• Skylink (YHM 16 hour days?)

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:38 am**

I was just on flightaware and checking out where Skylink flies out of the Hamilton base. I see they fly 5 days a week and their duty days are at least 14 to 16 hours a day, is this valid?
If there are any skylink pilots on AvCanada that can verify this it would be nice to hear, it does sound like a good place to be but the days are long .

thanks

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:46 am**

Most likely a split duty day. Fly out to wherever, secure the airplane, chill in a hotel all day, fly home.

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:49 am**

lownslow wrote: ↑Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:46 am Most likely a split duty day. Fly out to wherever, secure the airplane, chill in a hotel all day, fly home.

+1. Could be worse, same lifestyle with most cargo feeders in Canada.

S.

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:19 am**

lownslow wrote: ↑Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:46 am Most likely a split duty day. Fly out to wherever, secure the airplane, chill in a hotel all day, fly home.

Not the most likely lifestyle if you have a family with young kids at home to be away for so long five days a week. I see on flightaware the day starts at 6 am and back at base (YHM) at roughly 9 to 10 p.m. I guess it's a great gig for the unattached pilots that don't have the family at home.

I hear it's a good gig at Skylink but the days are really long, personal preference I guess.

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:57 pm**

I used to fly that run when it was Georgian doing it.
Yes, it's a split duty day.
When I was there one crew would do Monday Wednesday Friday and the other crew would do Tuesday Thursday.
They were very long days for sure - Monday was an even earlier start because the UPS plane would come in Sunday night so we would be ready to go much sooner Monday morning.
Not a bad gig though.
I'm not sure how different things are with Skylink doing it. I believe Georgian sold to Cargojet Regional who bought Prince Edward Air to dump their regional thing after AJ decided it was a bad idea then they sold it all to Skylink.

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:02 pm**

Great company to work for and build some time. There was a few different runs, two during the day left at 630am came home at 930pm-10pm the other day run left at 630am was home by 630-7pm. Typically we flew 3-4 days a week and weekends/holidays off. There was two night runs, one to JFK left at 1130pm home by 3-330am and the Mirabel run that left at 1230-1am in the hotel by 3am and home that night. We also had one run that went to Louisville only on Friday's. The Louisville flight left at 11pm and you were home by 6am, it was a longer flight around 2.5-3 hours compared to the other runs which are only an hour. Each one of the day locations we had a hotel and crew car so you were free to go out and about if you wanted. I hear they recently increased pay for both Fo's and Captains. The run info should be sort of the same as it was when I was there in 2016-2017. Quick upgrades too!

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:11 pm**

PA28151 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:02 pm Great company to work for and build some time. There was a few different runs, two during the day left at 630am came home at 930pm-10pm the other day run left at 630am was home by 630-7pm. Typically we flew 3-4 days a week and weekends/holidays off. There was two night runs, one to JFK left at 1130pm home by 3-330am and the Mirabel run that left at 1230-1am in the hotel by 3am and home that night. We also had one run that went to Louisville only on Friday's. The Louisville flight left at 11pm and you were home by 6am, it was a longer flight around 2.5-3 hours compared to the other runs which are only an hour. Each one of the day locations we had a hotel and crew car so you were free to go out and about if you wanted. I hear they recently increased pay for both Fo's and Captains. The run info should be sort of the same as it was when I was there in 2016-2017. Quick upgrades too!

Thanks for the great info.

So when you came back at 9 or 10 pm you were expected to check in again the following day at 6 am?
Did you fly 3 to 4 days straight or every other day?

Again thanks

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:19 pm**

It varied sometimes it was consecutive days or if you got lucky you had a day in between. It definitely makes it hard to commute from say Toronto or London to Hamilton if you had to be there the next morning. I was a commuter and got fairly lucky in the fact I did the North run frequently(CYHM-CYYB-CYSB-CYAM-CYSB-CYHM) and was back by 630-7 so I still had a decent nights rest after driving home for an hour and 15 minutes.

Posted: **Mon Oct 01, 2018 6:35 pm**

What does the ywg flying look like?

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:10 am**

goleafsgo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 01, 2018 6:35 pm What does the ywg flying look like?

Not sure about YWG , they were down to one plane and a few crew when I was there. I don't see any SLQ flight leaving YWG on Flightaware. YVR is probably the best base in terms of schedule. You leave at 6-630am and are home by 1130 if you do the Prince George or 430pm if you do Kelowna/Kamloops.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:41 am**

I heard each pilot is assigned to a "relief pilot" role that rotates every week or so, meaning that if you're the relief pilot and you just got landed from JFK at 4am and the pilot who's suppose to do the day run (CYHM-CYQG-CYHM) calls in sick, you as the relief pilot has to cover that day run, and then do you scheduled night run again.

