Cargo Career

[Flying Spaniard]

Hello,
I am starting my CPL in Australia next year
and i am thinking about the posibillities to get a job in the flying world.
Last month my brother invited me to go with him on the jumpseat to tiblisi he is a captain on a Russian cargo airline and he is enjoying it very much, i liked very much what i saw.
my question is if there are mor jobs for cargo pilots than for Passanger plane pilots?
Do Cargo pilots make less money?
what about the hours?
i know that my brother makes lots of hours but that is russia...
i suppose that when somebodey has made lots of hours it will be much easyer to be accepted for work anywhere.
i dont care where i have to live so what ae the best poss. to get a job?

Sorry for my poor written English i hope to improve that in the next few months

Thank You in Advance
Fabian

[GlueBall]

First GET your CPL. Then GET 1000 PIC multi and then GET worried about Cargo vs. Pax
airline job. Meanwhile go to "Wannabes" column.

[huntsman]

"my question is if there are mor jobs for cargo pilots than for Passanger plane pilots?
Do Cargo pilots make less money?
what about the hours? "

i'm sure these Q's will be more likely answered here than in the wannabe section (and a lot more accurately, too). how long would a response take GlueBall? not too long i'm sure

[TowerDog]

Huntsman:

There is no diff in pay: Some great paying pax and freight carriers, and some that pays poorly, regardless what ya haul.

------------------
Men, this is no drill...

[boxjockey99]

The plus side to cargo is that you have no PAX to worry about and so the only real delays you can have are late freight and ATC slots. None of the medical emergencies and lost PAX or late catering / cleaning. THe down side is the really unsociable hours as it is mostly night sectors.

The pay is roughly the same as PAX operators but I know my fleet doesn't benifit from the cushy night stops that med haul pax carriers get and we mainly fly V. short sectors (some as short as 8 mins).

The cargo aircraft usually are worked hard and look a bit beat up but if your company is a good one you'll still get all the toys we have come to want in life (like TCAS and GPS)

HOpe this helps

Box

[Metro man]

Main advantages of cargo are :
1.No pax ,therefore no air rage or other pax related problems.
2.In my job at least ,plenty of time off as night freight mainly is a Mon - Thur night operation .Finish work Friday morning back Monday night.
3.More relaxed working environment.

Main disadvantages :
1.Rare to get discount travel to the same extent as pax operations.
2.Mostly old ,tired aircraft.No B777 or A340 freighters ,a few B747-400 but these are rare.
3.Mostly night ,however suits some people ,me included.ATC delays rare ,radio very quiet ,lower temperatures (Australia can be extreamly hot in summer),usually get direct routing.
4.No glamour at all in the freight shed at 3.00 am.
5.People asking you if you are allowed to fly passengers ,or are restricted to cargo.
6.Tend to be more dodgy freight operations than pax ones as the pax ones are jumped on very quickly by the Civil Aviation Authority.

I'm sure other pilots could add to the list and although there seem to be more disadvantages I'll take freight over pax any day.