Skylink Express

[magyar]

what does pay/salary start at for cessna 208 first officer and captain at this company?

[Tim]

i think they run all their vans single pilot and i think their rate is 36k (based on talking to friends in the company)

[KK7]

This is based on what a friend once told me a few months back, but they do in fact bring a long a co jo for the northern routes now. Captains were getting paid a mere $36K to do the following:
- Load/offload the cargo
- Occasionally fly single pilot IFR
- Work split shifts/duty time most days, spending the off time at a hotel in places like Timmins, Sault, etc...

FOs make much less money.

But this is second hand information, hopefully someone who actually works there can confirm or correct my info. I'm just putting this out there in case nobody else answers.

[hairdo]

KK7, Tim: pretty close. Vans are SP and 2 crew, depending on the run. Capt: $35.2K Co: $24K

[TeePeeCreeper]

Capt: $35.2K Co: $24K

You've got to be kidding?!!!
Who the hell can live (half decently) on 24-35K a year BEFORE taxes????


TeePeeCreeper (is glad to be working overseas)

[raven54]

Capt: $35.2K Co: $24K

You've got to be kidding?!!!
Who the hell can live (half decently) on 24-35K a year BEFORE taxes????


TeePeeCreeper (is glad to be working overseas)

I hear you man, pathetic. But it's pretty close to AC's starting pay!

[raven54]

Capt: $35.2K Co: $24K

You've got to be kidding?!!!
Who the hell can live (half decently) on 24-35K a year BEFORE taxes????


TeePeeCreeper (is glad to be working overseas)

I hear you man, pathetic. But it's pretty close to AC's starting pay!

[KK7]

KK7, Tim: pretty close. Vans are SP and 2 crew, depending on the run. Capt: $35.2K Co: $24K

Living in Hamilton I might add. That place takes a good chunk out of your income.

[thepriceisright]

Hello folks!

Any updates at all regarding salary for 1900 and C208?

Also any intel on current working conditions?

Cheers

[BeaverDreamer]

Hello folks!

Any updates at all regarding salary for 1900 and C208?

Also any intel on current working conditions?

Cheers

Heard they have a 2 year bond now just for the van. Pay I believe is still mid 30s for a van driver

[PositiveRate27]

Still 1 year for the Van. 2 for the 1900

[trey kule]

Are there really that many stupid pilots out there that will sign a bond and work for those wages?

Is any of the time FOs are on board legally loggable.

If those numbers are true I dont which is worse. Companies

that would treat employees like that, or the type of people that would willinging except such conditions

At least good employers can take some action by refusing to hire anyone who has worked at such a place.

And, to be clear, I know nothing about this company, so if the "facts" presented here are not correct, they are being done a misservice.

[boeingboy]

They are true - and it's one of the worst operators in the country to boot. They either have no money or don't like to spend it on anything. (I think the first one is more likely)

Run away and don't look back!

[skylinkexpress]

Wow....
Ok. I guess it's time to set the record straight.

1. Yes, we have bonds, or shall we say training agreements. There's no money out of pocket, there's no bank involved, they are simply a written hand shake that says a starting or upgrading pilot will stick around for a year. NOT 2...1.
Some of you think this is outrageous, but I'm sure if you owned a company, hired someone to work for you, spent a few thousand bucks training them, then they bounced using their new qualifications somewhere else, you would do something too.
This has happened to us many times in the past which is why we have them.

2. You can log 208 f/o time as we have it in our COM that the 208 is operated two crew if required.

3. We have weekends off, stat holidays off, crew cars for pilots to use at the majority of our out stations, nice hotels to stay at (breakfast included at one), and only two crew houses company wide. Yes we have to off load the plane at the out stations and load them to come back, but we also get to dress casually.

Now, with that being said, like every company out there, we have room to grow and improve. No one here will deny that.
But to make stupid comments like "It's one of the worst operators in the country to boot" and "Run away and don't look back" is just plain ignorant.

