Northstar / Cargo North

[foxhoundbat]

Hi !

I was looking to apply for BT-67 F/O position at Northstar and was wondering if any insights were available on how to apply, the company and job role?

A quick search of the forum did not yield much!

Thanks

[spinnindeep]

Hey

best way to apply is to send your resume in to their website. You'll spend anywhere between 6-10 months on the ground as ground crew loading planes and taking care of the base. F/O's do get a 2 week on-2 week off rotation, however you will be based in YPL. Warning: You won't want to spend your 2 weeks off in pickle all the time, and the company doesn't provide transportation in/out for rotations. Basically everything is on your own dime and can get really expensive.

[pecessix]

Hi,
Any idea of the salaries on the BT67, for Captains and F/O?
Thanks!

[shimmydampner]

F/O's do get a 2 week on-2 week off rotation, however....
............
the company doesn't provide transportation in/out for rotations. Basically everything is on your own dime and can get really expensive.

Sooo, not really a rotation at all. Just a job in Pickle Lake with all your days off at once. What a joke. Why would anyone sign up for this?

[spinnindeep]

People who really want to fly the DC-3 I guess

the whole company isn't like that, PC-12 guys are assigned in Thunder bay, so it's not that bad to get home.

[shimmydampner]

People who really want to fly the DC-3 I guess

Yeah well, Borek has them, pays for rotations and does way more interesting stuff.

[MrAviator19]

I posted this some time ago in another thread regarding NSA:

PC12 FO:
$35K a year to start, ZERO per diems while on rotation unless you overnight away from base ($60/night I think), you live in CYQT or CYXL out of your own pocket on that crap salary, fly 60-80 hours every rotation.
PC12 Captain: Same as above except $60K to start.

Basler BT67s are only based out of CYPL if you don't mind living in a small town which is mostly crappy if you don't have the guys around you to spend time with.
BT67 FO: $40K to start, ZERO per diems while of rotation unless you overnight away from base ($60/night again I think), you live in CYPL out of your own pocket again, fly 40-60 hours each rotation.
BT67 Captain: $100K to start but you need 3000 hrs for that upgrade.

ATR72 figures are more or less the same as BT67 but they're based out of CYTH and I believe one in CYPL now.

They don't have C208s anymore.

MrA

[MrAviator19]

the whole company isn't like that, PC-12 guys are assigned in Thunder bay, so it's not that bad to get home.

Of course it is! Imagine paying ~$400-500 on your flight tickets every 2 weeks for your time off on top of the rent/expenses to live in CYQT or CYXL. NSA is inarguably one of the worst paying jobs out there!

MrA

[goingnowherefast]

100 grand for 704/705 captains, 2 weeks on/2 weeks off is pretty good.

[MrAviator19]

100 grand for 704/705 captains, 2 weeks on/2 weeks off is pretty good.

So 15 people in the company make a decent living

Let's factor in the ~8-10K lbs of cargo on the Basler, and ~15-18K lbs on the ATR that has to be offloaded 3-4 times everyday (lots of breaking individual skids and hand-bombing involved since many of the communities don't have loaders/bobcats/forklifts). Severely underpaid for the amount/nature of work, if you ask me. Let's not even begin to discuss FO salary here

Pretty good indeed!

MrA

[goingnowherefast]

Oh the FO pay is horrible, no disagreement there.

The loading/unloading should also be done entirely by ground staff or load masters, but that's a different discussion.

[TheRealMcCoy]

So 15 people in the company make a decent living

Let's factor in the ~8-10K lbs of cargo on the Basler, and ~15-18K lbs on the ATR that has to be offloaded 3-4 times everyday (lots of breaking individual skids and hand-bombing involved since many of the communities don't have loaders/bobcats/forklifts). Severely underpaid for the amount/nature of work, if you ask me. Let's not even begin to discuss FO salary here

Pretty good indeed!

MrA

Some people enjoy being strong and working physically hard.

[shimmydampner]

If that's what you're into, fair enough. I doubt very much however, that anyone would happily do that manual labour for the same or less compensation than someone who does the same flying and does not have to do additional manual labor and does not have to pay for their own rotational travel. That's some grade A bullshit if you ask me. You could sit right seat in an ATR for First Air in YFB, never touch freight, make more money, get airline passes and have all your rotational travel paid for. Or sit right seat in a Basler for Borek, do the hard work you crave, do more interesting flying, probably make more money and also have your work travel paid for.

