bsh932

When you get hired by UPS do you start out as a second officer? If so, how long does it take to upgrade to first officer? Also, how long does it take to upgrade to captain?

MountyFlyer

Never say never, but probably no more F/E new hires due to the age 60 rule kicking many captains back to the panel to wait it out to see if they will return to the left seat. Recent new hire classes have been all F/O slots. The 727 and 747 Classic are also being retired, so there will only be 1 aircraft at UPS with an engineer (DC-8). That is also scheduled for retirement but it is anybody's guess as to when that will be. F/O upgarade to Capt can be 10+ yrs in SDf or almost half that if willing to be based in ANC.

L'il J.Seinfeld

That is a good summary, but I disagree with the last statement. The junior captains in SDF were hired in 97. Their upgrades have nothing to do with future upgrade times. For example, a 9/01 hire will take 3 more years to upgrade than a 11/04 hire because there were no hires in between those dates. So if is taking 9 years to upgrade for those upgrading now, it would actually be more accurate to say it is a 6 year upgrade in SDF for everyone else. The MD-11 fleet in ANC is still growing and they are already at a 9/00 hire date for the junior captian. That is not very far up the list from the guys hired in 2004/2005.

If UPS decides to honestly compete globally woth FDX/DHL and if we can enforce the contract, it could be possible for UPS to announce a major aircraft order. We have a tiny airline, compared to FDX, but we are extremely profitable. Hopefully some MBA beancounter in Atlanta will realize this and get the powers that be to enlarge the fleet. More planes means more captains. FWIW.

Sideshow Bob

Second paragraph has a lot of truth in it, but is logic based which is a tenuous way of thinking in ATL. Bob Leadpipes ("president" pf the airline) recently told me that "...the fleet plan is very solid...", which while meaning nothing in reality does indicate their state of mind when it comes to lift. He hinted that around 30 747-400's may ultimately be on the property, and vividly made the point that the 747-8 is too expensive. He also said that they are done with further MD11 buys because of the poor reliability. After that I had a dialogue with him that went something like:

Me: So...we've got 13 "hard" orders for 747-400's but will be parking all
the remaining classics (around 10 I think) next year.

Bob: Yeah, but we're getting 27 more 767's

Me: And in a few short years parking 40 DC-8's with no other aircraft in your stated fleet plan...

Bob: So what's with all the sick calls in ANC?

More was known about the Soviet Politburo than is known outside the inner-most circle at UPS. But it does help pass the time trying to second guess them.

UPSFO4LIFE

Let me tell you that there could be a 100 aircraft order announcement tomorrow and You and I would find out about from the newspaper before ANYONE in management let us know. Hell, the van drivers would know about it before any of us low-life pilots. Don't believe anything Lekites says.

OOTSK

That would be nice, however we can't even get them to buy software so we can do trip trades over the Internet. That deadline is coming soon. We'll see!

UPSFO4LIFE

Not only that, we can't even submit catering request on-line.

Shaggy1970

You can in ANC.

Sideshow Bob

Anyone who's been here more than a week knows that. To me it's amusing to listen to their diatribes and then subtley debunk them with a either a straight face or hysterical laughter (which applies to Houston Mills' BS about the soon to be decertified MD11 sim). However lift is much like landing slots...you don't just get them when you feel like it (their rationale of using the light twin in the Pacific-just fly two on the same route). The -400 conversion slots are filling up, as are the -8 slots. Their money only can do so much. Look for panic requests for contract lift and other contract relief.

UPSFO4LIFE

While we are on the subject, what ever happen to the ASC reconstruction project? Saw the note in April is was to begin within 30-60 days. Well, they only have another year to complete it and I heard it was going to take over a year to do. Maybe they took the money and spent it on the software for on-line catering in ANC. Who knows.........???????????