Freight DogsFinally a forum for those midnight prowler types who utilise the unglamorous parts of airports that many of us never get to see. Freight Dogs is for pilots and crew who operate mostly without SLF.
I really don't have a dog in this fight anymore...I'm at Atlas on the "light twin"!!
However, you may ask your BA friends why it matters that "the BA work" he mentions only matters when it comes to big airplanes that carry freight. He seems to ignore the examples you gave of carriers that fly pax for BA.
Like my better half says...he has "the selective hearing disease"!!
And these people tend to forget why the BA freight work is by definition in an ACMI company, which, by the way is more expensive in the short run for BA.
But I am sure if they would accept the full, complete terms the board of BA would allow the cargo boys to have their own operations.
Now probably most contributers to the thread have not understood what I worte...
But would you class the 10 years of GSS operation plus the period of the Atlas Chelsea Rose operation a "short run". It can't be that much more expensive or BA would have done something about it surely??
It also has to do with the fact that in a really bad worldwide economy where air freight is suffering badly, they could just pay some penalties and give back the shiny new jets that BA did not have to pay for...
If they start their own operations, they'd have to buy or lease (dry) aircraft for their pilots to fly...and that is a huge commitment (and risk) that BA (or any of our customers) don't want to take...
I forgot to add "yours aye" was at the helm when the secondees appeared Had I known that was going to happen I would not have gone to GSS in the first place Many of the original Atlas guys were duped into transferring to GSS 2002
Unfortunately those management guys of that day don't realise they have a lot to answer to, hence the legacy of the present situation
Duped...but most INCREDIBLY lucky as it turned out...
Quote:
Many of the original Atlas guys were duped into transferring to GSS 2002
This turned out to be a very lucky choice...as they would have been made redundant (like all their former colleagues) in 2009 when Atlas closed the STN base and discarded all the non-Yanks as pawns in union negotiations.
Also, most were given a command...so it proved to be a VERY fortuitous decision in taking lower pay and conditions to move from AACS to GSS.
Not quite...the "original Atlas guys" would have been able to come back to Atlas mainline in 2009 (as many did) from AACS (not GSS) when it was shut down...
There has been some recruitment to cover retirements, a handful moving on and upgrades. Everyone who is coming through the system is 400 rated although not necessarily experienced on type. As long as there are such people available, there will be no non rated recruitment as far as I know.
Are you still as thrilled about the job as when you joined, zb? Or is an F/O's life of endless pos to/operate from Delhi starting to pall a bit? Good to see the recession hasn't completely stopped upgrades - GSS is undoubtedly a much better place as a captain.
I was certainly thrilled to be off the unemployment statistics and to be able to pay the bills again. So was Mrs Z.
As for your second comment, getting paid to sit in a nice seat watching movies is just fine by me. It has become better with the recent upgrading of our J priority. And the hotels in India are rather nice, the only real pain is immigration in Mumbai which is slightly less intrusive and unpleasant than Orlando. As for flying back and forth, there is no discernible difference between schlepping back and forth to the subcontinent and schlepping back and forth to the East coast or the Canary islands or up and down the UK 4 times a day. The big difference is that I now do a lot less of it.
I even got to go to the states this month, as our German colleagues have all been issued with Indian visas they can now enjoy the delights of DEL, BOM and MAA just like the rest of us and stop nicking all the Frankfurt -US trips.
I still maintain that it is a far better way to make a living than most of the slavery on offer elsewhere and command would top it all off nicely, should it ever happen. If not, then at least I have a chance of making it to retirement without dying of exhaustion first.
They said it could never happen - an improvement in the J41! It only took 10 years. And you've prised the Krauts off the Atlantic. I used to commonly do two to three India positionings a month, and was cheesed off that the Germans were exempt. Beats me why they couldn't fix all these things before the max exodus of '05-'08 of which I was a part? BALPA?
Working at GSS is quite relaxing, but purely a personal thing - I felt I was waiting my life away, mostly in hotels, or in the cruise, or positioning, and it never was quite as sociable as it was in the days of 7 day JNBs/long HKGs. Now I have a bit more stress, and a lot more variety - which I like.
Does anybody know if GSS will be recruiting again soon? And if so, how strict are they on the total hours requirement. Im rated and current on the 400, and although I don't meet the minimum TT requirement I have a substantial amount of hours on the 747.
Not sure how up-to-date www.ppjn.com is, but the webiste indicates GSS currently have 3 747-800Fs (400s have been replaced) with options on 2 additional 747-800Fs.
In this industry, nothing is certain and options may/may not be taken. Any idea whether these options might be taken? Is GSS doing reasonably "well" financially where growth would make sense or is it suffering like a lot of the freight carriers (i.e., Air Cargo Germany)?
GSS is trundling along as normal. All the flights are for BA at present so as long as they are doing alright so do we. Loads are generally pretty good and routes are adjusted as the market dictates, BA commercial seem to know their business and such things are far above my pay grade so I just turn up, fly then go home again.
ACG are now no longer trading so not much of a comparison. There may be a bit of work as a result or maybe not. As I understand it they did a lot of stuff for DHL. We still maintain currency on the 400 in the simulator and the manuals all feature both variants. Read into that what you will. Rumours come and go just like every airline, no idea what may or may not happen. There are a few new faces appearing which means I might get to enjoy my standby days at home this week
Dihaz, AFAIK recruitment is finished for the time being but it is worth putting in your details via the website as things can and do change fairly rapidly. As long as you are not too short of the required hours, having a current 400 rating will put you in the running.
