Part 135 Check - Time Builders Beware!

[speedbird747]

Those of you out there looking to get out of flight instructing and looking at Part 135 check running ought to think pretty hard about getting into the game right now. Congress just passed the check truncation act that will all but kill the overnight check hauling industry as we know it today. The bill comes into effect in October 2004 but for those of us that are already in the game, we are already seeing cutbacks in salary and crews. While check hauling has been a great time builder in the past, its end is near and you may not want to be stuck in the middle of it as the companies and the pilots go down kicking and fighting! I'm sure there are those of you who know more about this issue than me and I invite you to post your knowledge here for all of us to learn. Good luck to all. At least the regional carriers are starting to hire again.

 

[starchkr]

Not all of us are cutting crews...although salaries are in question right now. We are hiring pretty fast right now. One class going now and many more in the next few months to come. Yes the check will dissappear, but other banking necessities will arise. Take today, i closed one account with an old bank and had to sign a bunch of paper work. The old bank was in Mississippi, but i closed it here in TX. Now that closing paperwork must be expedited to MS so that the TX bank can be reimbursed for that money. There were no checks involved, so that is paperwork that must be flown. Other things that banks use will also need to be flown. Now yes the majority of work will dissappear, but there will still be work to go. As for us, we have been changing our account strategy to compensate for the loss of checks in a few years. Yes the bill starts next OCT., but banks ARE NOT required to abide by it, it is a completely voluntary bill as so stated on the Federal Reserve Website. Smaller banks will not buy the expensive technology required so they will still have checks to fly. It is rumor around here that the banks will not really start to fully comply until 2-3 years down the road anyway, so most of us should be just fine until then. Also, our contracts do not run out until the end of 2005 for most of our work, so we will still get paid no matter what.

 

[upndsky]

This topic has been beaten to death in other threads, but someone has to drudge this up every once in a while without knowing all the facts.

First, the bill pertains to how banks interact with the Federal Reserve as they figure out every night who owes what to who. However, banking institutions have their own processing centers where checks are processed before going to the Fed. Until each individual bank branch develops the ability to electronically process each check, those checks will still have to be flown to the bank's processing centers. This ability will come, but it is still some years away as the technology is refined, the equipment purchased and installed, and the staff trained. Right now it costs a bank 7-8 cents to fly a check versus 11-12 cents to process it electronically. You do the math.

Check flying will eventually go away, but it won't be by the end of 2004. Meanwhile, companies are developing other business plans.

Second, even if check flying is going away, why discourage someone from getting some valuable experience. Perhaps with the exception of some senior AirNet folks, no one flies checks for a career. Get the 135 experience, even if it's just for a year. It's better than instructing.

 

[labbats]

Upndsky well put.

Enough chicken littles and skies falling for a bit, please. A bill passing in congress doesn't instantly translate into action by the parties affected.

 

[speedbird747]

Starchecker, I think you have my message all wrong. I am not telling people that flying checks is a bad job or that I don't think it is a great experience. I just think people should know what is happening in the industry before they jump in. You said it yourself, "a majority of the work will dissapear." Maybe you can explain how a majority of the work can dissapear without meaning a cutback in crews and aircraft. Just because Airnet has contracts until 2005 or whenever it was doesn't mean that Airnet will pay its pilots if they don't need them. It just means the company will get paid! As soon as the company feels that it makes economic sense to get rid of pilots they will do that and given Airnet's track record (Omaha), they will give the pilots a couple days notice prior to the layoffs. I think flying for Airnet has been possibly the best flying experience I could ever have hoped to have. There will never be any more challenging flying short of fighting in combat. It will be a sad day when check hauling dies but I think your outlook may be a bit rosy. Maybe it's because you have enough seniority to see the end of check hauling and last through the cuts required of the new streamlined business plan that will go into effect after we no longer haul checks. Also, I'm curious what you have to say about Airnet's new company or idea called "Fast Check" or something like that. I believe there's a memo floating around about it. Seems to me like Airnet is playing both sides of the table and trying to aid banks in their transition to electronic transfers. While this may be a good move for the company, and I'm all for the company surviving in the long run, as a pilot I don't think it bodes well for our future here. I hope people wanting to come and work for a check hauling company are aware of all these things prior to taking a job. Especially since Airnet is now requiring a one year contract again!

