Fresh ATPL, where would you go?

[cargocowboy]

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to the industry, but recently got my ATPL. I currently work for a 703 in YVR, but I absolutely despise Vancouver. Given the state of things, where would you go with the following priorities:

1. Lifestyle (schedule/pay)
2. Home most nights (wife and kids)
3. Rural-ish living, west of Manitoba (family all in the west)

Places that possibly meet these criteria:

Pasco (looks like you can live in or in the vicinity of Victoria, Powell River, or Calgary)

Encore (lots of rural options commutable to CYYC, pay is low for awhile, I hear lot of things regarding seniority and unions but I don't really understand it, don't know anyone that works there)

Jazz, YYC base. Opinions on making a career out of Jazz or Encore?

Carson, Kelowna?

Transwest/Westwind? Know nothing about them, but have family in S'toon

I look forward to some opinions, as most threads on here seem to be how to get to AC or WJ the fastest. Would like to hear if anyone has made a career at a smaller operator/regional carrier?

Thanks!!

[Daniel Cooper]

What do you despise about Vancouver? You may find similar issues elsewhere.

[cargocowboy]

What do you despise about Vancouver? You may find similar issues elsewhere.

Traffic, cost of living, population density

[Mr. re]

What type of aircraft are you currently on?

What kind of accommodation would you need? Apartment rental?

[ffrats]

What do you despise about Vancouver? You may find similar issues elsewhere.

Traffic, cost of living, population density

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

[cargocowboy]

What type of aircraft are you currently on?

What kind of accommodation would you need? Apartment rental?

1900. I'd be looking to purchase a house

[daedalusx]

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to the industry, but recently got my ATPL. I currently work for a 703 in YVR, but I absolutely despise Vancouver. Given the state of things, where would you go with the following priorities:

1. Lifestyle (schedule/pay)
2. Home most nights (wife and kids)
3. Rural-ish living, west of Manitoba (family all in the west)

Places that possibly meet these criteria:

Pasco (looks like you can live in or in the vicinity of Victoria, Powell River, or Calgary)

Encore (lots of rural options commutable to CYYC, pay is low for awhile, I hear lot of things regarding seniority and unions but I don't really understand it, don't know anyone that works there)

Jazz, YYC base. Opinions on making a career out of Jazz or Encore?

Carson, Kelowna?

Transwest/Westwind? Know nothing about them, but have family in S'toon

I look forward to some opinions, as most threads on here seem to be how to get to AC or WJ the fastest. Would like to hear if anyone has made a career at a smaller operator/regional carrier?

Thanks!!

First of all, congrats on your As.
Plenty of guys made good careers at smaller operators, although it is changing. The days of buck-a-mile on a Twotter on floats are long gone for most people.

As for your question :

There’s no movement on the left seat for Carson in YLW and the F/O pay and initial bond would be against your interest the way the industry is moving but the work itself is absolutely great. Its probably the best gig in Canada for the flying but you’ll have a hard time living comfy at sub 40k-45k a year in YLW. It’s not YVR prices but the rent has gone way up in the last couple of years.

TWA/Westwind - hard pass. Don’t even bother.

Pasco is a great place to work if you live on the island or Powell river). Long days but they’ll commute you home and with the new duty regs coming up it might be a really nice gig. They have a funny hiring process but everyone I worked with who used to work there really enjoyed it and even though it is more work, depending where you live, it will give you a better home/family life than Jazz/Encore.

For YYC, Encore vs Jazz that’s a toss up, they have their pros and cons, there’s a zillion posts about that. Encore certainly is a quicker upgrade in YYC than Jazz, but that might change. And Jazz botl capt schedule absolutely suck balls compared to the Encore socialized bidding (unless you enjoy reserve), especially if you plan to commute. Jazz YYC base in the past had a lot of changes with fleet numbers, reductions and deadheading schedules so hopefully things are getting more stable now.

If being home almost every night is what matters there are a few medevacs operators that will pay you decent, the equipment is generally decent but depending on which operators/province the fatigue might be an issue long term. Some people can handle night shift better than others. It was disappointing to see how little it’ll change with the new duty regs.

There’s a few charter places as well in sask and around but the mining work is drying up and with another x years of king blackface at the helm I wouldn’t count on that type of work for job stability for a while.

Once you get a bit more time you might want to consider the RCMP PC12, lots of home time, great gig as well and you shouldn’t have too much issue getting based in sask. The age pool is getting up there and there’s openings every once in a while.

Another one to consider if you don’t want to do the regionals could be Airsprint but they’ll want you to be within 2hrs of the YYC airport.

Best of luck mate.

[stef]

Regarding AirSprint, it was my experience that it is a very good company to work for, but is not for people that have an issue with being away from home.

