2.5 YEARS?? Uh.. you deserve to be a chief pilot when they hire you. I did about an 8 month stint as a handler at UPS and I thought it was the hardest job ever, another month and I was pretty sure I was going to be recruited in a gang.... Nothing more rewarding than hard labor though, plus the money was good. Not sure how much it will help when I apply to UPS in 2017!!!

I know where you are coming from because I've been working toward the same thing. I started at UPS in 1991 as a package handler, moved to PT supervision, graduated in IT and moved to the technology department. I have been flying in the military for 8 years and tried to apply for a flying position the last time the window was open. The first problem I ran into was that the online system recognized my SS number as an existing employee and wouldn't let me apply. The system says "You are currently a UPS employee and should contact your manager for opportunities within the company..."

Here's another problem... The air group and ground group are on two different sides of the planet and don't talk to each other. My manager is a smart guy and really wanted to help me out, along with several other managers that I have known over the years, but had no idea how to make it happen. No one could get my resume to the right person to land me an interview. In fact, my manager forwarded my resume and three letters of recommendation to the air group manager directly and asked him what I needed to do to apply. He basically said that unless a candidate has the following hours they will probably not be considered:

Competitive Qualifications:
Total Time 4883
Total PIC 2879
Jet PIC 1497
M/E Turbo PIC 1977

(this info came directly from air HR in 2007) I had almost 3000 hours of C-130time, 1500 PIC, and almost 16 years at UPS when my resume was sent.

Pilots aren't hiring pilots at UPS any more. HR managers are hiring the pilots and the computer does all the work to find the qualified individual. So, if you work for UPS and have the above time you probably have a 100% chance of getting hired at some point. I'm going to hit the next job fair that UPS attends and try to get some face time with a hiring manager. I will have nearly 20 years with the company by the time we start hiring but will never have those minimums with only flying the KC-135 in the Guard (I recently switched to tankers).

The other problem I had was that my UPS pilot friends couldn't even write a letter of rec since I couldn't apply through the online system. The two are tied together like smoke and mirrors.

So take it from someone who practically bleeds brown… times have changed since the days of UPSers getting hired with 50 hours PIC!! There are way too many extremely qualified pilots in the pool for any airline to have to hire someone with average/low time.

Good luck and keep flyin'!

very honest appraisal UPSer. I'm sorry that you have gotten caught in the UPS red tape, but since you've been here a while you should be familiar with it. You have to wonder if they would prefer you to get another thousand hours in a 150 just to make their computer's limits.

I thought the same thing... The biggest one is the PIC Jet time since most of my time was in a 130. I just crossed over to 135's but it will take me a while to get 1600 hours in the plane, though it's all PIC.

I'll just keep flying my butt off and I'll hit up the first hiring conference once the flood gates open again.

FWIW, I think that they loosened up on the jet requirements the last time around. It's gonna be a while until we hire again though. My understanding is that they set the times that they want and enter them into a computer. The selection is blind to eliminate favoritism and discrimination claims. It is a shame that this would leave internals in a bind.

Why say only has 91/135 experience? Before I was hired at my current 121 job I had 91/135 and 121. I can tell you that my former 121 "experience" was degrading whatever skills I had. Think about it. In part 121 you have very little flight planning to do and full automation, at least I did, 737,767 etc. And you must ask mommy and daddy before you do anything. Sometimes even go over 3 months without landing.

What ever little skills I had to pass a sim ride came from my 91/135 background of having to do everything yourself and little automation, circling approaches at night to unfamiliar airports etc. etc.

Now that I am back again in the 121 world for the last couple of years I can tell you I am not the pilot I was when I was flying around the world 91/135 in crappy airplanes. If I get furloughed I might have to take some flying lessons to get my next job.

I always thought "jet" time was a silly requirement? They are LOTS of really good C-130/P-3 pilots out there ...

At the time UPS and the FAA were very concerned about the very real possibility of 3 year 747-400 captains up in ANC. Of course after age 65 and the economy melt down, it seems sort of funny now

I don't know what you guys are talking about...I was hired in 2007, and all my PIC time was in a Herk. All of my Part 121 "jet" time was SIC.

Just curious, did you have the minimums I posted above? I only had 1500 hours PIC in the Herc, no 121 time.