Scumbag cargo company Hall of Shame

[LR60BOY]

When pilots are treated like crap it is their duty to find another job.

Hence.....the reason that I'm lookin'.

 

[Cargoav8or]

T'would be good if the UPS Pilots and/or their union stood up for the feeder pilots.

It would be good if they (The feeder pilots at Ameriflight, Skyway, etc) would start by standing up for themselves and voting in a union. I am sure the IPA would assist/support such an effort.

 

[Windsor]

Now wait a minute. I think nominations should be justified with some specifics such as, but no limited to:

1. Crewmember attrition
2. Quality of training
3. Scheduling
4. Maintenance, quality of aircraft, cleanliness
5. Pay problems (slow pay, no pay, etc)
6. Trustworthiness and ethics of company leadership and supervisors, response of DO to operational problems, recognition of Captain's authority, etc.
7. General quality of crew force (alcoholics, marginal pilots, willingness of chief pilot/DO to enforce standards, etc)
8. Commuting (quantity/quality of jumpseat agreements, etc)
9. Dispatch/Flight Following competence and support
10. General morale among crew force
11. Quality of ACMI contracts (if applicable)

I'm sure you can think of many more criteria.

[Deleted] Had second thoughts about posting the truth.

 

[pilotyip]

Phx flyer we are a way point in a career, we know that, it is the nature of our business, wear a pager, 20 minute call out, no schedule except hard days off. Who would want to make this a career? We make no claim as the world's greatest job. We expect turnover, we plan for turnover, we tell new hires we expect them to have the ability to go someplace like Spirit, NetJets, AirTran after five years, we are proud of guys who leave and succeed at their next job. We have a reputation of producing good pilots. I go to bed a night content that I have given a pilot a chance to develop their skills in a quality training environment and develop to move into a career position after USA Jet. For those who can not move due to age, etc. it not a bad place to finish up.

 

[Rouge Warrior]

[Deleted] Had second thoughts about posting the truth.

I too had a nice long post typed out. But Jacob's daddy is one sue happy SoB. So I deleted it to avoid gittin' the sht sued outta me.

 

[jmreii]

If you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else will.

 

[Flyin Tony]

What about Grand aire (I think thats what it was)

 

[Boris Badenov]

Grande-Scare aka Tri-Coastal. Right up there with Air Tahoma in the running for the "spot the blind fed" award.

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

You try to justify this by saying that your company is just a stop along the way in a pilots career path. Maybe so. But the same could be said about Fed Ex when they were operating Falcon freighters years ago just like you are today. Difference is Ol'Fred Smith decided to make his company a place where a pilot would want to hang his hat. What about you? What do you want to make out of your company?

Just to be fair to pilotip; In the early days, FedEx tried to be a place where a pilot could "hang his hat." The fact is, most didn't. Most were ex-military, and flying for "Fred" only while they awaited call-ups from the Majors. There was no "honor" in flying for FedEx. In fact, there was no "honor" in flying boxes, period, unless you were doing it for Flying Tigers or (possibly) Seaboard or Trans-International.

Another thing to keep in mind...most early-hires at FedEx paid for their own Falcon type-ratings using the G.I. bill. That's a fact that's often overlooked when people start to canonize Fred Smith and his early dealings with pilots. Were they to do it now, they'd be roundly criticized for running a "PFT" operation. But that's how it was back in FedEx's "good old days."

There are around 100,000 pilots employed in commercial aviation in this country, and on any given day, about 80% of them wish they were working for somebody else. Pilotyip is being very candid...and refreshingly so...about where his company stands in the "food chain." When comparing potential employers, it would do each of us well to know where we stand in that food chain as well.

 

[dickburns]

Sierra West Airlines could be on the list also.

 

[time builder]

It would be good if they (The feeder pilots at Ameriflight, Skyway, etc) would start by standing up for themselves and voting in a union. I am sure the IPA would assist/support such an effort.

I believe the pilots at AMF tried to start a union a couple years ago, but it didn't work out. Personally I don't see it being all that effective where folks generally don't stay past a year or two.

 

[cruxx@9]

I hung out in the freight circle for about 8 years or maybe a bit more. During that time I flew for 3 carriers, USA Jet and Ameristar being on that list. USA Jet is tough, but fair to the pilots.

They are up front and if pilots hate it there, they hate the on-demand freight job, not so much USA Jet. The guys that complained mostly about USA Jet were guys that never flew freight anywhere else and didn't realize the nature of the beast.

