Yeah they're advertising for street captains for the Metros as well. Hope they have enough pilots to cover the routes. Peak is going to be a bit rough if not.

Maybe they are planning on losing a couple pilots through management selection too.

 

They've already published the schedule for peak and we've got it covered. There's no way through current hiring they could get anyone online soon enough to make up the difference if not.

And if they do start hiring Metro street Capts soon then they're going to loose some senior Navajo guys. That said, certain folks in management have stated that they would much rather upgrade a current Navajo guy.

 

December 10, 2012
KEY LIME AIR (Part 135 Metroliner Captains - January 14th Class)

Tel: NO CALLS

Email: Click here to Apply
Website: Colorado Air Charter and Cargo Charter | Key Lime Air


Hope it's just an exercise for the recruiting department then

 

Will there be a training contract for these new hires they are seeking? If so, 12 months I assume?

 

Yes there is a contract. 12 months for the Navajo, 18 for the Metro.

 

Curious about the charter side of Key Lime; Denver Air Connection. How do you get hired on to that part of the opeation? Will all metro pilots also participate in charter service on top of their cargo route? Website says they are hiring metro FO's... what about the 328jet FOs? Is that different hiring process?
Also, who upgrades to the metro first, a metro FO or a navajo guy?
If anyone could shed some light on that I'd appreciate it.

 

I'll do my best to answer your questions with the caveat that I'm on the freight side and don't see a lot of the charter guys.
Typically the only way to go directly to the charter side of the operation is to get hired as a Metro FO. All the Charter Metros are two pilot and operated on a 121 cert. All cargo Metros are single pilot and on the 135 cert.
All cargo Metro pilots only fly cargo routes. Charter Metro pilots can fly both are are used to fill in on the cargo side when we're short pilots. To my knowledge all Charter metro pilots used to be freight pilots until they were offered a charter position.
The 328 FOs come from the pool of Metro FOs. There's also one Brasilia on the charter side.
The Navajo PIC. Typically the progression would be FO, then Navajo PIC, freight Metro, then maybe Charter Metro if you stick around that long. Also, the jump from FO to Navajo can be a long one. The last two guys to make that jump were in the FO seat for a year, then dual qualified in the Navajo. One of them has now left for a corporate position and the other just upgraded to the cargo Metro.
Hope that helps!

 

Are these still accurate for the piston runs? This was posted quite a while ago...would be great to get any corrections for things that might have changed?

Also, question on bases. Everyone seems to indicate that it's best if you live in the out station. Is this true for both the Navajos and the Metros or only for the Metros?

Thanks!

 

Those runs are accurate. The first two are what we call out and backs: fly outbound with freight in the morning then fly back empty. Usually done in DEN by 9AM. SNY is actually Tue-Sat while GLD is Tue-Fri.

The rest are all day runs, i.e. you're going to sit in a hotel for the day. I'm actually in MCK as I type this.

The only piston run where living in the outstation would make any sense is MCK. The rest are DEN based runs.

As for the Metros, all except three of them are outstation based. The run starts Monday evening in the outstation and ends Sat AM, also in the outstation. The majority of pilots them commute back to DEN for an abbreviated weekend, only to commute back out to the outstation on Sat.

So if you decide to live in DEN, on Monday you'll commute to the outstation, fly back, have an 8 hour rest in Denver, then fly back out to the outstation, spend the day then fly back in the evening. Do that schedule through Sat AM, where you'll commute back to DEN after your outbound leg. Assuming you get back to DEN sometime in the afternoon, you've got Sat night, all day Sunday, then Mon AM you're headed back out to the outstation.

If you live in the outstation you're essentially at home 7 days a week, save the 5 nights where you fly to DEN and back.

 

Thanks for the info TallFlyer.

A couple more, if you don't mind: How is pay structured? By flight hour / by duty hour / salary? What about route selection/assignment? Do pilots get to bid on routes based on seniority or are you assigned whatever route needs filling out of training then that one is yours until another one opens up?

If pay is per hour, and routes chosen by seniority, I imagine the longest/highest paying routes are held by the most senior pilots while the FNG's get the shortest ones?