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Q's about Kalitta

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L

linecheck

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2003
Posts
153
I was wondering if any Kalitta pilots could answer a couple questions if you have time. I've done a bit of research on your new contract, and it seems pretty good.

Do you guys view Kalitta as a long term place to hang your hat? Does Kalitta have a growth strategy that you feel confident in? How have management/ pilot relations been lately?

With your monthly schedule, is the company good about getting you home on your last day? When you're on the road, do you know where, and when you're going for that period of time? Or is it like a fractional, where you don't know what the next day will bring. How's reserve for the junior guys?

I'm wondering, what are the hiring plans for 2008?

Thanks for the help. All the best.

LC
 
Which Kalitta? Kalitta Air (747), Charters II (727), Charters (Lears)?
 
Kalitta Air is hirng, they are expereincing turnover with major recalls. A good part of their flying is war related. How long will that go on?
 
If you can handle the 17 days out, you can stay awhile and make 6 figures easily.

You bid for a line of flying like any other airline, you can do reserve like any other place.

I get home on time or early most months. But like every other airline, scheduling dept, is just that.

More airplanes coming. They are in pretty good shape

I think we have the best schedule of most of the 747 operators. Just remember, there always the good, bad, ugly.
 
Thanks Lr,

The time away doesn't bother me so much, so long as there's a good stretch at home.

When you bid your line, does the line (with your 17 day stretch) include both hard trips and reserve days?

For instance, could you fly to HNL, and then sit on reserve there for 3 days? Or could you sit reserve a few days at home before leaving for a trip? Just tryin' to get a feel for life on the road, and how tough the schedules are.

I noticed on the Kalitta Air website under "schedule" that there are many offices all over the world. Are those locations that you would routinely fly to? For instance, Hamburg, Germany?

Again, many thanks for the info.

All the best,

LC
 
yes to most of your questions. It is possible at a slower time to sit at home before you actually receive a flight assignment. Most of the time the send you to either EWR or JFK for example and keep you in the hotels there. You are getting per diem during this time. You would normally call in every day to check in for an assignment. a hard line may contain reserve days. since I don't have one. someone else will have to chime in on issues with that.
A typical assignment would be EWR to Leige sit for a day or two then fly to Bahrain, sit for a day, fly to Hong Kong empty, sit for a couple days, the fly to PANC via Khaborask, or Sapporo.
Once you get to any of these destinations, it completely changes. except PANC, you are on your way to the lower 48.

some one else may have some good info....please
 
Kalitta is an easy gig, other than the 17 days. But the 13/14 days home are nice, and where else in our industry could you be in the left seat of a heavy in 1 1/2-2 years?

Im not a company cheerleader by any means, but there are worst places to be. We have had furloughed guys quit there jobs when they got recalled, soooooo.

But, if you have a family, the 17 days can get kind of long, so just make sure if you do come here, know that the new car smell WILL wear off and there youll be.

Its a good time to get on, we are short crews, and a quick upgrade will soon follow, most likely.
 
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Don't expect to sit at home on reserve, it may happen once in awhile-figure on being gone for the whole bid period. It can be hard especially if you have little ones at home. Most destinations are the same Amsterdam and Lax also. Sometimes pop-up trips which can be interesting.
Hard lines are not supposed to have reserve days they are called layover days in the new contract and you must call in once every 24 hours. You do often sit for 2 or 3 days at the outside stations.
 
Thanks everyone for the great feedback. Much appreciated.

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm wondering if the fast upgrade is based on growth, or attrition. If age 60 changes sometime in 2009, how do you think the movement will be?

Do you think senior management's vision is to grow a viable, long-term cargo operation to the likes of Atlas/Polar? (If that's a good comparison)

Lastly, someone said a lot of Kalitta Air's revenue is driven by government contracts. How secure and stable would you say these contracts are? Just tryin' to understand the stability of the business..

Thanks again.

All the best,
LC
 
what kind of flight time are guys getting called for an interview? do they have mins posted anywhere?
 
mins

On APC the mins are 4000TT. They had mins on the Kalitta site before, when they listed the pilot position in the careers section. Don't see the position listed there now.

When the new contract was approved the mins went from 2000tt (I think, may have been 2500) to 4000tt that day.


batfish
 
Contract min is 1500. They like to see around 4,000, but it is not a hard number. Heavy and international time helps too. A feb. class for 14 f/o's has been announced and the rumor mill says at least another 2 or 3 are planned plus a few upgrade classes.
 
Contract min is 1500. They like to see around 4,000, but it is not a hard number. Heavy and international time helps too. A feb. class for 14 f/o's has been announced and the rumor mill says at least another 2 or 3 are planned plus a few upgrade classes for next year.
 
1. Does Kalitta Air provide crew meals and if so how are they?

2. How do you pack for a 17 day trip?

3. Would the 25" perdy neet bag work or should you get the 27'?

4. How often do the months back up to one another and then you work 34 days in a row?

Thanks
 
RJSlim

1. All flights are catered. Quality varies, but overall I think it's pretty good.

2 + 3. You can do laundry or get it done nearly everywhere we go, so I don't carry much. In the summer when I'm wearing the same shorts and t-shirt pretty much every day, the small PrettyNeat bag works fine. In the winter when I have to carry warmer clothes, I have a $40 Korean special that holds plenty.

