Still no Manuals, still no Training, still no Flights. The revenue issue is being addressed however. There is currently a plan to use the airplane as a billboard since it's not generating any revenue as a paper weight. They are trying to determine which parking spot gets the most exposure while at the same time taking bids for advertisers. I have heard that a bail bondsman has the current highest bid, but that a divorce lawyer is about to make a big pitch due to the high exposure to pilots.

What about the 767 ? any up coming classes ? thinking making the jump from 135 world. thanks

No word on up coming class. Although we do have more resignations to add to the growing list.

Chief Operating Officer resigned about 2 weeks ago
and
Officially announced today The Chief Executive Officer Tim has resigned effective September 17th.

The same Tim with all the experience and connections that was supposed to take Amerijet from being in "flux" to a place that the "credential looks good on a resume"

It's always hard to read the tea leaves, but...

It looks like there is at least the possibility that the Board pushed Strauss out. This happens sometimes when they bring in a guy/gal with a vision who moves quickly to do things his/her way, which way is more confident/aggressive/successful than the gang on the Board. Example: Karjian took his time deciding about additional aircraft, and missed opportunities as a result. Strauss went right to where he needed to and secured new aircraft. Karjian was happy continuing Amerijet's place as a partial-initiator of cargo; Strauss wanted to go much-more ACMI. Strauss seemed not to focus on the Islands and non-core activities.

The wording of the press release seems consistent with a forced departure.

Sometimes, seeing the new person confidently making changes scares people, and sometimes they bite back. OTOH, maybe they weren't accustomed to paying for new assets to sit around because the groundwork for their integration hadn't been laid before their leases started. Hard to know.

I have no idea whether this is what happened, but things like this have happened in the past.

Well, it appears that I was on the money or at least close: whether the Board made working there intolerable, or explicitly pushed him out, plainly they weren't ready to let him do what he came to do:

"Insiders have indicated that executive chair Vic Karjian, previous CEO, had been unable to leave behind day-to-day control of the company, while Mr Strauss was keen to implement his own strategies. Mr Karjian is now taking over as interim CEO – but the worry for any new chief executive will be that a similar story could play out." https://theloadstar.com/tim-strauss-...a-year-as-ceo/

Good luck getting anybody strong and imaginative ever again as CEO. Back to plodding along...

This is Not Good, IMHO.

Amerijet Hiring?
 

Hello all,

Does anyone know if Amerijet is still hiring/ interviewing this year? And if I would even meet their mins, i.e competitively? I am currently at 2700TT, 1500 part 135, 1025 turbine, 925 turbine PIC. I have submitted an app for the 767 FO.

Thanks for any info.

Honest question, why would you go to Amerijet when you can go to ATI, ABX, Kalitta, or even Atlas now? Amerijet is *way* behind. Everyone is hiring, and the standards arent exactly high at those other places if you have a skeleton or two.

I have applied to all the others as well and haven’t heard a peep from anyone. Really just increasing my chances of getting a call back.

I’m not sure why im not competitive or getting call backs. I fly air ambulance in a king air single pilot, not a single failure, violation or black mark against me. Idk what mins companies are wanting.

Ah, fwiw I have the exact same background and when I decided to jump to 121 no one would call me (except regionals of course...) until I had a direct referral from a current pilot. That was my particular circumstance anyways. I think they look at things like single pilot king air time as just a guy with no crew experience and no jet experience, and you have to get their attention some other way... but I could be wrong.

I have no idea what the competitive minimums are at all the above airlines, but after looking at your qualifications I would say there are some potential gaps.

How much Multi-Engine time do you have? Even the regionals still require/desire 50 hours I believe, although that may be less now
Do you have any jet time? Single engine turbo prop is turbine time and will help to bolster your resume, but jet time is usually still preferred.
Your total time is somewhat low for an ACMI, That isn't always a deal breaker, but with little to no ME or Jet time there isn't much else to go on

Internal recommendations also go a long way, or in the case of Amerijet try submitting your resume in Spanish. (tic: Some of our company emails are sent out in both English and Spanish)

Also it could just be bad timing. Most ACMIs reduce or stop training over peak so it's possible they all have full pools of pilots to fill the next couple of classes. Amerijets next new hire class will be in November and I would assume they already have enough applicants to fill that class and the next one. Although that could all change if the applicants get better offers or Amerijet succeeds in chasing away pilots as fast as they chase away executives.

