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Fedex-ANC MD-11 schedules?

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Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Posts
5
Just wondering what reserve schedules look like up there(how many typical days of work and how many typical days off per month).

How many FO's have lines and how many are reserve? How long to hold a line? I'm in the july 10th class, so I would assume that there will be some people coming in behind me. And I think I read that there are 34 new folks in class now for ANC and 70 total expected. So my math says that I should have approximately 30-35 people behind me, and was wondering would that be line holder territory?

What cities are better to commute out of to get up there, I'm in MEM. Are there lots of MEM direct ANC fedex flights per day? And how many jumpseats on the MD-11 and how long of a flight?

Thanks in advance for any info.
 
Hello and welcome to ANC,

First, as a bottom new guy, you will NOT be able to hold reserve. Reserve goes mid-way senior because you sit around alot and local guys like that. As a bottom feeder you will get a secondary line (aka VTO line). You will find out your monthly schedule a few days before the new month starts. However you might get reserve as a bottom VTO line holder. You will also probabally get a bottom feeder line before reserve. Finding out a few days in advance that you have to commute up 5 times in one month for a bunch of short trips kind of sucks.

Fedex has 2 anc flights a night. Sometimes it is a crew rest airplane, sometimes not. I always e-mail the capt. just to make sure I can ride in the cockpit if needed. Sometimes the jumpseats are full days in advance, sometimes it is wide open.

It's about a 6.5 hour flight up from MEM. Bring your sleeping bag!
 
Anyone know what the commute from SEA-ANC is like? I know FDX has 1 or 2 flights to ANC a day. Alaska has like 20 non-stops a day in the summer, but a buddy told me he didn't think FDX has cockpit access for jumpseats on them. How many ANC based guys commute from SEA?
 
VTO is a line that is built from all the 'scraps' left over after the primary lines are built. Stuff that was dropped for vacation, etc(see above). They can be great lines, but are usually at least not any worse than the trashy primary lines. If they run out of trips, then the VTO (also called secondary lines) can be partly or all reserve.

I wouldn't assume that you won't be on reserve. As stated before, right now reserve goes senior. With all the growth of the pilot force up there, I think many of them will commute, so the reserve lines that are added to the bid pack might go more junior.

Right now there are about 70 primary lines, 22 reserve lines and 25 VTOs

When there are 220 pilots up there that would equate to about 131 primary, 41 reserve, and 47 VTOs (assuming the same ratio). If you have 30 guys below you then you'd almost certainly be able to get a VTO, but not mathmatically guaranteed.

If you can do it, just move up there(easy for me to say). The folks up there love it and it will make life so much easier. I think a lot of the growth up there will be commuters and it will make the commute difficult. Note: I'm not there or headed up there, so that doesn't benefit me.

Either way, congrats and good luck. You'll like the Gucci building. They get all the fancy stuff.
 
I know this isn't what you want to hear....

First off, congrats to all the new hires coming to FedEx. Looking forward to having you come aboard.

I know this is going to sound like doom & gloom, but I think for the new hires coming to ANC, life is going to be pretty rough for a while. If you decide to move up to ANC, you are probably doing yourselves a huge favor over the short term. Not having to commute will definitely be to your benefit. That being said, prices can tend to run a little high up in Alaska, and being on first year pay won't help matters too much. Once second year pay hits, things will be MUCH MUCH better.

Now for those of you who decide to commute. I think life will be fairly rough, especially if you like to spend time with your family. The lines that you are most likely to get (being the junior guy on base) are very NON-commuter friendly. I heard from a buddy of mine who spoke to a junior captain who commutes that he recently spent six straight weeks away from home. He didn't fly any extra, but due to the short trips he got combined with the short breaks in between trips, there was no time to get home. Realize that most places you commute from to get to ANC take a day to get up and another to get back home.

With that being said, if you have a choice between starting immediately in the MD-11 in ANC, or waiting a few months for the 727 in MEM, I have three words......SENIORITY IS EVERYTHING. Take the short term pain for what will be a long term net gain. With all the movement going on, he odds are that you will be able to bid off ANC in fairly short order, possibly getting a MEM MD-11 slot. You will still deal with the issue of being junior, but the commute will be a WHOLE LOT easier.

Just my take on things...I hope I didn't rain on anyone's parade too much. Good luck to all you guys and gals, great to have you here!
 

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