TransMach

Since this thread started about nepitism ... if the job is so bad and the employer is so poor to work for, why would anyone want one of their relatives to have the same opportunity to suffer?

TransMach

MD11

Amen, I was there for over 10 years in a non-flying job. I have now flown for 4 regionals in the last 6 years... furlough, dissolution and another furlough... oh and sh!tty pay.

I miss my days there at Brown.

Need4Speed

Then it shouldn't be too difficult to find the magazine and share the article with us....right? My guess is that we will never see this mystery article. And if we do, I'm quite sure that the origin will be a third-hand account from someone called a "reliable source". But seriously, If you find it amusing to believe something as silly as this, who am I to spoil the fun.

J Dawg

Oh ok; I just made all that up because I felt like it

L'il J.Seinfeld

Just understand that those of us at UPS are really mad about the furlough. These guys can't get hired anywhere else--would you hire someone who could return to a $200k/year FO job? There are only 44 still out and UPS really screwed them between displacing them to and from ANC and then leaving them there. We are mad about managers breaking into hotel rooms of crew members to reassign them trips. We are mad about fellow pilots being stranded in China when their passports were stolen with no assistance from UPS. We are mad about having schedules dorked with just because they can, captains being forced to fly right seat as needed, and Big Brown advocating for TCAS opt out and cargo cutouts!!

Does FedEx management do these things? I think not.

Need4Speed

I'm not trying to kick a hornet's nest here. All I'm saying is that I was here in the beginning of the airline. I have yet to see a correct account on any of these message boards of how UPS became an airline, why UPS became an airline, or who they intended to occupy the pilot seats.

There are many good answers to DCKozak's original question....
but the myth that UPS wanted to put truck drivers in pilot seats is not one of them.

MD11

I wasn't there from the beginning but I did start in '95. The story was that UPS was content with multiple contracts for lift but the FAA saw a growing safety problem and forced them to get their own certificate.
As for the truck drivers to pilots story. In my 12 years, I heard that story over and over,, and those telling the story usually ended it with a chuckle. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. I did have an upper level ground side manager tell me about a meeting in the early days of the airline. The discussion revolved around fitting the aircraft nav lights with truck lights. Nav lights (lamps) were far too expensive and converting all of the aircraft would reduce inventory and therefore overall costs.

Need4Speed

Yes, that's another common misconception that has grown legs - but largely untrue. The decision to move away from the carriers and form the airline was, in large part, driven by the fallout from Orion's 727 fleet being temporarily grounded due to insufficient maintenance records. UPS couldn't risk this ever happening again. That, combined with the target of opportunity involving the formation of IPX by UPS and DHL (for entirely other reasons), was the primary reason we are now an airline.

All the other silly stories that you commonly hear (including the truck lights) are simply cockpit fodder. If these stories help pass the time and add some amusement to an otherwise long, boring flight, no problem. Just take them for what they are. The only reason I jumped in was because one of these silly misconceptions was being used as an example to answer DCKozak's original question. There are probably many legitimate answers to his question, but that's not one of them.

MD11

Well whatever the case... I heard more stories there than any other place I was employed. Regardless, I did like working there and yes most stories were only traded at work and never outside the gates.

Airbum

will ups hire you back in your non-flying job? I don't think they hire back pilots who have left so I was wondering.