How is Life at ATI?

[MDWCrashPad]

I'm in the pool at ATI. My class date has been pushed back to Sept and in the mean time I was hired by another airline. I'm leaning towards ATI but would like a little more information about ATI.

The hourly rates are good but the number of monthly hours is low. Is there much opportunity for overtime.

How many days off per month do newer guys get?

I understand that during the weekend layovers you do not fly from Fri morning until Monday night so that you could get a couple more days at home. Is that usually possible? I live in the Tampa area.

What else can you tell me? What should I be asking?

 

[johnsonrod]

I'm in the pool at ATI. My class date has been pushed back to Sept and in the mean time I was hired by another airline. I'm leaning towards ATI but would like a little more information about ATI.

The hourly rates are good but the number of monthly hours is low. Is there much opportunity for overtime.

How many days off per month do newer guys get?

I understand that during the weekend layovers you do not fly from Fri morning until Monday night so that you could get a couple more days at home. Is that usually possible? I live in the Tampa area.

What else can you tell me? What should I be asking?

I presume you would fly the Diesel 8 - that would be pretty interesting. Anyone know if they are relatively well equipped? Does ATI fly overseas as well (good route variety)?

 

[Browntothebone]

Does your planes have Glass? FMS? Autothrottles? I hear the the DC8 is prone to getting pod strikes and is a bear to land in a crosswind. How do guys coming from small planes, like RJs, handle the DC-8?

 

[b707guy]

Of our 16 operating aircraft, 7 are dedicated to BAX domestic flying out of TOL, plus one or two are kept around if available to serve hot standby (with a crew) to cover any missed cities in the BAX system (not just ATI routes). Most of the other flying is international, whether scheduled military runs, or pop up and ad hoc charter work (military or otherwise). BAX doesn't serve TPA with an aircraft. The closest they come is MCO, but they also serve FLL. Both are done by Cappy, not us, although we have had both cities at one time or another in the past. The closest we come to TPA on regular runs is PHL, IAH, and LRD. The PHL crew currently does a Saturday DoD run. Plus, your trip out of PHL Monday night is a long one, ending in PDX with stops in TOL and BFI, so jumpseating home after you finally get released on Saturday evening isn't very productive. LRD and IAH don't currently have weekend layovers, so they don't matter. Bottom line is, you'd have a tough time getting home from any of our scheduled runs in the execution of a scheduled line. Some of our new hires have already gotten lines just out of IOE. With that, you have at least 12 days off per 28. If you are on open reserve, you could be out for two or three weeks, but you earn time off at a rate of .8 hours off for every hour on, which adds up nicely if you are kept out. Overtime is hit or miss. Our next contract actually has somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel, and we don't know where the guarantee hours are headed from our current 56 hours per 28 day pay unit. All I can say is that our negotiations committee is the best group we've had. Feel free to PM with any other questions you may have. If you can hang out until Sept, this is a pretty good place to be, especially given the market.

 

[b707guy]

None of our airplanes has a true glass cockpit, although 6 of them have flat panel LCD ADI and HSI installations. Autothrottles deactivated a long long time ago. All have FMS/GPS, all are fully RVSM/MNPS, but we're not certified for GPS approaches or prnav arrivals or departures. The capability is there, we just haven't taken it that far yet. Don't want to jinx anything regarding pod strikes, but yes, it's a possibility. I'll just say we catch more tails on the long airplanes, and even those are few and far between (and, fortunately, waaay less pricey!). Some RJ and turboprop guys jump in and fly like they were born in it, some struggle. It just depends.

 

[MDWCrashPad]

Thank you for the information. I've never flown an RJ or a turboprop, but the 737-800 was also prone to tail strikes. I've been lucky to accumulate 5000 hours of 737 tail free time, and lots more if you include the layovers!

I understand they usually position you into the trips at the out stations the day before the flight. Do they usually give you the positioning day at home and position you there in the evening? The positioning days don't count as days off, correct? Is most of the flying night flying? Normal show time / release time? How tough is it on your body?

Everyone I've spoken to so far likes it there.

