Fast Air

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scopiton
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Fast Air

Post by scopiton »

hello
How is it over there operations wise, now ?
other info welcome on pay, sched, etc etc...
pm if you want
thanks
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jpar84
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Re: Fast Air

Post by jpar84 »

Ditto

Do they really hire into right seat cheyenne with 250hrs?
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Les Habitants
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Les Habitants »

I've got a couple of friends who work there.

Company seems to be alright. They had some issues a while back, but seem to have cleaned up their act. From what I understand, the owner is a decent guy (who actually paid the fines for his pilots back when he was in trouble), all the maintenance is legit, and there is no pressure to fly overweight or in bad weather. No idea how the pay is, I do believe there is a 10 K bond if you don't have a type rating.

They don't hire right seat onto the Cheyenne. They will hire 250 hour guys to work the ramp, and they often get to build time right seat on the navajo after a while until they have enough hours go to right seat on the King Air which is mostly a medevac operation, however they do charters as well.
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Jaguar
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Jaguar »

A lot of current pilots at Fast Air started grooming or dispatching, then moved up to the flight line. A few people built time by flying jumpers, to get to the minimum 500 required for medevac. It's fairly common that people get right seat on a King Air 200 with lower hours, but they build time/experience on charter with an experienced, single-pilot-certified captain. The right-seat Navajo thing has happened once in the last couple years. Someone was hired at very low time to fly a Cheyenne, but I'm not sure if that would occur again.

Les Habitants, you're definitely right about the lack of pressure to fly in stupid conditions. The owner did not pay pilots' fines, but did continue to employ/pay them through the trouble with TC. Also, most of the King Airs are used for charter, and the company doesn't require a bond.
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jpar84
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Re: Fast Air

Post by jpar84 »

Thanks for the info guys!
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Les Habitants
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Les Habitants »

Jaguar wrote:
Les Habitants, you're definitely right about the lack of pressure to fly in stupid conditions. The owner did not pay pilots' fines, but did continue to employ/pay them through the trouble with TC. Also, most of the King Airs are used for charter, and the company doesn't require a bond.
RIGHT ON! :smt023 :smt023 :smt023

Thanks for the correction. Sounds like a pretty decent place to start up. If you do work there, kindly ask the captains to stop parking their King Airs smack in the middle of the ramp in YTH. :wink:
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team shifty
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Re: Fast Air

Post by team shifty »

Les Habitants wrote:
Jaguar wrote:
Thanks for the correction. Sounds like a pretty decent place to start up. If you do work there, kindly ask the captains to stop parking their King Airs smack in the middle of the ramp in YTH. :wink:
It's only smack-dab in the middle of the ramp when the approximately 73 metro's that were parked around it leave for Oxford House and God's Narrows. :D

But seriously, I worked at Fast Air for three and a half years and had a great time there. There was no bond when I worked there although I suppose that could have changed. The schedule for medevac captains is week on/week off, charter captains were 10 on/4 off. For FO's you work a week of medevac, have three days off, then three days on call for charters and then repeat... The pay scale is new since I left but when I was there FO's started at $25,000 and maxed out at $29,000. King Air captains would start around $45,000 but that would vary depending on experience. The maintenance is good, the chief pilot is a great guy and really friendly. Ummm, I can't think of much else, overall I thought it was a great place to work.
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jpar84
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Re: Fast Air

Post by jpar84 »

Hi Team Shifty,

Thanks for the informative post. you said you were there for 3.5 years, I'm just curious as to how the progression works there, did you upgrade quickly? Did you fly navajo or cheyenne at all or just king airs, what about the westwind jet do turboprop guys get a shot at it with seniority?

