Hey guys, noticed Borek is hiring King Air guys. Seen a lot of info on here about life style of a Kenn Borek twin otter pilot but how about for the king air guys, whats the flying like? Life style? Pay? Thanks

Stay far away from the king air operation. A once well respected, well reputed operation is no more.

If you must go, watch the maintenance like a hawk, and write your snags in the log book, and make sure they get fixed regardless of any pressures there might be. And respect those duty times! Stand on your principles!

i know I'll get flamed for this, but crap is going on there I would have thought only possible in the days of R_jencie or nav-err....things have gone downhill in the king air operation in a big way.

The "rotation" schedule is merely a guideline, but on a positive note, pay is above industry average.

Lightoff wrote:Stay far away from the king air operation. A once well respected, well reputed operation is no more.

If you must go, watch the maintenance like a hawk, and write your snags in the log book, and make sure they get fixed regardless of any pressures there might be. And respect those duty times! Stand on your principles!

i know I'll get flamed for this, but crap is going on there I would have thought only possible in the days of R_jencie or nav-err....things have gone downhill in the king air operation in a big way.

The "rotation" schedule is merely a guideline, but on a positive note, pay is above industry average.

Where exactly do you get your information?

pistonpilot wrote:whats the flying like?

Like anywhere else. We have some charter, some skeds and some medevac flying (depending on base). The operational stuff is straight forward, much you would find at any other 703/704 operation.
The Beech stuff is fairly mundane compared to the DHC-6/BT-76 side of things. Airport to airport. We do get to expierience some challenging weather and terrain conditions (much like other operators up here like Tindi, Air Baffin, North-Wright) by virtue of our area of operation in the North.

Not sure where Lightoff is getting his info?

The maintenance is fine. Snagged items are fixed in a timley manner or defered as per MEL.

As far as "pressure", I've never felt so much as a hint of it. When dispatched, the decision to fly is mine (and of course my crew) and mine alone. I have never been questioned when I have declined a flight for whatever reason I deemed it not possible to fly, nor have I heard of anyone else being "pressured".

and with respect to Duty Times, see my comment about "pressure". In the past, I have declined flights due to fatigue, even though I had sufficient duty time (aksed to do a second trip after an all night medevac) and again, was neither questioned nor reprimanded.

I will be the first to admit that we are not a perfect company (I am unaware of any company that is) and improvement can always be found somewhere, but the "bad old days" of the get-it-done-no-matter-what are history.

pistonpilot wrote:Life style?

As above, it is a rotational life as with other operators (like First Air) but our rotations vary by base. Some are 3 weeks in/out and some are 2 weeks in/out (depending on whether your base fly skeds/charters or medevac on call). Rotations either work for you or they don't. Some come to hate being away from home so much and some enjoy the fact they only work half the year.
I would suggest using the Search function to look for rotational lifestyle on these forums as the subject has been previously discussed ad nauseum.

pistonpilot wrote:Pay?

generally above industry standard.

Cheers
BBB

Although I've been out for a couple of years I can give a definite +1 to everything BBB said.

I will say that the northern flying I did was by far the most fun and interesting I've done in my career. I also guarantee that you WILL learn how to fly.

IF you go to Borek though, YOU have to make yourself happy there. They will not change their ways to suit you. If you can make yourself happy wherever you are then you'll have a blast.

Right on, thanks guys.

modi13 wrote:Where exactly do you get your information?

My information comes from me, and it's accurate and current. If anyone else who's currently working up north doesn't see this stuff going on, then you're hiding your heads in the sand, or you're just so used to working this way that you don't know any better.

Lightoff wrote:...then you're hiding your heads in the sand...

you mean snow, right?

Lightoff wrote:...crap is going on there I would have thought only possible in the days of R_jencie or nav-err....

I've only been here 2 years. I don't know who/what R_Jencie or nav-err are/were so I cannot speak to those issues. However my 15+ years of experience outside of Borek tells me things are not as bad as you are making it seem.

again, I will admit there are issues but what company does not have them. Some (most!) of us are working towards improvement...

and if your info is current, you must be currently employed. If so, come and see me (I'm not that hard to find) and we'll work on a solution.

and if you are not a current employee, how versed are you in the current situation? Are you aware of the positive changes we have taken to help identify flight ops issues and work towards fixing those issues.

Again, as I stated earlier, the days of get-it-done-no-matter-what and other "old school" items like pencil whipping training and 20 hour duty days are OVER. I, for one, will not stand for such nonsense and I know I am not alone in this attitude.

If you're in YEV (for the next little bit anyway), come on down and chat. I've got the coffee on.....

BBB

Is it possible to move from the King Air to the Twotter or are you pretty much stuck on one type of machine?

it's been done.
We've also had ppl move from the DHC-6 to the King Air side.

Cheers
BBB

Hey BBB,

Just wondering if there are guys that actually get on with the minimums (500TT and a float rating) or is there a more realistic number that they look for. Thanks in advance.

Lemon

We've had F/os hired with 300TT. More helps. A typical new hire f/o as between 500 and 1000 hours (ish).
Sometimes it is a right place/right time kinda thing....
However that float rating isn't going to help you on the Beech side!

I'm not real dialed into the DHC-6 side of things so maybe not the best person to ask. (but if Just Curious is lurking, he might be able to help you out).

Send your CV. At the end of the day, the worst you will hear is "No Thanks".

Cheers
BBB

Mr. North wrote:Is it possible to move from the King Air to the Twotter or are you pretty much stuck on one type of machine?

Took me a lot of pestering over a year and a half and some of the "right place right time" shtick to go from the beech to the otter side.