Bar XH/Alberta city link

wingspan · Post by **wingspan** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:18 am

Howdy,
Just wondering if it's a good place to work and how is the sked&pay.

thanks

WS

altiplano · Post by **altiplano** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:05 pm

Sched? Pay? We are talking about a pilot job aren't we?

sissyphus · Post by **sissyphus** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:06 am

Its a good place to get started. Low cost of living in Medicine Hat, not so much for the Calgary base. If you're married with kids, the Hat isn't a bad place.

what are they offering you? instructing/navajo/200/j31?

youngtimer · Post by **youngtimer** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:29 pm

Great potential for future growth but many roadblocks ahead. General moral is optimistic but somewhat frustrated at the lack of growth and missed oppurtunities. Sched in theory is very nice but due to lack of pilot staff & dedicated schedualing staff, is suffering. Pay was average but starting to fall behind, may change. Chief pilots office is excellent, organized and easily approachable, working very hard to create a professional organization. Good office/hanger facilities in yyc, not so much in yxh. Equip is kept clean and maintained, however $ seems to blind the decision makers to any preventative type maint or decent avionics. AME's are all excellent at their job and would do more if allowed. Good potential here for anyone who isn't interested in building tons of time and likes time off. Hopefully, time building will become an option soon. As with all jobs/interviews, ask questions and more questions. If required to sign any contracts,(bond) for any company, I wouldn't hesitate to ask for a list of all duties, responsibilities and any promises re upgrades etc, on paper. Be honest and demand honest.
If you are a professional, level headed person who can make decisions and stand up for yourself, and want to help tear down some old walls and build new, we need you!

boy i'd bet I could make good money in an HR department...

youngtimer · Post by **youngtimer** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:53 pm

I'll just add that flight training and actual flight ops are held to a high and professional standard. If you want thorough and respected flight experience, I'd suggest you'll find it here.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:04 pm

I was quoted $45,000 for captain in cyyc.... not enough with the cost of living in this town!

youngtimer · Post by **youngtimer** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:43 pm

Please do the rest of us a favour and let your interviewers know what you think is a reasonable salary and any other reasons why you turned down the job. Demands get you nowhere but suggestions and constructive criticism can be taken to the powers that be for change...

saucer_driver · Post by **saucer_driver** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:16 pm

I dont know what life style you are used to merlin, but I and a few people i know have lived and are living in calgary earning less then that.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:21 am

well if you think that thats all you are worth or should be paid I hear there are plenty of companies that will be glad to hire you!

do people really think that a 200 captain should only make $45.000....? when will pilots start to hold companies to a higher standard? I guess not as we have the people who have the great lifestyle on less money!

tofo · Post by **tofo** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:18 am

was thunder just offering 70 000 for a 100 ??????

I guess that makes sense 45 000 for a 200

altiplano · Post by **altiplano** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:44 am

Puddle Jumper · Post by **Puddle Jumper** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:35 am

altiplano wrote:I was told they give you $100 for every medevac flight you do on top of your base salary.

You're right about the $100 payment per Medevac. But be aware the payment is not classed as Per Diem so it will be taxed! Oh yes, and for any potential F/Os out there thinking that's a good deal, the F/O gets $0.00 per Medevac flight.

Fly safe,

PJ

youngtimer · Post by **youngtimer** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:34 am

And if you fly co-captain, which is often, you split the $100

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:18 am

Most of the stuff mentioned above is accurate.

After the $100 medevac bonus, you'll make about $54k as a 200 capt. more if you've got 200 time etc. Not sure the cojo wage though. Since the cojos' don't get a medevac bonus, some of the capts by the cojo's lunch.

One important thing to keep in mind is that you will hardly fly at all. I was told during the interview to expect 500-600hrs/year. Once online though, I would have been luck to fly more than 300hrs/year. (That's 25hrs/month). That means lots of free time! And once comfortable flying a machine, 300hrs/year flying YXH-YYC-YXH doesn't help the career at all.

