PCL Flt-ops
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A typical work day for a FDX / UPS Pilot
- Thread starter PCL Flt-ops
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Monthly Schedule:
Block of 7, block of 8 in a 30 day month
Block of 8, block of 8 in a 31 day month
Routine:
First day on- Get up 7am-10am, to get your kids to school or watch CNBC. Stay up all day farting around doing errands or yard work because you will be gone all week. That evening jumpseat into work. Between 1am and 5am, BS with your buddies and get caught up on the latest rumors. Fly your out bound trip (1-3 legs). Arrive at the hotel between 6am and 9 am. You have now been up for 24+ hours. Try to tape the curtains shut so you have a shot of sleeping. Wake up between 1pm-5pm.
Middle of the week: Get up between 1-3pm, work out/eat, show up in the lobby between 7pm-10pm. Fly 1-3 legs into the sort. Sit around or sleep in a chair/bunk room for 1-4 hours and do it again.
First Day OFF- You are a zombie because your schedule just flip-flopped for the 4th time this month, so you sit on your couch all day in a fog and sometimes snap at your wife and kids. Day 2 you are a normal person again.
If you think I am being negative, you have the wrong impression. I'm being realistic. I like my job and wouldn't switch to days with pax (had the opportunity(ies)). Most people, who have problems with nights, will find it very difficult in the first year and/or at the 7-10year point. There is some conjecture the erractic sleep cycles negatively impact longevity.
I like having a week off at a time instead of 3 days at a time. I also like manipulating my schedule when I need to bag 2,3, or 4 weeks off without taking any vacation. It took me about 2 years before I stopped correcting people, when they said, "Maybe one day you will get on with a major." Freight is not where to get your ego massaged at work. But at least you can make $100K in the right seat of something small and have time enough to spend it. Good & Bad . . . there is no free lunch.
Block of 7, block of 8 in a 30 day month
Block of 8, block of 8 in a 31 day month
Routine:
First day on- Get up 7am-10am, to get your kids to school or watch CNBC. Stay up all day farting around doing errands or yard work because you will be gone all week. That evening jumpseat into work. Between 1am and 5am, BS with your buddies and get caught up on the latest rumors. Fly your out bound trip (1-3 legs). Arrive at the hotel between 6am and 9 am. You have now been up for 24+ hours. Try to tape the curtains shut so you have a shot of sleeping. Wake up between 1pm-5pm.
Middle of the week: Get up between 1-3pm, work out/eat, show up in the lobby between 7pm-10pm. Fly 1-3 legs into the sort. Sit around or sleep in a chair/bunk room for 1-4 hours and do it again.
First Day OFF- You are a zombie because your schedule just flip-flopped for the 4th time this month, so you sit on your couch all day in a fog and sometimes snap at your wife and kids. Day 2 you are a normal person again.
If you think I am being negative, you have the wrong impression. I'm being realistic. I like my job and wouldn't switch to days with pax (had the opportunity(ies)). Most people, who have problems with nights, will find it very difficult in the first year and/or at the 7-10year point. There is some conjecture the erractic sleep cycles negatively impact longevity.
I like having a week off at a time instead of 3 days at a time. I also like manipulating my schedule when I need to bag 2,3, or 4 weeks off without taking any vacation. It took me about 2 years before I stopped correcting people, when they said, "Maybe one day you will get on with a major." Freight is not where to get your ego massaged at work. But at least you can make $100K in the right seat of something small and have time enough to spend it. Good & Bad . . . there is no free lunch.
FearlessFreep
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PCL Flt-ops
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- Joined
- Dec 10, 2002
- Posts
- 96
GoABX,
How many days do you normally get off per month? I'm asking about full complete days off, do not count deadheading days.
How many block hours per month does a typical line have?
You said that you would fly 2 - 3 legs into the sort. I thought that you guys just flew one leg in and one leg out - i.e. 2 legs per night??
How many days do you normally get off per month? I'm asking about full complete days off, do not count deadheading days.
How many block hours per month does a typical line have?
You said that you would fly 2 - 3 legs into the sort. I thought that you guys just flew one leg in and one leg out - i.e. 2 legs per night??
15 days off a month.
EXAMPLE: A ABX day goes from 0300am to 0300am. So I am home all day and then jumpseat in Thursday night at around 8pm. I arrive at the sort around 1am and start my first day of work at 0300 on Friday morning. The following Thursday night I fly inbound to the sort on my last trip. I arrive around 1am and wait around the sort until my jumpseat plane takes me home. I get home around 7am. This is a day off. I could play golf or go boating, but I have been on the same schedule all week, so I go to sleep until the afternoon. I count the first day as being off (jumpseat night) because I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids. (Can you think of a better litmus test?)
Many flights do have one leg: 76 from the west coast or a DC-9 from Detroit (40min flight). But many DC-9 trips have 2 legs in and 2 out. A handful have 3 legs.
