Considering a PIC position with a charter company that offers a 14 on 3 off schedule.
Never worked under this type of rotation, can anyone share the good and the bad with this schedule?

I'd think the bad should be obvious. You only get 3 days off in every 17 days. I see no good in it at all.

If a steady 703 operator can find work year round, a 14 on and 14 off schedule can have you fly over 900 hrs a year easy. So what are you doing working 14-3 and not maxing out your hours in 8 months?

Maybe it makes sense if you have lots of seasonal work only or lots of downtime depending on type of work you do. Lots of times you can make a case for a 7 and 7 or 14 and 14, because pilots working 20 and 10 or 14 and 3 burn out of time or just burn out working to much!

Read this thread: http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... 4&t=117826 and pay particular attention to these posts:

However to the original poster, if it helps, have it on good authority that both current crew members have just quit within days/ weeks of each other (maybe a red flag) and as a 2 crew machine you'll be on a 14 and 3 schedule, or put a different way, you are on call for about 300 days a year. That's 300 days that you can't plan to do anything. Yes you might only fly 300-350 hours a year, but when your day consists of flying an hour or two and waiting around all day for an hour or two flight back, it can take a while to build up.

If you're a low time guy, look for somewhere that builds time fast. This, or any other type of management outfit is not the place for time building, and without it you can forget about any upgrades.

And:

They'll dangle the only 300 ish hours a year carrot, which may distract some naive people from the terrible 14/3 schedule. But once you're on site and realize the only days off that you can rely on for planning purposes is only 10 vacation days, as they won't allow you to combine them with your scheduled days off, which will be moved however they see fit with zero notice, people get fed up and want to leave. Heck if your spouse or significant other gets what most companies see as the bare minimum vacation, you as a pilot wouldn't even be able to join them for them for the full 2 weeks. But I'm sure they'll appreciate you sitting around the house phone in hand, or your random unexpected/unplanned days off in the middle of the week.

Heck, if you went to work at 7-11, you'd work 5/2, 10/4, and 15/6...

Good: great for the company, they get to work you like a dog. Saves them a lot on salaries.
Bad: After 14 days of 12+ hours each, you will sleep for the entire 3 days off. You will have no life and hate work.

FWIW, I get 3 times as many days off.

The average worker works 35 to 40 hours ever 5 days off, and gets two days rest.

14 straight days. Means the very minimum you should have off is 5 days, and then 6 the next rotation.
And that is if your duty day does not exceed 8 hours.

Unfortunately, the federal govt, unlike the provincial govts, does not enforce these things like they should, and the penalty for non compliance is so low as to make it a non-incentive.

Companies are also side stepping the rules by "averaging" and a host of other loopholes.

i assure you, that any contract you sign will have you agreeing that effectively it is the entire contract and nothing the company represented to you means anything.
If you are promissed 400 hours a year...put it in the contracr

This abuse will eventually end as the pilot pool dries up even more.

I am working a 14/3 schedule , 12 hr call out, and I don't mind it.
I fly 15 days a month and 250 a year in a 704 operation. The guys are correct, planning ahead is impossible. It has its benefits but planning ahead isn't one of them

i would like to know some of the benefits?

dental and 2 eye exams a year

and massages, but only the legit ones.

14/3 is a thing!!!? So in a 31 day span you would only have 3 actual days off where you can plan anything. I can't imagine living like that. Except for a year of instructing I have never worked more than half of the month on a regular basis.

Buncha Babies.

Carson Air YVR ...4 days on 4 days off...class A operation

Randy Todd