Hey all,

Just looking for info on Vancouver navajo operators KD, Orca & Cdn Air Charters:

Captains Mins
Hours flown per year
Salary
Are they hiring?

Thanks!!!

Tired of the midnight sun already ???

Well when I BRIEFLY worked for KD air (late 90's), one of the owners was bi-polar and had direct influence to daily operations, the owner's husband who was chief pilot had failed his 4th PPC ride on a machine he had 4000 hours on.....shall I go on.....stay away from KD like the plague.
IMHO

So shotgun are you saying someone has to be 'Bi-polar ' to hire you ???

The ride for a chief pilot is sometimes a little bit harder than the ride for a newbie that the chief pilot will babysit.

Qualicum is a nice place if you like mature women in their early sixties

The airplanes are safe and you are never pushed to fly in the danger zone .A good place to go if you do not need to feed a family of twelve.

No I must have been bi-polar to work there. Sounds like things have improved. But if Lars and Diane are still at the helm, god help you. IMHO
Keddy (I think that is how you spell it) was very nice to me. The pilots and the VERY tired navajo's were good. You WILL .. run on a very regular basis you WILL be asked to push weather (not officially of course, but if you want to keep your job....). Qualicum airport is a nice place fly out of. I flew on the west coast for 6 years and that airport had one of the countries first stand alone GPS approaches, since they took out the sisters approach a year earlier. As for feeding a family of twelve..had problems feeding a family of three. Ain't aviation just grand when your starting out.

the owner's husband who was chief pilot had failed his 4th PPC ride on a machine he had 4000 hours on.....

Did he eventually pass a PPC ride?

And once he had mastered the beast, did he remain chief pilot?

Some years ago I was home from working in Africa and went to the Qualicum airport for coffee and to kill some time and Lars offered me a FO position on his Navajo, not wanting to hurt his feelings by declining the offer immediately I asked him what benefit it would be to me.

Lars very seriously told me it would give me right seat time in the Navajo and I could learn how to use the GPS.

After 4000 hours on type you would think his Navajo PPC would be a cake walk.
It was Lars who needed baby sitting by TC.
As for getting that very valuable right seat ho time would be great if you are starting out.
I take it you were not.....

As for getting that very valuable right seat ho time would be great if you are starting out.
I take it you were not.....

Not exactly, I first flew a Navajo in 1971, I wonder where Lars was then?

However I did not have any FO time on one so maybe I should have jumped at the offer?

I never had any right seat time on a Navajo either. I took the CP for a ride around the patch and then we went on a line indoc thing to Bute Inlet, where we did a couple of landings, then we went home...

I had already got radial engine time so babysitting the engines, the only 'hard' bit, was a piece of cake.

Cessna 150 = Entry level skills needed single engine airplane.

Navajo = Entry level skills needed twin engine airplane.

2R wrote:So shotgun are you saying someone has to be 'Bi-polar ' to hire you ???

The ride for a chief pilot is sometimes a little bit harder than the ride for a newbie that the chief pilot will babysit.

Qualicum is a nice place if you like mature women in their early sixties

The airplanes are safe and you are never pushed to fly in the danger zone .A good place to go if you do not need to feed a family of twelve.

Hard place to be if you need to feed a family of ONE

Some people's experiences are different than others.

I worked for KD Air for a year. One of the better years of my life. Lived on the ocean in Qualicum, company bought me a computer when I started. Took me and the other pilot rock climbing and bought us a membership. Company cell phone, gas card(one fill a week). I left there making 39.6K.

Logged just under 800 Multi-Pic in the year. The flying is mostly sched flying back and forth to vancouver and gillies bay, plus the odd charter.

Schedule was 4 on 2 off, never pushed us to fly..only pushing was self inflicted if anything. Maint was contracted to a company at Qualicum Airport and was good....planes are fairly old though, and need a bit of cosmetic work..never felt unsafe though in them.

In december, they send me and the other pilot to Las Vegas for four nights(airfare and accomodation) we had to bring our own spending money(which didnt last.... )

But like I said...different experiences for different people.