my sentiments exactly...no FMS? What's next? no Air conditioning? I've made my call(third...uggh) to Elizabeth and awaiting the call from her. I wish that I had been in a position to accept an interview last time, I probably would have upgraded soon.

thats the other thing i was worried about, i'm pretty big, 6'4, it looked kinda small, i dunno

How tight is the Saab for you?

Another alternative would be Flexjet out of NYC/TEB area. You could get hired onto the Challenger 300 which is spacious up front. Ultimately you'd have to fly the Lears when you upgrade and those ain't that comfy either.

i'm very comfortable in the saab actually

I am 6'2" and the cockpit is very cramped. The seat has to be lowered all the way down and aft, but then the problem is you cannot stretch out your legs and have to rest them on the rudder pedals.

The plane DOES HAVE an FMS. The Avanti I has a different model than the II.

Kind of a continuation of the home life thread, but how do you folks a Avantair enjoy your QOL. Sounds like a good company that I'm very interested in, I just don't know how the QOL adjustment would be coming from my regional where I usually have around 15 days off a month working a combo of 4-3-2 day trips. Is the schedule a true 7/7 or a 7.5/6.5 that I hear people talk about? I was thinking of making the jump to the fractional side of the fence, just want to get more info on the scheduling there. Thanks.

Where did "no FMS" come from? The Piaggio I and II has FMS.

I'm 6'4" and yes, it's tight. But not so bad as I'm gonna quit. I do fine for 2.5 hours or so and then am happy to get out and stretch my legs.

If you compare ANY regional to Avantair then the regional loses big time. "Usually have AROUND 15 days off a month" is a long way from ALWAYS have 15 or 16 (depending on the length of the month) days off. Look, it's 7 on and 7 off. Over and over for ever. You can bid to change your start day when ever you want. Per diem is $2.00 per hour. Over time is 1.5 your daily rate and you only get that if you elect to work overtime (Very seldom you could get stuck in the middle of nowhere and be forced to work overtime because they can't get a replacement for you. It's happened to me only once or twice in the two years I've been here).

You commute on your days on, not off like a regional or major for that matter. There's no "hub and spoke" system. You can fly to JFK and D69 in the same day. You never know where you might end up and I think that's cool. There is no TSA except to airline to your plane at the start of the tour and airline home at the end. When I stand there with my bag open getting wanded down in uniform I think, "job security"! The bigger the pain in the a@@ the better in my opinion.

We stay at much nicer hotels. I was a Diamond member at Hilton within 5 months. Oh yeah, we keep all hotel points and airline miles. That's a big perk as airline mile redemption's aren't "Space A" like your travel benefits. When I want to go with the family I just go and don't worry about sitting around hoping to get on a flight all day...flight after flight.

All I can say is I was happy at my regional (ACA) but that was before I knew fractional flying. I like this MUCH MUCH more. It might not be for everyone but I like it lots.

Fly Safe.

It is a pretty decent place in the areas you mentioned, however, there are concerns (at least for me).

I really like the 7 on and 7 off schedule. The only bummer is on that 7th day you might be getting home around midnight or later, and you only get overtime for that 8th day if you block in at 4am.

You failed to mention the crappy pay, which certainly impacts your QOL. Captain pay is a joke especially for the amount of extraneous paperwork that must be done. That paperwork issue is being addressed however.

As far as hotels goes, the claim that the hotels are much nicer needs to be qualified since the cities you are talking about are sometimes not served by 121 therefore there is nothing to compare to. Overall the hotels have been great, but so too were the regional ones.

It certainly does not compare to the level of standardization, SOPs, and overall professionalism of the 121 carriers. Guys like to pick and choose which procedures to follow, and there are 3 answers to almost anything.

Lots of cowboys who skip whole sections of the checklist is just one example. That kind of stuff never happened at my previous flying job which was a "regional". Carrying MX write-ups is commonplace, or should I say waiting till landing at a MX station to write up issues.

Things must improve here soon.

Okay, settle down.

I take exception to "crappy pay". I make more now than I ever have, even as a CRJ Captain working 5 on 3 off 4 on 2 off. What's that?...5 days off over a 14 day spread? Now I make MORE money working less. Doesn't sound too "crappy" to me.

Hotels? I never ever, ever, ever, ever, stayed at a Hilton, Embassy Suite or the like hotel at the regionals. Never heard of any other regional staying there either. Case in point: Last night in CHS we stayed at the Embassy Suite. My former regional overnighted in CHS too. We stayed just down the road at the Hampton Inn next to a highway and a Waffle House...and that's it.

I agree about the standardization thing. Not much to add.

Carrying write ups is common everywhere, even the airlines. The difference is that with a "hub and spoke" system it's a lot quicker to get to that Mx Base. At most 1 leg away. With corporate flying it might be a lot more legs. I'm not talking about flying with cracks in the wings or busted generators. I'm talking about little things that don't affect safety of flight. I always brief the FO and if anyone has a problem we take the conservative route. I'm just saying it's a little unfair to compare carrying write-ups between 121 airlines and corporate operators.

As far as "things must improve soon" I submit that they have. It's a very new company and things have improved vastly since I started. Not to sound cliche, but it really is a work in progress. If something needs work then volunteer to help fix it. I've not seen a good idea turned away.

Fly Safe.

My bad. I finally found a photo that has the FMS way back on the center pedestal. It all seems so clear now. haha