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Centurion Cargo
- Thread starter Solo
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gringo
As good as it gets.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Posts
- 381
For a scumbag operation, not bad at all!
gringo
As good as it gets.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Posts
- 381
Ok, I wrote that first post at some ungodly hour in the morning- I can clarify a bit now that I'm awake.
Centurion Air Cargo can be a good place for you if you can pass this simple litmus test...
Back in high school, in your English class, did the textbook say English 102, 103 or anything similar? Or, did the letters "ESL" appear on the cover? If your book had "ESL" written on it, you'll do fine, even though it's a scumbag operation. Well. maybe not fine, but better than those of us who speak English natively.
Centurion had an opportunity to become a pretty good airline at one point- after they crashed an airplane in Bogota, they brought in a new management team, most of whom came over from Gemini. There were two problems with this; 1) they tried to make the airline into a real world-wide capable airline (instead of simply bouncing between Cali and Bogota all the time) and (this is important) they were gringos.
They actually had a decent amount of flights going across the pond, to Africa as well as Asia, but then someone decided that flying over the Atlantic was too scary or too difficult or they just didn't speak enough Spanish in Luxembourg or whatever, so they pretty much fouled that up. I'm embellishing a bit, but the bottom line is Operations couldn't handle the logistics of flying anywhere but South America. Lots of internal strife between Management and the Owner, so they were all pretty much fired, the Owner brought in a bunch of latinos and now they're pretty much flying back and fourth from Bogota and Cali, and not much else.
As far as treatment goes, and although this is my story, it applies to pretty much everyone in my class from July 2005. We spent I don't know, 3 weeks for Basic Indoc, 4 days to learn the systems, checkride (a lot of fun- my checkairman had this idea that after 4 days in systems, we would somehow know the airplane inside and out... fun checkride). Then I went home. For 2 more months, collecting "training pay", or $225 a week. You see, there were no training provisions in the contract that states, (unlike at Evergreen or just about anywhere else) that, if not complete with training for any reason within "X" amount of days, you go to your minimum guarantee. And then it gets better- Centurion dosen't consider you to be "fully qualified" until you finish IOE, so they'll fly you as many hours for free as possible before signing you off. 25 hours is the minimum- I spent almost 50 hours on IOE, going back and fourth between Bogota and MIA, waiting for a trip across the pond to finish IOE. I know a few who finished around 30 hours, but most in my class spent 40-50 hours in the air.
And then they furloughed us.
They let nearly 30 of us go January 1st; within 2 months, most have either come back, given the option to come back, or quit and went elsewhere. All but 3.
The interesting thing, I found out shortly afterwards, is that the Union voted whether to bring us 3 back, or to keep us on furlough. There was enough flying to go around for everyone, but that meant no overtime for the senior guys. Considering that Centurion offers a) no pension b) no 401k c) nothing at all in the way of security, it dosen't amaze me too much that these guys voted the way they did. If I was approaching 60 and working for a scumbag operation like that with no future in sight, my dreams of retiring comfortably shot all to h#ll, I'd consider it as well. But there's not too much else you can expect from a bunch of Eastern scabs...
But I digress. Anyway, we were voted out, and stayed thatway for a few more months. At this point, Centurion was losing Captains and FO's left and right, and the remaining flight crews were flying overtime and days off. The new DO and old CP came up with a plan to bring us back- upgrade 3 FO's to Captain, that would open up 3 more slots, and everyone would be happy.
Except the new CEO shot that down, saying that nobody's coming back until the new contract was signed. So there went that.
And as far as the Union goes, the Teamsters were the most useless sacks of s#it out there. Not even so much as a phone call or an email during this entire ordeal to let us know a) what's going on b) what we can do in the meanwhile or c) anything at all.
I have subsequently quit the airlines all together, and for that, I'm thankful; I'm not bitter at all about what happened (anymore, anyway). I got a chance to do what I thought I always wanted- fly internationally in a widebody, and I found out that, for me anyway, it's not all it's cracked up to be anymore. So for that, I'm happy with my experience with Centurion- I'm now spending much more time with my family and persuing a career that's far more lucrative than flying, and it didn't take me 20 years to figure it out. But I keep in touch with the few remaining classmates of mine who are still over there (only 3 or so form the original 28)- almost all of them are actively persuing other jobs or other careers altogether, so it sounds like things aren't getting any better over ther anytime soon.
As far as the furlough, it's still going on; the remaining 2 guys got a recall a month ago, but then that was cancelled, last I heard.
Centurion Air Cargo can be a good place for you if you can pass this simple litmus test...
Back in high school, in your English class, did the textbook say English 102, 103 or anything similar? Or, did the letters "ESL" appear on the cover? If your book had "ESL" written on it, you'll do fine, even though it's a scumbag operation. Well. maybe not fine, but better than those of us who speak English natively.
Centurion had an opportunity to become a pretty good airline at one point- after they crashed an airplane in Bogota, they brought in a new management team, most of whom came over from Gemini. There were two problems with this; 1) they tried to make the airline into a real world-wide capable airline (instead of simply bouncing between Cali and Bogota all the time) and (this is important) they were gringos.
