freight jobs

[aerosteve]

hi all!

As a student studying their atpl, and looking for a job in the next 2 years, i thought would ask for some experience from freight pilots as to how you get into the industry, rather than flying passengers.

Also, in comparison to flying for a passenger company, what are the perks/ drawbacks of flying freight? any advice would be most helpful.

happy handling,
steve..:ok:

[Boeing Freighter]

Hello Steve , ( BEWARE , LONG POST )

Having looked and read about many areas and topics ( many from PPRUNE ) about flying freight and how to get into the freight flying industry , i have found ... :

Drawbacks :

The ratings you must have and usually the experience you have is the exact same as if you were applying for a job with a major european / international airline. So freight isnt usually easier to get into if you are interested in flying the heavy jet freighters or anything.

Very much fewer sponsorships or part-sponsors are available in the Freight industry , and there are really only a few for passenger flying anyway , so it near-impossible to be sponsored by a Freight airline.

A Perk and Drawback at the same time :

The main difference between passenger flying and freight is the TIMES , Type of aircraft , destinations and veriety of flying.

- TIME : Passengers operations mainly take place during the day , and have " rushes " on certain days. Freight flying , you could be starting a shift at 19:00 ( ! ) , for a long-haul ( or a group of small flights ) around the world ( or U.K ) , so the mail / freight is on the doorstep of the people who want it by the next morning. Also , like a passenger airline , your weekend could fall on a tuesday and wednesday , and you could be working through the weekend.

- Aircraft :Cargo doesnt care if it flies in the biggest , safest aircraft or with the best rated airline. So , often cargo operators feel no change in aircraft is needed , and operate small , turbo-propeller aircraft , relatively old and not the most comfortable or " coolest " aircraft at the airport.

- Destinations : Unlike charter or scheduled passenger operations , contracters dont always want cargo delivered to Zurich , London , Cape Town , so some places you could be operating into airports you have never heard of , with very little commercial traffic flying into them.

- Veriety : Like the above topic , one day you could be delivering washing machines ( or similar ) at luton , very busy , then same time one week later , you could be delivering a couple of stacks of newspapers to the Isle Of Man , after which you are off to Geurnsey on a re-positioning flight. Which will also mean , 9:00am , you have a full aircraft at maximum take-off weight , then take-off from Isle Of Man the aircraft handles very different , as it is empty execpt for fuel.

Perks :

The pay for flying freight for a major freight airline is the same as flying for a major euroopean / international airline = you get good money flying for a main airline.

Like Veriety , pilots who like the excitment of working different hours , unsure of where they will be in a weeks time ( airport wise ) , what cargo they will be carrying , it is very diffucult stuff and really builds your experience quickly , with ATC / traffic density and aircraft handling characteristics changing all the time.

The freight airlines are generally very stable , like with the passsenger airlines. As long as you research the airline you are applying to , with a good cargo airline , you will get payed on time , the rosters will not change without a certain notice period and it will be a friendly and fun enviroment to work in.

Overall :

I am sure some of this information is a little ( or alot ) " out of date " or just very wrong. But there are many topics similar here , take a look in the Freight Forum and look back and i am sure there will be much more to read about.

Good Luck

Hope this helps

Calum

[CR2]

That about sums it up BF.

[error_401]

BF

--------------------------------------------------------
small turbo-props - not the "coolest" aircraft
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That's unfair :{

I love my ATR's and it is as cool flying the turbo-props as it may be flying the big jets - which I hope I will also attend one of these days.

:ok:

[aerosteve]

Thank all for the replies.

Boeing Freighter, i see that your from scotland and wondered if you are currently flying freight from home? i saw your post from last year, asking a similar question to me.

any luck with jobs and what has your experiences been in scotland re: employment of any flying sort? or even where you did your training.

Thanks for the advice.
cheers,
steve...

[father murry]

just checkin out you freighter guys havin a chat - takes all sorts!

[Luke SkyToddler]

small turbo-props - not the "coolest" aircraft
--------------------------------------------------------

That's unfair

I love my ATR's and it is as cool flying the turbo-props as it may be flying the big jets - which I hope I will also attend one of these days.

An ATR aint a freighter mate, (nor is it a small turboprop)!

Most UK freight operators tend to operate 1960s first-generation turboprop steam driven things, Shorts 330/360, HS748 / Andover, F27, Metroliner etc.

