So how did you get past the online App and the requirement for the FEXw that "it" thinks you must have?

 

I put the date of the FEX in and it took it.

 

The best thing to do is get the "official" word from HR at the company or have a friend do it to find out what the "requirement du jour" is. My most recent online app was submitted last March, thus by the time your new submission goes in, the rules will have probably changed again.

Good luck

 

Ok. Here is a little mud for the waters. I am in the pool, however my FE Written expires in November. Am I gonna have to retake it?

 

I would wait and see. When you get the call they will let you know.

 

And that was an "expired" date for the FEXw? I passed the FEXw once, but it was 20 years ago and I never had to get the certificate. July '85 I believe. I lost the printout from the FAA. Would that be good enough?

 

A bit of both. Let me explain this politician answer <g>. It is really not a one for one comparison. It has to do with payload and flying time. Give you a real example of 3 efficiences UPS has attained in the last 8 years.

Birmingham (BHM), AL used to have a DC-8 that flew BHM-SDF-BHM Monday through Friday. Additionally, they had a 727 fly BHM-CAE (Columbia, SC)-BHM Monday through Friday. It took 6 crewmembers a night to fly the revenue out of BHM. SDF couldn't handle all the volume anyway.

Efficieny 1: Teamsters contract 97 gave UPS 'team drivers" which allowed UPS the ability to close much of the Friday night air lift requirment because it now went on a truck that drives with 2 drivers 24 hours a day nonstop (except gas and drop and hook). Reduced crew member requirments.

Efficiency 2: UPS bought the A-300 that carried the volume of a DC-8 and a 727.

Efficiency 3: UPS built Worldport that could handle so much more volume (it is expanding again at present).

Gained: Remove DC-8 and 727 from BHM and the 6 crew members a night 5 days a week requirment (2 aircraft and 30 crewmembers days required weekly) to a single A-300 with 2 crew members 5 days a week (10 crewmember days required weekly) flying BHM-SDF-BHM because the airplane and SDF could handle all the volume. A reduction of one airframe and a big drop in required crew members.

Going Forward: UPS still combines routes etc. when able. Some A-300/DC-8 routes being planned to be replaced by the MD-11 that can handle the mean volume of both combined on certain routes.
767's not publicly stated to replace the DC-8, but a 767 could replace a half full nightly DC-8 and half full nightly 757 that are close enough on a route and still make the sort times. In this case, the dissappearing DC-8 does not to be replaced. An example I will pull out of the air. JAN (757) and TYS (DC-8) could be replaced by a single 767 flying JAN-TYS-SDF. This would free up a 757 for another market and not require a DC-8 anymore.

Simple really. We still have supervisors 'managers' whose job is to check FE's. How would they justify their jobs to ATL if there no longer was a written requirment requiring there services by oncoming pilots? So you are helping preserve jobs until no DC-8's are left <ng>, that is all. BTW, I was working as an F/O at a 121 carrier and was hired 2 years after my FE written expired. HR said I did not need to retake the written, FSDO just validated it upon my arrival to train as an S/O. I think they would still accept that, the software likely does not recognize this condition. Would have to track down someone in HR for the most recent 'policy'.

 

Makes sense, because looking at the UPS new hire training history in an earlier post, there were no new hire engineers trained the past several years. Are some of the current engineers seat locked with pay protection while new hires go straight to F/O seats in order to save training costs?

 

Good example! Wouldn't BHM only require 4 days per week due to Efficiency #1, the weekend trucking? That would reduce the need to 8 crewmember days per week from the 30...

(Correction) I looked up BHM, and they do fly the 5th day after all. It seems that they would be close enough to truck it up and back over the weekend, but maybe there is another factor that keeps that from happening.

 

Most of the current FEs are over 60 years old and hired in the 1990s. In other words, more senior on the list than the average new hire. So no pay protection required to hire into the right seat.

As a matter of fact, after a year at UPS, I couldn't even hold an FE spot. No one is being held on the panel against their bidding seniority, that I am aware of ... Of course not counting the over 60 folks waiting for a vacancy to move forward