U.S. Freighter Base Rosters
 

Hey Folks,

I am facing the decision of choosing a U.S. freighter base and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is any significant benefit to one of the bases over the others in terms of rosters, etc. I am looking at moving to one of the cities but haven't made any real decisions yet. I was wondering specifically if the west coast bases may have shorter trips or if they all vary about the same. Also, how do pax rosters compare to freighter rosters in the U.S.?

Thanks!

You mentioned in your other post they told you DEFO Amsterdam and Sidney.

Were you being interviewed for both DEFO PAX Aus/europe and N. America DEFO freighter ?

As for rosters. Well.. you pays your money......Really hard to say. For N. American bases just go with where you want to live. I would not recommend commuting especially if you have family that you actually care about!

In general the pax rosters are considerably better than freighter N.America. The freighter in europe had it good for awhile (not too many days away) but that is slowly changing for the worse.

So there you go. Good luck.

FG

Thanks for the info. I interviewed for NA Freighter, but there were others there in the group that interviewed for other bases.

In what way are the schedules getting worse? I would assume the flying really can't vary that greatly. Also, an off subject question: as an FO, are your sim checks every 6 months or every 3 months?

Thanks Again...

The schedules are getting worse because we have a/c coming and not enough pilots to crew them. Therefore the crew we have will have to work harder.

You do a PC every 6 months, but in between you might get a handling sim or a loft so it is possible to get a sim every 3 months. However the mid sim (between PCs) is a low priority and will get taken away if no trainer or sim available etc.

Initially as an FO you will do a mix of regional in the US (LAX-SFO-ANC or LAX-YVR-ANC or JFK-ORD-ANC or ATL-ANC) and ANC-HKG-ANC.
You should average 12-15 days away per month on a 6 day and a 9 day pattern. The 9 day can sometime turn into 10 or 12. Once or twice a year.

Enjoy it is great flying and a fantastic machine. Then when you get to the PAX fleet your sched gets even better.

Cheers

FG

Not enough pilots ehh...

Is CX going to relax (or broaden) some of their hiring criteria? Seems to me their criteria is based on 100-150 pilots per year...heard now they need 250-300 pilots. I guess successful candidates aren't taking the job offers...or showing up to class. I've run into several people who passed the interview and didn't take the job.

Thanks Five Green,

That's exactly the answer I was looking for. After all the negative posts it's nice to read something positive about a job I just worked really hard to get.