What's up at Gemini?

[B747FR8DAWG]

I used to see the 10s in MIA all the time and noticed recently that they are not around as much these days. Did Gemini get rid of some 10s in favor of more 11s? What is the fleet composition now?

What's the latest news there?

 

[tjsatter]

Today's (5/03/08) Lineup features 3 DC10s and 4 MD11s operational. Tomorrow? Who Knows? What have you heard? Those on the inside are the most un-informed as to future plans. Rumours and uninformed speculation is all I know.

Ya wanna buy a DC10?

http://www.avbuyer.com/AircraftSale...nufacturerId=115&subList=728&NumberPerPage=10[/quote]

tj

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

tj,

Sorry to hear what's going on over there, just curious as to where all the planes went.

So if they are successful in selling the 10s, Gemini will only be a 4 plane operation, consisting of 4 MD11s?

 

[fokkers&beer]

I'm sorry to hear the operation has shrunk so much. I sure did enjoy the 10's and the crews I flew with.
I guess they are liquidating the 10's in preparation for the 777 freighters, or maybe Sir James has a better plan.

 

[Midnight Flyer]

You would think there would be tons of international heavy freight to keep 'em busy.

the DC10 is one of the best aircraft of all time...sorry to see everybody phasing them out.

 

[tjsatter]

Business is very good. The Air Cargo business seems to be a very good one to be in now and the foreseeable future. the party line from the CEO in re the DC10s relates to the high operating cost of the 10 versus the 11 with the current price of fuel. If they could they would buy another 10 MD11s IF they were available at a price they are willing to pay. But FedEx and UPS distorts the market since they will pay whatever it takes and the planes simply don't exist anyway. So who knows. Business is so good they would not have any difficulty putting an additional 10 MD11s to work if they could train crew fast enough to offset attrition. again, who knows?

Apparently the recently departed CEO had entered into LOI/options (?) to acquire 10 Airbus 330s (?) and further in the uninformed rumour speculation department MAY be 747-400s? I don't believe 777s are anything more than a fantasy at best. If the company is to remain a going concern they need to acquire additional airframes to replace the DC10s. The business is there. I do hope somebody back at IAD knows what they are doing. Stay tuned.

tj

 

[falconflier]

Saw 2 -10s parked on the east side of OPF yesterday.

 

[metrodriver]

Yes, one of them is pretty much parted out, the other one is due a C-check. It is parked untill there is enough work to warrant the check.

@b747fr8dawg: 2-3 DC10's were flying in Europe doing Africa stuff, untill these customers wanted a MD11. Now the -10's are back in MIA

 

[HA25]

Hope there aren't any furloughs for my friends at GAC... I really liked a lot of those guys. Plus, it's not a good market to get into the job search thing these days.

 

[AV80R]

... But FedEx and UPS distorts the market since they will pay whatever it takes and the planes simply don't exist anyway...

I don't think UPS is looking for any more MD 11's so hopefully that'll help the market to "distort itself" back to reality...

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

Say it ain't so

Just spoke to a buddy of mine at Gemini, and he says that all coporate AMEX cards have been cancelled, and now the company is requesting that the crews pay company related expenses (air travel & hotels) on their personal credit cards.

He's not too optimistic about their future!

 

[tjsatter]

Apparently so

Subject AMEX memo was sent at 5PM on friday by finance VP who then turns off his phone for the weekend.

An individual was told yesterday to go to MIA, He thought the company had bought him travel thereto, not. A query to company was met with a request for his personal credit card info. Which he did not have. Trip to MIA canceled; nevermind.

I love this kind of flying but Gemini's short term viability seems uncertain. Is Atlas hiring?

tj

 

[DA-20]

Quitter

 

[HA25]

I personally would refuse to place any expenses on my card... I worked both at GAC and another job that did the same thing with company cards... those Amex cards were backed ultimately by the company so that IF you refused to pay it, they had to ... with you taking on the entire debt in your name, you take the company off the hook.

I personally would find it hard to believe the company itself would be so sinister as to do this with the intent to leave it's pilots with the debt, but the reality is that maybe the AMEX card cancelled on them due to lack of credit worthiness and this is their last resort.

Wishing them the best.

 

[Rook]

Wow. Best of luck to the Gemini guys.

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

Subject AMEX memo was sent at 5PM on friday by finance VP who then turns off his phone for the weekend.

An individual was told yesterday to go to MIA, He thought the company had bought him travel thereto, not. A query to company was met with a request for his personal credit card info. Which he did not have. Trip to MIA canceled; nevermind.

I love this kind of flying but Gemini's short term viability seems uncertain. Is Atlas hiring?

tj

tj,

Sorry to hear that this crap is happening to you guys, but glad to see that guys aren't pulling out their personal cards for company business expenses.

To answer your question, Atlas is hiring, been hiring all year, just send your resume to [email protected]

Good luck!

 

[b707guy]

Quitter

WTF? GAC management?

Best of luck to all of you. Start shotgunning those resumes if you haven't already. ATI's still got a few classes to hire this year, next one planned for July with interviews to fill it starting this month.

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

WTF? GAC management?

