The move to freight flying?

[Wings Of Fury]

Hi all,

I am considering moving from passenger flying to freight flying. I have flown freight before on a small scale locally in pistons and some in turbo-props, and liked the variety.
I am currently flying A300s in the Middle East, so that puts me on a good type for the transition to freight. I am also currently a First officer.

I have a few questions; firstly, do most companies have a good progression to command?
I find flying passenger aircraft quite boring with the same destinations all the time, does freight work involve allot of different locations, overnights and long times away from base? Because this is what I like, I know its strange as most of my passenger pilot colleagues are quite the opposite, I also like flying older jets too.
I guess what I am looking for is a job that takes you on long trips everywhere around the world, is there still such companies out there that do this?

I hope anyone can give me any sort of answers, past or present, and if you haven't already guessed I am very single and still young. :)

Thank you to all in advance.

Wings Of Fury.

[BANANASBANANAS]

Well, I guess we are all different but in almost 30 years of aviating I have flown troop transport (VC10), corporate (HS125), IT (B757) scheduled pax (B757/B767) and freight (B744) and, without doubt, freight is the most enjoyable and diverse flying I have ever had.

You can be away anything from 1 day to 20 days and rarely complete a pattern without a change here and there to your roster. Some people like it, others don't but I love it.

Hope that helps.:ok:

[beachbumflyer]

Too much flying at night and sleeping during the day.

[Dan Winterland]

Well, I guess we're all different, but in almost 25 years of aviating, I have flown tankers (VC10), pax (744), freight (74C) and pax(A320) and without doubt, freight was the least enjoyable flying I have ever had.

You can be away from 2 to 12 days, and rarely complete a pattern without a change here and there to your roster. Some people hate it, others don't. I hated it!

Hope that helps :(

[old-timer]

You could try TAY, they operate four A300's out of LGG, also 146's.



FREIGHT IS FUN, IT DOESN'T ANSWER BACK OR GET P@##ED & CAUSE A RUCKUS IN THE CABIN :ok:

[ScudRunner08]

You know your a Cargo Pilot When:

1) On the tarmac, the ground personnel rolls the red carpet AWAY from your plane ;
2) The plane you are flying was getting old when you were born ;
3) You haven't done a daylight landing for 6 months ;
4) The ATC tells you there is smoother air at another FL and you don't care ;
5) You call for transportation to the hotel and they can't find you on the airport ;
6) Your uniform has not been ironed for two weeks and nobody cares ;
7) You fly through a terrible storm and you can hear the thunder (instead of the passengers);
8) You have to get your own coffee ;
9) Nobody is afraid when you use the toilet ;
10) The Toilet is from "Rays R.V. Parts Store"
11) Just after you rotate your cleared Direct your destination.

[FirstStep]

Previous passenger, now freight( Atlas Air ). I enjoyed both, and at times, I hated both. I currently enjoy the ever-changing schedule. No, not the one that changes before a BKK or PVG layover, but the bigger picture of changes that keeps one from getting bored. Years ago I jumpseasted on an AA flight from PHL-MIA. The crew must have flown this for years, as they were bored ****less, knew the controllers by name, as well as the localizer,ect. I swore I'd never live that life. True, this life is frustrating at times, and it takes it's toll, but what doesn't?.

[Twin2040]

Well - I flew night cargo for 6 years in Europe and I can say that 99,9 percent where the same and the same - real boring!. On top on that - unpleasant hours to work at.
If you wanna stay on the A300 I think it is only DHL, now able to offer you a proper schedule etc., but you will go to the same destinations time after time - the rest mainly in Turkey and most likely poor pay and roster. After a brief period on Pax B767, I went on to fly Business jets - I have good pay, roster and many new destinations !

[Wings Of Fury]

Thanks again to all, very nice replies.

ScudRunner, you started to remind me of me a while ago before passenger flying! And I cant wait to be like that again!

Keep em coming....

[DBate]

Made the change from passenger to cargo flying about a year ago (long haul that is).

I enjoy the cargo operation a lot, even if it really has some downsides already mentioned by others.

Up to now, I never looked back, and don't think I will move back to passenger flying if I don't have to.