dosbo

Really, I have to ask who is raising the kids. Not too be an A$$ but who is going to watch your children when you are both required to be at work?

LakeshoreFlyer

Well, we do. Right now she'll work Wed thru Sat and I'll work Sun thru Tues. Her schedule is flexible and can be reduced to a 3 day workweek rather than 4. I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to work a schedule at Cape Air that allows me to be gone 3 - 4 days a week.

Speedbird172

I'll take a shot....it's not impossible, but would be tough. First, the bases at Cape are the outstations, especially for the junior pilots, and there are very very few overnights (generally only if there are cancellations for example) so you would have to find a place to live in base. Second, the tough part is the commuting on your days off; a lot of the schedules are 4 on 3 off, and because you would be commuting to outstations it would be tough to be home for those 3 days without spending a chunk of them commuting to/from work. There are some schedules that could work better, and you could also try swapping some days with other pilots to make it work better, but it would still be tough. Again, not impossible, just tough. Good luck.

LakeshoreFlyer

Thanks for the response Speedbird. Some follow-up questions if you, or someone else could... I assume you mention it's outstation flying because that would mean that it's another additional leg per commute. Most of the bases I've been subject to in my airline career have crashpads available. Is that the case for these outstations? Or is it more akin to finding and furnishing an apartment. I understand that after a season, or a year, one may be able to be a part time pilot. Does that generally mean you work only a certain season of the year? And I understand that the Midwest routes are pretty junior (good for me) and after the initial base assignment, I should be able to bid the Midwest assignment. Again, thanks for helping me find out whether or not it's a reasonable position to pursue.

Speedbird172

Yeah, the additional leg would be the problem (only 9 seats available in these planes, would require some careful planning). Also some of the places aren't the kind of towns/cities that would have the typical crashpads...a lot of folks generally move in base, even if just temporary until the next bid period. As far as part time flying goes, I believe the company would like you to work full time for a year after attaining your ATP (or 6 months if you already have that when hired). PT pilots are typically based in HYA or BOS and have to be available 3 days per month (maybe someone else can chime in if I'm rusty with the PT requirements). I don't know a whole lot about the midwest routes, looking at the base awards for the winter those bases seem to be spread out as far as seniority goes.

I'm probably making it sound a little discouraging, but there have been people that commute, even with the 4/3 schedules, so it's entirely possible but as I'm sure you know it can be an adventure getting to work, especially with those multi-leg trips. I've only been with Cape since Nov but so far still loving the flying, it's a cool company to work for even if the base situation is a little different but if you could make it work it could be a lot of fun. Maybe some of the others out there have some different perspectives that might help.

minitour

Is there a company policy against commuting on day 1 and day (last) of your work schedule?

For example:
Day 1 - Show at (random) 10am until (random again) 9p
Day 2 - 7am-9p
Day 3 - Same
Day 4 - 7a - say noon(?)

I think I've heard a few of the Northern New York schedules (ART maybe?) are built something like that (this is all just a WAG).

If so, and you could find something to commute early day 1 (meaning enough flights to make it reasonably possible) to be in position at 10am, is there a company policy that would prohibit that or is it just a matter of making sure you're rested, safe and legal to fly?

-mini

9kBud

I don't think there is a company policy about commuting on work days. However, it's pretty hard to do that since day one on most Midwest lines start at 0500.

Speedbird172

In general a lot of the schedules are built for AM or PM starts, but not a lot of them are mixed in one work week. For example at the moment my schedule is 4 days starting at 1230, so great if I wanted to commute on day 1, but I get done (in my outstation) at around 930p, after which there are no more flights back to BOS, so I would be stuck trying to commute home on my day off if I was going to do that. The upstate NY bases out of ALB do have schedules that are a little more commuter-friendly (day 1 starts 10-11am ish, day 4 ends 11am ish), and they also work on a 4 on 5 off rotation so if you could hold one of those it would make commuting life a little easier. This place really is a different beast than the other 121 regionals as far as schedules go.

minitour

So when you bid and are awarded a base/route/run/whatever, is that yours "until you die" or do you get to deal with someone of higher seniority bumping you out of it in a week/month/year/whatever?

Just wondering how realistic it is to move (relocate) to one of those outstations. It wouldn't be terrible, I guess (home every night, etc.) if you didn't have to worry about always getting bounced around.

I have zero commuting experience since I've always lived in (or in driving distance of) base...or been home based.

-mini

Speedbird172

Yea that's the problem being junior here is getting bumped...we're trying a new system which is supposed to offer some more stability (not sure how) but still a lot of people aren't too happy with having to move around this coming winter. All in all though I'd say it's the only major gripe about the company, and being junior I can't complain all that much as I knew it was part of the deal when I came here. And being 'stuck' in the Virgin Islands for the winter won't be the worst thing in the world