Kalitta / Atlas Air lifestyle

[restart]

Can anybody provide me some information pertaining to the lifestyle of Kalitta / Atlas pilots. Specifically, I'm looking for trip lengths, days off, etc. How is it commuting when you are "home based"?

Coming from the Regionals, all I know is flying round trips on 4 day pairings.

I appreciate any information you can provide!

 

[Dumbluck]

Its been awhile since I flew for KA, Great guys to fly with, pay sucked, but apperently they got a raise a few years ago. The biggest thing is to find a way to deal with jet lag, messed up sleeping patterns and weird food. Bacon and eggs in JFK, then a cucumber sandwhich in Brussels then schwarma in the middle east. By the time you get to Hong Kong all you want is real food. i once paid $28 for a hamburger and fries. (austrailian beef) man was it good.

A D.O. from a previous company replied to me when I asked him the same question that there is only really one way to know if you can handle it, and that is to do it.

BTW, after a few months every airport starts to look the same: 10,000 feet x 200 feet wide.

Best of luck.

 

[Junkflyer]

Just realize that when leave home you won't be back for 17 days or so. Every month.

 

[Alchemy]

I've been online at an ACMI for 3 months.

Trip lengths have varied from 8 to 16 days. The average has been about 14. It is much better than a regional in my opinion, because you don't have to worry about commuting or crash-pads no matter where you live and are based. Sometimes you get 14 or 15 consecutive days off in a month, which is better than a vacation at most airlines.

Commuting? There really is none. You get assigned a trip and they fly you via positive space airline from where you live to wherever that trip starts. They get you there 9 hours prior to departure and provide you with a hotel room (assuming you don't live where the trip starts).

Days off? They get you for 17 days, extendable up to 20. Some months I've only worked 15-16 days. The trips, to me, go quickly. I have more time off than I know what to do with. 1st year take home Pay is commensurate with 7th year RJ captain at my previous job (~$5,000/month net).

There is less stress in my opinion....1 leg every 2 days instead of 5 every day. No flight attendant drama. No whiny passengers. Good airplanes. Friendly crews.

 

[PHXFLYR]

I've been online at an ACMI for 3 months.

Trip lengths have varied from 8 to 16 days. The average has been about 14. It is much better than a regional in my opinion, because you don't have to worry about commuting or crash-pads no matter where you live and are based. Sometimes you get 14 or 15 consecutive days off in a month, which is better than a vacation at most airlines.

Commuting? There really is none. You get assigned a trip and they fly you via positive space airline from where you live to wherever that trip starts. They get you there 9 hours prior to departure and provide you with a hotel room (assuming you don't live where the trip starts).

Days off? They get you for 17 days, extendable up to 20. Some months I've only worked 15-16 days. The trips, to me, go quickly. I have more time off than I know what to do with. 1st year take home Pay is commensurate with 7th year RJ captain at my previous job (~$5,000/month net).

There is less stress in my opinion....1 leg every 2 days instead of 5 every day. No flight attendant drama. No whiny passengers. Good airplanes. Friendly crews.

That must be worth its weight in gold right there .

PHXFLYR

 

[JT8D]

That must be worth its weight in gold right there .

PHXFLYR

I always see guys posting this stuff on the web boards about FA's...and for the most part it's true they create A LOT of their own problems (and as a consequence MY problems). I don't go a month however without flying with some guy who's having a fling with an FA and "she's meeting him here" or He's meeting her there" or bla bla bla bla....I just smile and give him that "way to go man!" nod while thinking to myself "you stupid bumbling fool"...

It's interesting because most of these guys fly a good airplane but obviously have no common sense...

 

[Draginass]

Most flight attendants are self-centered cat-ranchers with a greatly inflated sense of their professional worth. And what's worse, they bore me in 5 seconds flat.

 

[skypine69]

ACMI is simple....go to work on day 1...go home on day 17. What happens in between should be of no concern. If you get wound up about sh!t changing every 2 hours then it is not for you. If you could care less that you are going to go to Bahrain instead of Hong Kong, then you will fit in well.

 

[414Flyer]

I would guess that heavy time is quite preferred for ACMI jobs, but how would someone with about 4000 or so total, but with 1000+ Turbine PIC (C90, B200, Shorts) and a lot of international flying experience (been based for in Asia, Africa, Middle East). My only time in anything remotely heavy would be in DC-4 and DC-7...

 

[OzBushWhacker]

Many former Shorts guys flying heavy metal now. Omni, Kalitta et al.

 

[waka]

If you could care less that you are going to go to Bahrain instead of Hong Kong, then you will fit in well.

I disagree. I think that if you couldn't care less that you are going to Bahrain instead of Hong Kong, then you would fit in well.

 

[Birddog]

Is having a life or style a prerequisite for having a lifestyle? I have neither, but it is still a pretty good job most of the time. The worst part for me is the effect that the extended absences have on my family, but I just remind myself that unemployment has worse effects.

 

[HA25]

...with a greatly inflated sense of their professional worth.

A truer statement hasn't been made on FI.com in a long time.... I partly blame the pilots for empowering them with a lot of authority that was never theirs to begin with...

And now we get stuck with FA unions like that at WN demanding a guys job just because he said the same thing 90% of us are thinking over the air..

 

[islandhopper]

if I may interject...

I fly for a passenger ACMI however I often run into many of my buddies across asia who are flying for any of the above aforementioned freighter 747 operations.

So we sit down and get a beer and reminisce about the old days.

I have discovered, when all else is said and done and training is over, IOE is behind them, they have figured out the 17 on / 17 off and paperwork and forms and stuff is all completed. Then and now only two things will typically concern the pilots of these big behemoths as they cross multiple time zones and fir boundaries...

1) how can they either delay or push the airplane early to somehow make the free breakfast at the hotel

2) where are the cheap hookers in the next country

Now, I may be generalizing to a point and not every pilot thinks this way but this is the prevailing "culture" and most of the guys I know are still new in this world so I hear about it quite often.

 

[HA25]

2) where are the cheap hookers in the next country

half the ACMI guys I've flown with at two different companies have been regular Quagmires... that's so true.

 

[atpcliff]

Don't come to Atlas if you don't want to fly with FAs. We are getting more and more, and lots of the new hires will get the 767 PAX openings.

My trips have varied from 1 day, to 17 days. I am on a 17 day trip now, and have 15 days in a row at home when I am done.

cliff
SYD

 

[airgator]

I have discovered, when all else is said and done and training is over, IOE is behind them, they have figured out the 17 on / 17 off and paperwork and forms and stuff is all completed. Then and now only two things will typically concern the pilots of these big behemoths as they cross multiple time zones and fir boundaries...

1) how can they either delay or push the airplane early to somehow make the free breakfast at the hotel

2) where are the cheap hookers in the next country

Not to stereotype or anything. No pax hauler would ever go for a cheap breakfast or a hooker.

 

[islandhopper]

Not to stereotype or anything. No pax hauler would ever go for a cheap breakfast or a hooker.

Hey man flightinfo are serious business!

 

[PHXFLYR]

half the ACMI guys I've flown with at two different companies have been regular Quagmires... that's so true.

The Quagmire lifestyle isn't indiginous to just the ACMI carriers. The regionals and scheduled pax carriers have their fair share of characters, too

PHXFLYR

 

[HA25]

The Quagmire lifestyle isn't indiginous to just the ACMI carriers. The regionals and scheduled pax carriers have their fair share of characters, too

PHXFLYR

true, however the frequency of visits to far off asian destinations is an advantage some carriers have over others in that department.