On a side note, What are your ultimate career goals? I realize your goals will change over time, but unless you plan on making your next airline your last airline then an ACMI may not give you the most benefit. You seem to be lacking in ME, jet, and 121 time all of those things will be acquired much faster at a regional airline. The average flight time at Amerijet is about 50 hours per month, I would guess it is similar at the other ACMIs. You need 1000 121 hours before you can upgrade. So with Amerijets complete catastrophe of a training department even if you started in November you wouldn't start flying until February and it would still take 2ish years before you could upgrade and then another 2ish years to get to 1000 hours 121 PIC.

These are just some general thoughts without me knowing anything about you, your life situation, or your career goals. You're welcome to PM me if you would like.

Really appreciate the insight! Ultimately my end goal is mainline airlines. All of my friends recommend the international wide body operations over the regionals.

1950 MEL time, 1500 Part 135, unfortunately no jet time or 121 time. All of my time past 600hrs has been in a AMEL airplane. 925hrs PIC in the king air, single pilot. Hopefully something will break loose, or I may end up at a regional.

Honestly a year or 2 at a regional (they all have diff pros and cons) to check the 121 box will open some more doors. Also realize ACMI classes are filled from large Pilot applicant pools. Etc…I may take heat rounds for this but apply at Breeze also. That could be a blessing in disguise for someone with your background…movement, jets, 121, king air moonlighting etc…might open some doors. Realize in this biz 1 step back to take 5 fwd is sometimes required even if not preferred. All the best.

Any hopes for a Non-ATP pilot with ATP minimums met and about 1050 hrs Turbine with Part 135 experience?

We require all applicants to hold an unrestricted ATP. And unfortunately at this time we do not have anything which allows for non-ATP or restricted ATP applicants.

Thank you for your response.

Happy landings!

Why is that unfortunate? Requiring an unrestricted ATP for a job flying 767s across the Atlantic is a pretty low requirement as it is.

To be fair, I’m at an AA WO regional and I have been here just over 4 years now. I still don’t have 1k TPIC and won’t until probably feb or March. Granted we had Covid throw a huge wrench in progress and myself along with many others got downgraded for about 6 months. But all things aside sitting around on reserve didn’t put much in the logbooks even before Covid. So that’s just the experience I had. Maybe other regionals use reserves more.

Than can be as little as an age thing.
Example, a 22 year old (one month away from being 23) with an R-ATP and 2,500 hours doesn't get hired; but a 23 year old (that turned 23 one month ago) with a fresh ATP at 1,501 hours does get hired... So, two months of age difference, and the younger has much more flight experience.
Sounds more like age discrimination than a low requirement.....

A 22 year old, with 2,500 hours, one month before their 23rd, can be hired, as they will turn 23 before completion of training.

Come on, work with the point being made.......

Another wrench perhaps, but minimums are minimums. Flight time, age requirements, attitude/personality, resume (titles, etc.) What constitutes the hours of 1501 vs 2500 or whatever. We had a trainee waiting to become of age if you will to finish their 74 type at the training center. Believe he moved on, but good for him. Total package makes more sense with requirements met. Granted, you can drive at the age of 16 (or younger in some cases), but now in some states a handgun is not allowed until your 21 (perfectly alignment with alcohol age). Nothing discriminatory, which is better - 2500hrs predominantly (2/3rds) single engine or the King Air type moving auto parts by themselves most of the time. Not advocating any changes but life doesn’t always make sense. Point taken: In a Perfect World.

It has been a while here at Amerijet central...

What's the latest ?
New rates or contract?
757s flying?
Home basing?
Happy pilots?
Best management ever?
Awesome training?
Fast upgrades?

Inquiring for a friend...,

​​​​​​The short answer is no.

