Build your experience or flight hours and get out as soon as you can
Pros
First I just want to say that the Medford, OR office is an excellent place to work, on paper. Helpful, supportive, and compassionate management and a culture of a small group of people who are all friends with one another. Usually good communication, timely Mx on all the planes, constantly travelling the country, $50/day per diem, very nice rental car and hotel choices, decent benefits and PTO accrual. You will gain a lot of experience here in a short amount of time. Field staff stays employed all year long with a guaranteed (minimum) 40 hours per week.
Cons
Everything has been steadily going downhill since the original company (GV Air) merged with Vexcel. The field schedule is truly brutal, 18 days on and only 6 off, and you WILL be working and away from home for all 18 of them, and on all holidays too. Long work days, especially in the summer. Plans change on a dime frequently. Corporate is very strict on efficiency and saving money at all times, but constantly making poor decisions that cost a lot of money. In addition, we are encouraged to take our PTO before/after our 6 days off, if it's in the middle of the deployment then they will not fly us out for our allotted vacation, and suddenly you either have to cancel your PTO or shell out for a last-minute expensive plane ticket to get you back home on your own dime. Seemingly no upward mobility for better positions either if you are a field worker. It's truly disappointing and insidious that the corporate management team sees the field crew as completely expendable despite us being the baseline of functionality for the company. Their strict rules and almost subhuman treatment cause us all to suffer. I've met plenty of people from our other offices and they have thus far all been a joy to work with. But the corporate decision-making since the merger is unforgivable.