[bullitt]

I like this quote "At least good employers can take some action by refusing to hire anyone who has worked at such a place"...well 95 percent of the pilots move on to Encore, Porter, Jazz, Westjet, and AC. In the last 4 to 5 years there are even some who have stayed on due to a better schedule than there was 5+ years ago. The 5 percent who don't move on to bigger operators either make lateral moves or apparently get on with Fox News and go to Avcanada to comment on crap they don't know anything about...

Move along folks...nothing to see here on this thread...

[AuxBatOn]

Wow....
Ok. I guess it's time to set the record straight.

1. Yes, we have bonds, or shall we say training agreements. There's no money out of pocket, there's no bank involved, they are simply a written hand shake that says a starting or upgrading pilot will stick around for a year. NOT 2...1.
Some of you think this is outrageous, but I'm sure if you owned a company, hired someone to work for you, spent a few thousand bucks training them, then they bounced using their new qualifications somewhere else, you would do something too.
This has happened to us many times in the past which is why we have them.

2. You can log 208 f/o time as we have it in our COM that the 208 is operated two crew if required.

3. We have weekends off, stat holidays off, crew cars for pilots to use at the majority of our out stations, nice hotels to stay at (breakfast included at one), and only two crew houses company wide. Yes we have to off load the plane at the out stations and load them to come back, but we also get to dress casually.

Now, with that being said, like every company out there, we have room to grow and improve. No one here will deny that.
But to make stupid comments like "It's one of the worst operators in the country to boot" and "Run away and don't look back" is just plain ignorant.

Good on you for coming here and setting the record straight but... 36K a year to be in command of a plane? Administrative assitants (requiring much less training and with next to no responsibilities) make more than that... And they work 8-4 Mon-Fri.

[iflyforpie]

AuxBat, you are ignoring supply and demand, pretty much the only factor that governs remuneration in the private sector.

That's why a high school dropout can pull in two hundred large in the patch, while someone with a PhD in Philosophy is making roughly the same as the Skylink captain teaching part-time while waiting for that elusive tenure-track position.

[bullitt]

Add to the fact that the 208 is an entry level position which is attracting flight instructors making 15-20 g's a year. They take a 208 spot knowing that there is advancement opportunities on the 1900, which allows them to skip flying up north and stay in major cities. Some folks don't want to fly up there so maybe this suits them fine. Maint is good, schedule is decent (weekends off, holidays off, and normally a couple res days during the week) and their business is normally stable.

So would paying the 208 guys 120 g's a year and 1900 guys 250 g's a year be good? Yeah of course. But there is a flow through that benefits the pilots after they are done with Skylink. They've started with an entry level job, finished with some 12,500 PIC, and getting on with the big guys. They've spent it in a place that gives them the opportunity to manage their own flight with very little interaction with management, flying in major centres with the opportunity to change bases across Canada.

So just because Fox News wouldn't accept this entry level job doesn't mean that someone else see's other benefits. To each their own.

Disclaimer...yeah I used to work there. The guys are awesome to work with. I'm glad I did.

[AirMail]

AuxBat, you are ignoring supply and demand, pretty much the only factor that governs remuneration in the private sector.

That's why a high school dropout can pull in two hundred large in the patch, while someone with a PhD in Philosophy is making roughly the same as the Skylink captain teaching part-time while waiting for that elusive tenure-track position.

May want to rethink that analogy... how many oil workers are laid off? And those still there making the same great wages! Supply and demand is a sorry excuse to pay barely above poverty wages for living in large cities by most 703/704 ops.

[boeingboy]

But to make stupid comments like "It's one of the worst operators in the country to boot" and "Run away and don't look back" is just plain ignorant.

Clearly - your the one who's ignorant.

......maybe for now i'll give you the benefit of the doubt cause you haven't been around. When you get past 1000 hrs in your logbook and work for some companies that could actually get their sh*t together, I invite you to come back and change you opinion.

These guys could not organize ants to a pick nick and have no clue what anybodies wages should be. Then they make all kinds of promises and then back out of them later. Then there's the fact that there is no company organization whatsoever - everybody does whatever they want, however they want.