Originally Posted by
xjtguy
Are you SURE thats the case? As well as will be the case if/when they ever hire again?
I knew more than a few civilians that were hired in that time frame, NONE of them had PIC in a heavy with overwater/ClassII nav experience.
They did have SIC time in those operations, ALL of their PIC time was at the regionals. They went from RJ CA to the various ACMI outfits, then to UPS. Many of them I know came from GAC. One pilot, that I haven't seen post on here in a while didn't even have the "heavy-jet" time. Just narrow body/non "heavy-jet", yet STILL has ClassII nav experience in it.
And if I'm not mistaken, the heavy/ClassII nav requirement only lasted for a few rounds of hiring classes before it got dropped again.
Because, AGAIN, I new guys that went after that, and AGAIN, ALL their time was in the lowly little RJ's with NO heavy/overwater/ClassII nav experience.
I have great empathy for both military and civilian guys who are reading these posts. I was both. I know how hard it is to be a civilian guy trying to make it in this industry. You guys have huge balls. I don't know if I would have had the stomach to go for it, graduating from ERAU in '90, had I not gotten into the USAF Reserve in '94.
And as far as the American Warfighter goes: Right behind your Lord and your mother, I am your third biggest fan. I fully recognize that Liberty's Light burns bright today only becuase of the sacrifices you guys continue to make every day. God Bless you all. I love all of you, and would do ANYTHING for you.
I want all of you to succeed in life, civilian and military alike. I know there are some people reading these posts who may be interested in a career with UPS. I don't want to be a buzzkill and dash anyone's hopes and dreams. I just want to state the facts, so that you all can make some realistic decisions on which direction to take with your life. I know full well the anxiety of this career. I didn't end up at UPS until I was 38.
I went back and looked up the resumes of my classmates on the UPS website. I made a couple of mistakes to my earlier post: For civilian guys, in addition to 747 and MD-11 Cargo Captains, we had one L-1011 Captain. We also one straight 767 Captain with a ton of PIC international time with Avianca. He was born in Colombia, he was the senior at 43, and he was a super nice guy and sharp pilot.
For the Fighter guys who want a career with UPS, I apologize. I don't want to scare you into thinking you don't have a chance. My class had ONE guy with a fighter background. He was an F/A-18 Naval Reserve Squadron Commander. He was a genius, a gentleman, and a stellar pilot. He had educational degrees, and both civilian and military accomplishments up the ying-yang. He was also a furloughed UAL 767 FO with Class II Nav experience.
Those are the facts, as they pertain to my class of about 18. At the time, DEC 06, UPS had a policy of requiring 1000 PIC Heavy-jet, Transoceanic. This happened because at the time, all new-hires were going to PANC to fly the MD-11, which is legendary for its landing challenges. After several expensive landing incidents where the flying pilot had an RJ or Fighter background, they decided they would only hire pilots with Heavy-jet backgrounds.
Since they had over 10,000 applicants on file, they had the luxury of being VERY selective with whom they hired. I had a solid resume, and three internal recs from military friends. I didn't hear dick for a year and a half.
Here's the thing that finally did it for me: I went to an Air Inc seminar (at the insistence of my close UPS friend, who happens to be black.) He told me to get my ass ASAP to the next OBAP or Air Inc Seminar I could find. He was right. I went to the Air Inc Seminar at KIAD, NOV '06. I skipped the first day, and just showed up for the second day Meet n Greet at the booths. I stood in line with others, but when I got up to the front, the eyebrows raised, and the felt pens began enthusiastically circling items on my resume. They said, "Wow, nice. You should be hearing something in a week." Five days later, I got the call from UPS HR.
What will the minimums be after they have recalled all of our furloughed brothers and start to hire again? Who knows? But I would think that UPS will be a very attractive destination for pilots for many years to come, with hiring standards that reflect such exclusivity.
My experiences only reflect my particular slice in time. Your experiences may vary. Take it for what it's worth.
For you military "bums" who are wondering what you're going to do with your lives for the next couple of years, I firmly believe that you're going to have PLENTY of work, come this time next year. There will be Man-days-a-Plenty after WWIII lights off here soon. Israel is going to be front and center. Whether our CINC backs up our ally remains to be seen, but I'm confident/hope we're going to have a HUGE roll in all of this.
God Bless you all, and God Bless America.
If there is anything I can do to help, I'm here 365/24/7.
Dan