[Boeing Freighter]

Hello All ,

yes Error ,

i have no problem with Turbo-props of any kind , i really sould have said " not the newest aircraft " , as many are from decades ago , no offence to anyone :D
I would even say some turbo-props are just hands down better all round than some jets :cool:

"i see that your from scotland and wondered if you are currently flying freight from home?"

I wish lol :)

"any luck with jobs and what has your experiences been in scotland re: employment of any flying sort? or even where you did your training"

Actually , i have just 6 hours PPL :) , yip , i have just started my lessons back after a long while of quietness , and am really commited and looking forward to a career as a pilot flying , hopefully freight , or any other form of service for people.

I am doing my PPL at Cumbernauld Flying School , who i highly recommend to anyone thinking of learning in Scotland.

Like i said at the start , i am really just re-phrasing what i have found after weeks of searching on PPRUNE and through books and stuff , i can only wish some of the things i write about were from my experice :)


Check your PMs Steve ;)

Calum

[Leo8]

I dont work for a freight airline but do operate night mail on an ATR from time to time. For us, there is no variation. We fly a triangular route leaving our home base at about 8:30pm and arrive back at 6:30am with three and a half hours off between 1am and 4:30am.

The main problem I have with it is tiredness. There is just enough time in the break to fall alseep which is a real killer. I tend to sleep 2 hours in the break and then try to sleep another 4 during the day. After 3 nights of this it really does catch up on you! I once did three night of this followed by two late shifts with only 17 hours off between shifts. That doesnt give you time to catch up or adjust the sleeping pattern.

You also tend to spend a lot of time waiting around and do fairly little flying. We are away for 11 hours but only get 3 in the log book.

The plus side is that you can usually relax a little and dont have to worry about passengers not turning up and airports tend to be less busy at night which means less time at the holding points and less delays enroute.

Hope this gives you some useful info. This is just my personal experience.

Any questions please ask.

[error_401]

BF,

My post was also meant to be ironic more than complaint.
Nice resumee of what freight flying will be like.

Absolutely correct. Many companies fly "old" turbo-props. Fortunately for us pilots these very "old" planes start to cost the operators much money as the need to add stuff due to regulations. R-NAV etc. Many operators started looking for mid-aged aircraft for a while. My company operating aircraft from 15 years to 4 years old.

But for the future I'd definitively love to fly a jet too. That is what I once trained for before the carrier we were in broke... :{
Took me 2 years to get a job at all. Got it only with dumb luck, connections and a perfectly done project work.
Now - I love to fly the turbo-props!

Leo8,

Nice description of what flying freight may be like. Doing much the same. Depart at 8.00 pm fly 1.5 hours, stop for the A/C to be unloaded and reloaded, depart again at 4.30 am and be in the hotel at 06.30 am.

Got used to it. I cope with tiredness by mostly reading. Try to sleep not more than 40 to 50 minutes between 01.00 am and 02.30 am depending on how tired I am. So I get a nice sleep during the day from 08.00 am to about 14.00 pm.

Not too bad if you succeed in sleeping during the day. Flying the turbo-props sometimes means flying for smaller companies. The advantage is that some do also PAX or ad-hoc cargo. Depending on the company you may get some nice flights during day too, going special places.

[Boeing Freighter]

Thanks for the insight Leo :)

Thanks for the added info Error :)

Calum

[boeing727]

Interesting conversation about freight,

The company I fly for we work 14 days/ month. Our regular checkin is 00:30. Most flights range from 8 -10 hours. However, Our latest arrival is 1130 am - 1230 pm the next afternoon. 3 of those shifts back to back and you know what tired is. Of course we are doing it in a Boeing 727 so we are crossing 3 time zones. We also do a standby shift from early evening until early morning at the airport. THis tends to go flying 50 - 70 percent of the time. Anyway freight can be great or extremely boring. The chance to learn to fly the aircraft without 175 people critquing you is nice...but you have to get up awfully late to have the luxury. Anyway boxes don't complain!!

[hingey]

Very much fewer sponsorships or part-sponsors are available in the Freight industry , and there are really only a few for passenger flying anyway , so it near-impossible to be sponsored by a Freight airline.

Is this still the case? I'm looking for any kind of commercial sponsorship in or outside the UK (mostly) regardless of pay and workling hours, and have been directed to a few freight websites.

What exactly are the chances of a PPL holder getting anywhere in the industry by starting out with freight? Am I wasting my time?