Ah, the trademark of 9/11. Glad to see you made it to a good gig.

 

24 years in the military...USAF Academy, pilot training, B-52 co-pilot, B-52 aircraft commander, T-38 instructor/evaluator x 2, B-2 instructor/evaluator, T-38 instructor/evaluator again, and no desk jobs (thank God!). Applied to UPS and hit the jackpot...lucky to be here.

B2P

 

I was reading the newspaper and simply answered an ad in the classifieds.

 

I am an FO on a SF340 with a company that who knows what is going to happen? I ma thinking about making a lateral move to a more stable company and dont want to burn myself doing so. I would love to fly for Fed Ex or UPS one day and just hope I am making the right decision. I have a family to worry about also. This industry is bogus sometimes isnt it?

 

Do what is best for you and your family - first and foremost. I wouldn't worry about getting burned by a lateral move.

 

12 years AD Military. BS degree (x2). Instructor/Evaluator in fighters and Heavies. Masters Degree. Never a desk job as well (not to easy to do). Good luck with your decision.

FWIW in my class I was at the very low end on flight time, just over 4000 hours. There was a guy that graduated from MIT, a lawyer, half the class had Masters degrees......one guy had over 20k hours. My point? Lots of ways to get there. Everyone had a unique story.

 

Any success stories from within FedEx or do you know of anyone that got hired working for the company? My cousin drove trucks and when he got his time built, went to an interview but unfortunately wasn't hired...

 

4 years at a university while flying too. Flight instructing for 3 1/2 years. Flew a Baron for a few months. SF340 FO, SF340 CA, ATR CA, sim instructor, class for ERJ CA, displaced to SF340 CA. 9 years of regional airline flying and networking go by, and FedEx calls! Networking is the key word here. My buds at FedEx helped me to meet the right people and get an interview.

 

At FDX we have all kinds. Military guys tend to have fewer hours than straight civilian, so a simple hour by hour comparison is not helpful unless you know the background. You can read other posts to figure out what kind of hours you might need based on your chosen route to get an interview with FDX/UPS.

ONCE YOU HAVE THE BASIC EXPERIENCE THEN IT BOILS DOWN TO YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTIONS TO GET THE INTERVIEW!

I was an AF pilot for 10 years flying heavies and had 8 internal recommendations from folks I met during my total of 15 yrs in the AF. Everyone in my FDX class knew multiple pilots who actively lobbied flight management on their behalf.

Make good friends along your journey who are both senior and junior to you. The senior friends will help you get hired and you can help the junior friends get hired after you do. If all else fails at least you will have friends.

 

Got private cert. in high school. Went to college and majored in aviation (biggest mistake, in my opinion, should have majored in something else, but...), flew for crappy charter company, then regional airline FO, regional airline CA/Check Airman, legacy airline FO.

Then I beat Buz T. in an arm wrestling match one night at a bar in Looneyville, and viola, UPS!