Ram Air Freight - Selling Aircraft

[bailey3083]

I was at Ram Air back in the 90's. At that time we had no dispatchers just canned flight plans. It was up to us to check the weather,fuel plan, etc. At that time they had more Cheetah's then anything else and it was a privilege to get into the Baron. We were pushed to fly around storms but never thru one. The few times I did take off into bad weather it was because I did not want to spend the night somewhere because I was broke. In the 2 years I was there we lost no pilots and at that point there had been no lost pilots at all. MX did a great job keeping those planes flying and if I wrote a plane up(regardless of where) it was fixed.
I went from there to BankAir for almost 4 years. Again no dispatchers just canned flight plans. BankAir pushed you to fly also but never made it a requirement, if you said no then they stop bugging you. The planes were kept in good shape by MX but showed their age. From my knowledge BankAir during its History lost only 4 people with 3 of those in a training accident when a C172 took off at a LR35 doing a practice single circling without making a single announcement.
Both companies taught me alot which has stayed with me since then. While at the airlines/Fractionals I saw a HUGE difference between us Freight Dogs and everyone
else. When you are stuck in the soup by yourself on a dark night shooting an approach to mins with no autopilot and only your skill you become a good pilot.
I hate to hear that RamAir might shut down but it will join a list of other companies that now only provide memories.

 

[bushrat]

I used to work at Ram Air. It's shocking they are down to 14 pilots...how did you find that out? When I left I want to say there was around 30 or so on the seniority list.

I have to agree it was a stepping stone, but I had a BLAST flying there. I tell people all the time...flying cancelled checks is when I learned how to fly. I actually felt like a pilot when I worked there, now I feel like a systems manager.

I can always tell when I have an old 135 guy flying next to me, they're sharp as a razor when it comes to knowledge and we have so many stories to compare this and that.

I truly feel that check flying is an essential step in the road to the airlines. Those of you that didn't get the opportunity to do it...missed out.

From one former check hauler to another:

That's a pretty arrogant statement you made, so here goes.

Those of you check haulers that didn't get the opportunity to fly for hire in Alaska couldn't hold a candle.

 

[acpilot]

When you are stuck in the soup by yourself on a dark night shooting an approach to mins with no autopilot and only your skill you become a good pilot.

Too bad it doesn't pay what it should pay. That job requires a pilot to be a PILOT!

 

[sleddriver71]

From one former check hauler to another:

That's a pretty arrogant statement you made, so here goes.

Those of you check haulers that didn't get the opportunity to fly for hire in Alaska couldn't hold a candle.

Hmmm, I don't think anyone cares Mr. Alaska.

 

[BGSM]

Ram Air

I flew for Ram ... yes the planes were ugly but maintained, they did push about flying in weather but if you said No! that was the end of it. I was outbased, only pilot there great schedule take off 930 home by 1830 till the bases closed. Most fun flying I have ever done Ram was an awesome experience.

 

[BigLebowski]

From one former check hauler to another:

That's a pretty arrogant statement you made, so here goes.

Those of you check haulers that didn't get the opportunity to fly for hire in Alaska couldn't hold a candle.

I dont' think my statement was arrogant at all...could you please let me know which part of it was? I was simply stating what a good experience it was and how I miss it sometimes.

Sounds to me like you have a little bit of an ego issue.

 

[Dr Pokenhiemer]

Flight Express was my stepping stone. Great experience that made me a better pilot. I learned how to pick my way through weather with no weather radar, and flew a C210 into ATL 2x a day. It was fun screaming down final at 160kts. Went straight from there to the a Lear 24. Doing approaches in the Lear seemed like it took all day because I was going a LOT slower!

 

[Snakum]

Ignore G-Force guys. He has been fired from four separate 135 operations in the Midwest and in NC and his rep is such that no one at RDU, ILM, GSO, et al will touch him. One quick perusal of his posts will tell you everything you need to know. Couldn't hack it and always blamed everyone but himself.

 

[poorsillyfool]

From one former check hauler to another:

That's a pretty arrogant statement you made, so here goes.

Those of you check haulers that didn't get the opportunity to fly for hire in Alaska couldn't hold a candle.

Flew the Mighty 6 in Alaska, also flew for RAM in my short and insignificant aviation career.

Flying single pilot 135, negotiating you way through TS, and later try to shoot an ILS close to mins into AVL was a little more task saturated.

Fly safe!

 

[G-force]

Word to the Wise!!!

Ignore G-Force guys. He has been fired from four separate 135 operations in the Midwest and in NC and his rep is such that no one at RDU, ILM, GSO, et al will touch him. One quick perusal of his posts will tell you everything you need to know. Couldn't hack it and always blamed everyone but himself.

Hey dude,you don't know one thing about me,so a word to the wise,shut up!!!

 

[climbhappy]

the only local chad I know went to CC Air and then on to DHL. I think that was him..

 

[Flyboynfla]

I was a Ram pilot too and had a great time while there. I flew Cheetahs and Barons and it was pretty much as Bailey describes it. Great place to get experience fast and move on! I hope Ram can pull through this tough economic downturn.

 

[8inMan]

Had a great time flying for Ram. As a standby pilot based at RDU, I can attest to the fact that they didn't force people to fly broken airplanes. It was probably 2-3 times a week I ended up flying out to one of the outstations to do a route because an airplane was broke. And as far as flying in crappy weather, I never felt pressured to fly into something I shouldn't have. There were a couple of times where they actually told me I should sit for a bit til weather improved for my route.

 

[waka]

From one former check hauler to another:

That's a pretty arrogant statement you made, so here goes.

Those of you check haulers that didn't get the opportunity to fly for hire in Alaska couldn't hold a candle.

Oh boy, you want to start an irrelevant pissing contest? What is your problem? You must have a self-esteem issue and/or secretly doubt your own flying skills. No pilot that is confident about their competence would write a post as you have.

 

[aveator]

what was his last name? thanks for the reply..