Ameriflight Upgrades

[cobolt]

Just a few Ameriflight specific questions:

-What is the average upgrade time to turbine?
-By what rate does pay increase with the upgrade?
-How long after the upgrade does it take to get to that 55K they advertise on their website?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

[DirtyBeech]

upgrade time depends a lot on luck, location, and willingness to move. a lot of the southern cal boys upgrade from pa31 to be99 in only three months or so. it's a bit harder to do that in phx or dfw. ofcourse, if you're qualified enough you could be hired directly into turbine equipment.

the upgrade in pay depends on what equipment you're moving into, and what year you are in with the company. 1st year pa31 pilots make about 23k while first year be99 pilots make about 29k. there's a link to an amf payscale listed a few pages back, or you could just go to airlinecentral.net (somebody correct that if it's wrong).

lastly, about the 55k, it just depends on what you're hired into, what you upgrade into, and how long it takes you to get there. i'm just a couple of months short of my three year hire date, and made about 47k this year. it's doable, especially if you're willing to work a bit extra. i know the west texas e120 crews were making serious cash on extra runs, but they did work for it. anyway, hope that helps some.

 

[cobolt]

What would be average upgrade time in PDX if I were starting out in the pa31? Is it quicker in general to upgrade at the so cal bases than PDX?

 

[DirtyBeech]

yes, generally the socal bases upgrade the fastest. upgrade at pdx is very very slow. it seems that a lot of the guys in the turbine equipment in the northwest aren't that interested in moving on. they've found a good job close to home, so who can blame them. still, i did see a few 99 slots put out to bid the other day at pdx so who knows.

 

[citabriapilot]

Yeah, PDX IS slow for upgrades... I've been there 8 months and I can upgrade in the base, but only as a reserve pilot. There are a few outstationed runs that come open about every six months and the ones currently opened are La Grande, OR and Redmond, OR. Most people will either come to PDX in the PA31 and leave for regionals like Horizon, stick it out, or leave for another base after some time. SLC and BIL tend to have lots of people transfer in.

 

[RCA]

How about CVG? JR/SR? Possible to get out of training. Is the Bro and Metro single pilot stuff?

 

[CAPTAINDEEZ]

hey guys

yeah, if you are looking for upgrades, i am not sure what equipment you are expecting. i do know that in slc, we are completely short of pilots. we could use fifteen pilots now and that would probably cover our needs. lets put it this way, the smallest plane you would get is the beech 99. not bad for an upgrade eh? well, hope to see some more people online.

rick james b1tch

 

[tinman]

Captain, WTF! I thought you got fired! Please stop representing the good pilots at AMF.

Citabriapilot- How goes the 99?

 

[AZaviator]

How about CVG? JR/SR? Possible to get out of training. Is the Bro and Metro single pilot stuff?

The Brasilia is flown with 2 pilots, while the Metro is single pilot.

CVG is now doing the ad-hoc charter business and not much, if any scheduled flying. I don't believe pilots are being based out of there anymore. I think there's one or two flights going in and out of the DHL hub in Wilmington, OH. I think one's a Brasilia, and the other a Metro.

 

[cobolt]

Hey Citabriapilot,

Did you hire into PDX in the 31 or the 99? What are you currently flying?

 

[psysicx]

What kind of flying time are you getting out of SLC?

 

[citabriapilot]

Started in the PA31 and bid to SLC for the 99. You can easily get out of PDX for SLC within about 4-5 months, but be prepared for a long wait if a bunch of people quit all at once, which happened to me. They won't release you to another base until your current base is fully staffed. Took me a total of 8 months to the 99, but realistically that isn't a bad wait for turbine PIC.

 

[cobolt]

Why the high turnover at PDX and why do they appear to be perpetually shortstaffed?

 

[citabriapilot]

Ok, let me see if I can explain it in a way that makes sense. First of all, PDX only has 2 1900's and 1 Metro (the Metro being outstationed), so there isn't really anything for the BE99 pilots to upgrade to. There are probably 6 BE99 runs that aren't outstationed and maybe two more BE99 qualified pilots then actually needed. Most of the 99 pilots are very senior, like living in the Northwest, and worked for the cargo company that Ameriflight bought back in '97 and turned it into the PDX base. Because of that you have lots of very content pilots in the 99 who aren't interested in moving on. Couple this with 11 PA31 runs... The PA31 pilots see that they aren't going to upgrade very fast (the lowest person on the list has to move up 11 Chieftain spots to have a shot at a 99 RESERVE position) so most will bail to Horizon or Skywest or leave to another base like SLC or BIL to fly the 99. Since there are very few 99 positions that come open (other then the LGD or RDM outstations) there is slow movement and everything stagnates. Make sense?

Hope this helps. Other than no movement it is a great base to fly out of. It is fairly easy to bid out for a 99, but like I mentioned before, timing is everything. I think 6 people left within two weeks when I was trying to bid out and I had to wait for those positions to be filled before I could leave.

 

[barnyard]

What kind of flying time are you getting out of SLC?

All UPS and DHL feeder runs you will fly about 2 hrs a day. There is one bank run at night that you fly about 5.5 hours a night, 4 days a week. That goes to the most senior 99 driver almost automaticly (sp??). Saturdays are available to bid for extra $/flight time.

Peace Out from Barnyard

Hope training's going well b!tches!

 

[Ben Stiller]

Is there anything based in RNO? Thanks

 

[Some_Other_Dude]

Payscale

The site for payscales is www.airlinepilotcentral.com seems pretty up-to-date.

 

[cobolt]

Citabriapilot (or anyone else who can chime in)

If I were to go into PDX in a 31, what would my schedule look like? I'm speaking in general terms here. Can you give me an idea of the runs?

Thanks for everything
Cobolt

 

[citabriapilot]

11 Chieftain runs. 7 are bank flights with a M-Th. schedule running from 7 am in the morning to about 8pm at night with a layover at a hotel for most of the day. On Fridays bank flights come back between 30min to one hour later. Roughly 2.5-5 hours of flying depending on the run. One of the bank flights shows around 11:30am and gets back at 4:30 pm with no layver, but you stay reserve in PDX till 7:30pm to get your 8 units of pay for the day.

3 UPS flights with 5am-ish shows and 6:30 pm returns. These are the most senior.

PM me if you need any other info.