Any truth to that?

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:04 am**

I've never experienced that, I have had a three day week of days and one day of reserve and got called in on reserve for a day shift. Never did I do a day-night-day. We have had pilots in the past that have done that but at their request for time building etc. CYHM-CYGK-CYHM (9.5 hours in the hotel) then do CYHM-JFK-CYHM and a Windsor or Kingston the next day.

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:32 am**

PA28151 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:04 am I've never experienced that, I have had a three day week of days and one day of reserve and got called in on reserve for a day shift. Never did I do a day-night-day. We have had pilots in the past that have done that but at their request for time building etc. CYHM-CYGK-CYHM (9.5 hours in the hotel) then do CYHM-JFK-CYHM and a Windsor or Kingston the next day.

Is it true the pilots do 3 weeks nights and 3 weeks day flying and do they fly 3 or 5 days a week most of the time?

thanks

Posted: **Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:48 am**

For the most part it was 3 days on and 1 day reserve, however there was a few weeks due to shortages or people being sick where you'd work 4 or 5 days but it wasn't common practice. As far as the 3 weeks days and 3 weeks nights I am unsure if thats how they are doing it now, it wasn't like that in 2016-2017. We had a line pilot that was responsible for scheduling, you'd submit preferred days off etc and they would try and accommodate everyone as best as they could. We had a few guys who preferred night flying so they would request that and get it. Maybe someone from Skylink HR could comment on up to date schedule planning.

Posted: **Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:47 am**

Posted: **Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:50 pm**

PA28151 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:48 am For the most part it was 3 days on and 1 day reserve, however there was a few weeks due to shortages or people being sick where you'd work 4 or 5 days but it wasn't common practice. As far as the 3 weeks days and 3 weeks nights I am unsure if thats how they are doing it now, it wasn't like that in 2016-2017. We had a line pilot that was responsible for scheduling, you'd submit preferred days off etc and they would try and accommodate everyone as best as they could. We had a few guys who preferred night flying so they would request that and get it. Maybe someone from Skylink HR could comment on up to date schedule planning.

So for the 3 weeks on the midnight run , you check in at midnight do the jfk run and home by at least 6 am. Not bad at all, then you do 3 weeks day run.

Can the hamilton pilots confirm this ?

Thanks

Posted: **Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:51 pm**

PA28151 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:48 am For the most part it was 3 days on and 1 day reserve, however there was a few weeks due to shortages or people being sick where you'd work 4 or 5 days but it wasn't common practice. As far as the 3 weeks days and 3 weeks nights I am unsure if thats how they are doing it now, it wasn't like that in 2016-2017. We had a line pilot that was responsible for scheduling, you'd submit preferred days off etc and they would try and accommodate everyone as best as they could. We had a few guys who preferred night flying so they would request that and get it. Maybe someone from Skylink HR could comment on up to date schedule planning.

So for the 3 weeks on the midnight run , you check in at midnight do the jfk run and home by at least 6 am. Not bad at all, then you do 3 weeks day run.

Can the hamilton pilots confirm this ?

Thanks

Posted: **Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:15 pm**

do the new CYHM FO's get trained in CYHM or CYVR?

Posted: **Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:57 pm**

CRAFT wrote: ↑Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:15 pm do the new CYHM FO's get trained in CYHM or CYVR?

Anyone know if they're hiring FOs for Hamilton at the present time ?

Any is 800 TT is still the minimum or have they hired with less ?

Thanks

Posted: **Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:55 am**

CRAFT wrote: ↑Sun Oct 28, 2018 4:15 pm do the new CYHM FO's get trained in CYHM or CYVR?

Mine was done in Hamilton with the CP for a few flights and a training captain for the last couple/ride. All training was done in aircraft not sim. I know some people who were Hamilton based that went to YVR for training due to training captain/examiner availability.

Posted: **Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:59 am**

thanks PA28151 for the reply.

Posted: **Wed Mar 11, 2020 11:57 am**

Looking for some updated info on Sky link as some of the info here regards schedule and pay are a little dated.

Are 3 days a week and 1 on reserve still the norm?
Starting salary around mid 30's?

I know they regionals are hiring with the same requirements but I'm not too interested in going that route.

Thanks

Posted: **Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:39 pm**

Posted: **Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:56 pm**

Does Skylink hire people from within the company to the flight line at lower requirements than the 800 hours or is it more or less the same?

Thank you!

Skylink (YHM 16 hour days?)

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