Quest Diagnostics is Hiring!
 

Quest Diagnostics is Hiring Captains for three out of four domiciles:

KRDG
KLZU
KSUS

Minimum Requirements:
ATP
Total Time: 2500
Multi engine time: 500

Preferred:
Turbo prop experience
Jet experience
Part 135 Experience
Turbine time: 200

Pay:
65K per year with an additional 10% on top for a night shift bonus. (Base pay negotiable with more experience) + nightly per diem.

Check attachment for contact info.

Vacation

Date of hire - 15 days
1st anniversary - 20 days
4th - 24 days
8th - 27 days
11th - 30 days
15th - 32 days
20th - 34 days

Health plans as of 2015
Basic - $39.23/check $129.80 Family
Choice $76.17/check. $178.80 Family
Max yearly credit for participating in health checkup is $1,040 + 520 spouse.
$1500 deductible

Full pay starts day 1 of training.

Yearly bonus on base pay depending on how well the company does. 1-5%

401k match. 100% up to 5% base pay. Vested right away.

15% discount on company stock.

Every pilot receives iPad minis on verizon network.

$50 cellphone reimbursement.

Typically will get yearly COLA raises.

4 day work weeks, can be less depending on staffing.

Home daily.

Weekends/major holidays off.

Duty days 6-10 hours.

Flying 4-6 hours/night.

Ability to swap work days with other employees.

Paperless cockpits for charts. Flight logs soon to follow.

XM weather and radio in all cockpits.

24/7 dispatch

Training baron - sim com
PC-12 and phenom Flight Safety.

So what's the downside? What kind of show times do you usually have?

Typically a run has a show time between 1900 and 2000, they finish between 0100 and 0400.

Downsides for some pilots looking in:

Back side of the clock flying.

Single pilot (could be good for some), they are working on an FO program for some of the longer runs.

Flying in all types of weather, however, you are the PIC, you can deviate and take delays as you need them.

You load and unload the plane, other pilots and drivers help. Multiple legs 5-9 a night.

No overtime or incentive to work more.

Multi-piston and single engine turbine time. No timeline to upgrade to phenom.

Pay won't reach major airline levels.

A couple runs are longer, reaching 10 hour duty 6-7 hours flying (pilots get rotated daily through runs in the base)

Vacation/sick time has been decreased from an initial 5 weeks, to 4 weeks, now 3 weeks.

Bags weigh on average 10 lbs. but can vary from ounces to 28lbs. Some runs can have 120 bags, stretching and proper lifting technique is important. Or I'm just getting older.

1 run has a one day layover, pilots in the base get rotated on that run.

There is one Saturday night run, pilots in that base get rotated on that run.

A few runs are operated Part 135. A little extra paperwork vs 91. We have in house check airmen.

Company drivers bring in the cargo, they can be affected by weather or traffic,this will cause delays. Communication is relayed to the pilot on these matters, sometimes another flight will be be stopping in later to pick up delayed bags, and you can stay on schedule.

If a base is low on pilots, a crew member from another base may be asked to fill in. Management does fly the line and float to other bases to help the pilots when staffing becomes an issue.

It is a very large company and with that, raises, answers, hiring, and other buisness related things take awhile. Except safety, they are very quick to get an immediate answer on those subjects.


Some pilots might see these as all downsides or none of them. Just depends on your background. Some of these can be very small and some are bigger, just trying to be honest.

Q and A

Q. Is the pay negotiable?
A. Yes, if you have a similar background to what Quest does. Freight, turbine, aircraft type. This will be negotiated with H.R.

Q. Who are they looking for?
A. Pilots who live near base. Have a similar background. Easy to get along with and personable.

Q. When would I get to fly the phenom?
A. Currently the phenom jet is only in Reading, PA. Upgrade is based on need and utilization of the aircraft. No real timeline.

Q. How do they handle vacation?
A. Vacation is bid for in November of each year for each base. Bases can handle 2-3 pilots off per day for vacation. It is based on seniority. You can bid all your vacation during the process, or pick days as your go throughout the year.

Q. What is your sleep schedule.
A. Typically go home after work 1am-4am depending on the run, relax for 30 min before bed. Sleep until noon, then take an hour nap before work.

Q. Do you ever see your family?
A. Yes, some days it's just a quick dinner; other days it's dinner and a few tv shows. Plus the 1-2 weekdays off and weekends off.

Q. How do you handle weekends with sleep?
A. I try to maintain the same weekday schedule, it's harder, but the family does their best to respect it.

Q. Does the specimen bag ever leak?
A. The bags are triple bagged. There has never been a contamination issues however specimens have been broken inside the bags, but the absorption pads and safety measures have prevented any issues.

Q. Does a sick day count as one of your vacation days?
A. Yes, but you may be asked to pick up a standby day to get that lost day back.

Q. Will I know what my schedule is for the month?
A. Yes, schedules are done 4 weeks at a time. This will allow you to swap schedules down the road if you need to. You can also work with the scheduler to be on secondary standby on a day you might have plans so you don't burn a vacation day.

Q. If I'm not scheduled on a weekday, am I off?
A. There is a primary standby pilot who is scheduled each day. All other pilots are considered as available to work incase the need arises.

Q. How often have you been called on your day off?
A. Typically once a year.


Q. Does the standby pilot have to be at the airport?
A. No.

Q. How do I know where all the bags go?
A. You have a daily run sheet with instructions. The drivers know what to expect. And dispatch is always available to answer your questions.

Q. Where are the pilots going?
A. There is lots of hiring in our industry. Majors, LCC, part 91 corporate, FAA.

Q. What is the company doing to keep pilots.
A. Raising pay to be the highest paid in our segment. Working on a pay scale. Restarting the FO program to help reduce workloads.

Q. What plane will I start in?
A. Typically the baron. The pay is the same and the workload with paperwork is easier to understand. Once you have a good understanding of the paperwork and runs, you will transition to the PC-12. KSUS only has PC-12s, so you will be on that airplane from the start.

Thanks for the response. I don't think I've ever seen a more detailed write up on here.

Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using Tapatalk

91
 

Why fly 91 legs? Do you have 135 duty time/flight time issues regularly that force you to fly 91 legs?

Quest recieved their 135 certificate to be able to carry revenue for clients that have similar routes. It is a way to help offset costs and bring in some extra money. Max 135 duty time is 14 hours with 8 hours flight for single pilot. All of the runs are below that. 5-8 hours duty being common with 3-5 hours block. The longest runs can reach 10-11 hours duty with 7 hours block.

Flying 91 legs has a huge adventage as far as take off minimums. Under 135, we would not be able to use many airports due to visibilty in the winter or spring time. You may be able to see all the way down the runway perfectly, but if the weather is saying 1/4 mile due to sensor location, you cant take off under 135 single pilot.

It is always up to the pilot if they would like to use an alternate, many times this is discussed when you duty on for work, and arrangements can be made.

Our FOM also closely matches part 135 duty and rest scenarios even while operating part 91. We also have scheduled hours for the standby pilots. We are not on call 24/7 and the company is very serious to not disturb us during our rest period.

Quest Diagnostics is Hiring!
 

Thanks for your response. I was just curious because I've worked for 135 operators in the past that thought working longer than your 14 hours was OK since we could just conduct those flights part 91


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Great news. Check out the new Quest Airline profile on the main page or under Part 135 operations!