Our routine is a little different than Fdx,UPS in that our weekends go out base Saturday morning and don't return until Monday night. So though those days are work days (part of the 15/16), if you are senior enough to hold your home city, you drink beer and sleep in your own bed. Obviously not everyone can hold their hometown, so some jumpseat home and others stay put and see the sights for 2 1/2 days. But if you can go home, your 15 workmonth just collapsed down to 10 days. Some lines have 4 day weekends = fly in Friday - fly out Monday night. Our weekends are a great deal, but no one would be surprised if they went away over time. This is why the crews strongly fought against Trip & Duty rigs 2 years ago. If implemented, we worried the company might have started deadheading us like FDX-UPS.
Block time per line ranges from 28 to 60 hours per month, We have a guarantee of 65 hours and lines rarely exceed that threshold.
Some of our lines have 3 or even 4 blocks of work days. So not every line is made of 2 one week blocks.
1 month off & no vacation trick: We have some reserve lines that run 2 weeks straight. So you bid to work the first two weeks in January and the last 2 weeks in February. So you now have off 30 straight days in the middle without taking vacation.
It ain't glamorous and you won't be a Terminal Peacock, but it beats working for a living. Like every other pilot, I will be away from my family for half of the rest of my life. And like every other stick on this board knows: $200k/yr is fair. . . but just barely. It's the only reason we put up with the sh!t we do for 10 years just so we have a chance to go to "The Show." To start all over again, wait another 10 years, and hopefully our company will still be around to pay us that $200K.
EXAMPLE: A ABX day goes from 0300am to 0300am. So I am home all day and then jumpseat in Thursday night at around 8pm. I arrive at the sort around 1am and start my first day of work at 0300 on Friday morning. The following Thursday night I fly inbound to the sort on my last trip. I arrive around 1am and wait around the sort until my jumpseat plane takes me home. I get home around 7am. This is a day off. I could play golf or go boating, but I have been on the same schedule all week, so I go to sleep until the afternoon. I count the first day as being off (jumpseat night) because I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids. (Can you think of a better litmus test?)
Many flights do have one leg: 76 from the west coast or a DC-9 from Detroit (40min flight). But many DC-9 trips have 2 legs in and 2 out. A handful have 3 legs.
Our routine is a little different than Fdx,UPS in that our weekends go out base Saturday morning and don't return until Monday night. So though those days are work days (part of the 15/16), if you are senior enough to hold your home city, you drink beer and sleep in your own bed. Obviously not everyone can hold their hometown, so some jumpseat home and others stay put and see the sights for 2 1/2 days. But if you can go home, your 15 workmonth just collapsed down to 10 days. Some lines have 4 day weekends = fly in Friday - fly out Monday night. Our weekends are a great deal, but no one would be surprised if they went away over time. This is why the crews strongly fought against Trip & Duty rigs 2 years ago. If implemented, we worried the company might have started deadheading us like FDX-UPS.
Block time per line ranges from 28 to 60 hours per month, We have a guarantee of 65 hours and lines rarely exceed that threshold.
Some of our lines have 3 or even 4 blocks of work days. So not every line is made of 2 one week blocks.
1 month off & no vacation trick: We have some reserve lines that run 2 weeks straight. So you bid to work the first two weeks in January and the last 2 weeks in February. So you now have off 30 straight days in the middle without taking vacation.
It ain't glamorous and you won't be a Terminal Peacock, but it beats working for a living. Like every other pilot, I will be away from my family for half of the rest of my life. And like every other stick on this board knows: $200k/yr is fair. . . but just barely. It's the only reason we put up with the sh!t we do for 10 years just so we have a chance to go to "The Show." To start all over again, wait another 10 years, and hopefully our company will still be around to pay us that $200K.
Goose17
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2001
- Posts
- 528
at FedEx...
To answer this question, you'd almost need to post a bid pack. Each plane has different schedules. There are day schedules, afternoon schedules, and night schedules. There are trips around the world, or 1 hour flights.
Many, many different schedules - that is really the beauty.
This is my month as a 50% senior 727 S/O:
Go in at 1440. Hit the plane shortly there after. Preflight, push hopefully by 1540. 1+10 from Memphis to Wichita. 5+55 or so on the gound. Go to the hotel, eat dinner, workout, relax, put game face back on. 2200 back in bus - head to airport. Preflight, push 1+05 back to Memphis. Done around 0030.
This month, I basically do this Tue-Fri week 1, 2, and 4. Off week 3 entirely.
This is NOT what every 727 S/O is doing at FedEx. Some trips are better, some are worse. There are double-dead head trips with week on/week off. 4-hour flights, 4 leg trips, nights, days and every other possibility.
