Ameriflight???????????????????????????????
 

Greetings to all of my fellow cargo pilots (Part 121 & 135) out there reading this. I am writing to get your honest take on Ameriflight. I have been researching them i.e. the hiring mins; the growth potential; the progression from the right to the left seat. They actually seem like a good///solid company to work for, but I would like to treat this like a doctor's 2nd opinion.

Will you all please send me your take on them. Negative or Positive. I am sure they are somebody out there that think the company has did them wrong for whatever reason, if this is you, before replying to this, please ask yourself that million dollar question, did I give this company my 110%?????? If so, please send your reply as well. Take care, all of you. Fly Safe////Keep the dirty side down, unless you are flying aerobatics:D

A FELLOW PILOT PAYING HIS DUES ALSO

I can only give you second hand information on Ameriflight from FOs I've flown with. None of them said anything bad about them. Yeah, it's hard flying and not for the whimps, but you get good experience as well.
I came from a background like yours and got my ME 135 time flying for a similar outfit. Was the equipment top notch? No, but it was not bad. Was the pay great? No, but having owned my own airplane I know the owners had very thin margins. Did they treat me well? Yes. Did they push me a little? Yes, but if I said it was below minimums, they backed me up.
It is a great way to get single pilot 135 time flying approaches to minimums on a regular basis. No matter which route you take next, it will help you in the long run. I was in the 160th prior to my single pilot 135 time, and the only things tougher were NVG approaches in the desert and combat flying. Even landing on a ship at night was easier... at least there I had a good radar and stormscope; also had some one else in the other seat to back me up.
As I've heard before and told others, with this kind of flying you will either get very good at flying IFR, scare yourself out of flying, or kill yourself in the process. Good luck. And keep the dirty side down and the sunny side up.

Thanks for your honest take Blackhawk. When you started out at this similar company, what airframe where you flying? Or should I say, did they start you out in a TurboProp or Recip? How much time did you average per Month? Was the company so unstable until you were worried beyon all recognition about getting furloughed? I am not going to swamp you, but this is like the last thread that I posted, expect 1,000,000.2 questions.

I started out on a recip twin (Seneca). Single pilot, no auto pilot or WX radar. No GPS (GPS was just catching on). Two-three legs out in the morning, hang out at an FBO for the day... maybe take their crew car to the beach, use the FBOs fax to send resumes, then do the same thing in reverse that night. I averaged 75 hours a month. Like I wrote before, it was not easy flying ,but I learned alot. Nothing like breaking off an approach at night because the controller tells you there is HEAVY precip on the localizer and lightning is flashing all around, getting vectors, changing over to FSS for a minute to figure out the best route home, running the numbers in your head on the fuel to see if you can MAKE it home, then getting back to ATC for the vectors that FSS recommended, all while flying the airplane to improve your instrument flying skills. After 6 months they offered me a turbo-prop (MU-2), but I bailed for the regionals.
I heard about the job from a friend who heard from a friend, who heard from a best friend's aunt's boyfriend's mother.... you get the picture. I flew over to the airport where they were based the same day with a resume. The chief pilot had a 12" stack of them on his desk already. It was just prior to lunch, so after looking my resume over for a minute he asked if I wanted to go to lunch with the owner. I got the job. Right time, right place.
Did not worry too much about being furloughed as things were cooking at the time. When I hit the magic 500 ME time I had job offers/interviews left and right; even had an offer to fly DC-3s and the right seat of a Carvair ATL-98. Wish I could have taken THAT job so I could say I flew an airplane uglier than my grandmother, but with a kid running around and another in the oven the old "R" word (responsibilities) reard its ugly head. At the time it was not IF a regional would hire me, but WHICH one.
Feel free to ask any other questions, or PM me.

Wow,,,,,,,,I like that. That is one of your classic Rags to Riches deal that motivates me to strive for excellence. Are you a Warrant or Commissioned? If I remember correctly, you are still in the Guard right? I just can't remember what state you are with, and maybe you never told me. I tried to PM you, but the adminstrator is not allowing me to do so, so when you get a chance, email me:

[email protected]

I do have some more questions that I want to ask you about dealing with another company.

Sent you an email. Also, you might want to check out the APTAP website. There are some good connections there.
http://aptap.forumco.com/default.asp

Roger that, thanks alot.