No new rates and no new contract. The company actually waited until mid December to sign a 150% LOA to help staffing over peak, so we've established that they need to have their heads fully underwater before they realize something needs to be done. The LOA was supposed to self terminate in February, but has since been extended to March. It is apparently still lost on management that a 2nd year Amerijet FO at 150% still only makes $144hr while an ATI 2nd year FO makes $130hr at straight pay. What management has figured out however is that a 2nd year captain makes $144hr, so they might as well just use them in the right seat.

Using Captains as FOs has gone from the occasional use to cover opentime and sick calls to actually scheduling CAs for duty as FO and calling them off reserve for FO flights. This again is not a knee jerk reaction, the company has made it clear that they will continue to run upgrade classes with the full intention of using CAs in the right seat because (A) it gives them more flexibility and (B) it is still cheaper than a new contract.

Hiring is continuing although you couldn't tell by looking at the seniority list. The number of pilot on the seniority list since last march has increased my 22, that includes the 22 hired since the beginning of this year. 76 hired, 44 resigned. Amerijet is managing to retain about ⅓ of new hires. While that seems like a bad thing, when you consider they are saving over $130hr per crew the training cost are not all that significant.
The rumored plan is classes of 14 new hires every 3 weeks with upgrade classes of 8 every month or so. I'm not sure how this plan will work since this is the exact plan they had last year, which they couldn't execute because they lacked the resources and they have not allocated a single dime to improving the training department. It is still the same single person trying to do all the training scheduling themselves. However in true Amerijet fashion, I have heard the newest director of training will be resigning. I believe that makes 4 in a year.

The 757s have started flying, we got the first one I think last July and finally got the manuals and approval to fly them in January. We knew we got the manuals when one day without notice the FCOM just disappeared from everyones iPads. Part of the FCOM showed up later that day as well as the systems manual for the 757. It took 3 full days to get the 767 systems manual back. We started Computer based training on the 757, oh wait no we didn't. They sent out the computer based training and then a day or 2 later realized it was corrupt and had to rescind it. Soon we will all start training on the 757, but how that will go with the current lack of check airman is anybody's guess. Management sent a notice asking for check airman applicants and either the quantity or quality was so low that they had to send out a new notice reducing the requirements from 1 year as an Amerijet captain to 1 year as a captain anywhere.

The most junior upgrade was a 4/21 hire so upgrade is currently less than a year if you have previous 121 time. There are however about 15 or so FOs senior to that person that either don't have the 121 time or are unwilling to give up their seniority. Seniority is important because Amerijet still does not have home basing, nor line bidding, nor any type of schedule pay protection. The closest you can get to a true line is by bidding a "Temp Base" which gets you a reasonably consistent line with positive space tickets to/from the base. If you can't hold a temp base then you are commuting to MIA where you are at the complete mercy of the planners and schedulers. Your schedule will go from 5am show to reserve to 7am show in the days leading up to the flight, with the flight finally being cancelled prior to report the day of the flight. Your planned pay credit will drop from 90 to 60 with no recourse. and you'll still be flying in the right seat. So if you take the early upgrade you will you will basically be a 2nd year ATI FO, minus home basing, line bidding, work, rules, pay protection, medical coverage, or any hope for actual career progression.

So to answer your questions, No. Nothing has changed and Nothing has improved. Although we do expect to get a new contract before last peak, in the first quarter of 2021, by this summer.....

Business as usual
 

SEP,

Sounds like business as usual. Also been noting our MECs buddy buddy with management on FB. No surprises there. It’s all for them none for us. While other airlines demand money for new airframe types, here, the MEC and union go above and beyond to do the job of the company and for free.
These boards have proven time and time again the inadequacy of ALPA. They should have left teamsters in, at least they cared about the pilot group.

I wonder who SM is going to point the finger at for the above post? I’m sure SM is already working on a new target to blame for that posts. I can’t wait to heard all about it.
Funny even his best friend just posted he left for Omni…… very telling…

March 14th class date.
 

Anyone on here attending that class. And if so, what’s your preparation like?

www.airline apps.com
Www.ups.com
Www.fedex.com
Www.American Airlines.com
Www.spirit.com
Www.allegiant.com
www.JetBlue.com
Www.southwest.com
Www.alaskaairlines.com
Www.Hawaiian airlines.com

Www.anywherelse.com

That’s how you prepare.

