20 year 747 FO makes $86/hr is latest at Kalitta

[mdanno808]

An investigation has begun into how a German passenger plane came within 600ft of a UK holiday airliner after diverting off its authorised path.


The mid-air incident is being investigated
The captain of the Thomas Cook Boeing 757 was forced to take avoidance action to get out of the way of the Boeing 767, which was operated by Germany-based Condor Airlines.

It is thought that the Condor captain had gone off his designated route to take a photo of a Condor colleague piloting his last operational flight.

But the Condor captain, with 234 passengers on board, had mistaken the Thomas Cook plane, carrying 187 passengers, for his friend's aircraft which was, in fact, 100 miles ahead.

The Condor captain and another pilot on the German plane have now been suspended while the investigation continues into the incident which happened at more than 30,000ft off the coast of Canada on June 24.

The Condor, flying from Frankfurt to Toronto, broke the strict aircraft separation rules by flying so close to the Thomas Cook airliner, whose pilot reported the incident to Canadian air traffic controllers and to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

The Thomas Cook plane was flying from Gatwick to Toronto.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: "Our crew were flying on an agreed track when all of a sudden they got a warning on their TCAS collision avoidance system that another aircraft had entered their airspace.

"The captain carried out a textbook-style manoeuvre, taking the Thomas Cook aircraft out of danger and on to a higher flight path. Investigations continue by CAA and Gander Oceanic air traffic control as to why the Condor Boeing 767 entered the Thomas Cook Airlines UK flight path without authorisation."

A Condor spokesman said he could not comment on the suggestion that the Condor pilot wished to take a picture of a colleague in another Condor plane.

The spokesman added: "Two pilots have been suspended. The plane left its allowed airspace and was closer than normal to another aircraft.

"There were TCAS anti-collision systems in both planes and the Condor aircraft descended when TCAS gave a warning. At no time was there concrete danger of a collision."

This is Lufthansa's sister company. In fact many pilot's on it's seniority list are in fact LTU pilot's. Evidently they do not operate the aircraft as maticulously as they maintain them.

 

[CSY Mon]

Yeah Condor is Lufthansa's charter arm.

Too stray off course to shoot a picture of another plane seems like the ultimate in bad judgement.

Or perhaps even worse would be the German Haap Loyd pilot that ran out of gas a couple of years ago: The captain was a check-airman trying to stretch the flight beyond flight plan endurance, if memory serves right.

Yeah, them krauts talk big, but they still step on their cranks like the rest of us...Or even more.

As for this arsehøle Lufthansa 727 crapping all over Kalitta pilots:
He is probably a fake...Just a pimpled kid on mommas 'puter trying to stir up muck.

I know some Lufthansa pilots and other kraut flyers, they are all gentlemen and would never sink as low as this slime-ball did.
Few if any real proffesional pilots would carry on like this one...Even if ya had a beef, there would be a different way of addressing "issues".

Myself: I have had 19 flying jobs, and have been fired from one of them...Even so, I have no beef and no bitterness and no hard feelings towards that airline and their pilots, etc.

Mainly because ya can never win 'em all..not even Chuck Yeager.

If the kraut in question was a real Lufthansa pilot, he probably have some mental problems and will soon be on medical leave...
If he is not real, his mother will take the keys to the internet away from him shortly and he is stuck watching Jerry Springer all day again..

Enjoy dumbkopf....

 

[pilotyip]

20 yr F/O?

Anyone drawing 20 yr 747 F/O pay at Kalitta is probably happy to be making close to $100K per year. Considering how someone could be a 20 yr F/O in the cargo business.

 

[Snakum]

It's unbelievable that you kalitta and wana-bee kalitta ###### will rationalize the dangers and illegal activities that you conduct in this business and the risk your willing to undertake for the sake of a GOD-DAM paycheck!!!!! Get a life and either get a real job with employers who play by the rules or find a new career that doesn't risk your life or mine. You are pathetic. I've been at Lufthansa since 1986, where I enjoy a six figure income, airplanes that are maticulously maintained, with six weeks vacation annually, six weeks of sick leave provided annually as an entitlement, and a government pension when I reach 55. (I joined LH when it was a government owned airline, subject to government pensions.) I quess you americans who can pass a ATP written exam in two hours (FAA standards) after memorizing the anwers to questions, and who instrument ratings and pilot licenses never expire would expect to get incompentent and dangerous pilots flying for scum bag employers like Connie Kalitta.

