Good day everyone! I am looking for some career advice, suggestions, recommendations and feedback. The forums have an enormous collective of knowledge and experience which I would love to learn from.

Currently a wide body cargo pilot flying internationally. With a company that has home basing. I have been spoiled by home basing and don't see myself working without it. I have a few options ahead of me and would love advice.

Option 1: Stay with current company. Upgrade here soon to the left seat. The company itself is great, of course there are it's issues. The only issue I see with the current company, is I don't know how much longer they'll be in business. Sure, any company can go under at any time. But, none of us know what's going to happen in the next year, more or less 5,10,15 years from now. Seeing how I have 20+ years left, that can be worrisome.

Pro: Get to start building Pic time. Probably take me at least 2+ years to get that 1000 Pic, which I would need for minimums say at fed ex/ups (that's minimums and not necessarily competitive) Home basing has spoiled me though, and I don't know if I want to have to commute anymore. I don't see myself moving to Anchorage or Louisville or Memphis anytime soon either. I know ups/fed ex would make more money in the long run, and another benefit is the one trip a month eventually. When you get senior enough. I don't know if that's possible with atlas/kallita. I still think as say a 10 year captain you are still working the 17/13.

Option 2: When atlas and Kalitta open their hiring windows, apply. Start building my seniority there. Since it's going to take 4-5 year's to upgrade. Based on seniority vs when the pilot is able/merit. The pay isn't as much as fedex/ups but still decent. I'm not looking to take home 500k+ a year eventually.

I'd love to hear which is better, Kalitta or atlas. I have colleagues working at both, but am leaning towards atlas.

Appreciate all the feedback and for anyone who took the time to read this. PM's are also welcome.

 

Big question is "Where do you currently live/want to live long term?"

There may be other options that you have not considered or asked for input on.

 

You don't need to say, of course, but it sounds like you may be somewhere that flies three and four-engine airplanes internationally? If so, the biggest problem isn't so much longevity of the company, but maintenance. If you're somewhere else, disregard that.

You're getting close to upgrade and you don't have a thousand hours of pilot in command time in any aircraft? About three years ago you posted that you'd just hit 1,500 hours total time, or ATP minimums. Many of the ACMI carriers operate more like big Part 135 operations, than airlines, in that there are frequent schedule changes, no two days are the same, and you're given the keys to the airplane and told to go fly to deep, dark Africa in a thunderstorm with rebels on the runway and thirty MEL items, on a moonless night, with a frist officer who's still trying to figure out how to buckle his seatbelt. Not a lot of hand-holding, and not necessarly the place to build your initial pilot in command experience, if you have no command experience to fall back on, if you get my drift.

That said, bird in the hand, vs. the bush-dwellers: if you're doing well financially, happy where you are, and upgrade is forthcoming, and you're ready (ready is not the same as holding a seniority number), it may be worth your while getting the upgrade and a year or two under your belt.

Hiring will resume across the board soon enough, and if you have your resume in, you'll get calls. You can upgrade, and keep your applications out. It's always a good idea, when you have a good job, to keep looking; far better when the music stops and everyone is scrambling to find a seat, if you've already got feelers out for the seat.

 

With 20+ years left to work and a desire to remain in this crazy segment of the industry you should apply to Atlas when they start hiring again. Correction: Apply NOW, and keep updating but don't expect anything until early next year.

Atlas isn't home based but you have the ability to live anywhere you want, even outside the States. The only question is how much time you're willing to burn getting to work. But with the Atlas Gateway Travel agreement you'll never have to jumpseat or pay for a hotel. The problem obviously is that it adds two days to the total length of your trip. Things are slowly improving at Atlas, and that might improve too (travel on company time, rather than days off, as it is currently).

Good luck whatever you choose.

 

Question for you EGOTRHASHER... Have.kept track of the number of expats at your carrier that have upgraded? If so... how many were from the US versus, say other countries. Also, how many expats were passed over for upgrade with less years of service than the average expat? The reason for the question is that I've worked for 4 overseas carriers for about 18 years as a DEC and TRI/TRE & SFI/SFE. The carrot was dangled in their adverts stating "Opportunities for Upgrade". The pecking order was was locals followed by EASA license holders then as a bone FAA certificate holders, when seat movement was active. You may want to mull the true prospects for upgrade versus seeking employment back home. You ae right... you will accumulate enough SIC time to meet the requirements for CFR 121.436 to move to qualify as PIC. However, prior to applying THRASHER, get the FAA ATP certificate before applying with US Carriers. Good luck in which direction you take.

 

From a FedEx pilot perspective and you'll get plenty of different takes. FedEx will not be hiring for at least another 2-3 years at a minimum. Currently overstaffed and will need to see some attrition before hiring is necessary. We will likely see some good attrition upon getting a new CBA. FedEx no longer requires 1,000 TPIC. That's been reduced to 500.

https://careers.fedex.com/career-areas/pilot/

 

Career advice: avoid ATI

 

We may or may not be hiring in 2025 at Atlas. If FedEx or UPS are your goals, why add a stop along the way?

Regarding where to build your PIC experience I'd argue that John Burke's points are exactly why you should stick around and build your initial PIC in the left seat. Even challenging assignments are manageable, and, after a year or two in your current plane at your current operator, you're probably ready to move left. If you come to Atlas our upgrade time is not going to be fast until hiring at FedEx picks up. So you'd be looking at a lot more time on FO pay.

Let's say your company craps out in five years' time. You'll be in a situation where you have widebody PIC time. Also we start negotiating our next contract in 2026. If you do come here and stop your career movement at Atlas, there are worse places to be.

 

I guess I'm saying the left seat is the left seat whether you are flying in Tokyo, Kinshasa or Cedar Rapids. If you know how to manage a challenge in Waterloo, Iowa, you can manage a challenge in Bogota or Nairobi. There's nothing about what I do or what we do that makes me wear diamond and platinum underpants. It's all doable for a new captain.

 

Atlas. Best cargo job i aviation. Go there and don’t get FOMO to apply somewhere else. FedEx and UPS is worse