 

[b707guy]

A number of our BAX trips start at out stations: IAH, LRD, SJC (paired with BDL), and PDX (paired with PHL). LAX starts and stops in TOL. We also have scheduled LAX reserve, plus scheduled reserve lines that could take place anywhere, usually TOL. Our lines are built around having 12 days off minimum, or, more correctly, 288 hours off during a 28 day (672 hour) bid period. Lets say you bid and are awarded an IAH line. Each outstation start line is built with 9 hours of "in position time", plus, the lines are planned with 8 hours of travel time on both the start and stop end of the sequence. So in this case, your first IAH trip departs Tuesday morning at 0230Z, and arrives for you to go home on Thursday morning at 1405Z. Back up from 0230 Tuesday by one hour for pre-flight, plus the mentioned 9 hours of "in position" time, plus 8 hours of travel, and you get 0830Z on Monday. On Thursday, you get .5 hours for post flight, plus 8 hours travel to get home, which comes to 2235Z. The time from 0830Z Monday to 2235Z on Thursday is your time "on". Add up all of your sequences and if they don't exceed 384 hours during the bid unit, then you have at least 288 hours off. The catch in figuring your actual time off comes in how you have to travel from where you live. TPA to IAH, I imagine you can get there one hop, so you can very likely meet the time off per the line's construction. If you live in or near IAH, you're golden. I can't get to IAH easily, so if I were to bid those lines, I'd be eating my time off by having to travel earlier and get home later. SJC and PDX starts/stops are the worst for those of us living on the east coast, since we have to travel on Sunday for Monday night's departure, and then travel all day (after having been up all night...) or wait for a red-eye to get home at the end of the trip. And, yes, nearly all of the flying is at night, with the sort in TOL running generally from about 2am after the inbound flights to 6am for the outbounds. Add in bad weather, de-icing, waiting for late arrivals, etc, only makes the day longer. It can be very tough on your body! But the best part is, you don't have to worry about begging a ride to and from work. And if your commercial flight inbound gets messed up such that you won't make it in time, you're not in jeopardy. Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but since you're in the pool, I figured you could use a bit more info!

 

[johnsonrod]

How many 767s are you guys planning to add? Will they be incremental to the current fleet or replace airplanes? Here's the latest photo:

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6257114

 

[PHXFLYR]

Does your planes have Glass? FMS? Autothrottles? I hear the the DC8 is prone to getting pod strikes and is a bear to land in a crosswind. How do guys coming from small planes, like RJs, handle the DC-8?

Flew the DC8 for ATI for 14 months Oct 1996 Feb 1998,having spent 10 years flying DeHaviland Dash 8 turboprops and other commuter aircraft. It was a challenging transition but with good instructors which ATI had while I was there, and I assume stiil do,and some effort on the new hires part ,I wouldn't say the challenge is insurmountable. One thing I learned rather quickly is to keep the airplane in trim . The only flight control that is hydraulically powered is the rudder, the ailerons and elevators are manually activated by means of anti servo tabs. This makes for heavy pitch and roll forces especially when compared to the turboprops that I flew previously. And with the heavier operating weights compared to the airplanes I previously flew , that thing was a flying Physics lesson in mass and inertia. Never saw runway disappear so fast in my life,especially during landing. Once you get the hang of it ,though,it's a great airplane to fly and the pilots and PFE's a fantastic group to work with. I look back at the time I spent there quite fondly and sometimes wonder why I left.


PHXFLYR

 

[hmmm]

The DC-8 is easier to fly then the CRJ. Done both. When you put the 8 somewhere it stays there.

 

[two(2)%]

The DC-8 is easier to fly then the CRJ. Done both. When you put the 8 somewhere it stays there.

Surely you jest.

 

[hmmm]

Nope. Don't.

 

[l8fr82hub]

The only flight control that is hydraulically powered is the rudder, the ailerons and elevators are manually activated by means of anti servo tabs.

The ailerons are hydraulically powered too. Though it doesn't seem like it.

