Tokyo, UPS 190 Position Top Sirloin... :D

Dog Breath - nice avatar! I wiped clean the whole screen before I realized it wasn't an actual ant...:)

Then, "whachu talkin' 'bout Willis?"

Ok then, what kind of experience did you have to get into a DC-8?

It seems like when you started flying international you had less experience than the people that you are saying shouldn't have a shot now. :confused:

My guess is he got a few thousand hours SEL time 1.0 at a time flying at <500' over parts unknown, I guess that counts as international doesn't it?

All jet time ain't equal.

Hello Moondog,

I've heard that the "50 pilots in 2008" as a predominant theme around the campus. However, in talking with a newhire that just went through the school house there has been rumblings that scenarios with greater than 50 pilots hired this year are being looked at. I'm not really sure how deep our pilot pool is. An educated guess would be somewhere in the vicinity of 50, but again that's just a guess based on matching the number of potential newhires with the number in the pool.

I have recurrent in two weeks, I'll try to ask around while at the Mothership.

Regards,

FF:)

FP,

I'm in agreement with you that regional pilots make good pilots and should have a shot at UPS. Six legs a day into busy terminals, followed by crappy eight hour layovers than back at it, are the norm of most regional pilots.

I do offer that a regional pilot would have an uphill transition to flying let's say the MD11 or the -400 for UPS. Here's my humble opinion.

First, they would have to learn UPS procedures...not rocket science but that's the first task.

Second, they would transition from a 40,000 lb jet to a 600,000 or 900,000 lb jet. Again, not chinese arithmetic, but certaintly a different perspective from sitting 4 or 5 feet off the ground to 40 feet off the ground.

Third, would be learning Int'l operations. I totally agree with you that none of us were born with Intl experience so at some point we were "new" to overseas flying. IMHO, this area would be the biggest challenge because of its vast scope, ever changing rules, and language challenges. This is just my opinion, but Int'l ops are better learned while doing it, as opposed to in a classroom. Put in other terms, there is more hands-on learning than book learning. This obstacle is surrmountable, but in my opinion the one that would be the most challenging.

In summary, I agree with you that regional pilots would make good UPS pilots. I only listed three areas of concern, but culminate these three and present them to a regional pilot and you are really presenting them with a tall order out in the Int'l arena.


See ya,

FF

I was kidding about getting my multi-rating in an 8. :D

It's one thing to get vectors onto the ILS into Toronto, it's quite another to perform a full approach in a non-radar environment at night, in a jet with no auto-throttles and no glass in a valley in Latin America.

Sure, a guy on an RJ may fly 5 or 6 legs a day in and out of the Northeast corridor. On the other hand, another guy may fly a classic 747 20 days a month in various theaters around the world where vectors to final may or may not exist. With greater competition for less positions, who would you rather hire if your company is growing in the international arena? Sure, one may be trainable and I'm not necessarily saying otherwise, but the other has already been there, done it and got the tee-shirt.

One more thought. Pilots at the commuters/regional were a lot different 15-20 years ago than they are today. Back then the job demanded a higher level of skill and the flying was a lot tougher than it is today. 5-6 legs a day in a Jetstream with no autopilot and no automation is a lot different than 5-6 legs a day in an automated small jet. Just to be an f/o at a commuter in the early nineties required one to have almost 1500-2000 hours with 500 hours of multi-engine just to be competitive. Contrast that with today's current competitive hiring minimums.

I'm very proud to say that my total SEL time is LESS than 1000 hours.

69 SEL here and no PPL.

I had a friend go from flying SF340s to the whale for Evergreen. Granted he had previous RJ and 727 time, but their international flying is a lot different from even ours. They go to some interesting places for the DOD.