 10 hours a day becomes routine. If you can find yourself a self-serve pump, you can be back in the air real quick. My fastest turn was 6 minutes :D.

You fly a lot. Every day is a work day. The days you can't fly are days that you wouldn't want to have off; windy, rainy, snowing, etc.

I would certainly do it again.

Don't miss the opportunity to bring your camera. Take lots of pictures. You get really good at "feeling" the airplane, so once you get the hang of it, you can take your eyes off the lightbar for a few minutes to look around, eat a snack, or snap some pics.