Maybe some of the guys in that category can be more specific. It is very fluid, you may have OT everyday or you may not have any. Last year I had 5 figures in OT, this year I am on track for a little over half of that.

Do NOT, under any circumstances, accept a job here based on how much OT you need. You must be able to live with the absolute minimum. The same goes for basing for now.

First year FOs will get around $27 per hour for OT on 7 & 7 and a little over $30 on the reserve schedule. I did about 100 hours of OT last year from mid March through the end of the year on the Excel (busy fleet). I'm on pace for about 100 hours of OT this year. I would guess most fleets will be able to get at least 50 hours of OT, but it is spread out and you cannot pay your bills month to month based on getting OT. Most pilots work about 5 of the 10 holidays that get extended day pay (around $320 first year). The Excel pays another $225 a month for differences pay and is the biggest and fastest growing fleet. Per diem is about $41 a day is and is mostly banked since the company provides crew food while you are working. I did about half of last year on the reserve schedule on the Excel and my W2 showed 50K. Tips and perdiem were about another 10K. I think this is a pretty good first year, but the main problem is that it barely goes up year to year until you are a captain- only another couple of thousand. This will have to be addressed on the next contract if the company wants to continue to bring in good pilots since it will take longer and longer to upgrade as we get bigger and bigger.

Sure, just as long as you don't work for the IRS.... here goes

2006 was my first full year on the job at NetJets. Jan - Apr I was in training and didn't start flying the line until May so the "soft money" figures are a bit smaller than what I'm on track to make this year. (2007)

Base Salary: 46,290 (I worked the Reserve schedule the entire year)
Per Diem: 6700
Over Time: 2460
Extended Days: 960
Holiday Pay: 1290
Soft Money: 2750

Total: $60450

I'm in one of the busiest fleets (Citation X) so my OT numbers are a bit higher than the average bear.

Would I have a chance at working for NJ in the future if I don't plan to go the airline route to build hours? My current plan is to fly part 135 for a local company, multi-engine (not turbine), part time to build hours and just because I love flying. My current day job (non-aviation) pays too good to switch to full time flying career just now, but down the line a few years I'd love to fly for NJ.

If you meet the mins, you have a chance. NJA is diverse in pilots.

Wow, I was on the 7 on 7 off schedule and made about 44,000 first year.

I bet you are real proud of the SOFT money. If every pilot got 2750 in soft money a year that would cost NJA 7.4 million. Earn those tips my friend.

The fact is the pay at NetJets is terrible. Expect to make 10 to 12 percent over base salary. Even with that NJA can't touch the airlines or a corporate job.

To each his own. I love the crews at NJA, I liked the company, but I didn't like the compensation. Even the guys that benifited most from the last contract aren't compensated on par with most corporate gigs. I have a great deal of respect for NJA pilots and I think they deserve to be at the pinnacle of pilot pay scales.

PS I don't know how my tone came across in the above post, but I don't want to sound too negative. I think depending on age and what your other options may be there could be better choices. If you are lucky enough to get on with NJA you WILL have a good job that I think will only get better.

You will not beat NJA with JOB security!

If I were you I would make a list of priorities and assign them a point value.

Job security 10
Pay 9
QOL 8
Bases 7
etc....

Try to guess what you think may be the value at certain jobs and add them up. That is how I made my decision. It was very close and a hard one to make. Who knows, I could be crying in 10 years for leaving.

Good Luck!

Adolphus Coors which aircraft do you fly? Are you able to pick which one you'd like?

I flew the Excel. It was a reliable plane, but it was also a work horse. It is second in workload to the X. You maybe offered a choice of aircraft you may not. It doesn't hurt to ask. They may give you what you want but you might have to wait. The main reasons I left had nothing to do with the company itself. As stated before I really liked everyone I worked with. There was plenty of reasons to love NJA, but I left for the following reasons:

1. Pay- as I stated before the quick 18 month upgrade is over I had to come to the realization that 45 grand per year was my life for the next 4 years. After that I would still be trying to Catch my friends elsewhere.

2. Domicile- You can't move except to 4 other cities all of which cost way too much to live in. But of course most of the other guys can. Not to mention the amount of wasted time and money I have spent in the last 18 months for no reason.

3. QOL on the road- There is none. I got into this job to have fun and enjoy traveling. I can count the amounts of time I have enjoyed traveling at NJA on 1 hand. Lots of 12 to 14 hour days with 11 hours of rest.

4. Schedule- I hated 7 on. 7 off was nice but I found that I was less productive because I had to recover from fatigue, and my schedule was nothing like my friends. I also hated the inflexible schedule.

5. Equipment- I was not thrilled with the cockpit size and other ergonomic features. The thought of waiting 15 years until I could get the Falcon was too much. IF I WERE A NEW HIRE I WOULD ASK FOR THE HAWKER 800. I have not flown the 800, but I have flown aircraft of the same pedigree. The Brits build a solid aircraft and it seems to have a better schedule than most of the other NJA aircraft.

Again I am not posting things I dislike about NJA to paint a bad picture. The fact is I liked being at NJA very much, but in the end it simply wasn't the job for me. There are obviously a long list of things that are great about being a pilot at NJA.

To me NJA is less of a risk but with less risk comes less reward. I am young and not the sole bread winner in my family so I can take on more risk than most.

Good luck it is a tough decision.

I can respect your decision to leave, NJA isn't cut out for everyone.

As far as your quote above, I need to correct this urban legend. For some reason, everyone on these boards (and ours) keeps saying the X is the busiest fleet. The X flies the same amount of hours every month as the Encore, Excel, and the 2000A. The X's hours are exceeded by the XLS and the G200. The G200 is statistically the busiest fleet.