Just by crunching some numbers from the latest vacancy award, we have about 1077 pilots on the 747(436 CA 641 FO). That includes everybody on the seniority list, including those that don't fly the line(training dept, LMED, MIL, MGMT, etc). As a WAG, let's take 75 off to cover those...which is probably not enough. 1002 pilots for 42 airplanes. That gives us 23.85 pilots per airplane. I think UPS staffs the 747 at 23 per plane, so it's in the right ballpark. They show 47 NH spots on the latest vacancy award in addition to these numbers.

I think the 747 hiring has just been to cover the existing airframes, plus the couple additions we've had this year. I started less than a year ago and my seniority has moved up an average of 10 per month. The numbers show that we should be staffed adequately, but yet it's always a Chinese fire drill when it comes to scheduling.

The latest vacancy award shows 383 767 pilots(196 CA 187 FO) for 18 airframes. Figure 35 or so don't fly the line(again a WAG and probably way low) and you get 19.3 pilots per airplane. That seems a bit high for an airplane that most are operated 2 pilot and sit at out stations for DHL all day and the same crew flies it back, so presumably some of those are planned to fill the new airframes coming online. They show 23 NH spots for the 767 in this vacancy award.

I've heard from people that interviewed recently that they were told most upcoming new hires will be going to the 767, with a few 747 classes here and there. Who knows if it's true or not, but I have a feeling there's something we're not being told about that is going to happen on the 747 side. I'm sure you've all heard the various rumors...time will tell if any of them are true.