 

[gearjockey]

Of the two commuter turboprops, the CRJ, the DC-9 and the DC-8, and 767: the RJ was, in my opinion, easiest by far to manually fly, with everything working. Maybe there's a difference in the 60s vs. 70s or something. Only flew the 60s. There's twice the throttles, twice the dials and all that cable which may or may not be rigged properly. Descent planning takes some getting used to also. Just my opinion.

 

[b707guy]

How many 767s are you guys planning to add? Will they be incremental to the current fleet or replace airplanes?http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6257114

We don't know, and we don't know! Our first four crews are nearly if not already done with training, and the second cadre has been selected, but their training dates have been delayed. That first airplane isn't fully in our hands just yet for them to fly it. It's currently in ILN having some avionics upgraded. There may have been some politics (way above our level...) behind that location as well. Anyway, I think the company was hoping to start proving runs in the next few weeks. Our second airplane was delayed by 45-60 days, meaning it should be out of the barn maybe Sept or so. There were stories of at least two more aircraft, plus some possibilities of two more which either are currently or soon will be farmed out to CargoJet. There was talk of us operating them, but I don't see it happening, at least not soon. No stated plan to park DC-8s, and we're D checking a -71 as we speak. Since that airplane is owned by our sister company, the heavy check isn't being performed to turn it back in to someone, so I can only guess that that particular jet will be around for a while. A few of our -73s have passed 100k hours, the others aren't far off, and we've been D checking them as they came up.


The rudder on a DC-8 is gi-normous. When it and the ailerons are powered, they are heavy, but not bad. It feels "right" to me anyway. Then again, I overcontrolled the snot out my last interview attempt in a 767 sim a while back. Look out, though, if you are out of hydraulics and have to deal with a crosswind. Both the input deflection required and the forces to obtain the desired results are greatly increased. The only flight control I've found to be perhaps less handy (pun intended...) as compared with other planes I've flown is the elevator. Even in daily line flying, you can easily run out of elevator if you get just a bit behind with the stabilizer trim in the flare, especially with a forward CG. That condition is even more pronounced if you land the plane on speed like you're supposed to instead of a bit fast like a lot of us tend to do. I know, this condition is true of any mis-trimmed stab-equipped airplane, but it seems more pronounced to me anyway in the DC-8. Maybe I just didn't know any better back when I flew the others...

 

[FastHap]

It's currently in ILN having some avionics upgraded. ....Our second airplane was delayed by 45-60 days, meaning it should be out of the barn maybe Sept or so. There were stories of at least two more aircraft, plus some possibilities of two more which either are currently or soon will be farmed out to Cargo Jet. There was talk of us operating them, but I don't see it happening, at least not soon.

I saw the 2 Cargo Jet 767's in the hangars in Wilmington, that sure is a pretty paint job, but I really hate to see them dry leased. I also saw what I'm guessing is the first ATI 767 in Wilmington, also a very smart looking paint job. There was a second obviously ex-AA bird in the hangar, which I'm guessing is also for ATI. But with CAM allegedly calling the shots, who knows. Things are far from certain under the ATSG umbrella.

Is it true that one CAM 767 airframe was destroyed in Italy during the modification process?

 

[b707guy]

Is it true that one CAM 767 airframe was destroyed in Italy during the modification process?

I don't know if it's been destroyed, but it seems to be out of commission for a while. My understanding is that the work was begun under questionable authority. I don't think that it was necessarily done improperly, but just out of order from how it "should" have been done from a regulatory standpoint. So now it's wrapped up in administrivial purgatory.

I haven't seen the CargoJet aircraft, but if it's like their 727s, they should look pretty nice, too. Ours sat on the ramp in TOL for a little while for mx fam and I guess to sit there and look good, which it did quite well. Didn't get a chance to see it from the inside, though.

 

[Colonel Savage]

Do you guys see this ATSG situation as being in your favor or the opposite?

 

[l8fr82hub]

ATI was in a precarious position before the acquisition and at first it seemed like a good thing, but now I'm concerned the DHL debacle may drag us down too.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Here's hoping it doesn't.


PHXFLYR