Long hours, early show and friendly pilots
Pros
- You will get a ton of hours quickly. - Summertime is insane, but winter is fairly easy, as you barely fly. - Your fellow pilots are the best and they become your family after so many long days flying. - The salary is not bad, better than CFI and sometimes better than first year at the airlines. - Paid training - Training is hard, it is not like a walk in the park. Comparing with the training at the airlines, TW is no joke, so if you don't like to study, don't even apply at TW. The pilots that come out of training are fully qualified and I flew with a lot of fresh pilots and they were all solid. (eventually, we get one pilot that kind s**ks, but they get weed out quickly)
Cons
- Some shenanigans around the pilot contract, which is heavily bias on the company side, however, you sign it if you want it. Unfortunately, I signed and I fulfill the contract before leaving the company. Don't fool yourself, when you sign the contract they expect you to stay around 2 years with the company (SIC time + pic time , etc.) - It is a single-engine airplane when you interview for airlines, they see the Pilatus the same way they see you flying a C172, "single engine land". - There is no real career progression, and the first crisis, you are in line to be fire. - Expect to do everything, from fueling the airplane, to clean the airplane, restock the cooler, check in passengers, carry bags around, be the company face out there, etc. You may think that the vast majority of things that you do is not a pilot job, but that's the name of the game. - Overnight hotels are the cheapest that they can find. Also, good luck finding food with the $15 overnight per diem in Nantucket. - They will min rest you as much as they can, also, the rest starts at the time you land, so 8hours of "rest" is brutal after a couple nights doing it. Takes a long toll in your health.
