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The Real Delta Private Jets Thread

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Part 135 Part 135 commercial operators

The Real Delta Private Jets Thread

Old 02-12-2015, 04:32 PM
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Since the other Delta Private Jets thread is full of extremely out of date information and is stuck in the Fractional Section, I though I would start a thread in the 135 section to provide accurate information on what this place is and isn’t.

History (From what I have been told):

The company was started by Comair and called Comair Jet Express. Delta then re-branded it Delta Air Elite around 2001. In 2010, Delta acquired Segrave Aviation and merged it with Delta Air Elite and changed the name to Delta Private Jets. Much of all negative stories are from the “Segrave Days.” I wasn’t around then, but no one seemed to like the management. It seems like typical cost cutting management. They made everyone work more, for less pay, and tried to nickel and dime the operation to the point of failure.

Current Company.

DPJ is wholly owned by Delta Air Lines. The pilot group (and the day to day operations) are in no way connected to Delta Air Lines. The yearly DPJ profit is what DAL spends on fuel in a day, so they let us do our own thing as long as we keep making money. Most of the people in the offices came after the Segrave Days. The rest are former Comair and DHL employees.

While the company primarily generates revenue with its 135 charter operation, it also manages aircraft. Obviously the managed fleet operates differently than the charter (core) fleet and as a result, a DPJ pilot on a managed Legacy that flies once a month and is paid by the owner of the aircraft has a very different view than the core pilot flying CJs 18 days out of the month on a salary set by DPJ. Because of this, I will only talk about the core pilots and fleet on this thread.

Fleet

DPJ will operate any aircraft that makes money. While they have many types of aircraft, the typical 135 core pilot is going to be on a CJ, Excel, Citation X, or Hawker 800. The 604 and other large cabins are available, but because there are only a few of those aircraft, and the chances of getting those off the street are rare, I will focus on the small and mid size fleet.

DPJ does not own the aircraft, it leases them. Most of the lease contracts make a lot of money when the aircraft are flying, but lose a lot when they are not. As a result, DPJ can’t afford to have planes without pilots, so they are always making sure they are properly staffed and the aircraft are well maintained.
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Old 02-12-2015, 04:35 PM
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Schedule

We work 8 days on, 6 days off. Pilots can live anywhere within 2 hours of an airport served by Delta. The day before you start work, you get an email with dead head and/or rental car information about getting you from your home to the aircraft. Once at the aircraft, you generally remain with it and the other pilot for the entire 8 days. We are expected to be within 2 hours of the aircraft at all times in case a pop up trip comes. 95% of the time, you know what your are doing 24-48 hours out.

A normal day is working a 3 hour flight with passengers, then repoing the aircraft to get it in position for the next flight. That can be anywhere from a 30 minute flight to across the country. My last rotation only had 11 flights over 8 days, so most of the time the schedule is easy and includes a few days “off.” I had 48 hours in Key West, and was even home for one night (I live in our MX base). It is rare to fly every day of the rotation, but it does happen occasionally. One nice thing is most people don’t want to fly in the middle of the night, so our flying is done between 7am and 10pm.

Hotels

DPJ uses API to schedule hotels, so we stay at the typical Hilton, Marriott, and IHG properties. [/B]

Pay

Pay is all over the place at DPJ. Since there has been so many management teams and there are so many fleets and different pilot groups (core and managed). One Captain on the Excel might be making $80,000 while another is making $60,000). As of right now, all new FOs are paid $40,000 and all light and mid PICs are paid $60,000. Per diem is $1.88 an hour away from your home. The pay is a big draw back at DPJ, but they will be addressing it soon.
Flight Benefits

DPJ employees get Delta flight benefits and travel at SB3. We are not in CASS so we can’t jumpseat.

Minimums

DPJ will hire people with 1500 hours, no turbine, or not type ratings. To upgrade, you need 3,000 hours for insurance. We fly around 500 hours a year, so if you come here with 1500 hours, you will take a long time to upgrade.

Upgrade

Upgrades are done by a combination of seniority and merit. The check airman of each fleet have a list of all the FOs who meet the flight time requirements to upgrade. Then they discuss which ones are ready. They try to make sure to fly with every periodically to see how they are progressing. The check airman are all great people who are too busy to hold grudges and hold back upgrades for personal issues. The pilot group is too big for them to have “good old boys club” and they are too short of captains for them to hold back upgrades. Upgrades are around 2-6 months right now.

I think this should be enough to get a useful thread started.
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Old 02-12-2015, 05:54 PM
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Is it true that DPJ pilots get preferential interview/hiring with delta?
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Old 02-12-2015, 06:09 PM
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Yes. To qualify, you need two years of employment at DPJ and be in good standing order. One has been hired and one got turned down since they started this in the fall of 2014. Most people have not been at DPJ long enough to qualify and the few that have don't want anything to do with 121.
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Old 02-13-2015, 04:34 AM
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Hey 2stg,
Thanks for all the info. I have my stuff in but no call yet. Fingers crossed.......
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Old 02-13-2015, 05:50 AM
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You mentioned travel begins on day 1. What about coming home? Is that on day 8? Also what about benefits and vacation?
One more question, if you are previously typed in your assigned aircraft is there still a two year contract?
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Old 02-13-2015, 06:27 AM
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On your last day of rotation (day 8) they positive space you home. There is no vacation but Paid Time Off (PTO). You can use it for sick calls or a vacation. The previous PTO system had two big flaws. You could only use it to take one 8 day rotation off your schedule (even though you had enough PTO each year for 13 days off) and you have to be "home available" for one week. The good thing was one pilot explained to management how "home available" isn't time off and that every other employee gets to use all of their PTO, but the pilots can only use it in 8 day chunks leaving 5 unused days eery year. About a week later, they came up with new scheduling procedures and now we can use all of our PTO and even use it to take individual days off.

If you are already typed, they still have to send you for training, so you still have the training contract. But since you would just be getting recurrent, the training contract is much less. They charge you whatever CAE charges for the course. I think recurrent on the Excel was $8000 while an initial type is $15000.
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Old 02-13-2015, 07:08 AM
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I seem to recall that DPJ requires pilots to execute a NEW training contracts EVERY TIME they go to recurrent training, in addition to the initial training contract. Is that true? Are the training contracts prorated? What is the term (length) of the training contract?
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Old 02-13-2015, 07:31 AM
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You do not sign another training contract during recurrent. You get one pro rated 12 or 24 month (I can't remember) for the cost of your initial training. Recurrent training is paid by the company and if the company moves you to another aircraft, they pay for the training.
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Old 02-13-2015, 08:18 AM
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How are the health insurance benefits for a family of 4?
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