They actually had a decent amount of flights going across the pond, to Africa as well as Asia, but then someone decided that flying over the Atlantic was too scary or too difficult or they just didn't speak enough Spanish in Luxembourg or whatever, so they pretty much fouled that up. I'm embellishing a bit, but the bottom line is Operations couldn't handle the logistics of flying anywhere but South America. Lots of internal strife between Management and the Owner, so they were all pretty much fired, the Owner brought in a bunch of latinos and now they're pretty much flying back and fourth from Bogota and Cali, and not much else.
As far as treatment goes, and although this is my story, it applies to pretty much everyone in my class from July 2005. We spent I don't know, 3 weeks for Basic Indoc, 4 days to learn the systems, checkride (a lot of fun- my checkairman had this idea that after 4 days in systems, we would somehow know the airplane inside and out... fun checkride). Then I went home. For 2 more months, collecting "training pay", or $225 a week. You see, there were no training provisions in the contract that states, (unlike at Evergreen or just about anywhere else) that, if not complete with training for any reason within "X" amount of days, you go to your minimum guarantee. And then it gets better- Centurion dosen't consider you to be "fully qualified" until you finish IOE, so they'll fly you as many hours for free as possible before signing you off. 25 hours is the minimum- I spent almost 50 hours on IOE, going back and fourth between Bogota and MIA, waiting for a trip across the pond to finish IOE. I know a few who finished around 30 hours, but most in my class spent 40-50 hours in the air.
And then they furloughed us.
They let nearly 30 of us go January 1st; within 2 months, most have either come back, given the option to come back, or quit and went elsewhere. All but 3.
The interesting thing, I found out shortly afterwards, is that the Union voted whether to bring us 3 back, or to keep us on furlough. There was enough flying to go around for everyone, but that meant no overtime for the senior guys. Considering that Centurion offers a) no pension b) no 401k c) nothing at all in the way of security, it dosen't amaze me too much that these guys voted the way they did. If I was approaching 60 and working for a scumbag operation like that with no future in sight, my dreams of retiring comfortably shot all to h#ll, I'd consider it as well. But there's not too much else you can expect from a bunch of Eastern scabs...
But I digress. Anyway, we were voted out, and stayed thatway for a few more months. At this point, Centurion was losing Captains and FO's left and right, and the remaining flight crews were flying overtime and days off. The new DO and old CP came up with a plan to bring us back- upgrade 3 FO's to Captain, that would open up 3 more slots, and everyone would be happy.
Except the new CEO shot that down, saying that nobody's coming back until the new contract was signed. So there went that.
And as far as the Union goes, the Teamsters were the most useless sacks of s#it out there. Not even so much as a phone call or an email during this entire ordeal to let us know a) what's going on b) what we can do in the meanwhile or c) anything at all.
I have subsequently quit the airlines all together, and for that, I'm thankful; I'm not bitter at all about what happened (anymore, anyway). I got a chance to do what I thought I always wanted- fly internationally in a widebody, and I found out that, for me anyway, it's not all it's cracked up to be anymore. So for that, I'm happy with my experience with Centurion- I'm now spending much more time with my family and persuing a career that's far more lucrative than flying, and it didn't take me 20 years to figure it out. But I keep in touch with the few remaining classmates of mine who are still over there (only 3 or so form the original 28)- almost all of them are actively persuing other jobs or other careers altogether, so it sounds like things aren't getting any better over ther anytime soon.
As far as the furlough, it's still going on; the remaining 2 guys got a recall a month ago, but then that was cancelled, last I heard.
Bellerophon
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Posts
- 64
gringo
As good as it gets.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Posts
- 381
I wouldn't put it past them...
Anyway, that reminds me of another amusing little anecdote I remembered on my drive back from Rockford today...
3 months into the furlough, I called our Teamster union rep, Daisy something, and I asked her what was the status on the furlogh and any word on the remaming 3 guys could excpect to get back to work.
Her reply? "What are you talking about? Furlough's over! Everyone came back!"
When I informed her of the error of her thinking, she replied to the tone of "huh, I didn't know there were still guys on the street..."
Gave me such a big warm fuzzy knowing that my union was up to speed on such an important topic. At least they were nice enough to take their grubby hands out of my wallet during the ordeal.
heilhaavir
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2004
- Posts
- 170
If I remember correctly they were flying accross the pond below RVSM... You'd think that if the Gemeni guys were as smart as you say they were, they would have gotten the MNPS qual... Did they ever get it?
You say the last 2 guys' recall was cancelled. Are you talking about 2 FEs? If so, they told me they would only go back if they could upgrade to the right seat.
You say the last 2 guys' recall was cancelled. Are you talking about 2 FEs? If so, they told me they would only go back if they could upgrade to the right seat.
HA25
Tokyo Tokyo!
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2001
- Posts
- 3,643
80for80
global synchronizer
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2003
- Posts
- 313
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