Tradewinds Airlines

[52560]

What's the current scoop with Tradewinds, specifically bases and schedule. Are they CASS approved? I have heard that when you are in base they provide a hotel and per diem. Any truth to that?

 

[skeeter666]

I just got a call for an interview...need info please!

 

[Offwidth]

Scumbag Non-Union Bottom of the Barrel 36th street Zoo Cargo Outfit. Furloughed twice in 14 months, training and travel on days off, many crewmembers have no flying skills whatsoever, paychecks always wrong. Don't know how they stay in business.

 

[mushroom]

TDX is what it is. An ACMI carrier, just like the rest of them, and for the time being simply a place to get your time and move on to something better.

Headquarters are GSO, so I'm not sure what Offwidth means when he says 36th Street, implying MIA.

Training and travel used to be on days off, but almost never are now (at least in my recent experience).

There are the same crappy skeds/ops problems with non-support/cluelessness which you find at virtually all carriers of this kind. As a Subpart S Supplemental carrier you are self-dispatching, so don't expect much help from the flight followers or expect them to know what they're doing much of the time. That's not to say that they are unhelpful, because they do try to help you most of the time and, especially in ops, the flight followers are generally some nice guys. It's just that they don't have a clue sometimes so you have to be careful.

The Subpart S flight and duty time limitations suck, so expect to have some LONG duty days unless you call fatigue. Until the regs are fixed, that is yet another common thing in the scumbag side of the industry.

Union is voted in...we have an in-house currently, but probably will end up being IBT. Company right now is doing the usual saber-rattling right now as a threat IF we go IBT...we'll see what happens. Basically we have no real work rules other then our crew handbook right now. True, you are given hotels and per diem in base right now, but one of the threats has been that that may go away IF we go with IBT, at least until a contract is negotiated and signed.

Re-upped with Air Macau for a one year extendable contract to start at the end of the month with 2 planes flying inter-China and Taiwan. A persistent rumor says that Air Macau wants us to provide them with 6 aircraft. We don't have the planes to do it right this second but they may be looking for more.

Recently approved for DoD flying which should start up next month with the 747's. A highly capable new system called Wingspeed is being installed in the 747's, with the first one about to be put on the line. Google Wingspeed to see what it can do. Pretty cool.

Another persistent rumor is that there will be a change of ownership/control of the company (for the VERY MUCH better, if the rumor turns out to be true) very soon, with a possible announcement by the end of this week. We shall see.

We are CASS approved with jumpseat agreements with basically all airlines except for Alaska for some reason.

It is true that the previous management hired some fairly awful alleged aviators with very low time, certainly no time in a widebody airliner.

On the other hand, upgrades can be very fast here if you are sharp and they have no one senior to you who is "upgradeable." You could end up a 747 Captain within a year or two if the cards fall right.

There have been promises of 744's (at least one) by next year, factory-new 777F's in the near future, and a replacement plane for the old A300's (767 or A300-600 maybe) sometime in the near future. If one rumor of ownership/financial control ends up coming true this week, the new aircraft could happen much sooner than later since we may be looking at a whole new philosophy for the operation of the company. Time will tell.

Hope any of this is helpful.

 

[dutch747]

Mushroom, I have to say that TDX is not typical of most ACMI carriers. TDX is definitely bottom of the barrel even by ACMI standards.

But if you are under new ownership and have some lucrative AMC contracts, good on you. I hope all the best for the fliers at TDX, but don't sugar coat TDX. They have definitely had a some bad management and rumors change nothing.

 

[Offwidth]

Best of luck to you guys at TDX. I hope to hear about the good news next week.

 

[A300FE]

Re-upped with Air Macau for a one year extendable contract to start at the end of the month with 2 planes flying inter-China and Taiwan. A persistent rumor says that Air Macau wants us to provide them with 6 aircraft. We don't have the planes to do it right this second but they may be looking for more.

