CRJammin

Is the most junior flying at the two cargo giants night sort flying? Suppose one gets hired and doesn't naturally fit into the night patterns, how long until he or she can hold a day line?

Second, how do the international trips affect your bodies honestly? Is it tougher or easier than domestic night flying?

Appreciate any replies.

Old Coastie

At fdx the most junior flying is generally reserve. You are either on day or night 12 hour shifts. Night is more junior so I'd say yeah you're going to start at night. There are many variables though... You can go for the money--move up seat change and you're junior again-or QOL-- stay in the seat, get senior but don't earn as much. Then there are a lot of folks who would rather fly nights then do either day or night hub turns--flying in and out of a sort facility...it just depends. And yes changing times zones faster than you change your underwear definitely wears you out!

JetJocF14

CR: To mimic what was said when starting out you most likely will fly the night hub turn. Starting out from the east coast cities your day begins around 8 in the evening with a ******, shower and shave. Pick up in the van and arrive somwhere around 10-11 o,clock. From the west coast your day begins around 5 in the afternoon or so. All fdx flight arrive at the hubs between 11:00 thru around 12:30am or so. You then wait a cuple of hours while the ground crews shuffle the boxes and the morning launches start around 2:00am and go till around 4am. You get to your destination basically at the beginning of the business day. Sleep, then do it again for a week or so.

Day flying can be much the same, and while yes its daylight, can require some early get ups in the morning. Particularly from the west coast cities. Still sit for several hours in the afternoon waiting for the sort to go through. But your doing paperwork, or checking your schedule, trip trading, having lunch, you get the idea.

Out and back are just what they sound like. Out somewhere sit for an hour or maybe longer then fly right back. Some guys love them, most hate them. Different strokes for different folks.

Lastely international flying while more fun (IMHO) can leave you ragged when coming home. If you come from the orient it usually takes 3-4 days to get your body back to normal. Coming from Europe its not quite has hard. But I live on the east coast.

Bottom line to all this is that its a lot like drinking beer. The more you do it, the more you get used to it. You just have to realize that you can't spend all day mowing the lawn and doing honey-do's and then go fly a 12 hour day. Somewhere before you go to work you gotta take a combat nap.

Well that's 18 years of FDX flying wrapped up. Got to go take a nap. I'm sure someone will fill in the gaps. Hope this helps.

MEMFO4Ever

I can't comment on the other airplanes or seats, but in the FO seat on the Boeing some of the most senior lines are night/early am double-deadhead trips. These pairings deadhead to an outstation then hub turn for a week through IND, EWR, AFW or OAK. The legs are generally shorter and the weeks go by fast. If you look at the top of our seniority pile this is where most senior commuters bid, especially if they can fly out of their home city. This is very desirable. We've got folks that won't bid into another seat or airplane until they can hold their next position in a city that they want to deadhead through. I fall into this category. Hanging out in the right seat for many years and flying out of your hometown makes things very comfortable.

For me quality of life over money wins every time.

FDXDLW

If you got hired this month and started class in the back of the boeing this month it would probably be March/April when you could hold B-reserve which is 12 noon to 12 midnight, assuming we will be hiring like everyone expects to. Supposedly we're supposed to be at 2 classes @ 24 newhires per month, probably minus Dec, that according to Kim in hiring.

Anyone should be able to fit the night flying. Except for a couple hours in the early morning launch, and a couple hours getting back to the sort, I always hear passenger carriers on the radio. And typically you wouldn't be doing more the two or three legs. At worst case you'll have to get used to getting several short sleeps versus a your typical 8 hr rest.

CRJammin

Thanks for the good info, gents. Very true about the passenger pilots also flying on the back side of the clock.

Looks like the bottom line is that the pilot creates his or her own world, balancing QOL with dollar signs. A good life either way at the cargo carriers.

RedeyeAV8r

Speak for yourself. And wait until you have done it for more than 10 years and you are , lets say older. The older you get, the harder it is on your body.

As for the PAX side. From personal experience the PAX Red-eyes weren't all that dersirable either, but the duty periods on those were much shorter than A FedEx hub turn and it was usually (not always) just one leg to a main Hub. If you were west coast based, the Red-eye put you in bed about 3:00am on your body. That is the beginning of the FedEx/UPS AM Hub launch and many folks have already been on duty 5-6 hours from the inbound leg.with another 3-6 more hours on duty. (Domestically speaking).

It is part of the deal when you sign on at FedEx or UPS but that doesn't mean it is EASY.

Huck

When we were new-hires we did the hub tour at midnight, and we had to park in the Democrat lot and ride the shuttle.

A guy got on the bus at the AOC and must have been coming off of something horrible, because he looked like Betelgeuse in a uniform- hair flared out, eyes red, skin gray, babbling with his tongue hanging out....

Since then we have called this the Betelgeuse effect. I got a bad case of it last month, when the VTO gods gave me a round-the-world eastbound, one day off, then around the world westbound (I asked for a commuter line!) It took me, no kidding, 5 days to feel like a human again.... Oh and on the 7th day I left on a 16 day asia trip. (Don't you guys want to bid the Mighty Dog?)

overspeed

If you want to do hub-turns from your home-town as someone said earlier, do you still have to commute to your domicile, then dead-head back? That would seem kinda silly, but It'd be part of your duty-day...

fdxbusdriver

To expand on the earlier post:

"...the most senior lines are night/early am double-deadhead trips. These pairings deadhead to an outstation then hub turn for a week through IND, EWR, AFW or OAK. The legs are generally shorter and the weeks go by fast. If you look at the top of our seniority pile this is where most senior commuters bid, especially if they can fly out of their home city."

The so-called 'home-town' trips start and end with a commercial deadhead from MEM to an outstation and back again. But we can do what is called 'deviate' (from the scheduled trip) on deadhead legs which means if you're already in the city where your jet for the week is parked, no deadheading and basically a couple of extra days off at home. Hope that helps.