Ferry from Medford, Oregon to Miami with ATP, $200/hour

[nightsta1ker]

I have never heard anything good about Boatpix that didn't roll off of Tom's fingers, and my couple of run-ins with Boatpix here in the Seattle area did not leave me impressed.

[Lindsey]

I have never heard anything good about Boatpix that didn't roll off of Tom's fingers, and my couple of run-ins with Boatpix here in the Seattle area did not leave me impressed.

 

You must have some sort of agenda ;-)

[nightsta1ker]

You must have some sort of agenda ;-)

 

Oh, didn't I mention that? It must have slipped my mind! Come fly at my school everyone! Boatpix sux! Come fly with us instead! If you spend $15,000 or more we guarantee you a shot at a job!

[Lindsey]

 

 

Oh, didn't I mention that? It must have slipped my mind! Come fly at my school everyone! Boatpix sux! Come fly with us instead! If you spend $15,000 or more we guarantee you a shot at a job!

 

Much better.

[Bama269-C]

_{Boat Pix,}

 

 

 

_{I am in a good mood and I will give you the same offer I gave Jeff L.}

_{It is a great offer to, and I usually don't offer to do this. As I told Jeff, I will waive my salary/hourly rate and fly your R-22 to OR for you; and just to sweeten the pot, I will pay for my way up to OR and back from Miami, my hotel room, and my food. This is a great deal! Because when you are good at something you do not do it for free, and as you know, you make investments to make money. This is true whether it be purchasing a helicopter or getting you commercial pilot certificate. In fact, that is why I made the investment to become a commercial pilot (to let someone pay me money to fly not me pay someone to let me fly). Furthermore, it will only benefit you to let me fly your R-22 to OR. In fact, you will get it done for free and you will not lose revenue on commercial ops due to the aircraft not arriving at its next duty station, because as we all know an aircraft does not make money sitting on the ground. If interested, let me know because this deal want last for long, especially since I get paid (during and after the job training) to bring my current employers equipment back.}

[Boatpix]

Lindsey,

 

I think you owe me an apology. We've been flying in Seattle since a little before you were born. We had an R22 flying during the Blue Angels airshow nonstop for three days this year and do every year. Sometimes we have a student there and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we fly every weekend for months and sometimes its the Salmon run at the mouth of the Columbia River. Sometimes its the Straits of Juan de Fuca. To my company Oregon and Seattle are sort of the same geographical region for boats and lets call that the Pacific Northwest. I started flying with Classic Helicopter doing photo around the time of your birth and sometimes chartered, sometimes leased and later based a helicopter at Boeing Field and it was maintained by your current boss there Rich Carter. You might rummage around the maintenance hangar that he owns and maybe look up to the ceiling and you will see some pontoons that say BOATPIX.com on them. Perhaps there are two sets as your boss there owns two R22 Mariners that I have offered to buy and he only wants to lease them. A couple of years back, in I think 2008 and 2009, we leased them. But in 2010 I was able to buy two more R22 Mariners out of California and did just that bringing my total to 30 R22s. We still lease a bunch more when we have the need and Gayle Carter and I talk about this every spring. So, we have a Los Angeles based R22 Mariner, a San Francisco based R22 Mariner and a Pacific Northwest based R22 that needs to be flown to Miami and I am offering the time to fly with an ATP at $200/hour. You are inferring in your email that a pilot would be better off paying your boss $250/hour to fly with you and doing autos, etc. but the cfii that is taking this delivery already has accomplished all that and he just wants to build 40 hours in a four day period and get on with his life in Germany. I don't think that I am disgusting or deceitful and all that negative stuff you said because I disclosed earlier in this link that it is not autos or boat photo or anything like that. Its a ferry flight and was disclosed as such. And perhaps you are a better pilot than the ATP but maybe not as he's dual rated as an ATP airplane, a jet jock and a former examiner, too. You just sort of piled on the negativity and I'm looking for an apology. Under your boss' umbrella of companies is a fellow Chris Fischer who built a lot of time with me and I think that was instrumental in him getting a job at those companies. And some irony is your boss won't move a helicopter without someone paying full price for it when I discount it. So, if you can't move a helicopter at a discounted price and I can this is a motive for your anger perhaps?