At Fed Ex, the flights boild down to support sorts. We have a day sort, where planes land at Memphis and other hubs between sun-up and noon. After the day sort, the planes launch in the early to mid afternoon. We also have a night sort where planes land from roughly 2300 to 0145 or so. After the sort, the planes launch somewhere around 0300 to sun-up.
With the above in mind, your standard domestic trips can go like this:
Launch in the afternoon, land by dinner time, layover, get up early and get back to the Hub shortly after sun-up.
OR: Launch in the afternoon, land by dinner, get a hotel (maybe), layover (30 minutes to 6 hours), return to hub around 2300-0145. (This is called an Afternoon Out-N-Back or PM out-n-back)
OR: Launch after the night sort (O'dark'30) land by sun-up, sleep in hotel during the day, get up, eat dinner, fly back to hub for night sort.
OR: Launch after the night sort (same as above) land by sun-up, turn airplane rather quickly, fly back to hub after sun-up and before noon. (This is called an AM Out-N-Back).
OR: fly a million other international combinations.
Hopefully that provides a LITTLE insight.
Goose17
To answer this question, you'd almost need to post a bid pack. Each plane has different schedules. There are day schedules, afternoon schedules, and night schedules. There are trips around the world, or 1 hour flights.
Many, many different schedules - that is really the beauty.
This is my month as a 50% senior 727 S/O:
Go in at 1440. Hit the plane shortly there after. Preflight, push hopefully by 1540. 1+10 from Memphis to Wichita. 5+55 or so on the gound. Go to the hotel, eat dinner, workout, relax, put game face back on. 2200 back in bus - head to airport. Preflight, push 1+05 back to Memphis. Done around 0030.
This month, I basically do this Tue-Fri week 1, 2, and 4. Off week 3 entirely.
This is NOT what every 727 S/O is doing at FedEx. Some trips are better, some are worse. There are double-dead head trips with week on/week off. 4-hour flights, 4 leg trips, nights, days and every other possibility.
At Fed Ex, the flights boild down to support sorts. We have a day sort, where planes land at Memphis and other hubs between sun-up and noon. After the day sort, the planes launch in the early to mid afternoon. We also have a night sort where planes land from roughly 2300 to 0145 or so. After the sort, the planes launch somewhere around 0300 to sun-up.
With the above in mind, your standard domestic trips can go like this:
Launch in the afternoon, land by dinner time, layover, get up early and get back to the Hub shortly after sun-up.
OR: Launch in the afternoon, land by dinner, get a hotel (maybe), layover (30 minutes to 6 hours), return to hub around 2300-0145. (This is called an Afternoon Out-N-Back or PM out-n-back)
OR: Launch after the night sort (O'dark'30) land by sun-up, sleep in hotel during the day, get up, eat dinner, fly back to hub for night sort.
OR: Launch after the night sort (same as above) land by sun-up, turn airplane rather quickly, fly back to hub after sun-up and before noon. (This is called an AM Out-N-Back).
OR: fly a million other international combinations.
Hopefully that provides a LITTLE insight.
Goose17
Stifler's Mom
MILF...MILF...MILF
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 5,125
UPS
We have schedules like Fedex based on what Goose has said. In general, with domestic flying, if you are in the top half of the list in your seat, you can hold clean week on, week off. Junior guys will get a short trip in the middle of one of their weeks off....which is total BS but allowed under our contract. International is mostly gone 12 days and off the rest of the month but those are senior trips.
Like Fedex, there is a wide variety of lines. Basically, they are going to get their 12 days in 28 out of you one way or another....at least on paper. Some of those days might be deadheads to and from the outstation. That can be a great deal if you already live near that outstation. I've been a very senior 72 guy for so long I hardly no what work is. Lately, I've been doing a 10 day intra-europe trip or a 5 on, 9 off, SEA-YVR thing with a YVR weekend layover. Those days are over since the 72 is on the way out, so I bid over to the 757. I hope to be able to do mostly day flying out of my home town on the 757 working 12 days out of 28 on paper...about 9 in reality.
We have schedules like Fedex based on what Goose has said. In general, with domestic flying, if you are in the top half of the list in your seat, you can hold clean week on, week off. Junior guys will get a short trip in the middle of one of their weeks off....which is total BS but allowed under our contract. International is mostly gone 12 days and off the rest of the month but those are senior trips.
Like Fedex, there is a wide variety of lines. Basically, they are going to get their 12 days in 28 out of you one way or another....at least on paper. Some of those days might be deadheads to and from the outstation. That can be a great deal if you already live near that outstation. I've been a very senior 72 guy for so long I hardly no what work is. Lately, I've been doing a 10 day intra-europe trip or a 5 on, 9 off, SEA-YVR thing with a YVR weekend layover. Those days are over since the 72 is on the way out, so I bid over to the 757. I hope to be able to do mostly day flying out of my home town on the 757 working 12 days out of 28 on paper...about 9 in reality.
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