Flight Express Info

[Nolife]

Flx

Ha... I beat you! I got a 94% on the test... I guess I'm senior to you. Sounds like you're going to do 803. I enjoyed my time at FLX but I'd never go back and do it again. Like eveyone said it's a great instrument skills builder and people will never question you're piloting abilities. Don't let dispatch push you around. Good luck and listen to Austin, he knows his shiite.

 

[I Hate Freight]

I am in training at Flight Express... Just passed the final ground school exam with a 90%. About to start the flight training for the initial FAR part 135 IFR-PIC checkride. I get TPA as a base, flying the night run to FXE... upon passing!

FXE is a nice FBO and they'll let you use a van to go get dinner. Sonny's is in the neighborhood, Sweet Tomatoes, Boston Market and a few other places.

803 is an easy run but remember, the company HATES you, the dispatchers HATE you and Doug should have electrodes attached to his nuts then have them put in a vice. He is the most miserable human being I have ever met and he will do everything he can to screw you. He is not directly your boss so avoid him at all costs.

Hey, let me know if "Gloria" still picks up your stuff. Good luck.

IHF

 

[Wrenchnfly]

Just thought I would thank everyone for there comments. I did get hired and now work for Flight Express. They are hiring and people are going like crazy. Most are moving up to airlines or corporate. If you read the comments from this thread it should give you some ideas. For those who sent me comments-THANKS. For those looking into Flight Express read them all. There is Good and Bad, just like any palce you go.

 

[I Hate Freight]

Just thought I would thank everyone for there comments. I did get hired and now work for Flight Express. They are hiring and people are going like crazy.

This company is in very deep trouble so you may want to have a backup plan incase they close their doors. They are losing a lot of runs due to a severe, and I mean severe lack of pilots. Last December they were almost fiully staffed with 80+ pilots. Today they are down to less than 50 pilots and are losing customers because they simply cannot cover the runs. Good luck.

IHF

 

[Capt.PoopyPants]

ridiculous

Flight express is not in serious trouble because of a lack of pilots. In the last six months I have seen some new runs open and some old runs close. In either case it had nothing to do with a lack of pilots. The worst thing that happens is they outsource the work to another company until they train someone to cover the run. The only reason this place would go out of business is Check 21 regulations. And yes, a certain person in Dispatch hates the pilots. That is the worst thing about this place.

 

[labbats]

I used to do run 803, if you have any questions, send me a PM. I'm not on this site too much, but I'll be glad to help out if I can.

 

[Capt. JD]

Flx 803

803 is an easy run but remember, the company HATES you, the dispatchers HATE you and Doug should have electrodes attached to his nuts then have them put in a vice. He is the most miserable human being I have ever met and he will do everything he can to screw you. He is not directly your boss so avoid him at all costs.

Hey, let me know if "Gloria" still picks up your stuff. Good luck.

IHF

I passed the 135 IFR-PIC checkride, been flying 803 this past week... Flying the C-210 is good but I don't like the long duty 2:30pm - 3-4am is to much for me. I want a run with shorter duty so I am not falling asleep behind the yoke!

Gloria still picks up Bank Atlantic!

 

[I Hate Freight]

Yup, what he said...

The company is faltering. Fright Express is shifting it's business model to primarily that of a ground courier operation due to the belt-tightening days ahead from "Check 21". Management is incompetent and reactive. Ownership is waaaay behind the curve with respect to Check-21. The aircraft are worn-out 30 year old + 210s and barons. The planes are all absolutely trashed. You'll be flying aircraft that have literally been: crash-landed in swamps, belly-landed numerous times, 15000+ hrs on the airframe. You'll think about that when you hear all the creaks and moans the plane is telling you as you fly. You'll wonder why, during level flight, the airplane wants to aggresively roll one way or another. Alternator and gear malfunctions are routine and practically a daily occurance. With winter flying fast approaching, you'll be asked/pressured into routinely flying through icing conditions. If you are comfortable landing with an inch of ice on your a/c and scraping ice off the wings to satisfy dispatch...then, this is the job for you. Ask about the C210 that broke-up in flight a couple of winters ago, killing the pilot. The DO is an alcoholic, washed up, has-been that wishes he were flying the line again and is jealous of you. Management will nail your a** to the wall on any issue and at any opportunity. Bottom line: Stay away from Fright Express! Don't let your zeal to get a "real flying job" lead you to their doorstep. You will rue the day. There's a reason all those nasty rumors you've heard about Fright Express are true! There are plenty of other opportunities out there. Keep looking. Fright Express is twisting on the vine and industry insiders know it. Word.

Dittos. The Big Cheese is right, except that I think that maintainence does a pretty good job of keeping the planes in the best shape possible but when they are 30 years old and some pushing 17-20000 hours, well, sh*t is going to break all the time. And it's true, they have put planes back together that should have been rightfully totalled including 732ST which we called "Swamp Thing" because it was submerged in the Everglades.