Cheers
JP


team shifty wrote:
Les Habitants wrote:
Jaguar wrote:
Thanks for the correction. Sounds like a pretty decent place to start up. If you do work there, kindly ask the captains to stop parking their King Airs smack in the middle of the ramp in YTH. :wink:
It's only smack-dab in the middle of the ramp when the approximately 73 metro's that were parked around it leave for Oxford House and God's Narrows. :D

But seriously, I worked at Fast Air for three and a half years and had a great time there. There was no bond when I worked there although I suppose that could have changed. The schedule for medevac captains is week on/week off, charter captains were 10 on/4 off. For FO's you work a week of medevac, have three days off, then three days on call for charters and then repeat... The pay scale is new since I left but when I was there FO's started at $25,000 and maxed out at $29,000. King Air captains would start around $45,000 but that would vary depending on experience. The maintenance is good, the chief pilot is a great guy and really friendly. Ummm, I can't think of much else, overall I thought it was a great place to work.
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Doc
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Doc »

I haven't heard any negatives about these guys in quite a while. Did a sub-charter for them, and we were treated pretty well. There are a lot of much poorer choices out there. Have fun, and good luck.
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DHCdriver
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Re: Fast Air

Post by DHCdriver »

I have heard many great things there, even in my part of the country(Eastern Ontario). 25,000 divided by 12 is 2083.33/month gross 2083 divided bi-weekly is 1041.67 gross. :shock: Even a 250 hr right seater would have a hard time making rent,car payment and all the others. Forget about it if him/her had a family to take care of. We have to get this up a little more, or we will force these new guys to seek employment elsewhere. Am I right or wrong? DHC

P.S. This is not just Fast it's everywhere.
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team shifty
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Re: Fast Air

Post by team shifty »

[quote="jpar84"]Hi Team Shifty,

Thanks for the informative post. you said you were there for 3.5 years, I'm just curious as to how the progression works there, did you upgrade quickly? Did you fly navajo or cheyenne at all or just king airs, what about the westwind jet do turboprop guys get a shot at it with seniority?

Cheers
JP



Usually guys go from right seat on the King Air to left seat navajo or cheyenne and then back to the King Air as captain. I began there flying right seat on the cheyenne until I had the 500 hrs required to fly medevacs and then made the jump to the king air. It took me just over two years to upgrade but that time is by no means set in stone, it all depends what kind of time you have when you're hired and how the industry is moving. They just added a G150 last fall but spots on that and the westwind don't come open very often. Most of the guys flying the jets are in management or they've decided to make a career with Fast Air. So they definitely will upgrade guys to the jet but if you want one of those spots you'll be waiting awhile.
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Les Habitants
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Les Habitants »

DHCdriver wrote:I have heard many great things there, even in my part of the country(Eastern Ontario). 25,000 divided by 12 is 2083.33/month gross 2083 divided bi-weekly is 1041.67 gross. :shock: Even a 250 hr right seater would have a hard time making rent,car payment and all the others. Forget about it if him/her had a family to take care of. We have to get this up a little more, or we will force these new guys to seek employment elsewhere. Am I right or wrong? DHC

P.S. This is not just Fast it's everywhere.
I make more than that as a NET salary biweekly as an FO on a King Air. So, no it's not actually EVERYWHERE...but I'll agree, most places, and 25K IS too low for a King Air FO.

But who am I fooling? I'm that guy that's gonna fly for free and ruin everyone else's life just to I can wear a pair of shiny eppaullettes right? :roll:
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Krashman
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Krashman »

Not to stir the pot or anything but just curious about why they seem to be hiring Alot of king air captains in the past 6-8 months? I ve noticed a post similar to this one at least twice before this one. Are the guys not working out? People moving on? YWG isn't as nearly as bad as some of the other options for Manitoba or northwest Ontario based companies.
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DHCdriver
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Re: Fast Air

Post by DHCdriver »

Les Habitants wrote:I make more than that as a NET salary biweekly as an FO on a King Air. So, no it's not actually EVERYWHERE...but I'll agree, most places, and 25K IS too low for a King Air FO.
Well thats great LH, thats the whole idea of these discussions. I believe salaries should be based on expierence, but there should be a base salary that at least that F/O can survive without working 3 jobs to make ends meet. If you look at Welders, millwrights, plumbers there all paid well for there education why is it that that young F/O has to sit in that seat for nothing because he chose flying as a career. 25,000 could be made working at Burger King. If you scroll through all the 703/704 companies across Canada, most companies are offering that wage. Not all of them , don't get me wrong there are alot of great companies out there.
Les Habitants wrote: I'm that guy that's gonna fly for free and ruin everyone else's life just to I can wear a pair of shiny eppaullettes right?
You didn't ruin my life LH, I choose not to fly for free, and I also have a pair of shiny bars to wear on my shoulders. Cheers DHC
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jpar84
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Re: Fast Air