 

 

 

 

The Pacific Northwest is not a mecca for boating and that's why you don't see us. It has never been nor will it ever be. Utah doesn't have too many boats, statistically. Any place at altitude doesn't have many boats nor many helicopter jobs although altitude schools have nothing else to talk about. Florida is the mecca for boating and I won't bore you with statistical data from boat registrations and boat lengths, etc and explain why we have like six helicopters in Florida and one each in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland rather than Seattle. Seattle isn't such a big market for boats or demographics of millionaires but Paul Allens pilot's (Billionaire, Microsoft partner of Bill Gates who chartered out of Classic for years) did come up to me at the Heli-Expo job fair to say hello. Well, they didn't exactly say who they worked for but mention a 200 foot boat, a 300 foot boat and a 400 foot boat and they new me from Cav Air (we shared common maintenance service center (CavAir) in Ft Lauderdale until that folded and I bought the Service Center tooling and we talked about my reasons for sponsoring said job fair (title sponsor: BOATPIX Contract: HelicopterAcademy.com.

 

We put helicopters in the top 20 markets based upon data I crunch and I have the top 50 markets (out of 300 nationally) on my mind. So, if someone calls from a place like the Lake of the Ozarks, or Atlanta and I know these are huge boating markets, we might move a heli from Annapolis, Newport, New York or Texas or vice versa. This is a fluid and small industry and maybe you can as your coworker Trenton why he has a job in Seattle but trained with us in Florida but he came from San Diego. Look around your school and you'll see that some of those people got hours with me and at reduced rates.

 

You might also note that you don't pay anything to be on this forum but I do pay to advertise here. I also sponsor things including 20 of my instructors who you can meet at Heli-Success and Heli-Expo if you ever leave Seattle and come to an area where there are other pilots. To the fellow that says he lives in Utah and has never seen or heard from any of my pilots you might want to attend the little Las Vegas gathering in a month and you'll see at least three speakers that have sat next to me in an R22 and did boat pictures and the most senior one said at the last seminar that the most fun he ever had flying was doing boat photo with my company around Alcatraz.

[ridethisbike]

You are inferring in your email that a pilot would be better off paying your boss $250/hour to fly with you and doing autos,

 

A pilot WOULD be better off flying with her doing autos.We all know this is a perishable skill. Every single aspect of it. Why would I want to pay $200/hr to fly S&L the whole time when I could be paying just a little bit more and go BUILD on the skills I need to? S&L is the easy part. It was the first thing that any student is able to do without considerable guarding from the instructor when first starting off.

 

I'm not going to rag on you for posting a ferry flight since others do it as well. But I, as most, completely disagree with your business model. You want me to buy 100 hours for "training purposes" when every company I have ever heard of pays the employee to get trained. Even McDonalds pays their employees to get them trained up!

 

If others want to do it. Fine. I won't stop them, it's not my money. But you should get off your high horse about your business. No matter how much you polish a turd, it's still a turd.

[Spike]

San Francisco based R22 Mariner

 

Based where exactly?

[Lindsey]

I would suggest you edit your post and begin removing names. Feel free to use company names, but individual names have no business being dragged into this discussion. I am rather appalled that you would use the full names of people in your post to prove a point. Send it to me in a PM and we can continue there. I am aware indeed of those whom you speak of, and they are great pilots. That doesn't mean I agree with your business model. No apology is forthcoming.

 

That said, my statements here are not reflective of my school in general. Just as Spike does not speak for his company, I do not for mine. I don't post here as "Helicopters Northwest" like you post as "Boatpix." You'd think that would be rather obvious, but, clearly not.

 

Edit: Also, the fact that you think I was implying that I'm a better pilot than your ATP is simply poor reading comprehension.

[avbug]

Paragraphs, Boatpix. They've been in use for a long time now, and they work.

 

They don't even need to pay to work, unlike your "employees."

 

Companies with integrity don't need to only hire employees whose qualification for the job is buying it. Companies unlike yourself, for example.

 

Florida is the mecca for boating and I won't bore you with statistical data from boat registrations and boat lengths, etc and explain why we have like six helicopters in Florida and one each in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland rather than Seattle.

 

Thanks for not boring us. You've done enough of that already.

 

"Like six helicopters?" Is that more or less six, as in, like, whatever? Like, really? Like, wow. Like, you sound like a teenager, sorta like.

