EK 777 Freighter-Dedicated Crew
 

Rumour is Habibis, they have canned the dedicated freighter plans on the T7. Not enough pilots funnily enough :ugh:

Lots parked up at DWC the other day i took one for a trip.

Also, expect Loadmasters on most flights, after the latest 2 f**k ups with loading. Apparently the order came from TC.

SyB :zzz::zzz:

Apparently announcement in September.

halas

There you go......

halas

Indeed, eating my words currently Habibi.

Nah, pass. A weeks rsv every month, unstable rosters, no requests ever, 2 years min on the fleet, the leave bidding will be a hoot!

SyB :yuk::yuk:

Wait for 6 months, see how people like/dislike it and then make a decision...

"Reserve weeks every month"

Didn't actually stipulate how often they would be but it didn't say every month.

Requests are so hit and miss anyway. :ugh:

Leave bidding now is a hoot. :(

halas

5-600 flying hours plus 2-300 dead head hours ..... that do not count towards your annual limit -> This puts me off the list!

Unstable rosters and more changes are a given with cargo ops, but there has to be a limit as to how they can push me around dh, with changes and cancellation, otherwise it's a handy tool to optimise crew usage. If dh would be fully counted, they would try to minimise disruptions and changes.

No requests -> No go either!

Reserve -> Has to be redefined more clearly.

Leave -> I guess that would not be a bigger problem than on the regular fleet.

Swap options and flexibility - not great on pax - worse on cargo with so few aircraft.

Further - RSV weeks will be allocated, didn't say how many. Nothing like a bunch of low (relative) hour limit pilots lying around to do a BEY or IST TA due 'operational requirements'.

🤔

Minimum Days Off
 

Did I read that right, minimum of 5 days a row off each month? But not necessarily in DXB?

Sounds like the perfect family life.....

Buyer beware!!
 

Those of you you have been here for a reasonable length of time will know that what is promised is sometimes vastly different to what is delivered! That is the nature of the beast.
If you believe the T's& C's as published (so far) then all I can say is to analyse the pro's and cons with a healthy scepticism before you commit yourself to 2 years of 'operational flexibility' requirements.
Those of you who are about to........ I salute you, as it will probably make my roster more enjoyable.

In the current system - you have exactly 33 hours to look and bid for freighter trips in the CRS. 8th 20:00-10th 0500.

That might give you a flavor of what's to come.

Depends if your standby includes passenger flights. If it does, as PT Barnum put it - 'there's a sucker born every minute', as they can pump your flying hours up to max on the standby month plus pax you round the place and get 150hrs a month out of you easily. Plus you could enjoy constant disruption, less days off, less days at home. Could you imagine being the dogs body for the passenger fleet every month.

If the standby is for cargo only, and you will fly cargo only then maybe worth looking at.

I think the statement regarding wanting to increase safety margins by having a dedicated and specialist freighter crew would mean unless desperate they wouldn't make you fly pax on RSV days - kinda makes a mockery of the whole thing otherwise.
I'm a little surprised by the number of people I know who are all over this (me not included) though. I don't think they'll have a problem filling bums on seats. As my neighbor put it "200 hours of deadheading = 200 hours of sleep, sign me up!"

Any idea/thoughts on how upgrades would be managed. I see two major issues:

1. Are you only offered the upgrade course based on seniority within the freighter fleet and only when there is a left seat to fill on the same. That sounds like time to command would be greatly increased as there probably will be less movement of the captains and definitely won't be any major expansion of the fleet.

2. If you get on the NaC course you'll of course have to fly pax flights during line training to get exposed to handling pax and cc. Then you'll be taken off the freighter fleet for some time. Sounds like that's a good excuse for the company to delay the upgrade.

Just some thoughts...

/Los

I think it would have been easier to use some of the RSV guys to crew the unpredictable freighter flights (as is currently done, I believe), rather than create a dedicated group of pilots. RSV offers that flexibility.

Anyway, I would not trust anything they say or promise....5 days off in a row? Why can't we have them now? Guys are away on 6+ day trips and only get 2 days max. afterwards. What will be different? Oh hold on, "we are creating a group of experts, an elite..." yeah right! Nothing they do is for us, I think we have had many examples before.
I would not go anywhere near it. You will be used and abused. Don't think you are going to fly only 500 hours for the same t&c's...

Divide and conquer.....

Is it me or is there still no freighter trips published in CRS despite bid closure tomorrow.

Inauspicious start?

I'm curious as to how many people they are looking for? And will it be by seniority, or experience level??

Lospilotos the way I see it you will keep your number in the queue for upgrade provided you meet all the other criteria and will be moved back to the pax fleet for your upgrade and will have to reapply for the freighter fleet once you've done your freighter line cotinuation flight 2-3 months later

The last time I remember management doing anything nice or helpful for the pilots was airshow passes back when LL was around, more than a decade ago. If they go ahead with the freighter fleet option it won't be because it is nice for the pilots. They've found some sort of angle which benefits them somehow and no doubt screws the drivers.