Post by jpar84 »

team shifty wrote:
jpar84 wrote:Hi Team Shifty,

Thanks for the informative post. you said you were there for 3.5 years, I'm just curious as to how the progression works there, did you upgrade quickly? Did you fly navajo or cheyenne at all or just king airs, what about the westwind jet do turboprop guys get a shot at it with seniority?

Cheers
JP



Usually guys go from right seat on the King Air to left seat navajo or cheyenne and then back to the King Air as captain. I began there flying right seat on the cheyenne until I had the 500 hrs required to fly medevacs and then made the jump to the king air. It took me just over two years to upgrade but that time is by no means set in stone, it all depends what kind of time you have when you're hired and how the industry is moving. They just added a G150 last fall but spots on that and the westwind don't come open very often. Most of the guys flying the jets are in management or they've decided to make a career with Fast Air. So they definitely will upgrade guys to the jet but if you want one of those spots you'll be waiting awhile.
Cool thanks for the info

cheers
JP
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jpar84
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Re: Fast Air

Post by jpar84 »

Les Habitants wrote:
DHCdriver wrote:I have heard many great things there, even in my part of the country(Eastern Ontario). 25,000 divided by 12 is 2083.33/month gross 2083 divided bi-weekly is 1041.67 gross. :shock: Even a 250 hr right seater would have a hard time making rent,car payment and all the others. Forget about it if him/her had a family to take care of. We have to get this up a little more, or we will force these new guys to seek employment elsewhere. Am I right or wrong? DHC

P.S. This is not just Fast it's everywhere.
I make more than that as a NET salary biweekly as an FO on a King Air. So, no it's not actually EVERYWHERE...but I'll agree, most places, and 25K IS too low for a King Air FO.

But who am I fooling? I'm that guy that's gonna fly for free and ruin everyone else's life just to I can wear a pair of shiny eppaullettes right? :roll:
Where do you work?
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Les Habitants
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Re: Fast Air

Post by Les Habitants »

DHCdriver wrote:
Les Habitants wrote:I make more than that as a NET salary biweekly as an FO on a King Air. So, no it's not actually EVERYWHERE...but I'll agree, most places, and 25K IS too low for a King Air FO.
Well thats great LH, thats the whole idea of these discussions. I believe salaries should be based on expierence, but there should be a base salary that at least that F/O can survive without working 3 jobs to make ends meet. If you look at Welders, millwrights, plumbers there all paid well for there education why is it that that young F/O has to sit in that seat for nothing because he chose flying as a career. 25,000 could be made working at Burger King. If you scroll through all the 703/704 companies across Canada, most companies are offering that wage. Not all of them , don't get me wrong there are alot of great companies out there.
Les Habitants wrote: I'm that guy that's gonna fly for free and ruin everyone else's life just to I can wear a pair of shiny eppaullettes right?
You didn't ruin my life LH, I choose not to fly for free, and I also have a pair of shiny bars to wear on my shoulders. Cheers DHC
Cheers DHC, glad we see eye to eye. And I apologize for my baby crying picture earlier, it was a bit overboard.
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DHCdriver
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Re: Fast Air

Post by DHCdriver »

Les Habitants wrote:Cheers DHC, glad we see eye to eye. And I apologize for my baby crying picture earlier, it was a bit overboard.
Hey that's the great thing with avcanada, I would rather be on her fightin with you guys than watching the Bachlorette :lol: Cheers DHC
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scopiton
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Re: Fast Air

Post by scopiton »

did someone receive a call for the B200 captain position yet ?
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