Otherwise don’t study. You will be passed no matter what.

lol. Guessing you don’t approve of anyone going there. And if so, do you currently work there? And why?

I would hate to ruin the “experience” for you. Enjoy!

You seem a bit salty, are you still there? Or are you someone that left?

same question I asked him. Just want to know? No harm, no foul.

If you must know, yes, I am here. Thankful to finally join a real airline, I am on the way out. I know this board is full of cheerleaders for M6, which is understandable considering a significant majority would not be able to get through real airline training – at AJT they will pass anyone here because it's a necessity.
I was just like you, at first excited for the opportunities that presented themselves here. They sell you on it, and the potential is there, but the realities of this place start to appear early on in training. I have talked to "new FOs" who have been in training for approximately six months. Most of them have their applications out already because they had to suffer from the person in charge of training.
I am not here to change your mind, like me, you will see the realities of this place within a few months. I kept the faith in hopes of this mystical contract that they can't seem to agree on. Lies like "the contract will be signed in August" or "we have flying built for the 757 in August" will soon start to make you realize it's nothing but the proverbial carrot. The union is now trying to beg them for "something" to give to the pilots that can no longer wait for a contract that is barely in the works- all politics to gain sympathy- with no end in sight.
For the most part, the airline has good men and women who come out and do the job to the best of their abilities. Most of them are great individuals but not very good pilots on the pilot side. So one starts to realize why they cheer so much for M6- their abilities will only get them so far- and would not be able to handle an actual training program at a real airline.
I started to understand that some people need this place, and aviation in general needs places like this to be a home for pilots like them. They are people who are working hard for their families and finances, and I do not blame them for skirting safety to make this place work. It starts to become evident that this place is just a money-making machine for the people on top and a place to house has-beens and pilots without any skill. All of this is fine. Most of the people who come to terms of these realities are leaving. For me, what did it was the fact that they finally fired the person in charge of training only to bring them back because they realized they needed them to keep the airline training going. Then they make the scab a check airman again because all the check airmen are leaving in droves. It is sad when they can't find skilled labor to run the airline, and they have to dig below the bottom of the barrel.
Why did I bring up other airlines to go to? Well, if you can do any type of arithmetic, you will find that Amerijet is the lowest-paid airline of its kind. Like the poster above me pointed out, a three-year FO at, Kalitta, ATI, Omni, and Atlas, amongst others, are making more than a captain here. We fly the same airplanes, same routes, same schedules. The 401k is a joke, and let's not even discuss the medical insurance. When you do your due diligence and sit down and compare to these airlines, you start to realize that you are missing out on thousands of dollars in your career.
Not to mention that every airline in the United States is ramping up training, and you will make more money anywhere by the second year than a captain here. I know going to a job is a personal choice, and your coming here will house you and meet your personal needs. I respect that. I came here with personal needs too, but I realized that everything is smoking mirrors. The day you raise any flags or complain, the union will mark you as a non-team player and make you an enemy very quickly. If you leave, you will be labeled an "idiot" because you didn't wait for the contract. If you stay and are unhappy, keep it to yourself. Once you hit a wall, remember everyone is hiring.
ATI, Kalitta, Atlas will offer a much better QOL and money. Good luck with your endeavors, especially in training, you will need it.
And as for salty, yes I’m very salty, I realized I was drinking the coolaid for far too long and regret coming here and wasting my time. No worries, I am leaving, good luck with all the false promises.

I blame them. There's no excuse for that. And it's a self-perpetuating problem. Nothing ever gets fixed if everybody turns a blind eye in the name of making it work. Force the company to fix it. When airplanes don't fly, that gets their attention.

Ameriyet briefly took over the route that I use for my commute a while back, and I decided there was no way I was taking them to work, whatever inconvenience it may cause me. I now feel fully justified in that decision.

Smoke and mirrors is bad enough. But when the mirrors themselves are smoking, well....

This is an absolutely outstanding summary of the situation at Amerijet.

