Southern Hiring

[gringo]

How are your rest areas are on the plane? Also do they do a good job of catering your plane? Enough food and drinks for the long flights and large crews you have?

The rest areas are typical; 2 or 3 bunks. One airplane has no bunks, only air mattresses. The catering runs the gamut from barely functional (Ethiopia) to outstanding (any military run) with most of them falling somewhere in between. You'll never go hungry on one of our flights.

One other thing. Do you DHD on all different airlines? or do they send you on certain carriers? Coach on a Emirates flight is much different than coach on United.

You deadhead on whatever carrier is the cheapest. It also depends on where you live. If you live in New York, Chicago, Miami, etc etc, you'll literally be flying on every and all airlines. But if you live in say, Daytona, where it's only serviced by one or two major airlines, you'll really get a good opportunity to rack up the miles. On a side note, the Travel department has been fairly good on getting us on the airlines we prefer, as long as the costs are reasonable.

Any hope of a better schedule in the future? 20 on 10 off is a tough pill to swallow for a father and a husband.

The 20/10 schedule is mostly going away. Our trip rig is 3.5 hours a day; at 17 days you would hit guarantee. So pilots were in effect getting paid 10.5 hours of overtime every month, without doing any real flying. This stemmed from a previous comment of mine ("vindictive, child-like behavior") where one of the guys in charge decided "well, since my office group works 20 days a month, my pilot group must as well!".

Luckily, the new CEO realized how... well, let's just say counter-productive that train of thought actually is, and so now the company is striving to get people home in 17 days. Most guys I talk to get home between 15-17 days. Those who live in the cities we service (and are senior enough to hold those lines) get even more time off. The Anchorage guys holding Korean have it good.

 

[SBD]

You say you guys DHD a lot. Does that include foreign countries too. Any chance of say DHD'ing on Uzbek Express/Somali airlines? Don't want to trust my life on some third rate airline.

 

[gringo]

You say you guys DHD a lot. Does that include foreign countries too. Any chance of say DHD'ing on Uzbek Express/Somali airlines? Don't want to trust my life on some third rate airline.

The few guys who have flown Uzbekistan Air (or whatever it's called) said it was a really nice flight. However, we no longer fly into Uzbekistan, so the point is moot. Other than that, we pretty much fly all the 1st tier airlines. United, Delta, AA, KLM, Air Frog, Emirates, Malaysian, Turkish, Lufthansa, Ethiopian, Egypt Air, Quantas, Korean, Asiana, ANA, Southwest... You get the picture.

Most of the time we sit in the back, but people have been known to get upgraded. Delta, AA and United are very good about that.

Hopefully Business Class travel will be a major focal point in our next contract.

 

[3blade]

Thanks for the reply Gringo.

 

[ROSWELL41]

Is all the hiring going to be on the 747 Classic? How much can a first year FO expect to make?

 

[flyprop]

Is all the hiring going to be on the 747 Classic? How much can a first year FO expect to make?

How about second year also...?

 

[gringo]

Is all the hiring going to be on the 747 Classic? How much can a first year FO expect to make?

Website gives also lists minimums for an IRO candidate, so it's possible the company will hire into all three- the Classic, 400 and 777. Nothing official has come down from HQ yet.

How about second year also...?

Our pay scale is listed on APC. Plan on flying guarantee; anything over you should consider as a bonus. Average per diem comes out to about $900 a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but usually right around $900-925.

Although our pay rates are pathetically low, we are working on getting them on par with the rest of the industry. We start negotiating our contract in August. And although these things do tend to drag out for extended periods of time, it's my personal belief that the contract will go through much faster, for various reasons already posted elsewhere.

Also, with the projected growth, it's entirely possible that qualified candidates will get to upgrade in less than two years, so that's something to keep in mind, but as with everything else in this industry, I wouldn't plan my next house payment with that.

 

[3blade]

So if you get home after 16 days are you then off for 14 or is it always just 10 off?

 

[gringo]

So if you get home after 16 days are you then off for 14 or is it always just 10 off?

You would be off 14 days then, until the start of your next rotation. If you bid back-to-back days off, you could end up with 24 days (or more) off in a row. Of course, that means you'll eventually have to bid back-to-back again to get on the rotation you prefer (first half or second half of the month off) so you can be gone for 30+ days in a row then.

