VTcharter

You get one three day weekend hard scheduled per month; either fri sat sun, or sat sun mon. Those are the only hard days that you will get unless you schedule vacation or take personal time. Other than that, you will not know what you are doing tomorrow until 4 o'clock today. We have busy times, but overall you end up with more time off than time on; at least as an FO with the current staffing. You may get 50 hours per month, but likely closer to 40 or less. You are paid salary, so flight time has no bearing on pay anyway. The only complaints that I have heard from the FO ranks is from the lower time guys complaining because they are not building time fast enough. Bottom line is if you are interested in building fast flight time, you may want to look elsewhere.

Heritage is a great place to be if you want to fly nice equipment, for great people. Pay is good for the amount of time that we actually fly, although it will probably seem low if you do an industry average comparison on similar equipment. One thing to keep in mind is that Charter flying is not like the airlines. The service that we give is much more personalized, and you will be doing a lot of things, outside of flying the airplane, at the beck and call of the customer. Assembling catering, making sure coffee and papers (the correct ones) are on board, knowing that this guy wants real milk for his coffee or this guy wants limes for whatever. You will also have to get used to being on the customers schedule, where they may not show up for several hours after the scheduled show time with no call, and you just have to wait. Charter flying is much much different.

We require that you be on a one hour call-out from Burlington (BTV), and Burlington and the surrounding areas can be a bit expensive to live in, so you may want to keep that in mind as well.

Ewfflyer

Yeah, gotta love pax. I tell them if they give me a call, I can have everything ready to go the second they arrive, and if not it might be a few minutes to get all the flight plans etc.. taken care of. Works most the time, and the other times, I gave them fair warning.

kh2gr

Sounds great, pretty much what I thought, and I know that this type of flying is what I want to do. I know all about the cost of living in VT, Im currently researching property near Middlebury... Not cheap unfortunately. Thanks for all the Info VTCharter. I sent my resume up there a few weeks ago and Im going to get back in touch with greg to make sure that he recieved it and keep pestering you guys for an interview!

VTcharter

Good luck. I know that the company would like to add at least one more Excel in the near future, but they have been talking about that for a little while now. If that does happen, they may have a spot or two come open. We have been a little bit heavy on First Officers since the hiring last year, but things could change quickly. I suspect that things will start moving when the summer comes around and the fleet gets busier...its already picking up.

Middlebury is nice, but can be a hard commute to BTV, and can be just as expensive. The bad part of the Middlebury commute is that you are limited to state highways (7 and 116) instead of the interstate, so it takes a bit longer than the mileage shows. I have considered moving that way myself. It meets the 1 hour criteria, but if the weather is bad, or there is traffic, you will be over 45 minutes each way...which is not terrible, but I have become spoiled from living in downtown Burlington.

Good luck again

VT

cruiseclimb

Look at AirNow... , Ram Air Express, and Mountain Air Cargo (MAC)

I know Mesa sucks, but if they serve a need for you, use them.. Have you looked at their PACE program? 200 hour mins, they get you your MEL and your Commercial, hire you, and promise to make you a captain in 3 yrs? Crap company from what I heard, but if it meets your needs??

Goodlivn

VTcharter,

Thanks for the good info on Heritage. I've got an interview next week and a few more questions for you. How many overnights you typically have in a month? Other than your hard days off are you on-call 24/7? Are upgrades based on seniority, company need, or experience, and what have been past upgrade times? I have been a captain on a King Air for over two years spendiing most of my time on the road. I'm interested in a good quality of life, with an employer that respects its pilots. Sounds like some happy folks up there in Burlington. Are you still content with your situation? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

VTcharter

Congratulations on your upcoming interview. Heritage is a good company with a management team that is very concerned with the happiness of its employees. The aircraft are maintained and equipped well. All of that being said, you will hear complaints from folks here about things just like you will hear at any other company...I think that complaining is part of the pilot personality. There are things that could be better, but after coming from other 135 operators, this place is amazing. We are still a relatively small flight department that is going through a period of fast growth.

Schedule: We are only gauranteed the three days off per month, so I guess you could say that you are on call for the rest (although I am normally off more than I am on). You will be briefed for your day tomorrow at or before 1700 today. You may be assigned a trip, off duty (flex day off) or standing by. If you are standing by (on-call) you are responsible for being at the airport within one hour of a call between the hours of 6 a.m to 6 p.m. We do have some trips scheduled in advance and those are assigned on the monthly schedule, so you will know about those at the beginning of the month. As far as RON's...I would say that you may have 5 or so per month, maybe more on a busy month. We have been combining trips more lately to cut down on ferry time, but I still have not seen more than 5 or 6 overnights in a month; normally less.

Upgrades: It seems that they try to maintain a seniority type system for upgrades, but with such a small flight department this can be difficult. I would say that it is seniority based, but taking into account the needs of the company. That is to say that if you are senior they try to use you first, unless it doesn't work from an operational standpoint. (flight time, etc.) Past upgrade times have been slow, but this is because the company did not experience a lot of substantial growth until the last couple of years. My experience has been good. I upgraded to captain in less than a year, but I would say that this is not the normal movement. I came in at just the right time, when aircraft were added and a couple of pilots left. The class that started after me has been on property for over a year, and are still F.O's. Basically, it is very hard to forecast that type of thing with such a small company as upgrades depend on new airplanes or departing pilots.

QOL: I am very happy here. The company is growing and I have had great opportunities to progress. I am from this area, so I am at home. I live 5 miles from the airport and Burlington is a great place to live if you enjoy nightlife, lake activities, skiing, the arts (music, theater, etc), or culture in general. These types of things all lead to a good quality of life for me. The one thing that I would change is the schedule, but that is being addressed by management, and we may see more of a set schedule in the future. From the sounds of your current position, our schedule may be a breath of fresh air for you as is. I believe that you would have a great QOL if you want to live in Vermont, you are comfortable with on-demand charter, and you have some flexibility to operate within a growing company. You are not a number here and they make you feel that way.

If you have any other questions then fire away and I will do my best to answer them or find out the info and get back to you if I am not sure.

TangoBar

If you go the 135 cargo route, commuting is actively discouraged by the companies, and is really hard to pull off. Most freight work will keep you away from home most of the day, 5 or 6 days a week. That said, it's a good way to build time and some very good experience. Sadly, it's a rare gig in the cargo world that will pay what you hope to make within a decade. If you've got good interpersonal skills, corporate/charter would be the way to go for that. Personally, I like boxes- they don't *****.

A year or so back, I stopped in at Heritage to get some basic info and was impressed with all of the staff. I was able to talk to a Cessna CP for a while, as well. At that point there was no way I would have qualified for any position, but he still took the time to answer my questions.

I also looked at Wiggins, but had no chance of meeting their high mins. I barely met the Airnow mins, but in the end decided to apply elsewhere. The advice I received from a FedEx CP was that twin time was better than single time, even if it meant a delay getting turbine time. Based on that, I ended up in a Chieftain for six months before upgrading to a 99, and I think the Chief was a good place to start flying 135 before moving up, but YMMV.

The good news for you is that most 135 operators are losing pilots to the regionals, so they're having to look at lower time pilots. Good luck with your aspirations!

Goodlivn

VTCharter,
Sounds pretty good. Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate the info. Last question; is it a buisness casual or suit type of enviornment there (for the interview) I assume if you don't know show up in the suit but I'd thought I'd check with you. Anything else you've got would be helpful! Thanks.

VTcharter

I would definately do the suit thing. Everybody that I have seen interview over the past year or two has been in a suit. I haven't heard that it is required, but why stick out because of that.