GogglesPisano
Pawn, in game of life
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Posts
- 3,939
I was at ACA/Independence. I wouldn't have left for World unless the writing had been on the wall. That being said I'm glad I came here and not another LCC. This place is a lot more interesting and can certainly round out your resume if you don't intend on staying (we are losing a ton of guys to UPS!) The layovers are great because a lot of them are multi-day and overseas. Plenty of time to sample the local brews and sightsee.
As far as the schedules go it varies and there is very little control if you're an open flyer ("open flyer" = 12 days off usually in 2 blocks with anything possible the other 18.) My biggest complaint is not making the high-credit I was used to at ACA -- the guarantee here is only 65 hrs and a lot of the lines are in the 70's. You get paid block or THP whichever is higher for the month (THP is a look-back hourly trip rig which works out to 4.8 hrs/day everyday you are away from home.)
Open flyers can be gone all 18 days and get over 90 hrs of credit, be gone less than 14 and get min guarantee, or anything in between -- or be home all month! Other than calling scheds and "doing favors" for them -- something the union and most pilots frown upon strongly --open flyers have virtually no control over whether or not they fly and thus their income. So for planning purposes, expect to make min guarantee at least for the first year or so. However I have run across junior guys who have been kept out 18 days/month and are being extended into their days off (you get 1/18th of your guarantee -- which would be 1/18th of 65 for an open flyer -- for everyday that happens) when they would rather go home, as I'm calling scheds asking to be kept out after a whopping 3-day and being told "nothing's open." In short, there is no "call me first, call me last" option for open flyers. You could theoretically be out 36 days straight if you bid incorrectly from one month to the next ("bidding with consent.") I've never heard of someone doing that.
So there's good and bad with every flying job.
The bad:
1) There is a lot of commercialing around in coach on about a dozen different airlines, often in the middle seat. Nothing says "living the dream" like 12 hours in the middle seat of a fully-loaded 747 with a SARS mask on everyone but you.
2) There is also the $48,000 training contract you have to sign. It kicks in on the day of your MD11 type-ride and is pro-rated at $2,000/month. If you quit early you owe -- if they furlough you they don't owe. Whoever said life was fair. :uzi: It obviously hasn't stopped people from going to UPS.
3) Lower credit than most regional pilots are used to.
4) Losing 3 airplanes next year
5) A merger with ATA. Who knows what that will bring -- but has a merger ever been good for anyone (AWA guys notwithstanding?)
The good:
1) Great crews. Some of these captains have been here 20+ years (some of the FA's 100+ years
) and have literally flown eveywhere you can imagine. Cruise ship charters to Fiji, cargo to Latin America, the Hajj (not anymore), military bases around the world. They have a wealth of knowledge in international procedures which just astounds me everytime I fly with some of them. I learned as much here my first year as I did when I was a feshly minted RJ FO.The pilot group is also very unified, probably because there are only 420or so. The union is strong.
2) The MD11 is a cool airplane (not as comfortable as the Bus, but what the heck.) The training is tough ("build the airplane") but I don't know of anyone who didn't make it through unscathed.
3) Every flight is catered (of course a lot of time it's AMC food
uke: ). Usually pretty nice hotels overseas. Mediocre ones in the US. (Funny how the nicest hotels I've stayed in are in 3rd world countries.)4) No manuals = no revisions.
5) Home-basing. No crashpads, no begging. If a flight gets cancelled you simply call skeds and they worry about hotels/back-up flights.
Good luck.
