Is Kalitta still hiring?

[Whine Lover]

A few points:

- Had a friend leave Connie for Atlas during furlough. How does he like Atlas? Not so much. Wishes he had been called back from furlough at Connie sooner rather than later.

- Bumped into an old buddy in JFK the other day. He was wearing a funny looking Blue uniform shirt. "Brian! What the heck, I thought you were at Atlas?" He rolled his eyes and said "...let me tell you about Atlas..." He took a 50% pay cut to jump ship to JB, and that is with a brand new mortgage, baby, and wife to boot.

Atlas is a great place, but not for everyone.

Conversely, K4 is NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, like "Your Father's Connie Kalitta".

I had about 15 guys all telling me about Connie after our former airline went under and they wound up there.

I refused to believe it could be anything other than the place it used to be.

One day I realized...all these guys are telling me the same story, and half of them don't even know each other so they can't all be making this stuff up..Hmmm?

I've done 121 scheduled domestic freight through a hub, 15 years of scheduled pax operations at a major, and now non-sched international cargo.

I've been here 1 year and this is the best of the 3 airlines I've worked at, for reasons that are too numerous to mention here. ( And the other 2 airlines were pretty damn good to work for in their own right.)


Now, all that said, let me just add:

- ACMI Cargo is no place for someone with a bunch of kids, or wives, or business interests that need lots of personal attention/interaction. You will be gone more than half your Life.

- Connie's current pay scale does not make this a long term investment in your career path/goals if you are a younger person. ( However, right now the upgrades are fast and furious ( 9-12 months ) and the first year pay is very decent when compared to Virgin, JetBlue, United or Delta. Run your own spreadsheet/what-if scenarios. )

- If you are relatively unencumbered, have few commitments at home, want to see the World, do some interesting flying in a Big Puppy Dog of an airplane, work about 6-8 days a month and have a little ( and sometimes NOT ) fun doing it...This just may be for you.

This gig is not for everyone...But I'm having fun.

YKMKR

 

[embpic1]

Well said Whine Lover.

- ACMI Cargo is no place for someone with a bunch of kids, or wives, or business interests that need lots of personal attention/interaction. You will be gone more than half your Life.
YKMKR

This is the only thing I might disagree with a little. Many of our pilots have wives with small children (me included). Yes it is hard being gone for 17 days at a time. However when I am home, I have two solid weeks to spend with the family. No 9-5 job to get in the way. Also with Skype I video chat with my family several times a week while on the road. My wife's family is from this area so she has them to 'hang' with while I am gone.

I really like it here. I get a two week all expenses paid tour of the world every month and I make a decent living doing it. Life is good....

 

[Whine Lover]

Also well said, Sir.

Let me rephrase:

" ACMI Cargo may not be a place for someone with a bunch of kids, or wives, or business interests that need lots of personal attention/interaction. You will be gone more than half your Life."

You are correct. There are no absolutes in Life.

And, your point about 9-5 vs. 13-14 days off every month is well taken.

Mathematically, it figures that you actually see slightly more of your family on an hourly basis per month.

Typically a 9-5 job takes you away from home from about 8-6. So, about 3-4 hours a night with the family 5 days a week is about 20 hours plus a 48 hour weekend = 68 hours /wk or 272 hours a month for family interaction.

13 days off ( except for months with 31 days then it's 14 ) gives you 13 days at 24 hours/day or 312 hours a month with the family.

The trick is having a family that can take the non-standard lifestyle I guess.

As for myself....My Plant only needs water every 20 days or so, and the Goldfish passed away years ago.




YKMKR

 

[Fliteidol]

Whine lover you have a bright future as a political statistician with spin like that...lol. Our workin stiff gets only 3-4 hour credit for the 14 hours per day at home but our lucky pilot gets the full 24 hours credit every day!
Joking aside the kind of flying we do is tough on family life for most people and calls for a lot of sacrifice and compromise. Plenty of horror stories, missed events and milestones. Not too many people saying "I`m really happy I was`nt there when little Jonny fell of his bike and broke his arm."
Good to hear things are going well with Connie....he is one shrewd man!

 

[Whine Lover]

"Our workin' stiff gets only 3-4 hour credit for the 14 hours per day at home but our lucky pilot gets the full 24 hours credit every day!"

Ha! I'm Busted!

It's nice to see people that can use BOTH analytical and reading comprehension skills at the same time.

Now...let's play some more of my favorite number/mind/word games:

Q: "How much does an airline pilot work in a month?"


At one point in time, (when I worked for a scheduled 121 Pax carrier) my lines typically had 18-20 days off a month.

When I told friends and relatives this, they would "OOOH and AHHH" and remark how they would only like "to work 10-12 days a month".

Sounded pretty good right?

Then I would tell them I worked as much, or MORE, than they did.

( "WTF? NO way! I work 40 hours a week, 20 days a month! )

Then I would tell them that I averaged a 60+ hour work week compared to their 40.

( HUH? )

Sure... 10 days away from home is 240 hours per month, or on average, 60 hours a week at work.

( Wow! You get 20 hours of OVERTIME every WEEK !!? )

NO. I only get paid 75 hours a month.

By this time, they were totally confused, thought that I was drunk out of mind making no sense at all, and would tell me to have another beer and walk away shaking their head.



Q: " Well, How much does an airline pilot get paid? "


I make $156/hour.

(WOW! for 240 hours a month?)

No. for 75 hours a month.

( But you go to work 240 hours a month? )

Right. Some of those hours I get paid $156/hr, but some of them I get $1.75/hr.

( WHAT!!? $1.75 an HOUR!?)

Well okay, sometimes I get $2.00 an hour.

(????)

Funny thing is....If I don't go to work at all, I get paid my regular Salary.

( But...But...you're an hourly worker I thought? )

Yes. Unless I don't go to work, or work very little. Then I'm salaried, and I'll only make $140,000 a year.

But, I made $160,000 last year.

(WTF !!? Well...then you're NOT salaried.)

Right...except sometimes I am.

This is usually the point where they said " have a another toke on the Bong..."


So, there are as many answers to these questions as Medusa has snakes coming out of her head.

We can make it sound as bad, or as good, as we choose.

It's all a matter of perspective, careful wording, and tricky math.






YKW

 

[Offwidth]

Hey Guys-

Do you get Business Class travel at Kalitta when positioning around the world?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Whine Lover]

No.


( Ha...and you guys thought I couldn't give a straight answer, didn't ya !? )


YKW

 

[embpic1]

Hey Guys-

Do you get Business Class travel at Kalitta when positioning around the world?

Thanks in advance.

As Whine Lover said, not really. The only time they will buy you a business class ticket is if they are deadheading you into a trip and they are running into a duty time problem. Only 50% of your deadhead time counts toward duty if you are in business class or better. I have been here six years and have never been given anything other than coach. Now with that said there is a silver lining. We get to keep all of our miles for our airline travel. I am a Gold Elite on Delta and get upgraded to first more times than not when commuting to and from work. This is only for domestic travel. I have flown Delta from Dubai to Atlanta a few times. I was stuck in coach for both trips but I made out like a bandit on the miles.

 

[skypine69]

Our planes have business class seats in them. Does that count?

 

[Fliteidol]

Whine......I like your style man! I`ll fix you a plate of pound cake and a coffee at the FiveClowns. (I`ll leave it on the coffee table down stairs pal) Cheers FI.