IFL Group - Convair 580?

[Tram]

Anyone know anything about this place?

I tried to do a search and everything is +/- 2 years old on them..

 

[Jeff775621]

theres an ad on 350.com right now for pilots. I applied

 

[Tram]

Yeh, I guess that makes two of us..

 

[727C47]

I worked there in the 90's back in the DC-3,CV340 era, good people,great flying, great maintenance,a by the book operator unlike half the dirt bag outfits out there, better than average compensation too, you just won't have a life, on call 24/7 ,but they won't BS you, its a great place to get experience. CV580 is a legend, and now they have 727s too !

 

[RedGuy]

From my understanding they don't fly much anymore, 3-400hrs a year, so plan on living off guarantee. They also have 20min call outs for FO's. When I worked there a couple years ago you got $1000 a month while in training, which can take a few months BTW, then $1,500 a month for 6 months after your checked out, then $2,000 a month after that.

 

[Porky]

I heard they were putting 2 more Falcon 731's online soon. They must be doing something right, or only have 1 VP in the company.

 

[RedGuy]

I also heard they destroyed the an engine on at least one if not 2 so far. Those are REALLY nice falcons though.

 

[cherry20's]

I heard they have 3 falcons and are looking at 1 more corp. bird. They did trash 2 engines, one in ELP that blew a hole in the cowl, and one in flight when the cargo door popped open and sucked a jacket or engine cover through it? Haven't heard the whole story on that one yet. Anyone know the real story? But I do always hear good things about IFL, nice airplanes!

 

[pilotyip]

How can a company run with only one VP?

 

[RedGuy]

How can a company run with only one VP?

Is that a joke or a real question?

Back when I worked there Allen Ross was the owner, then the President below him was Mike Church, then it split into departments. Mike Carry was the DO, Bill Kots was the CP. In Mx Mark Bunner was the DOM, Dispatch was Burt, Ground Support fell under Mx but Robbo was the Line Manager. That system seemed to work pretty well, though Mike Church did have a tendency to micro-manage the other departments, especially after coming back in at about 10-12 at night after being at the bar for a couple hours. It's an Ok place to work, but I've seen a few employees really get burned by them. They are by the book though and do have pretty good Mx, it's a good place to build time.

 

[cherry20's]

That was a joke. Kinda funny too. Active Aero only has 28 VP's or so.

 

[RedGuy]

That was a joke. Kinda funny too. Active Aero only has 28 VP's or so.

WHAT! No wonder they're having problems.

BTW I doubt IFL is getting into corprate, the just buy corprate A/C then convert them to freighters. All their Falcons where fairly nice corprate birds when the bought them. Still doesn't completely make sence to me when you can buy a freight falcon for less than the door mod cost, but I guess they wanted those 731's real bad.

 

[cherry20's]

I know there not, just what someone told me. I know they convert all of them. Makes sense for the long run, BIG picture that is. AA doesn't have 28, its more like 8 or so I think.

 

[pilotyip]

See you really need more than one VP, because if one VP fails the other one will keep you flying. That is why the B-52 is such a great airplane, because if you loose one VP, I mean engine, it still flies fine.

 

[jobear]

YIP are you finally becoming a sarcastic ol' fart too;-)

 

[pilotyip]

I'm sorry it leaks out sometimes, especially after visiting the Wedge.

 

[Bringupthebird]

The owner of IFL gave me my "break" and for that I will always be in his debt.

 

[dickburns]

We run 3 freighter falcons and have a corporate falcon that just got on the certificate, allan's new ride. We just got certified for overwater in the falcons. I can tell you the convairs are bareley flying, plan on getting 300 hours a year, the reason they posted on climbto350.com is because the convair fo's are getting smart and going elsewhere because they are not getting any time or upgrade here. If you get interviewed and get offered the falcon take, they fly their buts off. Good people to work with which is half the battle and being busy in the falcons makes it much easier to manage the 20 minute call out. I would almost consider going to a regional first, now that the upgrade is so slow. But if you think you can do the unscheduled freight thing go for, its all personal preference. Any more questions?