[mbav8r]

WTF, or how about you live in pickle lake and the job you have gives you an amazing schedule for travel, should you wish.
How many pilots on here moved and lived in YTH for a flying job, not much better than YPL but I don’t recall anyone there talking about “how it sucks they don’t pay for my travel on my days off”. This entitlement era we’ve entered is too much some days.

[shimmydampner]

Really? It's entitlement to think that a travel to and from work specifically for a rotational job should be covered by the employer? I don't think so but just to be clear, you would accept those terms? Just how bad is your case if Stockholm syndrome? What's next? You have to rent your own accommodations on rotation and pay for all your living expenses too? I think that it's industry standard to have your travel to and from your rotational base covered.
And for what is worth, I've lived in both YPL and YTH and the former is far, far worse than the latter in my opinion.

[mbav8r]

First off, no I wouldn’t accept the job but perhaps if I was first starting out I would consider it.
Next, the “rotational” description is from the poster above, it is not mentioned in their job postings, in fact it says they will allow 30 days of housing to transfer into their network, after listing all the bases they have. They expect you to live there, if you want to travel during your off time, fill your boots.
Some jobs allow you to commute, they don’t provide you your travel, I would suggest the ones that do have trouble filling the positions, that’s just a guess though.
I would look at it differently if the job was YQT with a rotation at YPL in the job description, not the case here

[goingnowherefast]

The industry norm for YPL is rotations from YQT. I understand Basler captains get confirmed travel anywhere in Canada when off rotation. This discussion is about NSA FOs getting particularly screwed.

[mbav8r]

No one is getting “screwed”, they are not forced to accept the job, honestly does anyone accept responsibility for their choices anymore.
The Captains are getting paid travel because those positions would otherwise go unfilled, if the FO positions remained unfilled, guess what, they would likely get travel benefits as well.

[MrAviator19]

What's next? You have to rent your own accommodations on rotation and pay for all your living expenses too?

Umm, NSA pilots are already doing that!

MrA

First off, no I wouldn’t accept the job but perhaps if I was first starting out I would consider it.
Next, the “rotational” description is from the poster above, it is not mentioned in their job postings, in fact it says they will allow 30 days of housing to transfer into their network, after listing all the bases they have. They expect you to live there, if you want to travel during your off time, fill your boots.
Some jobs allow you to commute, they don’t provide you your travel, I would suggest the ones that do have trouble filling the positions, that’s just a guess though.
I would look at it differently if the job was YQT with a rotation at YPL in the job description, not the case here

It is a rotational gig - 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. They will tell you that when you interview with them. Why they don't have it listed under their job description is beyond me since that's the only thing that'll make people even consider living in a place like CYPL! However, the company has no "commuting" policy i.e. no paid travel/accommodation, because it "feels" that CYPL and CYTH are accessible (which they are) and "livable" (which they aren't, at least not for me long term).

The 30 days of "housing" you speak of, well it's a crew house that you share with 2-3 other people. Sometimes the PC12 crews from CYQT laying over in CYPL will move in as well. The place is run down and down right filthy (individual standards of cleanliness I guess, I hold mine high). There's a nice apartment building on the main street run by a nice old guy but like I said, you pay your own rent. Expenses, even in CYPL, add up on a shitty FO salary.

The companies that do offer paid travel/accommodation don't do it because they're having trouble filling up the positions. It's because they recognize the work-life balance that appeals to potential employees and keeps them in the company for some time once hired. NSA has absolutely no regard for that as according to them, you pay for your own travel or else life in CYPL & CYTH is great! I can name at least 3 guys that have left NSA in the last 10 months.

MrA

[MrAviator19]

The industry norm for YPL is rotations from YQT. I understand Basler captains get confirmed travel anywhere in Canada when off rotation. This discussion is about NSA FOs getting particularly screwed.

As far as I know, only the Basler Captains (and maybe ATR?) have that luxury. What is the company trying to say about other pilots? Talk about discrimination in the workplace. But that's just my opinion, perhaps because I've seen companies that don't screw you over like this!

MrA