capt4life

Long time listener, first time caller-

I’m within 12-18 months of pulling chocks from Big Blue. My last 10 years has been in unmanned ISR, F-16s prior to that. I’ve got plenty of “manned” time to qualify for one of the ISR shops but probably short for the majors - factoring in recency. I am struggling on which vector to take. My ultimate goal is Big 3/ Fedex/ UPS. Can anyone speak to how the majors look at manned ISR vs 121 regional experience? TIA

Av8r75

My suggestion would be 121 route, but I am also an advocate of doing what makes you happy. If you enjoy the ISR mission, then I say go that route, but if your goal is legacy carriers and or the big cargo haulers, 121 experience at a regional will go much further. I know quite a few guys that have gone on from the regionals to UPS & Fedex and if you are under 40 (insert joke here), mainline will also pick you up from the regionals.

Your military time is highly valued, just make sure you understand the CRM concept and don't mind sharing in the decision making. Not saying you have this issue, but a lot of single pilot fighter pilots struggle in the crew environment.

Military experience + 121 time = write your own ticket these days.

Av8r75

....also depending on your current total time, you may want to check out the hiring mins at your desired companies. You may be able to apply directly.

Example:

Fedex mins are ATP, 1500 TT, 1000 PIC and Bachelor's Degree and I hear they love previous military...

Food for thought...

StickPig

Just got an offer for interview with L-3. Can anyone share the current pay rates for PIC?

Phoenix21

According to a buddy who went there, $850/day.

StandardBrief

Pay rates are proprietary info. I can say that your buddy is incorrect. It is higher than that by a little bit. If you are willing to take on extra responsibility the pay goes up.

CaptainYoda

No they aren't

CX500T

You can FOIA stuff. Certain contractors think they are more secret than they are.

Was able to FOIA a lot of stuff without a subpoena when I was being sued by another ISR contractor that's gone now.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

StandardBrief

Oh ok. Good talk.

Clue32

I am sitting at Pei Wei with no where else to be for three hours; so, I asked "the google" and proprietary information is related to physical and intellectual property that can be patented or copy written. You're Welcome!

Considering that pay is a significant factor in joining this industry, and whether or not to contract hop, I am somewhat bewildered as to why the company is so close-hold on pilot pay. I understand that higher pay cuts into the bottom line and affects our competetiveness. I also get that other employees may feel slighted if the pilots get a raise and other positions don't.

There are, however, external market factors affecting our ability to recruit and retain the best qualified pilots; which directly translates into flying our contractual requirements or failing to do so. It should be easy to explain to the mechanics and ops staff that they may lose their jobs if pilots aren't paid more to sign on and stay.

Our PIC rates have gone up about 13% and IP rates 18% in the last 3 years. MAG and Leidos, in order to hire and retain pilots in competition with both us and the airlines, have done a great job increasing the Net Pay on my W2.

Put the actual rates out there. Start an OCONUS DoD contractor section on APC and the resume stack just may start getting taller. It surely can't hurt. I get that we can't directly compete with the Majors, but we can use pay and benefits to poach from other contractors and recruit regional FOs looking for PIC time and the money to repay student loans.