So ... did Connie #$*% your old lady in the back of the team hauler at the Winter Nationals in '97? Are you that guy? I heard about that, but I didn't know her husband was a pilot.

Wow ... some people really carry a grudge.

Minh

 

[nosewheel]

Snakum

I don't think Lufti 727 could possibly have an old lady. He's most likely a weiner shnizell sucker.

 

[Snakum]

He's most likely a weiner shnizell sucker

Ahhh ... riding the ole' Baloney Pony, eh Lufti? Maybe your gender identity crisis is making you cranky.

Minh

 

[avbug]

We are all just glorified bus drivers now.

Now? Always have been. Always will be. Why?

This...

You must be smoking crack cocaine. Who in the world would spend a month continuous on the road

Personally, I used to spend ten months on the road, just did three and a half, and slowing down a little now. There's no sin in work.

No offense but this commentary makes me feel like an idiot for trying to pursue this career.

At seven thousand hours and probably what...twenty years in the business now...this is an ephiphany? A revealation? Wow.

Anyone that would work at Kalitta is definately a whore!

This, from a copilot on an RJ?

I quess you americans who can pass a ATP written exam in two hours (FAA standards) after memorizing the anwers to questions, and who instrument ratings and pilot licenses never expire would expect to get incompentent and dangerous pilots flying for scum bag employers like Connie Kalitta.

I did my ATP when the FAA still scrutinized logbooks and investigated them before issuing the authorization to even take the written test. That took three hours to start. I had been flying ten years when I made application to take my ATP. That icluded everything fromstandard instrument flying to agricultural work...I didn't accept then, nor now incompetence in the cockpit. Most employers don't either. (I can't say all, because I've known a few that do...). Flame bait, I presume?

I've met a few European ATPs who don't know why their HSIs precess when they're flying through ice clouds.

And apparently one ATP from the good old US of A who's just as ignorant. I'll bite. Why does an HSI precess when flying through ice clouds? I've never seen it on a mechanical or electrical HSI or EHSI, or with a mechanical gyro, or any intertial or digital system. Perhaps I'm European and don't even know it. Always willing to learn more.

 

[Geronimo4497]

And apparently one ATP from the good old US of A who's just as ignorant. I'll bite. Why does an HSI precess when flying through ice clouds? I've never seen it on a mechanical or electrical HSI or EHSI, or with a mechanical gyro, or any intertial or digital system. Perhaps I'm European and don't even know it. Always willing to learn more.

Being a relative "newbie" myself, I thought I had missed something here. I am also curious about the answer. 'I R a pirate, me sutipd.'

 

[VABB]

Something Worth Noting

I noticed that this thread deals with a 20 year FO at Kalitta making $86/hr. Has anyone actually stopped and wondered if Kalitta will even be around in 20 years? Connie seems to shut down and start back up quite a bit, and although I believe Kalitta will still be around in 20 years, I doubt it will be this one.

Look at it like this: Kalitta is like a virus with many strains. It is around for a few years, and then goes dormant when the FAA or finances (vaccine or antibiotic) dictate that he shuts down. Eventually, it shows up again as a different strain. Hiring begins, 747's show up with the Kalitta titles on it, the pay is now $30/hr for a captain, $25/hr for a PFE, $15/hr for an FO, and $10/hr for an FE. Everyone is happy to interview with them and suddenly they are the place to be. Then, the natives get restless, a union is organized, rumor is that top captain's pay is $70/hr, and people who don't work there want to because they get to see the world 25 days each month from the mighty 747 and those who do work there can't stand it. A few years pass, Kalitta lays everyone off, parks the airplanes, and the cycle begins again.

Oh, and PilotYip is talking about how great a career this is, how you can make $100K/yr, and that a big hiring boom is right around the corner because of the numbers in the year or something stupid like that.

 

[MVSW]

"I've met a few European ATPs who don't know why their HSIs precess when they're flying through ice clouds."

WHAT??? I would like to know the answer to this one?? LOL