The only addition I have is that the check airman scab, is the same check airman that was investigated by the FAA after he sent an email to the entire pilot group telling them that they could disregard the instructions on the approach plate, that he had disregarded the instructions on multiple occasions, and that you could disregard the instructions in order to 'legally" dispatch. Now he has been reinstated as a check airman. This is the type and level of training and professionalism you can expect at Amerijet. It is also an indication of the type of oversight provided by the FAA

It is honestly a miracle that they have never lost an airplane.

Ah, Cazador… I missed you!!
 

N608AX, my friend cazador… new name, same old talking points. Tip for all your internet trolls out there, if you change your handle change your talking points least you easily identify yourself. You must be bored at your mainline job, so bored in fact you just can’t let go of little old Happyjet. I mean how dare pilots from a little scumbag 36th street airline not follow your BS blindly since you come down from the mountain bearing the scrolls of knowledge. You know, I spoke to your membership committee(another great ALPA resource) and it seems you didn’t get called back to your airline like you told everybody, and you canceled your honey of a leave to tuck tail and return home. Thankfully you still have the internet to serve as your pulpit, we wouldn’t want you to get bored. I don’t have to change my name on here, everybody knows who I am and I’m not afraid of it, so be a man and do the same.

SEPfield: I hear Avelo is hiring street Captains, maybe you should apply… or how about shoot for the moon and apply for FedEx, I have some great contacts over there that may be able to help. I think you still have my number, give me a call sometime!!

Amerijet ain’t for everybody, and my recommendation for anybody that is unwilling to stick it out and see where it’s going is put your stuff in at somewhere you think best fits your lifestyle. Attrition is a problem for the entire industry, especially in our segment of it, however for the moment it has actually slowed significantly. Now that could change tomorrow but it’s starting to show that people are willing to take a chance with the change here. We are deep in section 6, and the pace of negotiations has picked up a lot of momentum since resuming after peak, but guys the company isn’t just going to give us a raise or significantly change conditions until they are negotiated. There is a process, it’s why we pay our dues, but I can say with all my heart your negotiating committee is working hard to get a contract that meets or exceeds our highest peer. Amerijet has its own system out of Miami, which presents a unique situation, but I believe the new CBA will have provisions that will not only make people that are expecting home basing to be happy but to also the ones that want to fly Miami equally happy.

Is it a madhouse here, of course it is, and it will be for a while. The current leadership team is just now getting started adding the resources to succeed, like hiring a crew scheduling manager, a new director of training, and various support personnel in flight operations. It takes time to build things, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but things are slowly but steadily improving. 757 proving runs will start next week, and table tops and the evac demo went off without a hitch, so they will be making airplane noises soon and allow us bring all of our Miami flying back in-house in the very near future. This is on top of the opportunities presented by the CEO this week during the town hall meeting.

There are people that have gotten held back for OE due to lack of check airman, however that is also improving. We have only lost two check airman, one went to a major airline and another decided this place wasn’t for him. Four of six new check airman have gotten qualified, and another class of six will be selected soon, so that backlog won’t continue. The new director of training built an AQP program at his last airline, and has committed to bringing our training program into the 21st century. Yes one CKA got his letter pulled for a short time, but was brought back with the FAA’s blessing, so maybe just maybe we can allow a person to learn a hard lesson and come back stronger than ever. Another upgrade class was just announced today, and at least one more planned for the very near future.

Aviation is a gamble for anybody, but there are a lot of people doing a lot of hard work to shed the image of a scumbag 36th street airline and make this place a real contender in the industry. My advice for anybody is if you don’t like it here, almost everybody is hiring so take your pick and head that direction and I wish you the best. However if it’s worth it to you to stick around and see what happens I think anybody that does will not regret their decision.

Woo Boy! Things do still seem rowdy at Amerijet. It appears not much has changed for the better from reading the past few months of posts. Looks like the constant is still SM targeting people who make him look bad, but he can’t even get that correct now.

Are people coming for the Twin Peaks and staying for the paper weight 757s now filling up the ramp on the approach end of 26R or the other way around? I kid.

In any case it’s laughable to me a sitting union chairman is getting flak from some individuals in his pilot group and the only thing he can do is blame it on past employees who long ago departed the fix. Gotta control the narrative somehow right? Go back and read the posts of SEP and 0X and if you put your glasses on and squint it doesn’t take much effort to see they are recent 36th street alumni or current employees, not people who “tail tucked” back to a legacy carrier. Really, that line really did make me chuckle.

I don’t care to debate about what Amerijet is doing or better yet, NOT doing as it doesn’t concern me. Any one right now who wants to leave the glories of 36th street and is able to can, and word on the street is they are in throves. If they aren’t, they either can’t or don’t want to, and good for those guys too! What a turn around from 2 years ago the industry is in for the better.

However, when it comes to wrongly accusing myself of posting with fake accounts, that I won’t let slide and I don’t have to hide behind any accounts or even this forum. Any one reading this can read and see SM self admitted to calling other airlines committee members to see why people left (which was also false, the way it was worded even shows a lack of understanding of the union structure of a larger operation) and yet still no contract for AJT? That speaks for itself. There’s also multiple conversations from internal group chats and other unofficial correspondence where your identify yourself with other fake names you’ve used on this forum to attack any one who doesn’t agree with your leadership. Happy to reference those if we have to and we can all get on the same page about who is who since you don’t have to hide behind anything.

I’d recommend spending more time on your pilot group and your tasks at hand than worrying about past engagements, trust me, it’s been nice.

I’m not here to make friends, and I know from years of my service to the crewmembers I have learned that you can’t make everybody happy… however I to take exception to people that attack my pilot group, especially when things looked bad at their MAJOR airline and we welcomed our brothers here with open arms. We gave you gainful employment while things went sideways with your airline, some people would be thankfully for that instead of constantly bashing your experience. I’m more that willing to address your accusations at the national level, but my god man you’re back at your major airline after surviving the horrors of Amerijet, go be happy… I’m happy for you!!

People are going to be unhappy here, that is at every airline, and as I said if you don’t like it here there are a lot of options at the moment. Find an airline that fits your lifestyle, be a professional and give your two weeks, and I wish you the best. There are a LOT of people on both sides of the isle that are working VERY hard to get the ship back afloat and on the right direction, and I think that side of the story needs to be told also. Still, even if we had a contract like FedEx there would still be people unhappy with how things are done here, and that’s to be expected everywhere. It’s real easy to jump on the negative train and complain about everything, it’s another thing to jump in and help make things better. I believe a majority of the pilots here are willing to see where this place takes us, but maybe they aren’t willing to voice that over all the loud negative people. Well I don’t care to stand on the hill and say that things are getting better here, we are on a great path for success in the future, and anybody that is willing to give the process a chance will be happy when we get where I believe we’re heading.

Well mudflap, I tried to contact you multiple times to sort this out like you asked, but you don’t answer. What are you afraid of discussing as professionals since you do so here?

The point blank truth is I have not said anything about your pilot group in the posts you mentioned. If you read the post you replied to again, he says he’s currently there and moving on. I’m not sure how that led you to blaming me again for whatever issues you are having. You refuse to talk now and the simple question I want to ask if why are you accusing myself of something I never did? I WAS being happy and doing my thing at my airline and you decided you needed someone to blame for the litiny of posts here of your pilots complaining. You drug me into this, but I guess you’re in the business of passing the blame onto everyone else as I’ve seen here.

As far as the charity of Amerijet “giving us jobs” no one is going to buy that. Amerijet paid me and pays its pilots now for the service of flying their aircraft the way they want them to be flown so THEY could continue to make money because they needed pilots and one was available. If amerijet was in the business of charity and handouts, or any airline for that matter, every pilot would have the contract they want all the time! That’s simply not how it works and you know that, so not much of a point.

I’ve tried to contact you multiple times to talk as professionals after you asked, and you refused. It’s telling.

As I said, you threatened me with taking me to professional standards, through an official union email address, so have your committee chair contact your MEC chairman and we’ll handle this through the proper channels.

If you had concerns about anyone or myself posting something you didn’t like on a forum, you could have addressed it directly in the first place like a professional pilot/rep would do, but you decided to cyber bully and assume through forum instead and due to those actions appropriate channels will be resourced since you are avoiding a conversation about it now when confronted directly. Best to you.

Upcoming interview
 

Guess this is a bad time to ask what to expect? My last post was deleted.