Focus Air Cargo
 

Does anyone have any information they can share about FocusAir?

There have been a lot of post about Focus Air. Damn, use the search engine!

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ight=Focus+Air

Thanks Dutch747 you must be a Captain and I bet your crew loves you with that warm direct advice. Seriously, thanks for providing the search results, I was able to view them. I wonder if I had not done the 10 posts if I could have?

This post was one of the 10 posts I needed to be able to do a search and use the search feature, as stated below.

THIS IS THE POST FROM THE MODERATOR
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Rest assured that search features ARE available, but only for registered users who are participating on the forum (i.e, have made more than 10 posts and been registered for at least a week).

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We've elected to provide our registered and active users the benefit of improved search performance through our database of posts. To improve search performance for forum members, we've taken away search capability from anonymous forum guests. We realize that it might be an inconvenience for infrequent visitors, although our focus is on improving the user experience for registered users.

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Sometimes being direct...
 

I always seem to get in trouble with my approach. You are a registered user so you have access to the search engine correct? Regardless, if you need more information, don't hesitate to ask.

DON'T DO IT..... look at the pay scales people say 9E is lowering the bar but for god sakes FocusAir is just Fuking pathetic.....:mad:

How did you come up with this statement? I thought Focus was paid more than any of the other 747 bottom feeders?

Well ok let me validate my statement then... On this website under airlines/cargo/focusair.... Then let's look at top 747 CA pay (year five) $127/ hr using the calculator below it I come up with $127/hr x 60 hr gaurantee / mo X 12 mo / yr = $91,440/yr base now basic assumption lets say you are away for 21 days per month... 21 x $48 per deim /day x 12 mo /year =$12096/yr perdeim so total = $103536 max 747 CA pay per year.... Same process using 1 year CA pay = $70,560/yr + per deim = $82,656. Lets go further.... Year one FO = $42480 /year + per deim = $54576; Year five FO= $61,200/year + perdeim = $73,296

There is No way a top 74 CA at any company should only make $103K a year with a 5 year max out nor should any 747 FO only make $54K a year....and max at five years making $73K a year... Hell many senior RJ CA's make what a top 747 CA makes at focus... FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Well I agree with you some, but compair it to all the other 747 operators and it is way more than they make. Let's face it the pay scales we had before 9-11 are gone. I don't like it but that's how it is these days. I still make more than a 5th year regional guy and I am flying a 747. I am gone 19 days a month. I stay in really nice hotels. Fly business class to and from work. I have a 401K and pretty descent medical compaired to others and upgrade is not all that far off. Our pay scales only go out to 5 years because the company is only a year old. I'll bet you by the time the 5th year comes around there won't be any RJ captains making more than I will unless they fly their butt off. Sure you'll get guys who'll ***** about it here as you will anyplace. But there are places so much worse to be than here. So if you don't like it and want to make a stand about the pay then good for you. Or maybe you have another agenda to make you bad mouth us?

I tend to agree with L1011. I'm fourth year at Kalitta, make $106 per hour + $49.20/day international perdiem or $36/day domestic, and I have a MUCH better life than that Pinnacle guy who lives across the street from me.

-NO craspads; we get hotels everywhere, even in base.

-NO commuting, generally. We are based in Ypsilanti, but they usually want us to fly to the airplane, since it is cheaper. I've had to jumpseat three times in four years.

-I don't know what's going on at Focus, but we are all getting 13-14 days off per month, all in a block. My poor neighbor is constantly commuting back and forth to Detroit, and he's never home for more than 3 days in a row it seems.

-I fly a 747- how cool is that!

-I have 3-4 day overnights in Brussels and Hong Kong; he's lucky to get 8 hours and one minute in garden spots like Toledo...

REALLY, places like Kalitta, Focus, Southern, etc. are all just regionals with big equipment, but these are still better places to work.

N

Amen Brother!

Are you guys for real
 

Do you guys really think that flying a 747, making just over 100K a year, and working 19 days a freaking month is a good deal? YGBSM--right? As long as you guys are willing to work your asses off (19 days a month) for less money, things will never get better. Wake up dudes and walk away from the light. Saying you fly a 747 is just not that big a deal. I understand you are trying to "make it", but trust me you have not arrived where you want to be just yet.

Don't loose sight of the ball
 

I think everyone is right. The 747 guys aren't getting paid what they should for flying the old Classic all over the world. But comparetively speaking of the job market and trying to get wide body time so we can get in the door at Fedex or UPS, its not a bad place.

The biggest problem with Focus is you will hardly get any hours. I have a bunch of friends there and they say they are lucky to get 30 hours a month. So if you want to build time, go to Southern or Kallitta.

Plus I hear management is horible. Downgrading guys because they made a mistake in the Jet and reported it, firing guys without warning, etc.

Focus Pilots just need to become Union

Copy
 

Don't get the wrong idea by my post. I'm rooting for all you guys. But the dudes flying in the regionals and flying for less without a Union in order to "build hours and credability" are on the front lines. Things won't get better until they take a stand and say--NO the buck stops here. The guys at Jet Blue, the regionals, and sounds like focus are in the trenches and we are counting on you guys to make it better for all of us.

I know you are! I'm just saying that these thugs will keep getting there way until the job market improves. Keep posting your gripes on pay! These young guys need to understand and RESPECT your point of view.

