Contract Air Cargo (Trans Auto) at YIP - Questions

[On Your Six]

I have a friend of the family who is moving back to the Detroit area and he is interested in flying freight. He has pretty good experience and he is not interested in the regional to LCC or legacy path like most people. Does anyone have information on an operation called Contract Air Cargo (I think out of YIP). I know it operates some Convairs and a few 727-100s.

So, I am looking for some basic information: likely newhire FO salary on the Convair, QOL-schedule, domiciles, etc. Do 727 pilots start in the Convairs and move up? Also, I hear the Convairs are in pretty good shape and are fun to fly (if you have ear plugs).

Anyone care to comment on the pros and cons of Contract Air Cargo?

Thanks

 

[Sunnfun]

IFL flies Convairs and 727 out of YIP, maybe you're talking about them? Seems to be a good company, I talked to one of their Convair crews a while back. Here's their website with contact info: http://www.flytlc.com/iflb727.asp

Hope that helps.

 

[Hawkster54]

IFL is based out of Pontiac (KPTK). I am pretty sure that they have just finished down sizing. They have two DA-20's, 727's, and Convairs. Some Falcon crews are based out of McAllen TX, some Convair pilots are based on the east coast and the 727's apparently don't fly too often. It's all 135 on-demand freight. I've heard the pay is good as long as you cross international borders. Hope this helps

 

[727C47]

used to fly for them back in their DC-3,CV340,DC-4 ,CV580 days, good outfit,good mx, by the book as far as the regs go, you will earn a living, but you will be on call 24/7. Great flying though !

 

[pilotyip]

Do a search under IFL, you will get lots of information. I meet an IFL 727 guy last spring, he said he was averaging about 12 hours a month.

 

[wmudriver]

I know a couple of people who left IFL b/c flying has been so slow for the past year or so. When its busy, they seemed to like it and make decent money.
Back in '04, they had Convairs in PTK, in North Carolina, Phoenix (DVR?), and Port Isabel, TX. Don't know if they still have them there. Decent MX from what I hear. They switched to Part 121 from 125 a few years ago. I think they have Caravans, some nice Falcons, CV580's (in good shape) and 727's.

Autofreight lives and dies by the well-being's of the automakers/economy. I heard business has picked up recently though.

 

[JessMan]

The facts on IFL...
Main base is in Pontiac with 6 Convairs, a couple Falcons, and a 727. There's another Convair in JQF, near Charlotte and two more convairs in PIL near Brownsville, along the the other 727. Also there's a Falcon in McAllen TX. The Convair's and 727's are 121 and the Falcons are 135. Business has been slow all year, but has increased dramatically in the past three weeks for whatever reason. The only "reductions" that were done were to line crew and maybe MX, I think. No pilots have been let go due to slow business recently, to my knowledge. Overall it's a good company with excellent maintenance and a generally happy pilot group. As previously stated QOL is a 24/6 on-call with weekends off if it's not too busy, and pay is industry standard with benefits. Not sure if they're looking for pilots, probably not right now...so far I've only flown 300 hours YTD. Contract Air Cargo was the 125 name, and has been retired, changed to Gulf and Caribbean Cargo under 121. Most CV FO's don't move into the 727, instead they hold out for upgrade in the CV which is averaging 2 to 3 years now. As for the earplug stuff, any turbine engine is loud if you're standing next to it, but they're pretty quiet inside when flying with a headset.

 

[Flying Illini]

The whole on-demand freight business has been slow this year...except for the last 3 weeks, we've been getting our butts kicked (but the paychecks are nice!).

 

[RedGuy]

It's an ok company. I worked there for a couple years on ground support. My biggest bitch was that I came there to get on as an FO in the convair eventually and after 2 1/2 years it never happened. They never even gave me a shot, even though they hired several FO's during that time with less hours than me. I came to the conclusion that it was cheaper to keep me, an already trained and compitent line guy, on the ground, than train me as a pilot and train a new line guy. I also do know a couple of guys they REALLY screwed over hard too. One of them was injured on the job, got back on his feet after being off for over a year with a broken hip, came back for 1 day and they laid him off, which meant he was out of a job and out of dissability to since he worked for 1 day. That was just wrong.

 

[cherry20's]

I heard they have 3 Falcons now and looking at a 4th corporate bird. I do know the trashed two engines on two different birds in the last couple of weeks. Blew one up in ELP, literally. Put a hole about basketball sized in the cowl, still there I think. The other one had a jacket go through the engine IN FLIGHT after the door came open. They do have one still flying right now though. Not positive about the 2nd story, but thats what one of there pilots said the other night. They are sweet falcons though.