enntwo
Come on over, Spent a year in Jacksonville(north Fl) and spent time in MIA. Yes there is the ocasional Hurricane but you have days warning. Thunderstrms in the summer but that offers great experience (to avoid them) great overall weather. You will be welcome. :)

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carpe diem

BLCL:

I'm not yet flying for MAC (due to the annoyingly slow INS system), but should be in the groundschool early July. Good thing with them is they do have a referral scheme for direct entry to FedEx :-) Not many have been through it so far mainly 'cos they traditionally prefer ex-military guys.

enmtwo:

Florida is fine during July & August. Just gets very hot and humid quickly. Best time of day to fly is early morning or evening & night. Hurricane warnings are posted well in advance. Floyd was being watched as it started to form off the West African coast. Biggest problem at the moment are the bush fires, mainly in the West Central Florida region.

Checklist, I retired in November '99 after 27 years with a mining company, the last 13 as director of flight operations. Company was downsizing, so I got a sweetheart pension deal. I just make plastic models of aircraft that I've flown, mostly in 1:48 scale. Generally superdetail them with positioned controls, complete interiors etc. The Hogs' Breath sounds familiar. If it's a bar in SAV, I've been there. Last time I was there was in '87, as we sold the G1 that year. (still around, 26AJ) Britavia, hope you get on with Mountain Air. We used to do recurrent at USAir in PIT on the F27, and ran into their crews frequently. Seemed like real nice people. If you got any questions I can help you with about the F27, zip me an email. I've got 12,000+ hours on the turbo blimp.

Well, I am on mids again here at Customs. I am also in the pool with ABX, anyone have any opinions on freight over self loading baggage? I am also trying for UPS. Maybe I should stick with Airborne, any opinions there?

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carpe diem

BL C/LIST:
What a huge debate this'll open up.....
Freight or Pax... there are strong opinions on both sides, it depends on your preferred lifestyle, whether you commute, etc. I was fortunate (?) enough to fly for one of the majors in Asia that did both before I joined all-pax US major. ( Farrari: I saw your un-informed postings at the Fragrant harbour..stay out of it if you haven't worked there ). At that time, I think all the pilots preferred the freight trips because you were your own boss, and the trip usually ran ahead of sched. The pax trips could be chaotic ( try loading 400 non-english speakers off busses in a typhoon onto a 747 - there's going to be frayed tempers and crying kids....! )
The down side was I didn't have a daylight landing in the 747-400 freighter! Freight goes at night, and that suits a lot of people and disrupts others.
I'll say one thing: I've never had an unhappy FedEx or UPS guy/gal in the jumpseat, so they must be doing good things over there.Don't know anything about ABX though, so I won't comment.
Britavia: you know me...hang in there,mate! Hope to see you around the traps at some point.
Good luck to all on this thread seeking new jobs. I used to work night charters in Europe when I was starting my airline career, so I know how tough it can be....

RRAMJET:

I'm hanging on here..just don't know what to!
However, if all goes well, on Tuesday I'll get my EAD :-)

Freight or pax? Obviously I'm gonna say freight right now, but I'll be keeping my options open. The F27 stuff is Pt.121 which is handy.

EAD is in hand as from today, and I've been thrown a curveball. ACA (United Express) have just rung me and start talking about an interview! Hmm..Junkstreams and Barbie jets w/self loading freight or F27s/Caravans at night? What a decision!

Well, still in the pool at ABX, good news is that I am "I am in the 40's" so almost there I guess. How is everybody else doing?

ACA rang again, this time to schedule an interview. I think it will be either the 20th or 22nd. No news on a start date with MAC yet. ACA only pay $200 pw flat rate whilst on IOE though (2-3 months).

Hey Brit, check out Wiggins Airways. They start at 500+ flying c208's or B99's. # is 6036299191 ext 235.
good luck

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carpe diem

Oh yes..I remember seeing them when I was up in MA a couple of years ago. FedEx feeder correct? I doubt the wife will like going up to New England though. She doesn't like anything north of Carolina!

B4lndgcklst.

About ABX.Nothing wrong with the equipment or training,certainly one of the top four freight airlines to work for,the others being UPS,FEX,DHL.ABX hiring is now up to a trickle.DC-8s are being parked and replaced with the B767.In other words,three pilots are being released into a two pilot aircraft resulting in a pilot surplus.Pay and working conditions are at the upper end,15 days a month off guaranteed with base left seat salary after 5 yrs service at around $150K.Some senior guys actually more than double this figure,those at the 10 yr point take in over $200K with overtime.

A friend 6 months ago was #60 in the pool,he ended up going to UPS which was a good decision because:

1)ABX will in time either merge,get boughtout or go Tango Uniform.
2)The rapid upgrade is a thing of the past,a lot of stagnation on the seniority list nowadays.
3)Contract talks start next year,will probably very quickly turn ugly.

If the other 39 ahead of you are still in the pool then it will be a good while prior to your being called.

As for flying at night,as the user name suggests,I love it.Morning type people of course never adapt and move on.Horses for courses and all that.

Willow Run is still alive and well and some of us can still make a shilling or two

Greetings Britavia: Good to see you have the ground school date. I agree with you on the tough choices, and certainly didn't mean to sound critical of those of us who had to work at low salaries-either a terrible salary or no job opportunity: I did my share.

My comments were only intended to suggest that the problems caused by US deregulation here, long ago in the early thru late 80's, appear (to me) to often be a surprise to pilots in other countries, when similar results take place. It is a shame what has happened around the world where this happens, but it is real hard to anticipate the job market and pay/benefits until it happens in a given market. It was a disaster here for thousands of pilots.

Will you guys be based in the eastern US, or out in the mountainous regions?

Hey Vampire, we need to talk. Write me will you?
thanks

hey pigboat you can still HEAR? amazing!

Ignition Override:

Thanks for the email. Looks like MAC will be starting either August or September. TBD in about 2 weeks time. Whilst $22,500 for an FO in the F27 might not be great, look at the regionals, some of which start as low as $14,500 (mentioning no names). Training package is very good though, all expenses paid, $50 a day pay and $27 per diem on top. After nearly 3.5 years instructing, I'll be rich again LOL.

ACA interview was supposed to have been on the 26th, but the flight from JAX to IAD was cancelled (suspect no crew available?) so it is now to be July 7th.

When you guys say that there is life at willow run is it at zantop or USA jet ?

Looks like it will be MAC for me as ACA didn't like me (ahh..shame ;-) I think had ACA hired me, I would have gone for it. Seems like a good operator to work for with plenty of expansion in the pipeline.

To those flying cargo, how difficult is it to adapt to a noctural existance?

North Carolina calls...August 21st, at last!