Fedex First Year Experience
Hired in January this year. Went to back of 727 till June, then upgraded right seat of 727. Bid and got MD11 in MEM in the Sept bid with an early next year training date. By next fall I should have about 50 folks junior to me in the MD11.....things are moving fast. My 727FE training was in MEM and my 727FO training was in MSP which is now closed due to sim being unreliable. Company is still using MIA and MCO for 727 upgrades. I am a commuter. I had a hard line my third month as an FE and have a secondary line in my third month as an FO.
Couple additional items for you that I didn't know before I got here:
1. Very commuter friendly. You can reserve Fedex jumpseats and if you are coming from where you live, you can use "staging" status which gives you some contract protections if your commute has disruptions. Also, many of the trips have airline tickets on the front and back end. The value of the tickets establishes a monthly travel bank which you can use to commute or "deviate" (fly to/from your trip from home rather than from MEM). I have consistently used Fedex jumpseats on the end of trips to allow me to buy tickets for my commute.
2. Training. Pretty long (2.5 months for FE and 2 months for FO, I hear MD11 is solid 90 days))....make sure the family is ready for saparation time. You'll have a couple of contract mandated breaks and can jumpseat home over the weekend depending on your schedule. Study and show up prepared and the instructors will be there for you. I was very well prepared for my checkrides.
3. Open time. The 727FO seat is a bit over manned. I have been able to manipulate my schedule quite abit and make it more commuter friendly by dropping reserve days and trip trading for open time trips. All depends on manning, if there is a shortage in your seat then the computer may not allow many trades/drops.
Good Luck, welcome.
PS-I checked the last bid results, looks like LAX MD11 FO went senior (about 2000 #'s above MEM and ANC) ANC was a little more junior than MEM.
Hired in January this year. Went to back of 727 till June, then upgraded right seat of 727. Bid and got MD11 in MEM in the Sept bid with an early next year training date. By next fall I should have about 50 folks junior to me in the MD11.....things are moving fast. My 727FE training was in MEM and my 727FO training was in MSP which is now closed due to sim being unreliable. Company is still using MIA and MCO for 727 upgrades. I am a commuter. I had a hard line my third month as an FE and have a secondary line in my third month as an FO.
Couple additional items for you that I didn't know before I got here:
1. Very commuter friendly. You can reserve Fedex jumpseats and if you are coming from where you live, you can use "staging" status which gives you some contract protections if your commute has disruptions. Also, many of the trips have airline tickets on the front and back end. The value of the tickets establishes a monthly travel bank which you can use to commute or "deviate" (fly to/from your trip from home rather than from MEM). I have consistently used Fedex jumpseats on the end of trips to allow me to buy tickets for my commute.
2. Training. Pretty long (2.5 months for FE and 2 months for FO, I hear MD11 is solid 90 days))....make sure the family is ready for saparation time. You'll have a couple of contract mandated breaks and can jumpseat home over the weekend depending on your schedule. Study and show up prepared and the instructors will be there for you. I was very well prepared for my checkrides.
3. Open time. The 727FO seat is a bit over manned. I have been able to manipulate my schedule quite abit and make it more commuter friendly by dropping reserve days and trip trading for open time trips. All depends on manning, if there is a shortage in your seat then the computer may not allow many trades/drops.
Good Luck, welcome.
PS-I checked the last bid results, looks like LAX MD11 FO went senior (about 2000 #'s above MEM and ANC) ANC was a little more junior than MEM.