I left USA Jet, as many do, to get away from the pager and just tired of flying ad hoc freight. I'm very satisfied with my time at USA Jet. The pilots are respected by dispatch, CP's etc. That was my experience anyway.

Ameristar on the other hand....Well let's just say it was two years of my life I'll never get back.

By the way, I don't think Fred Smith built his empire to make a better life for his pilots. I'm sure he was looking out for his bottom line and if it helped the pilots than that was just a side note to his plan.

 

[RefugePilot]

T'would be good if the UPS Pilots and/or their union stood up for the feeder pilots.

The pilots at UPS seem to be the only ones that are taken care of at UPS. I am sure they dont want to take on management for someone else's sake. At least for the subcontractors/pliots it is just a temporary job on the way up. To hear the UPS drivers tell it, they are the ones getting abused.

Schedules that does not allow them to take lunches even though they are off the clock for an hour each day.

Forced to work O.T. without a choice.

.....and the drivers have a union, the UPS driver said "thank god for the union" this morning.


At least UPS is conscientious of overtime when it comes to meeting the planes in the morning, so what if the pilot has to wait 30+ minutes for the driver to show.

 

[NavajoKing]

Key Lime Air should be on the list

 

[DHPFLYN]

The pilots at UPS seem to be the only ones that are taken care of at UPS. I am sure they dont want to take on management for someone else's sake. At least for the subcontractors/pliots it is just a temporary job on the way up. To hear the UPS drivers tell it, they are the ones getting abused.

Schedules that does not allow them to take lunches even though they are off the clock for an hour each day.

Forced to work O.T. without a choice.

.....and the drivers have a union, the UPS driver said "thank god for the union" this morning.


At least UPS is conscientious of overtime when it comes to meeting the planes in the morning, so what if the pilot has to wait 30+ minutes for the driver to show.

I can say you are SO WRONG!! I drove for ups for 10 years and enjoyed it. Paid very well and insurance is the best. You could have 10 kids and 12 wives and you won't pay a cent.

 

[metrodriver]

Amerijet.

When it comes to treating feeder pilots: UPS still has some to learn from it's competitors. No pilot will touch the freight at DHL or Fedex. If he drops a box on his foot or pulls a muscle, a few thousand pounds of boxes will incur late charges. UPS saved itself $21.- it pays a driver if the pilot can load. DHL and Fedex use scales so you know excactly how much weight is in which compartement. Ups uses the guess method for weight, and the pilot can use the nose strut extension as a measurement for balance, a nice form is used to keep the feds happy in case something goes wrong. UPS pilots have a nice coffee maker in their lounge, the feeder pilots can use the pay-for-brown-water machine that the ramp rats use

 

[RefugePilot]

I can say you are SO WRONG!! I drove for ups for 10 years and enjoyed it. Paid very well and insurance is the best. You could have 10 kids and 12 wives and you won't pay a cent.

DHPFLYN,
You must have driven here in Utah for UPS also. How does your current company's insurance feel about your 12 wives?

 

[capt. megadeth]

T'would be good if the UPS Pilots and/or their union stood up for the feeder pilots.

Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

We've got pilots that are so selfish, they don't even give a crap about other pilots at UPS, why would they care about the feeder guys?

 

[capt. megadeth]

The pilots at UPS seem to be the only ones that are taken care of at UPS. I am sure they dont want to take on management for someone else's sake.

A lot of people would disagree with that statement.

I think every group at UPS thinks other groups have it better. I think everything good that the pilot group has is because of our union, not because of the "good will" of UPS. Our union and pilots may not want to take on managment for someone else's sake because we are too busy taking on management for our OWN sake. In addition, right now we are also busy taking on 2 of our own PILOTS (that's right....our own pilots) because they filed a complaint against OUR OWN UNION for not taking a side in the age 60 thing. These people should be f***ing ashamed of themselves, but apparently they are not! They are all about ME ME ME!

Ok, rant over.....

 

[OzBushWhacker]

By and large, feeder pilots enjoy doing our job and trying to move up.... its the managers of brown with little men syndrome that get their jollies bagging on the non-union pilots that gets me going.

In CAE we used to have this guy beat on the feeder crew room to wake us up in the morning as doors were meant to be open on the a/c by 5a.m., even though no loading started till 6 and often later. Regardless of the fact that that the aircraft we were meeting were delayed, we used to get this guy rudely yelling at us at 4:15 and even flicking on the lights. Even tried to wake up a guy by pushing on him one morning!

Not the most motivating technique.