Mountain Air cargo

[Nolife]

Any word on how long the move from being hired directly into the van to the
F-27/ATR? I know you have to stay at least one year in the van and then you can move. Are F/O's leaving or staying? Could it be longer than 3 years before seeing the F-27/ATR? How long does it take to upgrade to capt? I also heard that FedEx doesn't hire feeder pilots, any truth to this? Any gouge would be appreciated. Take care.

 

[FN FAL]

I also heard that FedEx doesn't hire feeder pilots

I would assume that anyone possessing the "typical requirements" as depicted on the FedEx web site would be more than welcome to put a resume in. Our old chief pilot is a DC-10 F0 with FedEx, but then he had some Canadian military time in his background.

I can't help you with upgrade times in the ATR or Fokker, but I can say that if you are looking for a good job, the feeders are a great place for stability and decent pay.

The guys that are telling you that you can't get hired into fedex are either people that don't work at the feeders or they are old timey feeder pilots with high school diplomas, 7,000 hours of single engine turbine and a couple years of "back in the day" experience working for Simmons Airlines in the Shorts.

There is no "flow through" from the Feeders to FedEx...but I'm sure there are no barriers either...you are just going to have to get in-line with everyone else once you meet the "typical qualifications". Which is hard to do, flying a caravan or right seating in a fokker.

Interesting side bar...while looking at the history of the FedEx pilot's association (forgive me if I got that wrong, but I believe that was the name of their first union or bargaining unit) the FedEx pilots did want to bring the feeder pilots onto the seniority list.

That was a long time ago and I'm sure the reasoning was there was probably a lot of guys that were working at the feeders that were displaced during the merger(?) and the guys working at mainline probably wanted to get their old buddies on the property when hiring occured. That is just a theory of mine regarding the reason why I would think the FedEx pilot's association guys wanted to have feeder guys on the list...maybe it was just as simple as wanting to have a larger pilot group for negotiation. Maybe one of the old timer FedEx guys would know more about this?

But anyway, if you are looking for the traditional regional time building scenario at the feeders that you would find at places like Mesaba, Mesa or Comair....forget about it.