Pros
Opportunities for lower-time pilots to get in multi-engine turbine aircraft. Turbo-Commander is a fun airplane to fly. The aviation department staff is friendly and supportive. A large variety of interesting destinations. Excellent maintenance provided by the in-house mechanic as of 2021. Passengers were almost always a joy to fly around. Supervisors make sure you are ready to fly as PIC and don't throw you into the role too early, in my experience. Friendly and helpful airport manager. Willing to help with CFI training. Friendly managers but not well qualified for aviation.
Cons
No chief pilot (on purpose) so that things can be run haphazardly. Lots of nepotism, if you are not related or didn't grow up in the town it will be something you notice. They will overload the airplanes all day long. Even with the Turbo Commander's track record of breaking apart in flight from stress. (This was something that really annoyed me because it showed a complete lack of care for the people who work for you.) Extremely long days that often are stacked on one after another (Example: Report to the airport at 5:00 a.m., takeoff at 6:00, sit at destination till 7:00 p.m., arrive at Fort Scott at 9:00 p.m., home at 9:45-10 p.m., and repeat the next day. Managers know the problems with the schedule but insist on continuing to run things the same way due to penny-pinching and potentially a lack of caring for employees. Once upgraded to captain don't expect a raise for a while if at all. Some of the pilots don't clean the aircraft or stock it, so expect to be doing extra work for those individuals. Every day is run like if the flight can't happen the company will fold the next day. So, it puts a lot of pressure on the pilots to fly when fatigued and into questionable weather for the Turbo Commander. (Example: Summer thunderstorms in the central USA often tower to 40,000 ft or higher. We are often trying to pick our way through and around these storms. We can't get above them in the Commander.) The cowboy mentality (meaning flying recklessly and not crashing ) is praised and thought to be the sign of a great pilot by management.