 

[JessMan]

GO TO A REGIONAL!!! Wish I had 2.5 years ago...

 

[NJA bound]

NetJets is cool, better pay than a regional, you'll make 50K+ your first year, 6 figures after four years and two 3 week vacations your first year.
Get in the Falcon and get the NJA mins

Forgot to mention the 7 day on 7day off schedule, nice.

.

 

[dickburns]

Yeah I agree, our maintenance is great and that is a big plus too but again listen to mr.redballs! I had some very good friends that started on the convair at this time last year, it took them 7 months to get to their checkrides, not because of their ability, that is weeded out in the first training flight, but because business is so slow there was no approval for them to get checked out and get on line, they realized that the sic time is worth just the same at a regional as it is flying on demand freight. Eventually my friends on the convair all left for regionals and 135 pic jobs mainly because they were sitting around on a 20 minute call out flying less than once a week. The only thing I can say is if the upgrade is a little quicker, i.e. Kalitta, Ameristar, Cherry, or even some type of scheduled of freight, Airnet or Ameriflight and the likes, and you have a personal reason for flying boxes over passengers then yeah youre cut out for freight, the lifestyle is tough, 20 minute call outs and the ultimate, get there and wait! I don't mind the on demand right now because I am so busy in the plane I fly that I overlook the callout time, in the future I really hope to get something scheduled so I can have a little more of a life other than sitting around my 20 minute chain. Again its all personal choices, people will argue about upgrade time, they argue about sic vs pic vs jet vs turboprop, DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, don't let people convince you to go somewhere because of a bad a$$ plane. I remember an old pilot told me, a plane is a plane is a plane is plane, if the job paid right I would be comfortable flying a skyhawk the rest of my life. I would say go to a job where you want, to me a good lifestyle is important. Unless you have nothing holding you down, then do your cost benefit anaylsis and see if a crappy lifestyle will help you get to what your goals are. In the case of working here I feel the crappy lifestyle isn't worth getting on a Convair because you will only fly 2-300 hours a year. Hope this helps you all, again its nothing against the company, the people are great to work with, lots of fun, but is this time going to be beneificial to you?

 

[CMI]

Flying the Falcon for IFL Rocks! How many Fr8 jobs let you fly a glass jet with FMS?

 

[bobs98tlr]

Convair flying picking up much? Can you get hired and switch to the Falcon?

 

[pilotyip]

it would depend upon how hard up they were for DA and CV pilots.

 

[JessMan]

Flying's pretty busy for this time of year. They just hired a butt-load (technical term) of new FO's for the Convair and the Falcon, they hire you directly into the plane you'll be flying, although they do sometimes cross-train (emphasis on sometimes). Not sure if they'll still looking, but you can always shoot them a resume.

 

[bobs98tlr]

Is it gonna take 7 months for a check ride like this time last year? What are the mins for the Falcon? Just curious how much flying is out there for them im pretty interested.

 

[dickburns]

There's no mins really, just whatever they feel like putting you in, last year they were putting guys with the lowest time in the falcons, and higher time guys in cv's. Been away from the loop lately, They hire mainly on who you know there or who has reccommended you, most people get on with considerably lower time than the other freight outfits in the dtw area. I wouldn't waste your time in the on demand industry right now with the movement that is going on in the 121 pax operations. Theyll hire a street captain before theyll upgrade you into the falcon, and for the convair, jess can answer that, haha.

 

[CopilotDoug]

Anyone know anything about this place?

Yeah...my Dad flew a few of their 580's back in the sixties when they had a different paintjob. No shortage of power, to my understanding

 

[falcon20driver]

I don't GODDAM get why ANYGODDAMONE would go to ANY GODDAM ondemand freight outfit when Skywest upgrades are at one year.

 

[Captain Oveur]

Well, geez, falcon20driver, maybe some folks like
freight better better than commuter flying.....don't get so
upset, LoL:laugh: