After my recent return from that lovely place in the desert and awaiting sim training on a new Boeing I find myself ferrying planes for fun. One such trip was a Quest Kodiak from ICT to the Maldives. I was was told I would be paid 500 per flight day, plus 225 per diem and 200 on non flying days plus 225 per diem. I took about 10 days or so to get the plane there. Around 65 hours of flying with some legs over 11 hours. This Kodiak was equipped with two 200 gallon aux tanks so the total fuel would allow one to do about 13:30 with reserve. Being float equipped around 20 knots slower. The guy running the show MB, who owns Globe Flyers showed me a weight and balance that led me to believe the plane would be within CG and W/B limits. However, after a few takeoffs in 45C temp and some very interesting pitch ossicliations in inadvertent icing I started to wonder how correct this was. The trip was long and not easy. MB would push me all the time. I would be getting to the airport very early and landing due to time difference very late and have to leave early again next day. The only days I delayed was due to landing at 0500AM and not wanting to leave again that night after having already flown multiple long legs. Fatigue was a huge factor. Another day was due to bad weather. And then another day when the Cessna 182 that was doing the same route hadn't an issue with the engine so I waited for him as we were a team or at least that's what MB led me to believe. After finishing the trip I submitted my invoice. A month goes by. Nothing. I decide to message him. No reply. Finally I call and he tells me he needs my airline ticket receipt and that the accounting needs to match up the airport locations with my expense report. Two win more weeks go by. I call MB and he tells me the check will go out the net day by FedEx and he will call me with tracking info. He tells me he lost money on this trip! Another week goes by. He then sends me an image that he sent he check via USPS. I get the check 7 weeks after I sent my invoice only to discover it was 2,250 short. Wow, 7 weeks laters and short this much what a nice surprise! I call him and he tells me, oh, I decided to pay you 300 per day instead of 500 because you took too long to get there, you landed with no oil showing on the dipstick, you didn't want to share a room with the other pilot, and you flew at full power the entire way. None of this is as true. Nothing but lies. Obviously had I ran the engine at full power I would have not had enough fuel for these legs. I am not into sharing rooms nor was I told this was required. I checked the oil cold at every stop and never saw any issue. After doing some research I have found this MB to have quite a bad reputation in Wichita. I have found out that I am not the first pilot he has screwed over financially. I have also also found out from the company that took Poseidon of the plane that and I quote here Also, that plane was at 137.8% gross weight with those ferry tanks full. Legal limit is 125%. You were almost 1000 lbs over the ferry limit. That doesn't go over well with operators. I wouldn't want a plane that has been flown that heavy. To hard to find hidden damage. Those ferry tanks were only supposed to be filled to 125 gal each. AND I'm not trying to pile on but you were also .68 inches out the aft CG. Didn't help you when you got the ice over Maine. The Kodiak gets hairy out the back. It's still your butt in the seat that's at risk. You have to watch out for yourself. We all do. AND We did check the engine data and there were no exceedances found. I don't see evidence of you running the engine over the limits. Oh here is another thing. After landing at MALE around 10pm the manager told me customs was. It coming and just goto the hotel. No problem. I'm in Maldives. US citizen. Shouldn't be an issue. As a matter of fact the tech told me to go diving which I did, and he would give me a tour of the seaplane base. So when it was time to go I had a problem with customs. They wanted to know why I left the plane. WELL BECAUSE I WAS TOLD YOU ARENT COMING! Ok no problem Captain, we shall keep your passport and give to you tomorrow. Fine. Next day I got it back. And then Everyone was pretty steamed at you by the time you left the Maldives. Immigration was all over Maldivian Seaplanes and giving them real crap because you were in the country without proper paperwork. I was not involved directly but heard the conversations. That was a real problem for the leadership of the companies involved. It's no small thing. No one told me I had to leave. They did the opposite but who gets the fallback? Me. So now I see my only options as to sue him in small claims for the balance, lien the plane if possible, and make sure the world knows about globe Flyers so other pilots don't have the same problem I did. I am so happy to have a full time job on a widebody and not have to deal with this crap. read more