Best of luck to all of you. Start shotgunning those resumes if you haven't already. ATI's still got a few classes to hire this year, next one planned for July with interviews to fill it starting this month.

b707guy,

Would you mind posting the contact info for ATI? Got a buddy, who's an FE at GAC and he called me today asking about employment at Atlas, but we're not hiring anymore FE's..................Thanks!

 

[fokkers&beer]

Its not really home basing when you have to pay with your own credit card. That totally sucks.

 

[b707guy]

Well, before posting this, I wanted to check it out myself, and unfortunately, it may be of little help at the moment, but here goes: Go to www.airtransport.cc and click on Careers at ATI, and Find a Position. Right now, however, there are no announced flight crew positions. We've apparently been inundated with applications with ATA and so many others suddenly available and the process has been halted, probably through September for pilots. Some discussion has been made regarding PFEs, but any need will be short term. Our three-seaters are unfortunately very unlikely to grow, and are more likely to reduce in the not-so-distant future, so anyone looking to be hired as a PFE would most likely not be doing themselves any favor. That same link above does show mx positions, so if any PFEs out of work are willing to turn wrenches for a while, there may be some opportunities there for them. Hope that helps...

And just to clarify, the July class I mentioned elsewhere isn't filled yet, so if you have an application on file, you're still in the running for interview and selection for that class. It's just that no new apps will be taken at least for the better part of the summer.

 

[flypixs]

Talking about the Amex cards at GAC. No word from the company and the union. The main reason the cards got cnx is that GAC did not pay the bill of 1/2 mill+. Can you blame Amex for pulling the plug? And no, none of the pilots is going to use their personal cards, only the hard core overtime donkeys

 

[pilotyip]

Funny I just got a call of GAC pilot who turned down DC-9 F/O slot in November. Wants to know if it is still open. I told him no we filled it with a 500 hour CFI, in November.

 

[Colonel Savage]

... I told him no we filled it with a 500 hour CFI, in November.

Why do you guys hire such low time pilots? There are qualified transport catagory pilots availible by the hundreds right now.

 

[HA25]

Why do you guys hire such low time pilots? There are qualified transport catagory pilots availible by the hundreds right now.

because their the only ones who will put up with that kind of bottom feeder for any length of time. That 500hr cfi hasn't yet figured out that its all a wasted effort with the industry in ruins right now.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Hopefully he's a fast learner and will consider a different line of work...or not

PHXFLYR

 

[AMDFlyer]

Funny I just got a call of GAC pilot who turned down DC-9 F/O slot in November. Wants to know if it is still open. I told him no we filled it with a 500 hour CFI, in November.

Did you have to humiliate the guy making him aware that such position has been filled with a 500 hr CFI, what kind of professionalism is that ?...let's use some courtesy and diplomacy you might be that gentlemen tomorrow looking for a job and you would like to be treated with dignity even if you have to listen to a negative response from a potential employer.

 

[HA25]

One second thoughts, the more important question to Yip is.. why?

Why in this time with 23000 hour ATA captains looking for jobs are you putting a 500 hour pilot into a jet that requires a good bit of situational awareness and flying skill? Why burden your captains with him? Why take risks with your passengers? What if that CA is incapacitated?

Tell me a lot about your outfit.

 

[GogglesPisano]

One second thoughts, the more important question to Yip is.. why?

Why in this time with 23000 hour ATA captains looking for jobs are you putting a 500 hour pilot into a jet that requires a good bit of situational awareness and flying skill? Why burden your captains with him? Why take risks with your passengers? What if that CA is incapacitated?

Tell me a lot about your outfit.

Probably because the 500-hr wonder is more "motivated." uke:

 

[pilotyip]

Sign of the times in the hiring boom of 2007

Probably because the 500-hr wonder is more "motivated." uke:

One second thoughts, the more important question to Yip is.. why?

Why in this time with 23000 hour ATA captains looking for jobs are you putting a 500 hour pilot into a jet that requires a good bit of situational awareness and flying skill? Why burden your captains with him? Why take risks with your passengers? What if that CA is incapacitated?

Tell me a lot about your outfit.
(It tells you we fill our classes with most qualified pilot available when we have class, BTW he was much more qualified than the 250 hour pilot we hired in May of 07s)


The 500 hour CFI was the most qualifed pilot in our pool in October of 2007. The more qulifed pilots found other jobs or tuned us down waiting for the results of another interview. Most 23,000 hour pilots were going after what they presumed would be better jobs at GAC, CAL, Spirit, etc. ATA, Max Jet, Skybus, KHC, etc were still employing the 23,000 hour pilots at time so they were not looking

 

[Buckeye]

Becuase we all know that flying freight is below all you pre-madonna's. So when you get furloughed from your job at XYZ airline you come sniffling back to cargo. I remember when some cargo outfits couldn't find pilots in the late 90's FedEx/UPS. Now you guys drop to your knees and praise how great they are and how stable they are. That 500 hundred hour pilot is on his way up, and that 23,000 hour pilot is on his way down. The kid will be appreciative of the opportunity, the old timer will stay till he finds something better. Sorry kids thats the way the ball bounces. If you are chasing that Legacy job, you might want a quick shot of reality.