Octobersky

Anyone have any gouge on World? hiring? quality of life?

jonnyjetprop

Yes, were hiring DC-10 FO's. The company is short of MD-11 FO but is going to eat the shortage as 3 MD-11 (passerger planes) are going back to UPS. We are slated to get 2-3 pax DC-10 for the military and 2-3 B 747 freighters (pax conversions).

The shareholders have approved the merger of World Air Holdings and Gobal Aero Logistics (parent corp of ATA). What GAL truely is going to do, who knows? Look at it this way, you'll be on the bottom no matter what.

QOL? 12 days off minimum. You'll be on reserve (at home, playing with your kids). 6 hours to call the company back and leave home no less than 16 hours unless they offer to pay extra. Home basing. Pay $125 a month (no choice) and World will fly you from most airports within the lower 48 to the jet and back. This on the companies time, not yours. This means you are really home for 12 days unless you volunteer for more money. Starting pay is 43K plus change the first year minimum. Captain pay is on par with the majors narrowbody pay. Worldwide flying with some good layovers. Good hotels overseas and fair ones stateside.

Downsides? Since your travelling on the companies dime, expect to be out long streches. Think 14+ days. Could be less, but if you go in expecting it, you fare better. End of month, beginning of the month could be more. Some layovers could be in less than desirable locations. One can only watch CNN international so much. You'll never be working for the majors and you'll have to explain to family and friends what you do for a living. In a post 9/11 world, there still is less job security than most of the majors and all of the prime cargo carriers. While the Teamsters are better than nothing, the bar is set very low. Small carriers with small numbers of pilots can be volital. One or two planes can change upgrade times either way. (So can UPS opening their app window)

Unless you have an internal rec, try to speak with someone at one of those Air Inc. things. Best to network with someone on the inside. We've hired from most regionals and the military.

Hope this helps.

Mink

JJP,

That's an outstanding summary on World. Thanks for the info.

Octobersky

Johnny Jet,

Thanks for the info.

jonnyjetprop

I'll just add a couple of things:

Duty Rig: We have a 5:1 duty rig. If thet keep you out more than 13 1/2 days, your making over 65 hours for the month. Out of the 11+ years, I've been paid by the duty rig (we call it THP) most of the time.

1st year pay: Unscientific sampling. Nobody made less than 50K out of the chute. Some made more.

Profit sharing: Up to 10% of earnings. 2004 and 2005 were 10% years. We just released 2006 numbers (Our management had trouble counting). Union thinks were due p/s but the company is fighting if its based on WOA (made 2.2M) or WAH numbers (lost 2.3M). Thanks North American Numbers were down in no small part to the company lockout and a shift in military business from 4qtr 06 to 1st qtr 07. Note, you must be employed for one entire year to get it. In other words, if you were hired today, the first year of p/s would be 2009.

Hadj: Yes, World proudly flew the yearly muslim pligrimage to Mecca up until 2000. We haven't flown it since. No plans to do it either (No plans meaning at least until the next one. Things can change arround here in a heartbeat.)

Training Contract: Yes World has one and they been very good about tracking down those that tried to skip out. Runs 2 years from DOH and is prorated monthly. Last I heard, it was $40K ish. Why do we have one? World tries to recruit people that want to make World home. We're not in the MD-11 training business.

Direct training into the 747: We train direct into the MD-11, so why not. Company will post a test bid in the near future and a real one in the Sept. timeframe. Newhires will be assigned slots after that.

Per diem: $2.40 per hour. Can make money in some areas and in others not. Unoffical union policy is probational pilots don't buy beer.

The key to sucess at World is your spouse or SO. If they like the life, things are good. If not, look elsewhere. My wife seems to hate it when I'm gone past 14 days and when I'm home for more than 3 weeks I get grouchy after 21 days at home.

Vspeeds

What's World's Call Sign? Is it "Reach" by any chance?

Saw their MD-11 in Kuwait couple weeks ago.

Thanx!

jonnyjetprop

Without going into too much information, Reach is a AMC callsign.

MD11Pilot

The training contract is $48k. It is reduced $2000/month from the completion of your type ride.

I bet that the number of FOs leaving World has a lot to do with little or no committment from management (until last week) about replacing the three MD-11 aircraft that are leaving at the end of the year. It is difficult to just sit around and wait for them to decide what they are doing to do when they have a track record of offering additional airframes and then changing their mind at the last minute (B767.)

I cannot deal with another furlough or more uncertainty. I have a family to support. In the end I will pay $8000 to get out of my contract. But with my new position and 27 more years to fly, I don't think I will need to dwell on that. I never came to World with the expectation of leaving at all. Things change and other opportunities present themselves.

World has been a great place to fly. Some of my best overnights in the last 12 years have been at World. I wish everyone there well.

Radial Song

They use "World" or they often use the call sign of the airline contracting them "Lufthansa" or "Air Canada" etc.