Newstick189

Any idea of the first officer situation here? Trying like hell to get my good friend in contact with someone in regards to flying in the north east. JHW in particular.

Thanks!

FuryfromtheSky

We don't do any flights to JHW(Jamestown) that I'm aware of. We do fly to Johnstown though. They're staffed pretty well with first officers now. What they're looking for are captains I believe. Julie is the hiring manager currently and she's very nice but also busy. You may have to follow up occasionally if you've dropped a resume. Also keep in mind that there aren't any planned new hire class dates until June or July. By then, the FO's with some seniority should be upgrading to CA.

sheapatel96

Anyone currently flying for Southern? I interviewed 2 weeks ago and currently waiting for a phone call. Would like to get some info.

Liberty Pilot

For those who applied or contacted SAE through their career site apparently they are having issues with that server. I emailed them in February and Julie just emailed me saying she just received it after it got caught up in the career site. (Not sure what that means)

I’ve already accepted another PIC job in PA so I didn’t look into it any further but it seems they are still looking for captains.

Billy738

Does anyone know if a contract here? Like minimum time you must fly for them?

FuryfromtheSky

If you go through the Mesa contract, it's 1800 hours when you're eligible to leave SAE. In regards to the application website, mine got held up as well. I had to redo the application even after I got the job offer. Also, we just got some new Captains and FO's sent to the line, so they're hiring again.

Billy738

How about if you don’t want to do the mess program?

Boeing Aviator

My two cents:

Quit anytime, your under no obligation to stay. A friend of mine got hired a year ago as a Captain. I believe there were 5 Captains and 1 FO in his class. The FO hire was a low time recent graduate from a accredited 4 year aviation college program.

One year later all have quit and moved onto bigger and better. The FO in the class never upgraded and didn’t go to Mesa but a much better Regional as soon as he had the mins for a regional coming from a 4 year aviation program. Mesa is a bottom level regional and I strongly recommend staying away from them.

You fly your tail off at Southern usually the 135 max monthly limit. At least 100 hours per month. Long duty days, sometimes 15 hours and as many as 12 legs a day. You’ve got to watch yourself there because the company will try to push you to fly into unsafe conditions.

Low altitude, unpressurized flying can be dangerous in the winter (icing) and summer (thunderstorms). My friend had to assert himself countless times and say he wasn’t flying in unsafe conditions. To the company’s credit, once he stood up for himself they backed off and adhered to his captains authority. He was never ever questioned on his decisions after the fact.

Bottom line you have to step up and say I’m not flying in these conditions if warranted. That goes for FO’s too, if the Captain isn’t doing his/her job. Also some MX issues but again someone who exercises captains authority has nothing to worry about.

All in all, good place to get your hours fast and get the heck out as fast as you can.

Hope this info helps.

Boeing Aviator

Additional info. They have very high turnover due to the nature of the job and no union. Long duty days, lots of legs in tough weather conditions in a unpressurized single engine flying throughout the northeast corridor.

I believe it is easier to get hired as a captain vs FO. But they have high turnover in both seats due to the difficulty of the job and burn out.

When you need something, special days off or have a personal issue. Management seems to be accommodating and treats everyone fairly. As I said in the above post, once you assert yourself in not flying in what you feel is unsafe conditions, the company accepts your decision and totally backs off.

This is very important because over the years at many 135 operators this has not been the case. Lots of intimidation.

Again hope this info helps and best of luck.

Billy738

Thanks for all the great info!! Really helped