Learning Freight

[Ghostie31]

hey,
just wonderin is it cheaper to learn to fly for freight as you are not flying passengers? do u need an ATPL?
Thanks

Ghostie

[redsnail]

Have you given this any thought?

Why do you reckon flying freight carrying aircraft would be significantly different from flying self loading freight aircraft?

[Clarence Oveur]

Oh Lord, have mercy! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Ignition Override]

Ghostie 31, yes, procedures are the same. And for the newer pilots who sometimes fly a light/meduim twin-engine recip. aircraft solo, carrying canceled checks etc all night long, it is challenging to stay alert and not make a major mistake (in icing conditions or not) :ugh: . My brother did this on Twin Commanders in Kansas City. Some young European/British pilots paid the owner about $20/hour so they could fly with my brother and others, thereby gaining some valuable experience (...logged as PIC?...). They are all fortunate not to fly people as cargo, and over here freight operations with the larger companies appears to have much more job security than flying people. FEDEX has never laid-off pilots, and doubt that UPS, or Airborne have.

By the way, you should hear about how difficult it is to get a job these days with FEDEX (and UPS) in the US. It was hard enough, even before US airlines laid-off thousands of pilots. And FEDEX sometimes has simulator checkrides at 0300.

When you and your crew are quite fatigued from all-night flying, possibly flying around the globe, your standard procedures (SOPA) and checklists are even more critical than during normal hours, after a 13-hour duty period with no rest. When pilots in a three-person c0ckpit continue an approach with no apparent concern, even after the VASI/PAPI lights disappear behind pine trees (the classic "black-hole effect") due to an increased, otherwise imperceptible descent rate, you know that fatigue is a major challenge. :uhoh: One pilot might have had a color-blindness issue, but doubt that he took the little blue pill.

A friends's wife flies MD-11s for a cargo airline.

[Ghostie31]

thanks for the helpfull comments ignition, i can imagine fatigue is a big issue!
thanks again.