 

[uscpilot]

Speedbird,
Man you have one of the most cynical views that I have seen with respect to check hauling. Did something bad happen to you? You dont have to go into specifics or even answer. I am going on the assumtion that you are one of the floaters that is going to be getting the shaft come this spring.
Upndsky is right about it having a rather immediate effect on Fed work. Many of us, myself included fly work to the banks regional processing centers. This work will be unaffected in the near future. The times that I have asked the processing center's supervisor about how this work will be affect by this new bill the answer was not at all. This bank in question and many others will still be flying check for several more years until the costs for electronic transfer come down. This doesnt necessarly mean that our runs wont be affected. There will still be some restucturing or consolidation of runs.
usc

 

[starchkr]

Just because the checks might go away does not mean we are all going to be out on the street. I fly the salesmen around alot, and there is a lot of work that we have that is going to start up soon. We also have some contracts that at the current time we do not have the lift capability to handle, which will change as the checks lighten in the next year or so. Just to name a couple, monkies and horse semen. Yes horse semen. We have a contract for the monkies, but we don't know how to handle them at the current time. They will eventually find there way onto our a/c...and hopefully they won't be hired into the cockpit. The horse stuff is a very large account around here with a farm shipping nearly 50 "samples" daily across the country for very large fees. We will provide a much better service than is currently offered. It is little things like that, and there are many many more, that will replace the checks on our a/c. Right now on our a/c we usually ship about 50% bank and the rest is freight. The freight makes up a majority of the bulk, and there is much more that wants to go, but we must say no and take the checks. So maybe you think my outlook is "rosy", but it is because i see what is happening, and what will take the checks place in the future. If youare that nervous about being cut if checks stop flying, then cross over to the charter side. You will never have to worry about a check again.

 

[FN FAL]

Thank god you guys are hauling the monkeys. I have enough to deal with getting my plane loaded by them.

 

[snoopy_1]

They might not of loaded your plane well but MKE had some cute chicks loading my van when I worked at CSA.

 

[SpiffAV8]

Why can't I get cute chicks to load my airplane. And who has monkeys? I have gorillas.

 

[FN FAL]

They might not of loaded your plane well but MKE had some cute chicks loading my van when I worked at CSA.

Any chick that's "cute" AND has to kneel up to a Caravan to make a living, is either saving her virginity for marriage or didn't do too well on the G.E.D.

 

[SpiffAV8]

Good point. All the hotties here in LAS work in the strip clubs anyways. Maybe I should just go work there. Lord knows I can't afford to hang out there much.

 

[belchfire]

Do not discount the rate at which the
technology can be put into place.
Verizon just ran my check through a
machine last week and gave the
check back to me, in effect cancled,
money electronically removed from
my accnt.

It's okay, Mesa is hiring...skip the
135 check hauling gig!

Except that there are some days I
really do miss it...

 

[weekendwarrior]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have not quite figured out what the demand is for an air service to fly checks overnight, when you can do the same thing with Fedex. What is so special about check flyers, that the banks choose to use them rather than Fedex or the like? Are there other services they provide, or is it the flexiblity of time to depart, etc?

 

[starchkr]

FEDEX???? Who are they

There would be no way they could provide the time critical flights that the check haulers do. Especially when there "late" pickups are something like 7pm for the following morning. We pick up all night long and still have it there the next day. Say we pick something up in dallas at 1am, that stuff will be to its destination less than 6 hours later... that's 7 am dallas time. There is no way Fedex or anyone like them could provide such fast service going through their hubs with such large a/c. It takes them an hour or so just to unload the a/c...it takes us less than 10 minutes to unload and reload a lear (if everything is there).

It's not that we are any better than them, they just cannot provide the fast service with very late pickups and still make the early morning deliveries. It is not in their business plan to do so, and they make enough money doing what they do.

 

[upndsky]

Also, a lot of the check flying is point-to-point between small GA airports. Last time I checked, FedEx doesn't fly between Rocky Mount, NC, and Rock Hill, SC.

Places like FedEx and UPS fly the schedule and routes that benefits them the best, while we fly the schedules and routes that best benefit the banks.

 

[100LL... Again!]

Maybe this point has been brought up before, but if the amount of check flying goes down, that would mesh with the aging fleet of piston twins.

As airplanes slowly wear out and are (tragically) crashed, where are the future check planes? Those aztecs and 310's won't last forever.

Anyone have insight on this ques.?

 

[icefr8dawg]

As a replacement for Pistons Caravans are hard to beat, they make more sense for Airnet as per their last Q filing and the FedEx and UPS outfits have been using them for years.
Labquest uses PC-12's

 

[CapnMatt]

I have never heard of Labquest using PC12. Quest Diagnostics uses the call sign Labquest and they fly TBM700 & C310.

 

[boxjockey]

Yeah, the Quest guys fly the tbm700 as far as I know.

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