A Day or Night as a Cargo Pilot

[bandit110]

Of course it is legal, you only get 14 hours of duty, but no one said they have to be consecutive. You can interupt duty with a 2 hour nap and then fly some more. Trust me, I've heard this logic play out many times.

Wake up at 11am, call begging for a trip. 1pm call back, no trips. 3pm call again. They have a customer on the line. A definite maybe. Drive to the airport because you can feel the trip comming and you want to be way ahead of schedule to impress the customer so your company can get more trips. 3:30 pm trip is booked: 2500lbs of screws from GYY to MQY. You have the plane fueled and ready to go at 3:45. Durring before start check cell phone rings you like a Dumb A$$ answer it and dispatch tells you the trip is cancled because the customer needs "jet speed" to get the stuff there faster. 3:47 get out of the plane. The customer calls their jet opperator who takes another 30 minutes to get the crew to the plane. The Jet is in the air at 4:30 from YIP to GYY arives at 5:15. The cargo is there for them and they are back in the air @ 6pm arive MQY @ 7pm. You watch this play out on Flight Explorer and do some basic math, in the air at 3:50 pm, GYY at 4:30 in the air at 5pm. MQY @ 6:45. You could have beat the Jet... Then you go home disgusted. No trips the rest of the day 7pm you fire up the grill and get ready for dinner.... phone rings go! go! go! the new trip is a 9 pm pick up in PDK going to EWR. Put the steak back in the fridge and run to the airport. Arive PDK at 8:50 and get told the cargo is running late. Sit there till 3am (Duty started at 7:15pm right, wink wink, nudge nudge). Cargo shows up and is 1000lbs more than expected. Do magic math then get to EWR at 6:50am. Wait 2 hours for Ogden to come over and fuel you even though you could have been fueled by Signature right away but were afraid to explain the bill. 9:15 am depart "Part 91" for home 1pm get back to base go to the bar and drink for an hour then in bed by 2:30pm. Back on duty at 12:30 am.

I do not miss the on demand world. But I do hold the highest regard for those who can live the life and keep it safe at 4am. The most dedicated and selfless pilots I have met were on demand drivers.

 

[speedbird1974]

Pilotyip,

You are not the only one. Im so feed up with this on demand bs. I thought JUS was better than MUA, but I guess not. Im allergic to freight these days!

P.S. ItNs almost better to take your time on the first trip so you run out of time for a second trip.

 

[falcondriver]

All those delays are legal in the eyes of the company until something bad happens and the feds want to see the duty times. Then there is a problem for the crews.
FD

 

[speedbird1974]

Its easier to blame the crews.

 

[SquirrelDog]

Pilot Yips Duty day was only a 13 hour day. What is everyone crying over spillied milk for, it was legal and typical anyway you put it.

The fun is when you go over 20 and hadn't slept for 30 hours.
I contest to the studies over sleep deprivation, it is euphoric, you both start laughing at each other on the way to hotel. Oh yea, cargo delay its ALL LEGAL. Blah blah blah!

If I had a dollar for everytime they tell me the frieght is going to be there in 30 min (especially in Mexico) I would have mucho dinero.

fly safe,
SD

 

[speedbird1974]

How about FAR 125. 16 hours of duty and 8 of rest. And dont forget those 91 legs, they dont count. By the time you finish your paper work, drive home, get something to eat, and wind down a little, you are lucky if you get 5 or 6 hours of rest.

 

[Aerosurfer]

Bump

 

[upndsky]

Great thread...

Get up around 9 or 10 a.m. unless the dog has other ideas. Then I goof off until around 2:30 p.m. when I coax my truck to the airport for a 3 p.m. show. RDU-JQF (near CLT), about 0.8 depending on what type airplane I'm in. If I'm lucky all the drivers are there waiting to load and unload. 10 minutes later I'm off to RYY (near ATL), that's about 1.5 to 2.0. Unload, drink the free coffee and deadhead back to RDU. If it all works out, I'm coaxing my truck back home by 8:30 p.m. That's a 5.5 hr duty for about 4.5 hrs of flying. Enough to do the crossword puzzle and knock out a good part of a Clancy book. Just remember to look up every minute or so to pull the plane out of a 30-degree bank.