Plus, if you're based in the Hat expect to fly to YYC on a 6hr wait-and-return; bring a book, PSP, or something to help pass the time at the Avitat. The Calgary crews don't have to wait...they fly, pick-up the patient, and fly home. Also, the Calgary crews don't have to wash/groom their aircraft. So given the choice, Calgary is the better base..though the cost of living is higher.

The comment about scheduling is pretty accurate as well. I spent 5 weeks straight on-call nights!! (well, save two days in the middle somewhere). Oh yeah, on-call...hearing that ring-tone while at the mall, groceries etc still makes me jump. All that combined that with flying 25hrs/month was enough to make me move on.

For someone looking to get paid decent for not a lot of work, and wants a lot of free time to spend with family or a side project etc. then it could be a nice match.

Hope this helps.

saucer_driver · Post by **saucer_driver** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:11 am

Never said that is what you or I is worth....merely that it is a survivable wage in my nieve humble opinion.....especially with no PST etc..... of course i am talking family-less, maybe for a guy with kids etc.. it isnt good enough.

North Shore · Post by **North Shore** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:32 pm

maybe for a guy with kids etc.. it isnt good enough.

Living In YYC?? It's pathetic! Take off ~ 30% for income tax, and you have $30k/yr take home or ~$1200/cheque. Fair?

Well, the median house price in YYC is ~ $360k, a good mortgage rate is 5%, and a 10% down payment gives you payments of ~ $2400 a month. Not a whole lot left over for KD for you and the kids. Welcome to the ranks of the working poor.

Now, I'm not arguing that the position is worth $100k a year, but if the company wants to keep guys around then they'll have to pay more, or be forever paying out the amount that they've "saved" in wages to train replacements for people as they move up the ladder to WJ looking for better wages.

groundtoflightdeck · Post by **groundtoflightdeck** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:48 pm

They will be loosing guys to the airlines regardless of the salary, no one wants to be a Beech 200 Medevac driver for ever. I can see why they would pay the position like it was a transient one.

elfransa · Post by **elfransa** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:44 pm

What are the hiring minimums?
They also have a flight school do they have alot of students? just to see if it's worth it to work as an instructor

niwre · Post by **niwre** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:16 am

elfransa wrote:What are the hiring minimums?
They also have a flight school do they have alot of students? just to see if it's worth it to work as an instructor

The last thing want is instructors asking "when can I go on the 200."

Eyes and heads roll when that happens.

Captain Jack · Post by **Captain Jack** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:26 pm

Do not go to Bar XH to be an instructor. This is the worst place - it used to be so good, but not anymore. They could have one of the best flow through systems in the whole Canadian market. Student - to instructor - to King Air FO - To Navajo Captain and all the way up. But for some reason they would rather make their Instructors suffer and be hurting for good, qualified pilots!

elfransa · Post by **elfransa** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:20 am

ok then which school would be best to instruct at?

niwre · Post by **niwre** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 7:43 am

elfransa wrote:ok then which school would be best to instruct at?

That is just asking for every bias to come out in the industry.

I found the instructors at Bar XH to be happy. Did my multi and instructors rating there last year.

navajoe · Post by **navajoe** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:39 am

Captain Jack wrote:Do not go to Bar XH to be an instructor. This is the worst place - it used to be so good, but not anymore. They could have one of the best flow through systems in the whole Canadian market. Student - to instructor - to King Air FO - To Navajo Captain and all the way up. But for some reason they would rather make their Instructors suffer and be hurting for good, qualified pilots!

This from the legendary "Captain Jack" who never cut the mustard in the first place. I guess we should start lowering our training standards so that you can come back and complain some more!

flyer · Post by **flyer** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:41 pm

Be careful navajoe, Captain Jack isn't who you think.

Puddle Jumper · Post by **Puddle Jumper** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:23 pm

I can second that - I think a small apology might be in order navajoe!