 

Six helicopters in Florida, and one in Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. That's nine. You said you had thirty. If Florida is the mecca, and there are only six there, where are the other 21? Never mind...don't bore us with statistics and numbers. It's far better to drop names in breach of common internet etiquette. Clearly as you have no shame in selling jobs, you're not all concerned with naming names when you shouldn't, and you haven't the sense to leave these threads around. Apparently you operate on the principle that there's no such thing as bad publicity, which seems to be good for you, as that's all you have. It doesn't seem to matter if it's aviation boards that don't like your selling jobs or boating boards that don't like you getting too close, forcing wares on people or your outlandish business and billing practices (fiat: already referenced here by direct link), or even your aircraft interfering with races by getting close enough that rotor downwash apparently has caused enough problems that your reputation precedes...it's all good for you, right?

 

You just keep coming back. Bad penny?

[palmfish]

Boatpix,

 

Just a thought, but there is a forum specifically named, Helicopter Ferry Flights and Flying Clubs. It's the place where people should post ferry flight solicitations and where pilots who are interested in doing ferry flights should look for opportunities.

 

This is the General Helicopter Forum and this is where I like to hang out. I'm not interested in reading about or performing ferry flights (my chiropractor has a kid in college and would love for me to fly a Robinson cross-country ).

 

Why not spare yourself and others the drama and post your ads where they belong?

[a94520]

Hello fellow pilots,

 

I rarely frequent these forums these days. I have bigger fish to fry.

 

However, I feel, I should straighten a few things out.

 

Boatpix made an offer, and just like any offer you can accept or reject it. It is not necessary to discredit it, beat the heck out of it or otherwise make fun of it. All of that shows poor social skills in a rather small industry.

 

To those who say you should not pay for a job, I can say this:

 

Remember that your government bailed out GM, and that stock tanked 50% since then. That means your government PAID for keeping jobs alive that should have been left to the market forces. There are two differences between this and Boatpix:

 

One: Boatpix makes an offer, while the government just uses your tax money without even asking.

 

Two: While Boatpix' charges are transparent and payable as you progress, the government's scheme is not transparent and the charges will be dumped on the taxpayer after the fact (just wait until after the 'election').

 

As a customer, you can still choose: take it or leave it.

 

I can tell you that a lot of pilots went through the program over the years; I met many and keep in touch with a few. Hardly anyone of the professional guys has the time to post on these kind of forums. They moved on, simply as that.

 

What remains are frustrated people, who try to convince themselves that Boatpix is not for them or anyone else (who might turn into competition, eh?).

 

I don't know any other place on the planet Earth where you can log PIC for 200 USD per hour in a helicopter. If you do, please post it, if not, maybe you come up with your own company to do it. People will be lining up, I can tell you.

 

Some people on this forum like to forget small details (which shows the professionalism by the way): Most junior pilots entering the Boatpix program do not meet insurance or experience requirements. You really believe they deserve a big paycheque at the end of the month? For what exactly?

 

Boatpix offers pilots a way to enter the industry. You can check out the program, talk to a pilot who successfully went through the program or call the owner. The last thing you want to do is base your decision on a few selected people who like to force their limited view onto others.

 

And yes, I went through a couple of Boatpix seasons and don't regret paying for it. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can wait till you hit the lottery, but even that waiting time is not free. In fact the only thing of real value right now is time.

 

I've moved a long time ago, and now my present company pays plenty for the experience I gathered at Boatpix and elsewhere.

 

Now I have to get back to my job, as that is what pays my bills. Posting on here doesn't. Which makes for an interesting question:

 

Do you enjoy posting negative things on here, or are you just bored to hell, because you lack both experience and skills to land a job anywhere? Or are unwilling to accept the fact that further investment is required?

 

Just something I wonder about with a few of the posters.

 

In case anyone wonders, this comes from a CFII/ATP helicopter presently flying turbine. Thanks for reading and your valuable time.

[Helipilot PTK]

Blah Blah Blah, there Are MANY professional pilots that still frequently post on these forums! If a current Army Aviator has time to post on here I am absolutely positive you still have time to post here also, don't try to act like your time is that valuable.

 

And professional pilots mentor us low timers, and let me tell you it helps tremendously. If I have a successful helicopter career I will do the same.

 

Also you sound like a CURRENT Boatpix student, not Mr. professional hot shot by the way.

[avbug]

It is not necessary to discredit it, beat the heck out of it or otherwise make fun of it.

 

Yes, it is.

 

Remember that your government bailed out GM, and that stock tanked 50% since then. That means your government PAID for keeping jobs alive that should have been left to the market forces. There are two differences between this and Boatpix:

 

One: Boatpix makes an offer, while the government just uses your tax money without even asking.

