A type rating is required to fly the King Air 350i. The direct entry captains I have flown with had previous 350i flight experience. 2500 hours multi time is required to be hired as a captain. The initial training and 135 check ride is also a type rating ride. My sim partner was a direct entry captain who had flown a Beech 1900. He got his 350 type rating after being hired.

I got hired to left seat with no prop time at all, had 6800 hrs air force. Good place to be but I left for NJA and I think most of my class (one year agO is now gone. I think the companies future is kind of in flux from what I hear on the road.

Not sure what you mean by in flux but Wheels Up has made no secret of the fact that it wants to go public. Where this leaves Gama in the long term is anyone’s guess, but someone has to fly those 80 King Airs and shifting them to another certificate would be a monumental task. There are worse places to work while you’re waiting for the dream job to finally call.

I think they have a great business model and who they target as customers is also very smart. I thought WU owns all the 350's and its a wet lease arrangement with Gama for crews, MX and operational control? Good place to work, but Kenny needs a certificate and planes to have value for his public offering. My concern was he would find someone cheaper than Gama to provide pilots, or hire his own? I enjoyed the people immensely!

You are right. WU owns the planes and provides the customer group, Gama has the pilots, training, maintenance, and dispatch. WU has a certificate. They acquired TMC.
The point I think he was making was it’d be almost impossible to spin up a new group on the KAs without taking at least a small step back. Not to mention, in this current climate you aren’t going to find a much cheaper pilot group with the qualifications that they require for us.

I think most pilots are under the impression sooner or later WUP will bring all operational control in house using the bought certificate. The question is do they retain the GAMA compensation package to retain the flight crews? I doubt a pilot cares what name is on the pay check as long as the paycheck is for the same amount. Then does WUP retain same working conditions for pilot or revert back 14hour days because it’s legal to do so under current part 135 regulations.

This.

WUP execs have said that they aren't leaving Gama. However, the contract renews every year. I doubt anything will change during the contract period, but WUP has the opportunity to walk away from Gama every year. Everyone saying it would be impossible to switch operators is wrong. It would certainly be challenging, but with planning, doable. If WUP was serious about staying with Gama long term, they would sign a multi year contract. Until then, we are only safe (sort of) for a year at a time.

My biggest concern currently is can Gama retain crews. We are losing a lot of pilots recently from what I've heard. Some going to the majors, but I think most going to better compensating competitors. Is WUP willing to negotiate with Gama to increase the compensation package in some way to keep pilots here? Or now that they have their own certificate that they have more control over, will Gama be seen as disposable if costs are deemed too high and thus Gama loses the ability to negotiate?

Who are the better compensating competitors? Or are you talking about just other 91K outfits in general?

NJA FO can potentially make double what a WU FO makes first year as well as a first year CA from what I see to work a lot less.

I not on this forum to debate policy, but silence from both parties GAMA/WUP leaves a lot of fires to be put out. One side of the pilot spectrum assumes nothing will change and life will go on as usual for the next 20 years. The other side of the pilot spectrum suggest very soon we will have 13 days off a quarter and be under compensated. I have to say we may be losing more pilots that possibly would not have otherwise left just for the simple fact of the “ fear of the unknown”. If a pilot wanted a Jet I’d assume they would have or could have applied for another reputable fractional air carrier. Silence maybe golden but when your paycheck and benefits are on the line people tend to move towards known stability.