Sun Air?
 

Anyone work for these folks? I keep seeing their add on the orange site. Left seat is $50K a year and $45/hour over your 65 guarantee to fly a 208 or PA31. That is a lot of money to fly either of those.

50k to fly almost the same plane as cape air? seems too good to be true

I agree and it is $50K plus. I am sure there is down side to the company as with any of them but that is very good money for the left seat of a PA31 or a 208. No pay during training and it looks like you pay for your own place to stay so there is a red flag right off. But if you gut it out till you are on the line.....

Plus you would be building time toward the 1000135/121/91 rule if I am not mistaken unless PIC doesn't count as SIC under that rule.

Sun Air Express' passenger bookings are handled by Pacific Wings and their flight listings in travel reservation systems are under Pacific Wings' IATA code, LW.

Anything to do with PW should be a warning.

Never heard of PW but good to know, will do a bit of looking. Thanks for the productive input.

I've heard some bad stuff about this place... Definitely a "bottom feeder". At a time when applicants almost have their pick of regionals and even some 135 ops to work at, why go to a place like this?

Just a quick browse of this board shows that nearly all regionals are "bottom feeders" so why not go for the one that pays 3 times as much first year and puts you in the left seat rather than the right? The real downfall I see is that it is a piston twin or a turbine single but Cape Air pilots have had no trouble moving on I am sure. I am not planning to leave where I am anytime in the near future I was just trying to get some info on a company that is paying so much for the equipment they are flying.

Now if you had to go in as an SIC that is a completely different story.

Because ultimately, you'll be hard pressed to ever make more than 50K flying a multi piston. You need multi turbine time (SIC and obviously PIC is even better) to get better paying jobs. I didn't make the rules, I just play the game. It really isn't rocket science. I could of stayed at my last job making way more than I do at a regional, but ultimately there is a ceiling on income flying piston aircraft. And if you go to a regional that doesn't have you sitting in the right seat for 5+ years, then you can make way more than 50K as a Captain after 2 or 3 years.

And as far as Cape Air, they have an agreement with Jet Blue (I think) so thats a bit different. I challenge you to find more than a COUPLE of pilots who have gone from flying multi pistons to the right seat of a boeing or airbus. Keep dreaming!

I would venture to say that there are WAAAY more than a just a few ex piston twin guys, whether from Cape Air or one of several piston freight operators that went straight to something other than another regional without any turbine PIC.

But without ANY turbine time?

Sounds like your mind is made up... Best of luck in your career.

I know of a few that did the regional FO thing, then for whatever reason ended up at Cape Air, then were able to move on to something better.

Point being, they had the 121 glass, crew, jet, etc, box checked before going to Cape.

I am pretty happy here in the ISR world so no regional for me. I like to stay informed of what is going on in other parts of the world though. I'll stick with my assumption that lots of piston twin guys have moved somewhere higher than a regional as their next step.

Okie dokie smokie... So if your coming from the ISR side of the field, I'm assuming you already have some amount of turbine time. And assuming you have said turbine time, you are likely already more qualified for a job beyond a regional anyway. So why bother asking about a crap company that takes advantage of pilots?

That is unless of course you are working for one of the much smaller "ISR" operators that flies pistons. Of which I can count on one hand. And they serve an incredibly niche market. I know because I worked for and with some of them. Which ISR company are you working for? You can PM if you would like.

I know a guy who works there ....first year FO pay is $12 and hour. I didn't know the had 208's.

Dude put your pee pee away. I told you I am not looking for a job. I have an ATP and plenty of turbine PIC and work for a large ISR contractor if that is important to you.

I will say one more time I am just trying to see what the company was and why they were paying so much for the left seat of a 208/PA31. Now settle down. Just because I am not looking to go to a regional airline doesn't mean that I can't ask about the life at a regional. All regionals are crappy and take advantage of their pilots. I for one don't consider making probably $60K a year first year at a regional to be "taken advantage of" so I was asking what the other side of that is.

If you don't have any actual info about Sun Air then there really isn't a lot of reason to chime in. But thanks for your input.

Yes the FO side looks like a bad deal all around but it looks like guys can get in with very low time. The posting I saw was for a Captain slot. How is your buddies schedule etc...? My guess is on that size plane it is mainly out and backs?

The search function of the forum could of told you a lot more than you've received from 2 pages of this thread. They take advantage of their FO's. That much is obvious. And I'd say its crap for the "Captain" too because he is basically going to be baby sitting some low time guy trying to figure out the ropes with passengers on board. Companies like this are part of whats wrong with this industry. They are a bottom-feeder.

Looks to be that you are at PSA, I would venture to bet that many people here on these boards would call that a "bottom feeder" "leading the race to the bottom". Me....I don't have a dog in the fight and don't care. I have also followed PSA as things went along. I fly ISR and while I make a ton of money, it is only as stable as the contract so I keep a list of places I could go tomorrow if things go south. So that is why I am interested in someplace that I could walk into and make decent money tomorrow.

Anyone one here work with this outfit? Anyone have any updated info?

I'm a ramp agent from them part time. Captains make 50K a year but most make more. FO's start at $12/hr and after 6 months go to $18/hr. Guarantee is 65 hours a month, and you probably fly around that or more. Fleet is currently Chieftains and come October the fleet will have Caravans. Training is inhouse in LNS, checkrides are currently with the feds. Supposedly you get half guarantee pay during training but I'm somewhat out of touch with all the rumors so I don't know what truth there is to it. It's a typical 135 carrier, you'll have to deal with some crap but that's the same anywhere you go. Most people enjoy it. Maintenance used to be pretty crappy, but they brought a new DOM on early this year and things have turned around 100%.

Oh get real, 90% of what can be found on this forum about PSA is misinformation. You have to wade through page after page of finger pointing, cry babying, and outright lies to find even a shred of useful info.

Nice! More pilots should keep lists.