For anyone considering Vista America, go in with your eyes open regarding the reality of the 15/13 schedule.
On paper, the schedule sounds competitive. In practice, many pilots find the “13 days off” are regularly consumed by recurrent training, simulator events, meetings, and mandatory CBT requirements. The CBT load alone is approximately 40 hours per year and is largely expected to be completed during pilots’ scheduled days OFF.
In my opinion, that materially changes the true quality-of-life equation and makes the advertised schedule somewhat misleading in practical terms.
One of the biggest differences compared with competitors like NetJets and Flexjet is that those operators generally conduct training during scheduled work periods, whereas Vista often places significant training obligations into off days.
Prospective pilots should also ask detailed questions about hotel standards, crew meals, and duty days.
Crews can experience long duty periods with limited access to proper meals, and unlike many premium operators, there is often no consistent inflight crew catering provided. Combined with airport-area hotels that are frequently isolated from food options and meaningful rest, the cumulative fatigue effect becomes significant over a 15-day rotation. In fact after 7 days your cooked, but wait management says do better.
The operation itself has many good people and capable crews, but there is also considerable frustration surrounding scheduling, fatigue management, attrition, and overall work/life balance.
Before accepting a position, I would strongly encourage applicants to ask direct questions about
:
- how many “days off” remain truly free of duty,
- how much mandatory training occurs during off days,
- annual CBT hour expectations,
- reserve expectations,
- average duty day length,
- hotel selection philosophy,
- crew meal policies,
- and actual pilot turnover.
- +60 pilots left last year out of 400
Most importantly, speak privately with current line pilots rather than relying solely on recruitment messaging. Don’t believe management pilots.