 

Two: While Boatpix' charges are transparent and payable as you progress, the government's scheme is not transparent and the charges will be dumped on the taxpayer after the fact (just wait until after the 'election').

 

Come off it. Nobody here is that stupid.

 

Buying a job from boatpix isn't a government bailout, and it's not a loan. It's paying an employer to work for the employer, and it's an employer raping an employee when he should be paying. Boatpix has a poor reputation, even among clients (as we've clearly shown), and this effort does nothing to bolster his reputation.

 

Boatpix offers pilots a way to enter the industry.

 

Yes. A pathetic, disreputable, immoral one. Good observation.

 

And yes, I went through a couple of Boatpix seasons and don't regret paying for it. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can wait till you hit the lottery, but even that waiting time is not free. In fact the only thing of real value right now is time.

 

I've moved a long time ago, and now my present company pays plenty for the experience I gathered at Boatpix and elsewhere.

 

You're not ashamed to have whored yourself out. Got it.

 

In case anyone wonders, this comes from a CFII/ATP helicopter presently flying turbine.

 

Who whore'd himself out, rather than getting a real job. We get it. Were you not employable at a real employer? You had to defecate in your own bed and in the industry by lowering the bar for everyone? You elected to buy a job why? Because you couldn't get one any other way? Thought that by lowering the bar and defecating on the industry, you'd get ahead of everyone else. Your'e a smart one. You should be ashamed. That you're not speaks volumes about you.

 

That you're proud of it speaks volumes more.

 

The last thing you want to do is base your decision on a few selected people who like to force their limited view onto others.

 

Force? Is English your second language? Do you not know the meaning of the word?

 

Look it up.

 

Then again, nobody forces anyone to work for boatpix. It takes the self-will of a low-morality character, willing to prostitute himself out enough to not get a job and make a living, but pay an employer...reverse employment, really. Nobody forced you to do that. You did it because you wanted to, and that makes it all the worse.

[Fred0311]

Avbug, although I agree with the sentiment of your post I disagree with you saying he is prostituting himself. A prostitute gets paid to get screwed. A boat pix employee pays to be.

[Flying Pig]

I guess im so bored looking for a job I have nothing else to do but post on VR. Im so ashamed

[d10]

I don't know any other place on the planet Earth where you can log PIC for 200 USD per hour in a helicopter. If you do, please post it, if not, maybe you come up with your own company to do it. People will be lining up, I can tell you.

 

Any reputable employer will let you log PIC time for less than $200/hour. In fact, they'll even pay you for it.

[eagle5]

Do you enjoy posting negative things on here,...

 

 

Yes,...boatpix sucks!

[pilot#476398]

And yes, I went through a couple of Boatpix seasons and don't regret paying for it. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can wait till you hit the lottery, but even that waiting time is not free. In fact the only thing of real value right now is time.

 

So, how many of those hours holding a camera snapping pictures of boats did you log as PIC time?

[a94520]

 

Come off it. Nobody here is that stupid.

 

Buying a job from boatpix isn't a government bailout, and it's not a loan. It's paying an employer to work for the employer, and it's an employer raping an employee when he should be paying. Boatpix has a poor reputation, even among clients (as we've clearly shown), and this effort does nothing to bolster his reputation.

 

That you're proud of it speaks volumes more.

 

Then again, nobody forces anyone to work for boatpix. It takes the self-will of a low-morality character, willing to prostitute himself out enough to not get a job and make a living, but pay an employer...reverse employment, really. Nobody forced you to do that. You did it because you wanted to, and that makes it all the worse.

 

Let's look at your reply, shall we?

 

I don't think anybody is stupid here, other than people who use foul language.

 

Contrary to your statement nobody is paying for a job at Boatpix. People pay for training or getting experience, and then get a job once they meet the requirements. If you, as an outsider, view it differently then that is your problem. It's your perception (and language) that needs adjustment.

 

Why should I not be proud of it? What are you proud of? Radiating negative energy?

 

People like you think they figured it all out. They think they have to use foul language to get their clouded view across. They might even think people joining the Boatpix program are *#%$, but they have yet to come up with an alternative. I just guess students will just have to wait until another Silver State comes along and promises them a phenomenal career.

