Ameriflight and Metro

[planejockey]

thanks for the info AZFr8tPilot

 

[barracuda]

BUR and ONT

hello everybody,

I am based out of BUR/ONT (they consider it one base) and fly the metroliner. It's senior enough to where there is no way your going to come in off the street and move into either it or the 1900. Im barely holding on to a line out of ONT and it seems that might end here shortly. I think that San Juan is probably your best bet. PHX and SEA are unlikely as they both have a lot of metroliner pilots doing not too much. Hmmm....why not just call them? They are friendly enough and always looking for good pilots. Hope this helps.

See ya,

Barracuda

 

[FracCapt]

I flew the 1900 out of CVG until '99. At that point, we had 2 1900's(and 2 1900 routes) and 3 pilots for it(including the base ACP). There were about 10 Metro routes then, and about 12 Metros. The base ACP was CVG based and qualified in both the 1900 and Metro.

All routes were outstationed, the only CVG domiciled were the reserve Metro pilots. It seems they have Brasilia's there now, but those are likely very senior. I have no idea how many Metro's or 1900's they have based there.

Routes that are outstationed are bid on and once awarded the route, you cannot be bumped from it. If the route goes away, you must re-bid....but as long as the route exists, you're golden. This is how it worked 6.5+ years ago, anyways.

 

[AZFr8tPilot]

I thought CVG was reduced to basically ad hoc runs after the recent changes in DHL. I know that a number of the CVG pilots came to PHX.

 

[Linetech]

As for the BUR/ONT runs. BUR has 3 99's operating late night/early morning. and 1 sitting reserve.

ONT on the other hand is pretty busy seeing its all for UPS. Six 99's out of ONT that I can think of off the top of my head.

only PA-31 flights end up in MYF. Which right now is 3.

 

[FracCapt]

I thought CVG was reduced to basically ad hoc runs after the recent changes in DHL. I know that a number of the CVG pilots came to PHX.

Could be....I don't know anybody that's been there for 5+ years. The DHL runs out of CVG were great....they loaded the airplane while you were inside sleeping or just hanging out, you show up 30 mins prior to departure time to get ready to go, then they bring you a weight and balance, close it up, and off you go. You did have to be careful when there were certain people loading because they would screw up the weights and you might be way out of CG....but the scissor link on the nosewheel would tell you whether the w+b they gave you was correct.

PHX was a good base when I was there, but it was relatively new. There was no base ACP at the time, and the base manager was pretty cool. There were only 4 or 5 99's there, a 1900, and a Metro...two Metros sometimes, based on seasonal runs. All of those routes, except one of the Metro runs, were UPS.

 

[Linetech]

You did have to be careful when there were certain people loading because they would screw up the weights and you might be way out of CG....but the scissor link on the nosewheel would tell you whether the w+b they gave you was correct.

Thats not always true, though the scissor link is a good indication of where you are W/B Wise. IV seen a Metro loaded correctly and it looked like it was going to fall on its A$$. All that was wrong with it was a weak front strut.

 

[DirtyBeech]

the cvg base is down to just a few metros and e120's doing ad hoc mostly.

 

[psysicx]

How senior is the 99 out of ONT?

 

[FracCapt]

Thats not always true, though the scissor link is a good indication of where you are W/B Wise. IV seen a Metro loaded correctly and it looked like it was going to fall on its A$$. All that was wrong with it was a weak front strut.

That sounds to me more like an over serviced front strut....not a weak one. Anyways, you could tell whether it was a weak strut by how far down it would go when you stand on the airstair door. This is how we verified that the CG was in a reasonable range, as stated on the paperwork, when we didn't witness the loading(which went slowly over the course of a few hours).

I once had a guy tell me the airplane was loaded well within CG limits while it was standing on the tailstand. I made them remove everything and re-weigh it. The problem was that somebody dropped a 0 from the end of a weight for the most rearward bay. They had it as something like 105 on the paperwork...when it was really 1050lbs. First indication it was wrong? Tailstand. Second? Scissor link.