Trans Auto Convairs?

[Heavy Set]

I have seen them at Toronto and I think they came in from Detroit? Anyone there care to comment on flying the Convairs? What kind of schedules do you have? Are there any other types of planes that fly for Trans Auto? Thanks.

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

I have seen them at Toronto and I think they came in from Detroit? Anyone there care to comment on flying the Convairs? What kind of schedules do you have? Are there any other types of planes that fly for Trans Auto? Thanks.

It's been many years since I worked there, but they are based in Pontiac. The Convair was a great airplane, build like a brick sh!ithouse, hard to fly on one engine, very reliable. IFL had fantastic maintenance when I was there, not sure if it's still that way today. They took great care of those Convairs. The crews were top-notch. It was a tough job being on-demand all the time, but working with all those guys made it easy. Except for Bill G., he suc.ked. Former IFLers know him and will agree.

IFL has 727s and Falcon 20s now too. Not sure how many of each.

 

[bobs98tlr]

GREAT maintenance for being an on demand company. 20 minute call outs. Good pay, most weekends off and when called out on a trip they normally bring you back home the same day. Both 727's/Convairs use the "trans Auto" call sign.

Base in Pontiac, MI and Port Isabel, Tx. (one crew in NC, Miami, Fl and somewhere in Puerto Rico). 11 Convairs, 4 Falcon 20's (1 pax) and 3 727's if i remember right. Falcons use the IFL call sign.

 

[QuasarZ]

I would love to fly a convair.. My dad has so many stories about the 580... he said they were a blast to fly. Is IFL hiring?

 

[PHXFLYR]

Who did he fly them for?


PHXFLYR

 

[bobs98tlr]

IFL is hiring. They pick up FO's with really low time. www.climbto350.com has a few listing that say mins are 500/100 but i know they pick guys up with much lower then that.

 

[pilotyip]

They are looking for Capts off the street, that is normally not a good sign. I have also heard they are having trouble giving anyone days off.

 

[Fedora]

These posts talk of "Convairs" as though they are common. I've got lots of time in a four engine Convair 880. What are we talking about here?

 

[landlover]

These posts talk of "Convairs" as though they are common. I've got lots of time in a four engine Convair 880. What are we talking about here?

i was talking with a ifl convair captain. he told me they still make the convair 5800. apparently a canadian company bought the rights and ifl just got a brand new one with 20 hours on the airframe. as far as common, i see them in laredo and willow run, often enough. typical autofreight hang outs.

 

[Fedora]

Thanks LL. It would be interesting to see those 5800's.

 

[pair_of_pratts]

Here's a link to the company that manufactures the 5800.

http://www.flightcraft.ca/maintenance_mods_stretch.asp

 

[bobs98tlr]

They have 4 5800's and probably will never get another one since the mod is so expensive. They basically take a 580 and at another 13ft, bigger engines and a glass cockpit. The newest one has about 100hrs on it since the mod.

Days off arent hard to get, i know some guys that havent flown in a month. Thats just when things are slow. When they are busy most guys dont have any problems having weekends off.

 

[QuasarZ]

edit.

 

[QuasarZ]

Who did he fly them for?


PHXFLYR

North Central/Republic

 

[RedGuy]

i was talking with a ifl convair captain. he told me they still make the convair 5800. apparently a canadian company bought the rights and ifl just got a brand new one with 20 hours on the airframe. as far as common, i see them in laredo and willow run, often enough. typical autofreight hang outs.

They're not new, they're old Convair C-131F's (Convair 440's) modified basically into a stretched Super 580. I do believe that they do 0 time the airframes since they completely strip down and rebuild the entire A/C, but they're not making a new plane. BTW we thought that the 3rd 5800 was the last when I was working there, so I wouldn't count out them getting more. They are expensive though.

As for hiring street Captains last I heard they where having a hard time holding onto their captains due to poor pay. The pay was good back when they where 125, but since they went 121 and can't fly as much that basically turned directly into a pay cut.