Raildriver

Hey Guys,

I have been lurking for a while, doing searches and have read almost every thread posted in 18 pages or so and have some questions. (I am in Balad, Iraq when not flying I have a lot of time on my hands)

I am a Army guy looking at retiring in about 16 months. I will live on my land 30 minutes north of SAT and nowhere else. If I was to pursue a job with XJT how hard is it to commute? Once at your base for duty are joint crashpads easy to find? If I was commuting from my actual home in SAT to some other domicile how much time would I actually be at home? One of the reasons I am considering XJT is that they have a SAT domocile but from what I understand it is very hard to get. So what kind of life could I expect and for how long? Hell, I am doing 15 months here in Iraq right now, I'd like to be home with family sometimes.

Please take it easy on me as I only partially understand how the civilian side operates. I will be putting apps out several places due to my quals, but XJT doesn't look too bad.

Thanks in advance

cptnBosque

First of all I would like to say thank you for the job you guys are doing over there, I am sure you don't here that enough. Though I am no expert I will try to answer some of your questions

1. commuting usually is not hard. It all depends on where you are trying to go. If you were based in IAH, from SAT there are 10 flights a day, usually big planes with lots of seats. They are often full, but with practice and some patience you wont have that much trouble.

2. There are plenty of crashpads around. With any luck though you will not need one for too long. Plan on spending anywhere from 150 to 300 dollars a month.

3. Initially you will be on reserve, thats a specified time period in the day where you will be phone liable to be at the airport within 2 hours of being called. There really is no way around it, it sucks if you have to spend time in a crash pad when all you want to be is at home. That said being on reserve at home is the easiest job in the world. At first you will have 12 days off a month. Time with the company is everything, the more senior you are, the better schedule you will be able to hold with more days off, weekends, better trips etc.

4. How long is somewhat up for debate at the moment. When I was first hired it took almost a year to get off of reserve as an FO. Now depending on base its just a few months. The more senior the base is the longer its going to take you to get off of reserve. I am not sure how it is for FO's in SAT but CA's are getting fairly senior. The other problem in SAT is that there really are not that many lines available. Everything can change when you get on property but figure 6 months to a year to get a decent schedule. You will be home around 10 days a month with the commute 12 if you get base. We are fat on FO's right now, so they are not getting all that much flying. I heard of some guys who have not flown in a month, others are only getting 40 hours. Your life will change as soon as you get a line here.

Good luck if you have any questions pm me.

__________________
CA Gump the IAH schedulers biatch

schoolio

Raildriver,

Were you the same guy that posted on APTAP a few days ago? There are several Army guys here at XJT. I'm a former -64 driver (and with any luck, a future USAR C-12/UC-35 driver), and just the other day I met a former -47 IP/IE. I've heard of at least a few others too.

Raildriver

Yep schoolio that was me. Just trying to figure out some of the questions. I know I have a chance at fractionals but want to keep all my options open.