Hello all, I'm seeking information about the first officer position with Cape Air.

My situation is this, I'm looking at this as a second career/retirement occupation. I live on Cape Cod and don't really have the desire to relocate to Montana or St. Louis, or anywhere else, if I can help it. And, I'm not looking to move up to a large regional/major. Basically, I'd like to fly locally.

I have read info on this forum about it but specifically I'd like to hear from those who started as FO's and were upgraded to CA. I'm wondering how long that transition generally takes. And, where were you based and how was that decided.

Truly appreciate any information provided.

-Hooper

It takes as long as you take to get to 135 PIC IFR mins

Actually, ATP mins.

I believe all of their routes are scheduled over the 5 weekly round trip limit of a normal "on-demand" 135 operator and therefore fall under commuter regs which require an ATP under 135.243(a)(1).

They have three levels of pilot pay rates: FO's, PIC's 1200hrs (still right seat unless its an on-demand flight) and Captains (ATP's).

Well you can expect 3 months in a hotel for FO training and 3 months in a hotel for an upgrade. Heck I've heard of a class going on 4 months. The initial failure rate at 9K is oddly high. I'd say somewhere in the 40-50% range. Which is why I'd be weary. Cape has pretty good training but every instructor wants to see something different. It can get confusing fast. They really really nitpick on the checkride and fail people for the smallest of reasons. Maybe it has to do with safety, but still you don't want that on your record. FO upgrades tend to do actually pretty well on the rides though. So you would probably be OK. The 402 is an easy plane to fly. Expect to fly 1 year as an FO before you upgrade.

Thanks for the replies.

VI, not sure what you mean when you write "the failure rate at 9K is oddly high which is why a I'd be weary" can you clarify for me?

And the training is conducted in Hyannis is that right?

Maybe he's tired.

Yes very tired. Well I'll put it this way, I knew about 6 or 7 guys going for their captain upgrades. I think 3 of them failed their rides. I think one guy failed because a controller he knew said hello to him and he said it back. Broke sterile cockpit and failed so he was told. If you are going the FO route, you will probably do fine on your checkride. It's the street captains that have about a 50% fail rate. Chief pilot came in one day saying they are essentially done with street guys because of washout/failure rate. Cape has good training, but they could get better on the standards. One instructor will tell you one thing, another will tell you something else. FO ride is easy though. You have to actually try to fail it. Just my .02 about my experiences and what I've heard. Some may disagree, I really don't care. Listen to me or not, those are my thoughts on the subject.

Great info V1, thank you for your reply. I think the FO route appeals to me for that very reason, the ability to crawl, walk, then run within the same company.

It's funny, with my current career/occupation it was the same way, started summers only, then year-round part-time and finally full-time. It took three years before I was hired on as a full-time employee but by then I felt as if I was very ready for the job and my employer had a good long look at me as a person and an employee. I'm still here going on 24 years now.

Thanks again all...

No probs. If you want any more info, please PM me. I'll give you the honest truth to just about anything you ask. I was there for almost a year as an FO.

WOW, that is nuts! So on one hand they want to adhere to standards but then let every instructor set their own standards. If that isn't a recipe for failure I don't know what is. No wonder they are so desperate for pilots.

What you have there is a chief pilot whose got a superiority complex and its going to interfere with the success of the business.