Fedex starting classes for internals?!?

[flycrjs]

RUMOR ALERT, RUMOR ALERT!!! This comes as second hand information, but pretty reliable information at that. An Airbus Capain, Pilot Recruitment Interviewer, said that 20 internal instructors were going to be put through class in September/October.

This news has been floating around for a while, but it is being talked about more and more as of late... If so, this may be paving the way for the poolies, of which I'm a waterlogged one, to climb out of the pool sometime after the first of the year. I guess history show they don't train much around peak so the first of the year looks like the best bet for the pool.

I'll keep my fingers crossed, and toes, and tongue, and anything else that might help.

Blue skies!

 

[P3tarbaby]

I had lunch with Kim Daniels at the OBAP conference in Seattle a couple weeks ago and the latest from her was that they were going to start an internal class but that it was put off. She said then, and then again this week when I talked to her, that things probably won't get moving until after the first of the year.

 

[PurpleTail]

It's True...

There are about a dozen or so professional instructors that will be starting class (727 S/O) in the next couple of months.

I am in the middle of MD-11 upgrade training and one of my ground school instructors will be going to the line. I had a chance to talk with him and he gave me a few details.

Once a professional instructors 3 yr commitment is up they have the chance to go to the line. Some go, some do not. I asked him how many will be in his class and he is the only one. The other classes will be very small as well, 2 here, 3 there, just depends on when their commitment is up. I asked if they were going to pull a few poolies to go through along with some of the professionals and he said that the company had no plans to. It apparently took a little arm twisting for the Brass to even approve the instructor training. They will be treated just like a new hire and start out on the panel of the 27 at the bottom.

Hopefully there will be some good news after the first of the year. Business seems to be picking up along with the economy and the MD-11 school house is busier than it ever has been.

Good Luck.

 

[flycrjs]

Thanks Purple Tail. Any bit of news helps the poolies out.

 

[Falconjet]

A Little News, VERY Little

For the Oct bid month I didn't drop any positions, as I had the past couple of months, I actually moved up 2 numbers in my seat. One person dropped off the list but they must have been senior to me because I am still the same number from the bottom. That can't change until we start some hiring or some folks come back from callups and such.

Many of the reserve lines have a LOT of carryover, so the company is trying to give us the chance to work a lot more than the normal monthly rig, which I am hoping that folks who get these lines are dropping the extra days instead of working them. 33 reserve lines have 7 days, 5 reserve lines have 5 days, and 12 reserve lines have 2 days of carryover into Nov. Obviously that much carryover means we could use some more folks in the seats.

I was called THREE times in the past 2 days (2 for afternoon trips and once for an am trip) for draft trips (time and a half) but was not available to take them. I never have taken a draft trip and hope that if we don't take them perhaps hiring will resume sooner. Just a small personal stance, self-serving in the long run I hope.

I also got used just about every day while on reserve last month, and the leveling numbers for reserves seemed higher than they have been in the past couple of months. Again, it would appear that we could use some more bodies in the seat.

Domestic cargo picked up for the first time in since April, according to an artical on the company website from the Wall Street Journal, so hopefully the recovery is gaining some momentum.

Not much news, and I'm not sure if its good or bad news for the poolies, but I am hoping that with all the draft calling going on that perhaps they will realize that we are short in the back of the Boeing. Hopefully that will mean some hiring before the contract is ammended, but I'm not optimistic about that. Wishing is more like it.

 

[Midnight Mike]

Sounds like good news! There should be action sooner or later with the Swiss & Delta MD11's up for grabs

 

[dashtrash]

How many flights do you have from DLH to MEM each day? Would that be an easy home for a FEDEX pilot?

 

[Falconjet]

The Boeing is going (to DLH)

This month there is a Boeing 727 flight from MEM to DLH via RST that leaves at 0236 local and gets in at 0643. It goes on Mon, Tues, Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat.

DLH to MEM (via RST) leaves at 1938 local and arrives in Graceland at 2358 local, each Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri night.

There are 2 jumpseats in the 72s. I don't know how many FedEx pilots live in DLH or RST, but the jumpseat reservation system is pretty good, works first come first served, and you can reserve seats up to 14 days in advance.

Of course you could also jump in to MEM on a different carrier (Thank you - all other pilots at the other carriers!) if you couldn't get on to the 72. Some day we will be able to reciprocate I'm sure.

The schedule of course could change from month to month. but the cities we serve are pretty stable. Those flights were for Sep.

 

[ericP3]

Professional instructors

Unfortunately I have bad news. I interviewed (to be a professional sim flt instr) back in April to replace and augment the supposed MD-11 training surge that was supposed to be happening this fall. I found out initialy through back channels that I had passed all the tests and they were proceeding with my background check. Then as I didn't hear anything else for months (yes or no) I began to wonder if new hiring was now being slowed down. Then FedEx announded their early retirement plans, vol sep's, and I saw guys in the pool were not getting called in to start. Not Good.

Then last week I received a letter from the Training office that I was not being offered a position due to "hiring limitations". Sorry, no job offer for me. Since I was in the first 30 or so to be interviewed, I don't know if they offered jobs to guys ahead of me.

EricP3

 

[USNFDX]

??

I have friend who just received an application for a proffesional position......so I assume they are still hiring prof....what gives? I,m not sure!

 

[taloft]

So the sim instructors at Fedex can eventually work into flying the line? Good for them I guess. Does anyone find it surprising that the instructors for Fedex get to "work their way up" to being pilots?

I know General Aviation is backwards this way, but Fedex? Oh well, where can I send a resume? lol

 

[AlbieF15]

I'm not defending the program, as I don't know all the pros and cons.

However...there are quite a few folks now on the line that did the job once. Many were hired as instructors when the line WASN'T hiring, so it gave them a shot they wouldn't otherwise have. (or at least that's what they told me...)

One of my instructors was flying the 727 sim I was training on as an FE...knew the standard procedures for Capt, FO, and FE. He hit the line 3 months after me and is junior to me now. He's just greatful to be at FedEx. I'll invite Profile or some of the other FDX old craniums to 'splain to goods/bads of the system. I would not have done that job, however, other airlines were hiring when I applied. Right now the rules might be different...

 

[ericP3]

I have friend who just received an application for a proffesional position......so I assume they are still hiring prof....what gives? I,m not sure!

...Never Assume. From what I know(little) they are not hiring. But who knows, maybe they changed their minds about me since I'm a furloughed guy. But back in April, they were only really interviewing furloughed guys and they told me that is not a problem. But now they have "hring limitations"

ericP3