Freight Dawg Down

[pipejockey]

What a shame. I find it alarming how many of these single pilot guys are being killed. When will the FAA step in? I guess only when there are passengers on board.

 

[FN FAL]

What a shame. I find it alarming how many of these single pilot guys are being killed. When will the FAA step in? I guess only when there are passengers on board.

What would you expect the feds do to us to make us better pilots?

 

[ACT700]

What would you expect the feds do to us to make us better pilots?

There is quite a bit they can do. For starters, quit discriminating between freight and pax operations.

You may not see anything wrong flying UPS, or some kind of feeder freight. But let me tell you, there is a big difference between that kind of freight dogging and flying car parts single pilot IFR for 5-6 airborne hours, nonstop; on the backside of the clock.

Feds: when are you going to stop discriminating?

I say, autopilots or SIC mandatory, for freight operators!

 

[starchkr]

I would have to disagree...only a little though.

Freight flying is safe...read that as depending on which company you work for it is safe. Sure there are some shady operators out there, and YES they should be forced to adjust their ways, but then there are operators who have been doing that for many many years and are just as safe as the airlines. Yes i am biased towards my old company as being the best in the industry, but i don't know of too many who would argue that i was wrong. We were taught safety, and we were lucky all but a few(sorry 310 guys...been there myself) had autopilots...but that does not mean we used them all the time. Now i can see if you are going on a 4-5+ hour jaunt then yes, it is a good thing to have, but for most night freight companies, single pilot ops do not go "much" over 2 hours at the most (usually, now i know there is always the exception). So really, i guess my point is that i believe freight flying is safe, but there are always things we can do to make it safer, and the same goes in the job i have now (121). Ok, so sure put a/p's in a/c that fly on trips that last more than a set number of hours, but to make them put them in every a/c is just crazy...not to mention expensive.

 

[ACT700]

I would have to disagree...only a little though.

Freight flying is safe...read that as depending on which company you work for it is safe. Sure there are some shady operators out there, and YES they should be forced to adjust their ways, but then there are operators who have been doing that for many many years and are just as safe as the airlines. Yes i am biased towards my old company as being the best in the industry, but i don't know of too many who would argue that i was wrong. We were taught safety, and we were lucky all but a few(sorry 310 guys...been there myself) had autopilots...but that does not mean we used them all the time. Now i can see if you are going on a 4-5+ hour jaunt then yes, it is a good thing to have, but for most night freight companies, single pilot ops do not go "much" over 2 hours at the most (usually, now i know there is always the exception). So really, i guess my point is that i believe freight flying is safe, but there are always things we can do to make it safer, and the same goes in the job i have now (121). Ok, so sure put a/p's in a/c that fly on trips that last more than a set number of hours, but to make them put them in every a/c is just crazy...not to mention expensive.

I never said the operators were unsafe. Well that's debatable, like you said, depends on who we're talking about.

But after 6+ hours of handflying an MU2, and doing 5 or more approaches in one night, I don't know, but I for one am one mentally tired puppy.
With the ability to throw on the autopilot in cruise and relax for a minute, that same night is not nearly as taxing.
Add to that that your slinging 800-2500 lbs per leg, twice, and the tiredness-factor goes way up.
Our longest leg is only 1+30!

Fly safe.

 

[dsee8driver]

Grandaire

Isn't Grandaire the same operator who a few years back lost 2 Falcons on the same day? I think the Feds need to pay them another visit...

 

[NoPax]

I agree with ACT700 on this one.

I'm hand-flying 5 hours a night, a 12 hour duty day with no chance for rest on my 6 hour downtime in Austin. I'm pretty tired when I get home, then have to get up and do it all over again. I also fly 5 nights a week, and load upto 1200lbs per leg (4 legs) not a prissy 4 night a week Airnet gig

There isn't even another pilot that can cover my route when I am tired/sick/etc, so I have to go anyways.

Don't get me wrong - I love it - but I'm just making an observation that I feel has to be made.

 

[Freight Dawg]

Deleted

 

[ACT700]

Just What I Thought, Leave It To The Flight Info Folks To Turn These Thread Into "i Know Best, And This Versuses That". Give It A Rest. Fact Is Someone Is Dead, And Flying At Night Had Nothing To Do With It, People Or What Ever. Hopeless, All F*&^ing Hopeless. PS if youy type in all caps, it automatically capatilzes the first letter.

I don't understand your complaint. You started a thread and people so far have written relevant stuff.

If you don't think the last few comments have anything to do with it, you're obviously lost.
Because I have been there many times, literally, in that particular airplane, tired as $hihat, and when you add an emergency to that, like the guy had two nights ago, things can go from lousy to, well, you saw the result.

So, scratch your last comment (...typical flightinfo...) and we'll stay on topic.

 

[FraxJockey]

Now i can see if you are going on a 4-5+ hour jaunt then yes, it is a good thing to have, but for most night freight companies, single pilot ops do not go "much" over 2 hours at the most (usually, now i know there is always the exception).

I got 1000hrs. in the sewerpipe (SA227) in one year and half that was single pilot. Little different from hauling checks. I don't think check runs go from ELP,DRT,LRD,MMCU,MMCS,MMTO to DTW,YIP,DET, SPA.... Only reason I finally got an F/O was to be able to fly 10 hrs 135 vs. 8. And that's not factoring the good ole "5+ hr. 91 leg" back home. I'm surprised that this doesn't happen more often. As for Tricostal/Grand Scare, my heart goes out to those guys that put their lives on the line every day.