Typical Block hours on Cargo Airline bid line (FDX, UPS, etc.)

[GE CF34-3B1]

A friend of mine at FDX sent me the bid packs for all equipment and I noticed that the typical line had around 35 - 45 hours of flying per month on average.

That really is not that much flying in terms of actual "block" time. I noticed that the days off were around 13 - 14 on average for most FedEx lines in most equipment. But in a 28-day bid cycle that's probably equivalent to about 15 days off in a 30/31-day month.

Is this something that is typical of just FedEx, or other cargo airlines too?

I think this definitely sums it up that FedEx flying is much less in terms of total flying than SWA flying.... 40 hours, vs. 80 - 85 hours. Or any other pax carrier for that matter. But I have seen SWA lines and the days off are higher - around 17 - 18 days off. So I guess it's a trade off, work double the amount of flying and get about 3 - 4 more days off per month.

I'm also interested in hearing from pilots of other cargo airlines about their total block hours flown per month - like UPS, ABX, and DHL.

Opinion, comments? Please.

 

[klhoard]

FDX block hours

The system form here doesn't lend itself to flying alot of block hours every month. Basically, you fly the boxes one or two (seniority dependent!!) legs into a hub, sit around a while, then one or two legs back out. The other variation is the AM or PM out-n-backs, mostly moving the US Mail. I don't know if it's still in there, but one of the 727 lines consisted of 12 MEM-SHV-MEM (about 0:45 block each way) afternoon out-n-backs. There are alot of PM out-n-backs with <1:30 block each way.

However, if you're senior and good at bidding, you can fly even less. There are several lines of hotel standby in Indianapolis, Oakland, and a couple other places. So. . . if you can hold these lines and live in that city, that's about the closest you can get to stealing money from Fred since the hotel standby crews are rarely used.

Another way to draw a paycheck without flying an airplane is to bid Relief Flight Officer lines. I'm new to the international flying, but it looks like RFO-ing consists of doing the walk-around, talking to the company, running the ACARS, and managing the catering. Every once in a while, beg a landing out of the operating crew so you don't have to go to the sim for your 3 T/O & Landings.

If you fly 80-85 block hours in a month here at FDX, you are doing something very seriously WRONG!!!

 

[Frac Daddy]

klhoard,

Is hotel standby like hot reserve? What is the call out time? Thanks.

 

[klhoard]

FDX Hotel Standby

I haven't done alot of hotel standby, but I'm pretty sure it's 11:30 hours on, 12:30 hours off, 45 minute notification to block-out. If they bring you into the airport for a standby period, then it's 5:00 hours on then back to the hotel.

 

[TonyC]

If you fly 80-85 block hours in a month here at FDX, you are doing something very seriously WRONG!!!

Or seriously RIGHT!


How 'bout 5 trips to Stansted (4 24-hr layovers, one weekend) and 23 days off (5 week month)? 12 days of work in a 5-week month, and a third of the flying time is spent sleeping. [87:10 Block]




The beauty of it is there's just about as many different types of lines of flying as there are folks.

 

[klhoard]

FDX block hours

TonyC,

I haven't done international yet, so I was referring to "domestic 727" block hours.

B-727 block hours vs. MD-11 block hours. Two very, very different animals!!!

 

[de727ups]

Ups

Hotel Hot....now that would be sweet. We have similar duty called airport hot but you have to hang out in the crew lounge for 8 hours and be ready to launch ASAP.

The trip I'm doing now works 12 days on out of 28 and blocks 25 hours a month. It's a domestic 767 trip out of the Ont domicle. When I was on the 727, my goal was to fly under 100 hours a year. I did that several years.

 

[HoursHore]

Is there a FedEX route map anywhere? I found an International one on thier website, but nothing Domestic. Interested in finding out if they fly to GJT and how many times a day. Also Denver if anyone knows.

 

[baseal]

If you fly 80-85 block hours in a month here at FDX, you are doing something very seriously WRONG!!!

Unbelievable! Up until retirement my dad was flying darn near 100hrs a month and not complaining a bit. I was getting a medical done a couple of months ago and overheard some FedEx guys complaining about "having to fly a couple of days while their family was on vacation". If flying is such a pain in the as* then quit! I've bled purple and orange since birth and have lived a somewhat comfortable life because of it, but not due to "flying a couple of days a month" I can assure you.

 

[PurpleInMEM]

" Unbelievable! Up until retirement my dad was flying darn near 100hrs a month and not complaining a bit. I was getting a medical done a couple of months ago and overheard some FedEx guys complaining about "having to fly a couple of days while their family was on vacation". If flying is such a pain in the as* then quit! I've bled purple and orange since birth and have lived a somewhat comfortable life because of it, but not due to "flying a couple of days a month" I can assure you. "


You bleed purple and orange??? Come on!


This is THE job because of the low block hours! I consider it the best benefit of working here. 100 hours a month? The only way I could even get close to that would be some insane VLT or DRF time and I'm sorry but I won't do either. Maybe MD11 guys are into that, but I imagine for many of us 45 minutes to an hour inside the aluminum tube is plenty. There are lots of guys that want to fly an MD11 around the world, but when the base pay is the same to fly an MD10 back and forth to St. Louis I don't see it in my future.


The airlines attracted me because of the money, retirement (now suspect unfortunately), and time off. FedEx led the list because of the low block time and double dead heads. You'd have to be a moron to quit a gig like this. I mean come on...flying out of my home town, sleeping in my own bed except for the twice a year "mandatory fun" training in MEM. You can't beat it, but I'll never "bleed purple and orange." It is after all, a job.


I agree with Keith...if you're flying that much you're doing something wrong (or your juniority won't let you bid the short trips).