[cargocowboy]

Thanks for the replies so far. How about Canadian North?

[PostmasterGeneral]

I’m gonna go out on a limb here, but CanWest on the medevac side is one of the best kept secrets in the 704 industry. Captains are making just about $100K/yr, on call half the year, and of that you probably only actually work 1/2 the time. If Medicine Hat, Calgary, Peace River or Edmonton interests you, check it out. Home every night.

[FenderManDan]

Anyone care to comment about the same situation but out here in Onterible? West would work if there is a commute available.

[iflyforpie]

NT Air in Prince George is a lot like CanWest. 15 days a month, 12 hour days (sometimes extended but rarely) where we often leave early, good pay, benefits, MyID travel, no nights, about one overnight a month. Prince George has all of the amenities but is far more affordable and traffic nowhere near as bad (I live on the opposite side of town and it’s a 15 minute commute).

But like a lot of these medevac gigs, there isn’t a lot of movement on the top end anymore.

[Shinyjetsyndrome]

I’m gonna go out on a limb here, but CanWest on the medevac side is one of the best kept secrets in the 704 industry. Captains are making just about $100K/yr, on call half the year, and of that you probably only actually work 1/2 the time. If Medicine Hat, Calgary, Peace River or Edmonton interests you, check it out. Home every night.

More like 85k at the top of the scale for Captains. Anything else would be per diems. With a fresh ATPL, I’m guessing you probably won’t have the hours for captain, so you’ll be either put on the King Air as an FO making 36k per year on a 2 weeks on/1 week off rotation, or single pilot on the Caravan which is approximately 50k and based in Fort Vermillion. On the king air, you’re looking at Slave Lake, Peace River, High Level, or Fort Vermillion for a while. Those are all rural though which the OP was interested in. There’s virtually no movement in YYC, YEG, and YXH. 1.5 year 30k bond to pay up if you don’t like it.

[iflyforpie]

I’m gonna go out on a limb here, but CanWest on the medevac side is one of the best kept secrets in the 704 industry. Captains are making just about $100K/yr, on call half the year, and of that you probably only actually work 1/2 the time. If Medicine Hat, Calgary, Peace River or Edmonton interests you, check it out. Home every night.

More like 85k at the top of the scale for Captains. Anything else would be per diems. With a fresh ATPL, I’m guessing you probably won’t have the hours for captain, so you’ll be either put on the King Air as an FO making 36k per year on a 2 weeks on/1 week off rotation, or single pilot on the Caravan which is approximately 50k and based in Fort Vermillion. On the king air, you’re looking at Slave Lake, Peace River, High Level, or Fort Vermillion for a while. Those are all rural though which the OP was interested in. There’s virtually no movement in YYC, YEG, and YXH. 1.5 year 30k bond to pay up if you don’t like it.

That sounds out of date. Or really bad.

[Shinyjetsyndrome]

I’m gonna go out on a limb here, but CanWest on the medevac side is one of the best kept secrets in the 704 industry. Captains are making just about $100K/yr, on call half the year, and of that you probably only actually work 1/2 the time. If Medicine Hat, Calgary, Peace River or Edmonton interests you, check it out. Home every night.

More like 85k at the top of the scale for Captains. Anything else would be per diems. With a fresh ATPL, I’m guessing you probably won’t have the hours for captain, so you’ll be either put on the King Air as an FO making 36k per year on a 2 weeks on/1 week off rotation, or single pilot on the Caravan which is approximately 50k and based in Fort Vermillion. On the king air, you’re looking at Slave Lake, Peace River, High Level, or Fort Vermillion for a while. Those are all rural though which the OP was interested in. There’s virtually no movement in YYC, YEG, and YXH. 1.5 year 30k bond to pay up if you don’t like it.

That sounds out of date. Or really bad.

It is what it is. Still a decent gig if you want to live up north and be home almost every night. It’s not the gold mine that people perceive it to be though, unless you’re one of the captains who are settled nicely in the big cities at the top of the pay scale.

As a new FO, there’s a chance you could become a floater pilot as well with no real base.

[losercruiser]

Jazz.

Not even a discussion.

YYC or YVR base pretty quickly. Great contract, working conditions are some of the best in North America. Yeah yeah yeah, starting pay could be better. But you'll be a Captain if you are qualified within two years tops. Leave for AC if you like or enjoy the nice ride up the seniority list and settle in for a good career where you'll make decent money, have a good skef and enjoy your life. I made 85k my first year as a Captain, 92k second year and was on track for well over 110k year three before I bailed for AC. Yeah some OT but it was always on my schedule. I had MORE than enough time to do the things I loved even with working extra days here and there.

The question is, where would you want to be if any goals of a mainline don't work out. And that's Jazz. If I were PFOd from AC I would have been happy to spend a career working for Jazz.