How is Life at ATI?

[MDWCrashPad]

I'm in the pool at ATI. My class date has been pushed back to Sept and in the mean time I was hired by another airline. I'm leaning towards ATI but would like a little more information about ATI.

The hourly rates are good but the number of monthly hours is low. Is there much opportunity for overtime.

How many days off per month do newer guys get?

I understand that during the weekend layovers you do not fly from Fri morning until Monday night so that you could get a couple more days at home. Is that usually possible? I live in the Tampa area.

What else can you tell me? What should I be asking?

 

[johnsonrod]

I'm in the pool at ATI. My class date has been pushed back to Sept and in the mean time I was hired by another airline. I'm leaning towards ATI but would like a little more information about ATI.

The hourly rates are good but the number of monthly hours is low. Is there much opportunity for overtime.

How many days off per month do newer guys get?

I understand that during the weekend layovers you do not fly from Fri morning until Monday night so that you could get a couple more days at home. Is that usually possible? I live in the Tampa area.

What else can you tell me? What should I be asking?

I presume you would fly the Diesel 8 - that would be pretty interesting. Anyone know if they are relatively well equipped? Does ATI fly overseas as well (good route variety)?

 

[Browntothebone]

Does your planes have Glass? FMS? Autothrottles? I hear the the DC8 is prone to getting pod strikes and is a bear to land in a crosswind. How do guys coming from small planes, like RJs, handle the DC-8?

 

[b707guy]

Of our 16 operating aircraft, 7 are dedicated to BAX domestic flying out of TOL, plus one or two are kept around if available to serve hot standby (with a crew) to cover any missed cities in the BAX system (not just ATI routes). Most of the other flying is international, whether scheduled military runs, or pop up and ad hoc charter work (military or otherwise). BAX doesn't serve TPA with an aircraft. The closest they come is MCO, but they also serve FLL. Both are done by Cappy, not us, although we have had both cities at one time or another in the past. The closest we come to TPA on regular runs is PHL, IAH, and LRD. The PHL crew currently does a Saturday DoD run. Plus, your trip out of PHL Monday night is a long one, ending in PDX with stops in TOL and BFI, so jumpseating home after you finally get released on Saturday evening isn't very productive. LRD and IAH don't currently have weekend layovers, so they don't matter. Bottom line is, you'd have a tough time getting home from any of our scheduled runs in the execution of a scheduled line. Some of our new hires have already gotten lines just out of IOE. With that, you have at least 12 days off per 28. If you are on open reserve, you could be out for two or three weeks, but you earn time off at a rate of .8 hours off for every hour on, which adds up nicely if you are kept out. Overtime is hit or miss. Our next contract actually has somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel, and we don't know where the guarantee hours are headed from our current 56 hours per 28 day pay unit. All I can say is that our negotiations committee is the best group we've had. Feel free to PM with any other questions you may have. If you can hang out until Sept, this is a pretty good place to be, especially given the market.

 

[b707guy]

None of our airplanes has a true glass cockpit, although 6 of them have flat panel LCD ADI and HSI installations. Autothrottles deactivated a long long time ago. All have FMS/GPS, all are fully RVSM/MNPS, but we're not certified for GPS approaches or prnav arrivals or departures. The capability is there, we just haven't taken it that far yet. Don't want to jinx anything regarding pod strikes, but yes, it's a possibility. I'll just say we catch more tails on the long airplanes, and even those are few and far between (and, fortunately, waaay less pricey!). Some RJ and turboprop guys jump in and fly like they were born in it, some struggle. It just depends.

 

[MDWCrashPad]

Thank you for the information. I've never flown an RJ or a turboprop, but the 737-800 was also prone to tail strikes. I've been lucky to accumulate 5000 hours of 737 tail free time, and lots more if you include the layovers!

I understand they usually position you into the trips at the out stations the day before the flight. Do they usually give you the positioning day at home and position you there in the evening? The positioning days don't count as days off, correct? Is most of the flying night flying? Normal show time / release time? How tough is it on your body?

Everyone I've spoken to so far likes it there.

 

[b707guy]

A number of our BAX trips start at out stations: IAH, LRD, SJC (paired with BDL), and PDX (paired with PHL). LAX starts and stops in TOL. We also have scheduled LAX reserve, plus scheduled reserve lines that could take place anywhere, usually TOL. Our lines are built around having 12 days off minimum, or, more correctly, 288 hours off during a 28 day (672 hour) bid period. Lets say you bid and are awarded an IAH line. Each outstation start line is built with 9 hours of "in position time", plus, the lines are planned with 8 hours of travel time on both the start and stop end of the sequence. So in this case, your first IAH trip departs Tuesday morning at 0230Z, and arrives for you to go home on Thursday morning at 1405Z. Back up from 0230 Tuesday by one hour for pre-flight, plus the mentioned 9 hours of "in position" time, plus 8 hours of travel, and you get 0830Z on Monday. On Thursday, you get .5 hours for post flight, plus 8 hours travel to get home, which comes to 2235Z. The time from 0830Z Monday to 2235Z on Thursday is your time "on". Add up all of your sequences and if they don't exceed 384 hours during the bid unit, then you have at least 288 hours off. The catch in figuring your actual time off comes in how you have to travel from where you live. TPA to IAH, I imagine you can get there one hop, so you can very likely meet the time off per the line's construction. If you live in or near IAH, you're golden. I can't get to IAH easily, so if I were to bid those lines, I'd be eating my time off by having to travel earlier and get home later. SJC and PDX starts/stops are the worst for those of us living on the east coast, since we have to travel on Sunday for Monday night's departure, and then travel all day (after having been up all night...) or wait for a red-eye to get home at the end of the trip. And, yes, nearly all of the flying is at night, with the sort in TOL running generally from about 2am after the inbound flights to 6am for the outbounds. Add in bad weather, de-icing, waiting for late arrivals, etc, only makes the day longer. It can be very tough on your body! But the best part is, you don't have to worry about begging a ride to and from work. And if your commercial flight inbound gets messed up such that you won't make it in time, you're not in jeopardy. Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but since you're in the pool, I figured you could use a bit more info!

 

[johnsonrod]

How many 767s are you guys planning to add? Will they be incremental to the current fleet or replace airplanes? Here's the latest photo:

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6257114

 

[PHXFLYR]

Does your planes have Glass? FMS? Autothrottles? I hear the the DC8 is prone to getting pod strikes and is a bear to land in a crosswind. How do guys coming from small planes, like RJs, handle the DC-8?

Flew the DC8 for ATI for 14 months Oct 1996 Feb 1998,having spent 10 years flying DeHaviland Dash 8 turboprops and other commuter aircraft. It was a challenging transition but with good instructors which ATI had while I was there, and I assume stiil do,and some effort on the new hires part ,I wouldn't say the challenge is insurmountable. One thing I learned rather quickly is to keep the airplane in trim . The only flight control that is hydraulically powered is the rudder, the ailerons and elevators are manually activated by means of anti servo tabs. This makes for heavy pitch and roll forces especially when compared to the turboprops that I flew previously. And with the heavier operating weights compared to the airplanes I previously flew , that thing was a flying Physics lesson in mass and inertia. Never saw runway disappear so fast in my life,especially during landing. Once you get the hang of it ,though,it's a great airplane to fly and the pilots and PFE's a fantastic group to work with. I look back at the time I spent there quite fondly and sometimes wonder why I left.


PHXFLYR

 

[hmmm]

The DC-8 is easier to fly then the CRJ. Done both. When you put the 8 somewhere it stays there.