Question for Piston freight dogs

[freighterguy]

finally, someone who sees things for what they are, thanks Tony.

i know enough about the regionals not to ever have accepted employment at one.

FG

P.S. With my karma, this place is likely to go Tango/Uniform and I'll need that regional job.

 

[1973Arrow]

CNXed two flights in the past six months. One was for some fairly sever ice (flying a cherokee 6) and the other was for a toasted starter (Who knew you couldn't hand prop a IO-540)

 

[jafo20]

To the guy asking about wx: If you just want to get a feel of what's expected, you're not a wuss.

If it's legal, or forecast to be legal, you should be able to make the flight. I never went off schedule when I was flying checks, but like one of the guys above me, I did wind up sitting on the ramp to discover the banks weren't going to move their freight.

With that said, telling someone "Ice, thunder, fog and flames, I always made it happen on time!" isn't any great demonstration of piloting ability. In fact, I'd say I'm just average as pilots go. See, it's not really that tough to keep your needles centered. Ride a dot high to avoid dirt and towers, and you'll still make it in. It's not really that tough to fly a big recip in cold weather; just don't jerk throttles around or lug the engine. What IS tough is staying awake. I'd wind up babbling like an idiot with ATC just to avoid falling asleep, and even that would only barely prevent me from turning into a cockpit-zombie. What IS tough is dealing with a failed janitrol heater at 2am on a frigid, foggy, January night. Even three layers of socks won't keep your feet warm for long, and you can't think very well when it's -20 in the cockpit. Starting engines, and keeping 'em warm when your driver runs late isn't easy either. As you spend time flying your freight, you'll learn how to employ various tactics to deal with weather, like the rest of us. Read some books, and try not to stress.

Reading brings another thought to my mind. You can deal with a lot more when you study the geography within 1 hour of your base and along your route. Rather than staring at a hand-held GPS, know VOR frequencies, terrain, locations of 24hr FBOs, NDB and powerful AM radio stations, what airports have ILS and their localizer frequencies, etc. You'll have more mental energy to focus on dealing with whatever situations are on your plate for the night. I still stare at old charts, plates, sectionals when I take a sh-t, and that studying still pays off.

Good luck, and stay safe.

 

[$$$4nothin]

ME: Hey dispatch you realize im going to have to fly into hurricane IVAN if you make me fly tonight right.
DISPATCH: Hold while i check the WX.
DISPATCH: No it looks like it will just be a tropical storm by the time you get there. Call us when you get to RYY. Have fun.
2 hours later
ATC: STARCHECK *** say type
STARCHECK ***: BE58 why.
ATC: Because we are showing you at 328 over the ground

MY POINT IS THAT YOU NEVER EVER CANCEL A FLIGHT.
In 14 months i never cancelled, but i got the crap scared out of me on many occasions. Does this make me a hard ass or an idiot. This answer is still up for debate.

 

[d328pilot]

2 years, 2 flight cancelled. 1 for icing and 1 for a line of weather from the gulf of mexico to canada. would have gone for the line of TS but the banks got tired of waiting and drove it.

 

[NookyBooky]

The chitty weather you guys put up with sounds a bit spooky, but not nearly as spooky as flying with a bunch of a-hole RJ drivers who payed 80k for their 19k a year jobs.

Disclaimer: this statement was not aimed at the majority of RJ pilots that earned their jobs, so don't get all pissy

 

[California]

I would not guess that the chest pounders, I fly thru anything guys are that hardcore. Just to big of a pu$$ to tell the boss it ain't safe.

 

[DirtyBeech]

i would not guess that the chest pounders, i fly thru anything guys are that hardcore. just to big of pu$$ to tell the boss it ain't safe.

agreed. there's a name for people who fly through lines of thunderstorms....f'ing morons. that's one reason i don't fly my airplanes like hell, because i know some of the chest thumpers above sure as hell have. i've canceled one flight in two years due to below standard takeoff vis from blowing snow/freezing fog, and delayed many others until cb's passed or the wx came up. it's just boxes. tell your boss or the customer to jump in and ride along in that crap and they'll shut up immediately.

 

[Humble-Pielot]

agreed. there's a name for people who fly through lines of thunderstorms....f'ing morons. that's one reason i don't fly my airplanes like hell, because i know some of the chest thumpers above sure as hell have. i've canceled one flight in two years due to below standard takeoff vis from blowing snow/freezing fog, and delayed many others until cb's passed or the wx came up. it's just boxes. tell your boss or the customer to jump in and ride along in that crap and they'll shut up immediately.

I feel the same way... As I've said before, and like most of you posting on this board confirmed, freight dogs rarely cancel an entire flight. I've seen guys cancel legs and some others re-routed to return later, but, in the end, its just freight. It will arrive again 30 mins late tomorrow just as it did today from that smelly old courier, and you will have to do it all over again. It always gives me a good chuckle to hear guys on the freq bragging about the wx they flew through the night before. Why? Most of us flew around it or delayed for a short while to arrive safely. Is arriving on time or 20-30 minutes before everyone else really worth it in the end?

I have yet to receive a phone call from management congratulating me on darn near killing myself to get the work in on time.