Ameriflight-What's it like to work there

[Pistonpilot]

Would like to know what it's like to fly for Ameriflight. What aircraft do they start you in, what's the schedule like, give an example of what a typical day is like, what's the interview like. I live near the Burbank location.

 

[Fr8Dog]

Does Ameriflight make you resign your seniority if you are furloughed?

 

[Wiggums]

Typically, you'll start in the Lance. Seniority is by base, so depending on how fast people are moving up you'll go to the Chieftain, then a turbine like the 99 or Metro. The schedule runs on a five day week. A typical run would leave the base in the early morning, fly out to two or three stations. You would then sit at the outstation in the hotel until the late afternoon, when you would fly the same route in reverse to return. Makes for a long day and long sit in the middle of the day. There are some runs that have no wait time in the middle, however, those depart in the late evening and early morning. They are also senior runs.

 

[Two-9-9-TwoSet]

Did you say Hotel??

that's the joke of the year !!

Try a little beat up apartment in the heart of the ghetto !!

That's least that's how they did it in BUR

 

[Wiggums]

Did you say Hotel??

that's the joke of the year !!

Try a little beat up apartment in the heart of the ghetto !!

Hehe, yeah, forgot about that. Some places like BUR and I think LAS have little apartments for you. It depends on the run.

 

[Checks]

I work at Airnet and we have more than a few guys working for us who tell horror story after horror story about Ameriflight. Try Airnet, I believe we are hiring again.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

WhaT are the domiciles for the Lancec and what are the chances I will get Burbank because that is what I want? What time would you get back home every night after your run? How many hours do you have to wait in the apartment?

Thanks

 

[AZaviator]

Amflight

I believe for many Piper Lance runs the wait in the hotel is something like 6-7 hours. You leave your base around 7am or so in the morning, and return around 6-7pm in the evening, or something like that.

Burbank isn't too difficult to get as its where their headquarters are and I believe their largest pilot base.

Lance domiciles are Burbank, Oakland and Phoenix.

Hope this helps!

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

Thanks AZaviator for the info. Do you know what the average flight time per day is for the Lances?

 

[AK737FO]

Don't forget to log the miles you put on the Ameri-colt! More than 25 miles a day gets you put on Stu's speed dial!

 

[Two-9-9-TwoSet]

But I have to admit...AMF was a fun job. Despite having to deal with the burbank nazis once in a while..but all in all..i had a good time.

 

[Varig]

Ameriflight is an all day job and if you live far from BUR you can get home as late as 9:00pm and for the amount of money they pay you, you'll be better off working at Mc Donalds and buying your multi time. When I got hired they had classes every other week with about 20 pilots in each class but they were still having trouble keeping pilots after the first couple paychecks!! Like most people living in Southern California, I thought Ameriflight was the only place to go after flight schools but thanks to a few good friends (some of them working there) I realized all of the other opportunities that we have around the coutry.

 

[Pistonpilot]

load/unload

Someone told me the pilots have to load/unload the plane themselves, is this true.

 

[Two-9-9-TwoSet]

Hey VARIG..

I can't believe I'm defending AMF, but I have to say something after reading your post.

AMF isn't a place to get rich, "buying" your flight time on a light twin is no comparision to the type of flying we all did at AMF..ice, snow, heavy IFR, approaches to minimums night in and night out, just to name a few.

Guys that I have flown with at the commuters who were "ex" amflight were always the sharpest around.

I'll stop there, because I don't want to open up a big huge can of worm when it comes to dealing with the AMF management team.

But from a stand point of obtaining your experience..u can't beat part 135 flying.

 

[AZaviator]

Amflight daily flight time

I believe it depends on your route as far as how much flight time you'll get in one day. My guesstimate would be most routes on the Lance would be 3-5 hours per day at most. I have a friend who flies the Lance in PHX who told me this. He has routes as short as 85 miles each way (PHX-Tucson) but also has routes with one or two stops such as PHX-Lake Havasau, Kingman, AZ which are double and triple the distance.

As most other posts have already stated, Amflight seems to be a no frills Part 135 operator where you'll be able to get paid to build up your flight time, then move on. One good thing I see about flying for Amflight is the chance of being able to build up some PIC Turbine time after only a year's time, compared to the 1.5,2,3 years it might take at a regional.

 

[Freight Dog]

I have spent close to 9 months flying at Ameriflight, and I have to say, I have had nothing but an awesome experience.

I flew out of BUR, PHX, OAK and outbased out of MYF.
The training was awesome. If you survive AMF training and go online, I just about guarantee you that you'll skate through any regional's training. I haven't had any problems going through sim at my regional. On the other hand my sim partner has never shot an approach to mins before. He struggled through the whole thing. So while he was sweating, believe it or not, I was having fun, and pretty much made the instructor work his butt off trying to crash me.

Ameriflight is a good place to work, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd go back in a heartbeat.
About Lance, when I was there, we had a couple of runs that did not have a layover. When I was in OAK, I did OAK-VIS-FAT-OAK-SBP-SNS-OAK nonstop. I'd start at noon, and I'd get off around 9 PM. Straight shot flying with max break of about 30 minutes at any location. It was great.

When I transitioned to Chieftain, I was outbased in San Diego which was where I lived, so it was awesome. The only complaint I had was pay. I wish they paid more, but then again, I know some slave runners that try to compete with Ameriflight. But at least at Ameriflight, I had benefits that only large 135 companies offer.

I was given all sorts of opportunities at Amflight. I had a chance to move up to Brasilia, or Beech 99 if I had stayed. If you are "stuck" at Ameriflight, be glad. You'll work with a great bunch of pilots and dispatchers - graveyard crews anyway. I haven't dealt with day people or management in BUR much except for training and still did not have any problems with anyone.

If I was furloughed and was given a chance to go back to Ameriflight, I would definitely go back with a smile on my face.

 

[Varig]

Two-9-9-TwoSet,

I totally agree with you. It's very good experience but when I start thinking about the pay and all of the bad things about AMF I get a little carried away.

 

[starchkr]

As checks stated above, i have also heard many stories about AMF, while some were good, the good ones were the minority. I would look into AirNet, i believe we offer much better pay and benefits while working only a four day week, which is Mon-Thur. Work a fifth day and make more than 30 grand your first year flying nothing but twins. Flying singles was something for learning and flight instructing, not for planning on moving on in your life. Also, as someone said above, any turbine time is faster to achieve at both AMF and AN, however, all of our turbine time is in Lears, not props. Many of our guys go straight to the majors after 3 or 4 years of flying the line.

No matter where you go, i do believe the kind of flying both AMF and AN do is something that should not be passed up. Nothing beats flying approaches to mins all night long and then battling those deep south spring thunderstorms where you just pray the plane will hold together with all of the turbulence. It definately makes you a better pilot. There is one thing i have noticed also, you can always tell when there is an ex 135 freight dog in the cockpit of an airliner... they are the only planes to actually try an approach that nobody else will touch because of the weather.

Anyway, do what you need to do, just NEVER pay to get your time, there are too many companies out there that will pay you to do it.

Good luck

 

[Phrogs4ever]

-Since training contracts are only required for the turbine aircraft, does Ameriflight ever hire directly into a turbine or do you have to start in the Lance?

-How many/what type of aircraft fly out of Ontario?

 

[jsoceanlord]

they used to call it AMERIFRIGHT

i had an interview and check ride with their lady chief pilot in OAK. i failed the interview and we scrubbed the check ride (lance) .

i got hired in albuquerque and crashed a ce 210, so maybe she was right