4. It's the luck of the draw. I only got one back-to-back when I was in the bottom half of the seniority list, but I wasn't there long. Maybe some junior captains will chime in.
 
since there are half as many Fo's as CA's, you will pretty much get a bid that does not set you up for back to back unless you bid that on purpose, like I plan to Dec-Jan. I will bid off late Feb. I can have a month off to travel. sounds crazy, but I will have one month in Brasil!
 
propsarebest said:
Do ya'all stay at the 5 towns while in JFK??
Click to expand...

Yes we stay in the 5 Clowns.

On your time off while working, what is there to do in each city? Or do you guys work pretty solid while on?
Click to expand...

One of the nice things about Kalitta is we don't do alot of India and Africa like alot of the other cargo outifits. It's mostly Brussels, Amsterdam, Liege, Hong Kong, Dubai, Bahrain, Anchorage, and Honolulu. There's plenty of stuff to do in each, just depends what you're into. When you see us, most of us look pretty beat up, but I can tell you it's usually from playing too hard, not working. It really is about as easy as a job as you can get.
 
Guam360 said:
since there are half as many Fo's as CA's, you will pretty much get a bid that does not set you up for back to back unless you bid that on purpose, like I plan to Dec-Jan. I will bid off late Feb. I can have a month off to travel. sounds crazy, but I will have one month in Brasil!
Click to expand...

Is that because they crew the flights with 2 Captains, 1 FO and 1 FE? Or are they just that short of FOs?

What are the chances of a new-hire being an FE? (its not a bad thing for me)

On the road what are the accommodations like? Downtown locations?

Someone mentioned them wanting "international-heavy experience". How likely is it for an RJ guy to be picked up by them?

After commuting for a while, being home based sounds like a godsend, even if its half the month on the road. Plus, I think I'd enjoy the international flying (and layovers), and the nomad life style that comes with 121 supplementals. I guess thats all for now.
 
OTpilot said:
Is that because they crew the flights with 2 Captains, 1 FO and 1 FE? Or are they just that short of FOs?

What are the chances of a new-hire being an FE? (its not a bad thing for me)

On the road what are the accommodations like? Downtown locations?

Someone mentioned them wanting "international-heavy experience". How likely is it for an RJ guy to be picked up by them?

After commuting for a while, being home based sounds like a godsend, even if its half the month on the road. Plus, I think I'd enjoy the international flying (and layovers), and the nomad life style that comes with 121 supplementals. I guess thats all for now.
Click to expand...

no one said anything about 2 Captains, the question was about getting stuck on 17 back to back, with seniority , that is not likely to happen, because they are short FO's, (half as many CA's), this means if you were here now, you won't end up long on reserve or more than likely get stuck as i mentioned before. Plus there are spilt lines, many that don't end at the end or start at the beginning.

ex. i think there are 80+ CA and maybe 60 FO's, they have had a class every other month since the beginning of the year.

The layovers are mostly all downtown everywhere, except Brussels, it is in a completely different town, called Leuven. but it is great! College town.

Amsterdam is at the airport, but a 30min. bicycle ride.

My class had maybe 6 regional guys, 4 or 5 were in jets, the other(s) 1900's.

they are not hiring pilots as SO's, Pilots are only hired in the right seat.

good luck,
oh, we do have heavy and double crews, heavy is 2 CA and 2 FE, 1 FO.
Double, well, double
 
Air Gator,
You must be such a pimp at kalitta. Does it get hard being such a player and having such a strong game? Do you ever get tired of pimpin bitches around the world or is that something they cover in ground school?
D+$
 
Air Gator should teach recurrent ground so we can all pimp them bitches like he does.


Hanging out in the 'Pot of Milk' in Liege, lots of Bitches in there, whew, hotties.......just off of Rue Saint Paul.
 
D+$ said:
Air Gator,
You must be such a pimp at kalitta. Does it get hard being such a player and having such a strong game? Do you ever get tired of pimpin bitches around the world or is that something they cover in ground school?
D+$
Click to expand...

Big Daddy Kane was wrong D.
Pimpin is easy.
 
ERJFO said:
How often do you guys go plus 12 hours? When do you ne4ed a double crew? Plus 16 hours?
Click to expand...
Not too often - I do a few heavy/double crews a year, it's kinda rare.
 
How many local YIP guys our out there? I'm in training now, I'm local and could use a tutor for beer.
 
Guam360 said:
Air Gator should teach recurrent ground so we can all pimp them bitches like he does.


Hanging out in the 'Pot of Milk' in Liege, lots of Bitches in there, whew, hotties.......just off of Rue Saint Paul.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the 'Three Rivers', 'Irish Joint'...

the 'Sinners' in Amsterdam... 'Sticky and Spicy's' in Hong Kong... F-1 in Bahrain...

Leuven, Dubai, Anchorage...
 

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