How did they managed to get the contract back when they departed Macau a couple of weeks earlier than the end of the contract last year? Did KUZU really suck?

If it is true that the contract is signed and you are going to China at the end of the month, are the lines going to be the same as they where before? Basically month ON month OFF, little travel pay, couch seatting, and half pay when at home?

 

[FreightGod]

Rumor says TDX and Arrow Air is in merger talk....

Not sure who will be on top, or what the offspring will look like, but it won't be pretty.

 

[mushroom]

How did they managed to get the contract back when they departed Macau a couple of weeks earlier than the end of the contract last year? Did KUZU really suck?

If it is true that the contract is signed and you are going to China at the end of the month, are the lines going to be the same as they where before? Basically month ON month OFF, little travel pay, couch seatting, and half pay when at home?

Many of us are wondering the same thing...but who knows, when you're dealing with the Chinese? I'm sure if enough yuan cross someone's hand it's a done deal. I've also heard but can't confirm that Kuzu's maintenance really sucks and they are having a hard time staying airborne.

No idea yet what the China schedules will be, other than a lot of flying once we are in country. I think it's still being discussed. Travel is still in coach, but that's certainly something that will be discussed once we get into contract negotiations.

And FreightGod, I heard the Arrow rumor recently too, but even more recently heard from someone who seems to be in the know that that is not going to happen and the other rumor may prove true. I guess we'll find out after this week, hopefully.

 

[Draginass]

Just don't. NO. No way. No how. If you do, you'll be sorry . . . just like the high numbers of Captains that have quit or been fired (mostly quit out of frustration with the incompetent operations leadership), not to mention the other crew positions.

IMHO, there is no part of the company that can be rated even marginally competent.

Do a search on the BB for the sad truth about this company. It's not one you want to have your ticket associated with.

Rumors of change of ownership, new airplanes, etc etc. have been floated around for years. But they're just like all the promises from the operations leadership to fix the operation . . . cheap talk and no meaningful action.

Arrow and TDX. Good grief. What a company that'd be.

 

[52560]

Do a search on the BB for the sad truth about this company. It's not one you want to have your ticket associated with.

I've heard a couple of ppl state that your ticket is in jeopardy by flying for Tradewinds. What kind of certificate action has been taken against you that you can blame the company?

 

[dutch747]

I've heard a couple of ppl state that your ticket is in jeopardy by flying for Tradewinds. What kind of certificate action has been taken against you that you can blame the company?

Ever been pressured to take an acft thats MX status is questionable? Or told not to make a logbook entry on a particular item because it will cause a delay? Ever fly into Quito without the FAA required training? Ever have an incompetent FO or Capt? I know this probably has happened to you. But with a weak company that doesn't take care of their pilots comes the probability of a "black mark" on your certificate a substantially greater risk.

It doesn't matter about the "action taken" so much, try getting a job with Delta or UPS if you have a black mark on your certificate.

 

[FreightGod]

Ever been pressured to take an acft thats MX status is questionable? Or told not to make a logbook entry on a particular item because it will cause a delay? Ever fly into Quito without the FAA required training? Ever have an incompetent FO or Capt?

Bingo on all of the above: Been there, done that.

Too bad really, TDX could be a nice outfit with a little tweaking from the top.

(Or chopping at the top :nuts: )

 

[metrodriver]

I saw a Tradewinds (painted) plane in Ostend last week flying as Connie 33. Was that one of your former planes or is Connie now chartering you guys?

 

[mushroom]

We're flying some for Connie right now. I think that plane had a weather divert there though. We're supposed to be going into Liege.

 

[Ill Mitch]

Where is Airbus training being conducted at? I know the 747 is in Miami...is the Bus there as well?

 

[Ill Mitch]

It was Aeroservices in MIA back in 2004

Cool...I didn't see the Airbus on Aeroservices webpage....

 

[mushroom]

Actually Aeroservice got rid of their sim. We do all our stuff at Astar in CVG now.