IHF

 

[Capt.PoopyPants]

Current Pilots Opinion

I can't help but respond to The BigCheese. I have been at Flight Express for just over Six months and Flown about 550 hrs in these old worn out planes. In this time I have never had a vacuum pump failure, alternator failure, or any major system failure that had me fearing for my life. This doesn't mean these things never happen, but they have never happened to me(Knock on Wood). The airplanes are very old but the maintainance is good. I have never taken an airplane that I thought was not airworthy. I squawk it, they give me a new one. Apparently BigCheese and I hate Freight had problems with management and dispatch. I never have, the DO is probably the best boss I have ever had. He's a nice guy who will always try to help you get what you want, I don't think he does the same for people who are a pain in his A$$ i.e. leaving bags on th ramp, being late constantly, asking for days off ever other week. Dispatch has never pressured me to do anything. Even if they did, as PIC I would say NO! Three or four of the old dispatchers are gone and have ben replaced by new people. All very nice. The dispatch manager is somewhat of a different story. Look, these are my opinions of Flight Express. Other people must have had different experiences in the past. I'm here now and it's a decent place with decent people.

 

[I Hate Freight]

The airplanes are very old but the maintainance is good. I have never taken an airplane that I thought was not airworthy. I squawk it, they give me a new one. Apparently BigCheese and I hate Freight had problems with management and dispatch. I never have, the DO is probably the best boss I have ever had. He's a nice guy who will always try to help you get what you want

Captain, I should have also added to my response to the Big Cheese that I never had a problem with the DO and he is pretty nice if you do your job. In fact he worked with me to get me back to my home domicile because he knew I wanted to be there. But if your a lousy employee and give him grief than he can really ruin your day. I also have never seen any evidence of him being a drinker.

DOUG on the other hand is a miserable, borderline psychotic, hate-filled piece of human feces who will do anything and everything to ruin your life. He HATES HATES HATES the pilots. HATES them! Avoid contact, even casual conversations with him at all times. Don't make eye contact with him and don't even acknowledge that he exists.

As I mentioned I do thing the maintenance was very good. If it broke, they fixed but things were always breaking. In two years I had numerous problem including three that forced me to land. Taking off once I lost my engine in the downwind departure and barely made it back to the airport.

Glad to hear you got some new dispatch blood in there but always remember that they are not real, licensed dispatchers and therefore are not legally bound by the FARs. That way they can ask you to do illegal things all day long and YOU are the only one who will get violated, not them. It's not worth it.


IHF

 

[Capt.PoopyPants]

You obviously don't like Doug

The company hates your guts and if you dropped dead they would not even spend $10 for flowers. The unlicensed dispatchers will make you feel like a wimp if you don't want to fly through a squall line. They hate you too.


I should have also added to my response to the Big Cheese that I never had a problem with the DO and he is pretty nice if you do your job. In fact he worked with me to get me back to my home domicile because he knew I wanted to be there. But if your a lousy employee and give him grief than he can really ruin your day. I also have never seen any evidence of him being a drinker.



IHF
Two year FLX Veteran

I can understand you not liking Doug, He is just not a good guy and now he spends all his time in dispatch. Unfortunately as seen in the above post you and others find it necessary to attack the entire company and turn people away. I think it sends more of a bad message about the person typing than the company when they work there for two years in an industry slowdown, and as soon as hiring picks up they attack the company that kept them fed and marketable to the airlines. My point is If you didn't like Doug, then say it. Why attack people like Earnst and Janet (management) when as you say they helped you get back to your home domicile and they're good people. I just don't get it.

 

[Capt. JD]

Vac...

Tonight I lost my Vacuum pump in IMC in N93111, on FLX 803... God, some of these post are funny as hell. I am getting taken off FLX 803 because I want a shorter duty day. I have been flying the line for about a 1 1/2 weeks and I get blamed for being late even though the FLX couriers are always late at FXE giving me a late departure, they have never been on time... dispatch & ops, giving me all this pressure because this is one more link in the chain for them losing business... do I need this crap for single engine time?

 

[rodawg]

Tonight I lost my Vacuum pump in IMC in N93111, on FLX 803... God, some of these post are funny as hell. I am getting taken off FLX 803 because I want a shorter duty day. I have been flying the line for about a 1 1/2 weeks and I get blamed for being late even though the FLX couriers are always late at FXE giving me a late departure, they have never been on time... dispatch & ops, giving me all this pressure because this is one more link in the chain for them losing business... do I need this crap for single engine time?

You know what? You need to just think about getting out of aviation completely. It is obvious to most of us that have worked our asses off to even get a paying flying gig, that this is not your thing. It's O.K to admit that you cant handle it, that you might be a little lazy, maybe your just a pre-modanna. It's O.K.We forgive you. What none of us want to hear is, your bitching. I have worked my ass off to get where I am instructing numerous retards to fly, pulling 15 hour days for 5 hours of flight time at $8.00/hour 7 days a week. And you know what, I did it with a smile. I knew walking into this career that it wasnt going to be simple. I knew the money sucked, I knew that being a pilot wasnt what it used to be. I knew for sure it wasnt going to get me laid because I cant afford to get the girl drunk. But you know what Capt.JD (Captain huh, yeah I hate to break it to you but at the rate your going that will never happen) back to my point. My point is that I am happy doing what I am doing. I am not selling car insurance, or any other random boring lame ass job. Hope this helps you come to terms with yourself. Good luck working for GEICO, or wherever you end up going.

 

[Nolife]

93111

93111 was my nemisis for one year at FLX. It resided at OPF for a long time and I could never get rid of it. I sumped gallons of water out of the left tank every night to no avail, transponder troubles, electric gremlins, rough running engine, I'd take 70TacoCaca over 93111 any day and that plane sucks as well. Other than that I loved those 210's and learned how to really drive an airplane.

 

[Capt. JD]

C-210

Other than that I loved those 210's and learned how to really drive an airplane.

I am enjoying flying the C-210 as well... What do you mean drive it?