Its been fun sitting back and reading through all of these posts flaming IFL but I think its time to add my 2 cents for the people who are looking for current information (Diverb and GApilot)

I'm currently an FO on the 727 and have been here for just over 2 years. I can't comment on the Falcon or Convair side so please keep this in mind.

The engineer flow through is currently in full swing. This program was initially implemented to get 250 hour guys from the FE seat, to the Falcon seat, to ATP mins and back to the 727 FO seat. Our engineers have the option of 18 on, 12 off or full time schedule. Most of the guys take the schedules but the ones who want to make money and advance fast will go with the full time and suck it up for 6-8 months. Full time guys make around $40K base pay with $0.12 a mile flown bonus for a total of around $52K. Part time guys usually come in about $10K less but great money compared to flight instructing, pipeline or other time building jobs. someone previously said you won't flow to the falcon until your seat is filled behind you, which is correct. What they didn't say is we run 3-4 classes a year which we average 3 guys sticking it out. Everyone who has come through this flow has been back filled and moved to the falcon around 6 months, even if its left us short handed on the Boeing. The problem we're facing now is guys are choosing to go to the regionals instead of coming back to the Boeing but thats a problem management is going to have to try and solve moving forward.

As for the Job I will say we average 450-500 hours a year on the Boeing. January through may is usually an average of 150 hours.. so we basically have the first half of the year off (although we are on call). The job is hard work but we have great crews and we all work together. Captains, FO's and engineers will load freight, strap freight, grab tail stands, deal with fueling etc etc. We make our money when the planes moving so its all hands on deck to get the bird back in the air. We do have long days on occasion but most average 12-14 hours. I have had very long international trips but have never had a problem telling company we need an hour or two in the FBO to grab a nap and some food before continuing on. In some cases company has even sent us to the hotel to get our 8 hours mid trip if they know freight is going to be too long of a wait. Everyone wants to make money, but the dispatchers and management know that if we say we need something in the interest of safety there are no questions asked.

Training for the Boeing is very involved. For the most part its a 6 day a week schedule from 9-6 for class room. There is a lot of knowledge thrown at you in a short amount of time just like any airline. The difference is we don't have fancy interactive computer programs and you really have to know everything about the aircraft. Modern aircraft the computer systems control whether something will happen, in the 727 you are the logic in the system. For example, if you're overheating a pack because you're demanding too much cold air then YOU need to warm the mix valve to reduce that load. If you can learn the 727 systems then you'll breeze through any other systems class for the rest of your career. With that said the instructors work extremely hard to get everyone through training and ABSOLUTELY will not recommend someone for a check ride until 100% certain they will pass. In my initial they spent 3x the allotted sim time with one candidate one on one, doing everything to get him through until the guy just gave up and threw in the towel. If you give your all and make progress IFL will not turn their back on you.

Sorry for the novel but I wanted to give a detailed description of someone who started as an engineer 2 years ago and is currently working there. Yes IFL isn't for everyone and it certainly takes a certain breed of pilots to do what we do. If you can stick it out its an extremely rewarding job with a great group of pilots and management.

Any questions for me from the low time guys you can feel free to PM me.