I've been averaging maybe 12-13 days off a month for the past year. I've had two 30+ day stretches at home as well, followed by long trips overseas.

But for the most part, if you consistently bid the same block of days off, you'll likely get at least 12 days off a month, consecutively.

Of course, this is all subject to change, and does frequently. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

[swordfish]

You would be off 14 days then, until the start of your next rotation. If you bid back-to-back days off, you could end up with 24 days (or more) off in a row. Of course, that means you'll eventually have to bid back-to-back again to get on the rotation you prefer (first half or second half of the month off) so you can be gone for 30+ days in a row then.

I've been averaging maybe 12-13 days off a month for the past year. I've had two 30+ day stretches at home as well, followed by long trips overseas.

But for the most part, if you consistently bid the same block of days off, you'll likely get at least 12 days off a month, consecutively.

Of course, this is all subject to change, and does frequently. It's just the nature of the beast.

gringo you must be management.! nice pipe dream, if this place is so wonderful why is everyone leaving?

 

[gringo]

gringo you must be management.! nice pipe dream, if this place is so wonderful why is everyone leaving?

Yup. Totally nailed it. Now you just have to figure out which one.

But, since you DID bring it up to my attention that somehow I'm painting an unrealistically rosy picture of this place, I'll make the following disclaimer:

Kids, if you come over here, just be advised that Southern Air does suffer from an unusually large amount of disgruntled, unhappy and otherwise unsatisfied pilots. Whether this lack of satisfaction comes as a result from crossing a line years and years ago, or from having lost their dream job after Pan Am's collapse, or some other reason, we do have those pilots who like to do nothing but complain while not offering up any solutions. They live in the past while scoffing those who look ahead and try to make this a better place.

Most pilots are not this way, but a few are.

And yes, while a few people did in fact leave over the past few months, it's hardly what you would call a "stampede"- with the exception of a few engineers that have gone over to Kalitta, the majority of people leaving over the past few months went to Atlas, JetBlue, Southwest and American.

Of course, quite a few left Atlas to do the same, so I'm guessing things must really be terrible there as well.

 

[ROSWELL41]

So I've been looking at making the ACMI jump for a while. I am married with no children and my wife is also a 121 pilot. Are there guys at Southern who are married and have families? People keep warning me that these types of jobs can create lots of family problems. Any personal experience?

 

[Flyer1015]

This sounds like a good opportunity, but as a married guy (no kids yet), there is no way I can do 20 away at a time, and only 10 off. And once kids come, 20 days away is well outside the question.

 

[gringo]

So I've been looking at making the ACMI jump for a while. I am married with no children and my wife is also a 121 pilot. Are there guys at Southern who are married and have families? People keep warning me that these types of jobs can create lots of family problems. Any personal experience?

It can go either way. I know plenty of guys with solid marriages and great relations with their kids. I also know lots of guys workingon their third marriage.

Personally, I believe if you start this job with a strong marriage, you'll do fine. If you enter the ACMI world with a weak marriage, then not so much.

One nearly universal constant with the guys with happy home lives is where they live, or more specifically, where their spouse's FAMILY lives. Most of the guys I know (myself included) have improved their situation simply by moving close to their spouse's family. Your wife will fare much much better if she's got her family as a support group for when you're gone.

It really makes the "home basing" aspect really great.

As far as the long trips from home, well, that goes both ways. Yes, you're Von for longer stretches of time, but when you come home, that's it. (Unless you get called out for some reason, something that does happen once in a while.)

My family hates it when I leave, but when I'm home for 10-15 days at a time, each month, we have fun. Lots and lots of "mini vacations".

Is it the same as if you'd be flying for a major, living at domicile and bidding reserve? Of course not- that schedule would be awesome. But it's about the next best thing. And not having to do the whole commuting rigamarole really helps.

In a nutshell, I don't think it's any harder or easier to maintain a marriage while flying ACMI vs flying for a national, LCC or major airline. While there are many factors involved, the most important factor transcends whatever type of flying you do. If you have a solid marriage, you'll make it work, no matter what. If you have a weak marriage, at least you'll have an opportunity for some fun on Hooker Hill in Itaewon. It's really up to you.

 

[DHPFLYN]

Are you typed in the 747 ?