Rinse and repeat five days a week.

 

[anon]

GOOD THREAD!

Man, does this bring back memories!

I take my hat off to all you guys!

 

[Cowboypilot]

Flying night cargo....
Well in the early 80's it was a piece of crap C-210.
then in the mid 80's it was a piece of crap BE-58,
Then in the late 80's it was a piece of crap MU-2,
then in the 90's a nice Citation until the piece of crap company laid us all off and sold out,
Then it was back to the ( P O C ) MU-2,
Now in the 2000's it's a POC LR-JET
Other wise it's a great career.
Oh yeah,
When its cold your cold, when it's hot your sweating, when it's raining your wet. When your sick you fly, When you want a day off to try and get well you cant have it.

 

[Wankel7]

Yesterday...

Woke up around 11am. Spent the day doing nothing productive. Drove to the airport to pick up a crew around 10pm. Find out we now have an asap trip. Drive rather fast back to the hotel. Pack up my stuff and get dressed. Grab a burger on the way back to the airport. Preflight the plane, get atis, and clearance. Help the fuel guy and sign the tickect. Captain arrives fire it up and go. Head down to laredo (2.6 flight) and the cargo is waiting. Get the cargo, load it in, strap it down, and help the fueler. Get the clearance weather and the captain comes we go (22 min turn with fuel and 5000lbs of cargo). Fly for anouther 2 some hours. Grab fuel and go. Then fly 2.2 and drop the cargo. Roll the straps, clean up the plane,

Then do a 91 leg to xna. Gather my stuff and do the propties. To the Fbo to copy, fax, mail the paperwork. Get the cab to the hotel. It is now 830am. Not bad with no sleep

Sleep some and get some food. Then cab back to the airport then airline back to dfw. Do my laundry, get hotel, and go to bed. We have a flight at 745 tomorrow morn.

Thats my life on charter

 

[FN FAL]

12 days a month. No rons. Most days are right at 14.5 to 15.5 hours, so I am unscheduled the next day.

Schedule is Mon, Wed, Fri, on one week. On the second week, it's Tue, Thur, Sat.

The saturday part of the run is a late start, so I get to sleep in a little longer than on a week day. It also ends by 3:00 PM local time, so I can still enjoy what's left of the saturdays that I do work.

Typical day at work is like this. All times are in local time

Show up at 5:30 AM (mon) 5:45 AM (any other day but sat or mon). Call in to dispatch. Get messages, find out what I'm flying, give an alternate, get a release.

Drink coffee and chat with the other pilots in the crew room till about 6:10 AM. Go out and preflight.

Watch plane get loaded, while looking for undocumented DG. Make sure rampies load plane within wt/bal.

Sign the papers, close the doors and try to block out by 6:45 AM.

Fly for 1.6 to 1.8 hours to the first destination and the layover airport. Land. Grab the tug and push the plane in. Watch the rampies unload it. Lock up and secure the plane.

Grab the hotel van to the hotel. It's now 9:30 AM. Watch cable, work on school work, read a book, eat, snooze and head back to the airport at about 4:00 pm.

Watch the rampies load plane. Insure that the rampies didn't stick undocumented DG on the plane and they didn't load it out of cg or overweight. Take off for the next destination. It's about 4:45 PM.

Land at the next destination about 5:25 PM, wait for more freight while eating supper and watching the national news in the FBO.

They load me up and have me off by 7:00 PM. I head back to the hub. Land around 8:00 PM. I get off the clock around 8:30 PM and head home.

The next day is scheduled off and no duties are ever assigned.

Saturdays are really short and fast. Minimal waiting.

I like my schedule. It allows me to mark a calender a year in advance and plan ahead.