 

Your last words are true. I was an adult, so was the manager of Boatpix. We agreed on a straight-forward deal, he delivered, I paid. That's called business. I'm sorry, if that offends you. If you view down on it, so be it. That's also your problem, not mine. Which just proves my point: you have a lot of issues.

[a94520]

Blah Blah Blah, there Are MANY professional pilots that still frequently post on these forums! If a current Army Aviator has time to post on here I am absolutely positive you still have time to post here also, don't try to act like your time is that valuable.

 

And professional pilots mentor us low timers, and let me tell you it helps tremendously. If I have a successful helicopter career I will do the same.

 

Also you sound like a CURRENT Boatpix student, not Mr. professional hot shot by the way.

 

Let's leave the military out of this, ok? After all it is the government who paid for their training. Or shall we say taxpayers? It's a totally different world.

 

It's all about appearance, isn't it? How does a professional pilot act? Do you even know what the word means? How do you know that the information given to you by pilots you call "professional" is even remotely correct and not a wrong one, misleading you? Do you question the right sources?

 

It really doesn't bother me what you think. I had my fun at Boatpix, and that's all that matters. What kind of first hand experience can you talk about?

 

Probably not a whole lot, therefore you engage in baseless claims.

[Flying Pig]

I dont have any issue talking about my first hand experience ..... However I posted a pretty detailed "assumption" asking how Boatpix worked. I looked at the web site and then posted a pretty lengthy view about how my brother and I, who is looking to use his GI Bill, understood the program and how it was set up based on how it was presented. I noticed people from Boatpix are always pretty prompt about responding but nobody ever did.

 

How long did you work for Boatpix and how many hours did you get while you were there that you didnt need to pay for? Did you work there as a CFI? If so, how many hours did you work there as a CFI without needing to pay for time? Can you stay on as a paid CFI with Boatpix for 1500+ hours or more if you needed or wanted to? Nobody ever came back to answer that.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Flying Pig

[Helipilot PTK]

Let's leave the military out of this, ok? After all it is the government who paid for their training. Or shall we say taxpayers? It's a totally different world.

 

It's all about appearance, isn't it? How does a professional pilot act? Do you even know what the word means? How do you know that the information given to you by pilots you call "professional" is even remotely correct and not a wrong one, misleading you? Do you question the right sources?

 

It really doesn't bother me what you think. I had my fun at Boatpix, and that's all that matters. What kind of first hand experience can you talk about?

 

Probably not a whole lot, therefore you engage in baseless claims.

 

I'm not sure you understood me. I wasn't talking about Army flight training, I was talking about who has more leisurely time available...

 

I don't know any professional pilots? Who do you think trained me? Also I talk with a CW5 frequently that has 25+ years of Army helicopter experience, not to mention all the professional pilots that post regularly on these forums...

 

And lastly, I have flown frost patrol, have done some mock photo shoots and have got to witness countless commercial operations. Thats not alot but what about being a low timer do you not understand? If you payed for a job through boatpix thats not my money your spending so I could care less. I will leave you with this, I have gotten around 25 hours worth of free flight time in the Bell 47 G2, R-44 and R-66 helicopter through my flight school.

[a94520]

I'm not sure you understood me. I wasn't talking about Army flight training, I was talking about who has more leisurely time available...

 

I don't know any professional pilots? Who do you think trained me? Also I talk with a CW5 frequently that has 25+ years of Army helicopter experience, not to mention all the professional pilots that post regularly on these forums...

 

And lastly, I have flown frost patrol, have done some mock photo shoots and have got to witness countless commercial operations. Thats not alot but what about being a low timer do you not understand? If you payed for a job through boatpix thats not my money your spending so I could care less. I will leave you with this, I have gotten around 25 hours worth of free flight time in the Bell 47 G2, R-44 and R-66 helicopter through my flight school.

 

Who do you think pays a military pilot NOT to fly and instead have more leisurely time available? It's you with your tax dollars. I know that's difficult to understand, but that doesn't make it less true.

 

Maybe you should join the military, ever thought about that? There's milk and honey, they say.

 

It really doesn't matter to me how much free time you got in which type of aircraft. It could be 250 or 2500. There's a saying in this industry: it doesn't matter what you know, but who you know.

[Helipilot PTK]

Again I think you are confused, I was trying to say the military has LESS leisurely time than most people. And I am proud to support our military with my tax dollars.

 

If you go to the General Military Helicopter Discussion sub forum you will see I am currently trying to get into the WOFT Army program so...