Originally Posted by englishtom1596

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.