So in the meantime am I supposed to quit? Then do what landscaping? Home Depot? Sorry it's not the money all of us want it to be but last I checked it's paying more than anything else I've done since getting furloughed after 9-11. Dutch is right I am not getting a ton of time here but I still am making more than an RJ dude or any 727 job out there. Wide body international time is still better to some degree even if it's not much. Yes 19 days away sucks but so does commuting all the time and getting short layovers and never having more than 3-4 days off in a row. At least I am getting 11-12 days off in one chunk with no calls asking to come in for junior assignment. Man every person here wants what they want. Just some expectations are just not even close to realistic. I was only sticking up for the company because some commuter guy who probably can't even get an interview here was saying it was "*******ing Pathetic" at Focus. It's not what it used to be before 9-11. In case any of you have been in the witness protection program since 2001 nothing is anymore. I keep hearing from guys on this site saying take a stand don't do it and most of them either are flying an RJ for a whole hell of a lot less or they are FedEx/UPS guys who haven't seen whats coming even to them eventually. The days of us all making huge money are gone gentlemen. I miss them as much as anyone and unlike many who spout off here I actually made good money before 9-11. As far as the management at Focus being scumbags somebody please show me an airline where they are not! Especially in supplemental 121. Hey it is what it is these days. If it sounds like the kind of flying you'd enjoy and you can live with the pay and the schedule come on and I'll buy you a nice cold German beer as we sit in the Sheraton FRA doing squat for 4 days. If you are some commuter guy with 5 years of flying 121 have fun with what you are doing. But don't go telling guys how it is here when you don't know first hand. Sorry JollyF15 I am not making any slight to you as Ill bet with all your fighter time and current 727 FO you are enjoying the hell out of FedEx and can't even fathom working at an outfit like Focus. But others that have posted here spew out what we should all be doing with no real experience or time to back it up.

See my earlier reply to JollyF15. Show me an airline where they are not. As for the Downgrades and Firings remember there are 2 sides to every story. Hey I am not drinking the Kool-Aid here but compaired to some other scumbag South Florida trash haulers I've worked for it's a giant step forward.

Not trying to slam you L1011 dude, just saying why not Unionize and fight the good fight? It could be that good again if we want it too (ok almost as good). As far as that happening at FedEx or UPS, never say never, BUT you should know how much people pay to ship boxes---our salleries are noise level when you talk about how much money there is in boxes dude. Will we have to deal with a low cost alternative someday---Maybe, but I really don't see that happening. Not if it's going to be dependable overnight to anywhere on the planet. I wish you the best, and please don't take my comments as a Slam. If it sounded that way I appoligize. I was just pointing out that the state of the industry and it's future is up to us, all of us.

Jolly

OBTW - have you checked the pay scales for 727 drivers at FedEx or UPS? I think you may be wrong.

Is Focus still paying only wheels up to wheels down, or have they gone to straight block?

Careful there L-1011... In all honesty you don't know what my qualifications are.... From looking at the Focus Air website... http://www.focusaircargo.com/flightcrewres.html
I actaully have more than the mins for FO and hell All I would need is about 1500 more total time and appearently 500 747 PIC (which ok I dont expect to have any time really soon) and well I would have the mins for street CA..... But my guess is I could probably get an interview, I just have not elected to apply..... but anyways I still stick by my statement of your contract is lowering the bar.....

19 days on the road? What the hell are you people talking about?

Kalitta Air: You are on the schedule as of 0000Z on the 14th after being off the whole beginning of the month. You were sitting in JFK after 1900z on the 29th, and on the 30th 8am local you called scheduling and sweetly asked what was next.

"Well, you're going off the schedule. Do you want overtime or do you want to go home? There's an 11 am flight on JetBlue if you want it, or you can do a Liege turn tomorrow"

1500 local I'm home cutting my grass... real tough!

The thing that regional guys/gals don't understand is that this place is the "Gentlemans club". Here's your schedule: Leave Fort Lauderdale on a company ticket at 1300 Saturday, for a late evening departure to Brussels Sunday night. Come back the next day, Tuesday, sit for a few days, and then do it again. At Kalitta Air, you do this for 17 days- or usually less, since they tend to send you home a day or so early.

[I usually get called the day before I'm on the schedule: If I'm officially "reserve" as of 8 PM, they will usually have me on a plane to New York at 1 PM or something, so YES....I actually leave the house early some times. OH boy...]

I flew for American Eagle/Executive Airlines and Atlantic Coast Airlines, and both places left me excessively tired all the time from the 5-8 legs per day that I flew, and from the ridiculous schedules. Forget those places- if you can make Captain quick at a place like AE, ACA, or Pinnacle then by all means DO IT, but if you can't then get the f*ck out of there and come over to Kalitta- at least you'll earn enough money to heat your pasta-

N!

Raising the bar
 

Space Monkey said it L1011. "Lowering the Bar". And I know your just working towards whatever goal, and maybe you feel management and the money your making is just a fact of life. But I think you have been in bottom feeders too long. "As far as management being scumbags" I know they will always be scumbags, all I'm saying is its up to you to hold them to a higher standard. I don't think you should stick it out in the wind, just raise the bar, and don't drink the koolaid.

WTF???? The friggin company isn't but a year old. There have been some really good changes in management recently. Corporate culture is hard to change period let alone overnight. Honestly if I sense it's not going to improve I WILL bail out. But I got on when it was still less than a year old. There have already been some improvements. There is still a long ways to go and I am doing more than my aprt to make it work. I don't accept coach due to last minute planning, etc. I make them adhere to the rules they set and thats the best I can hope to do for now. I am just sick of all you guys on the sidelines (meaning you don't work here, also knowing someone who does doesn't qualify you to judge it here either) "Raise the bar" give some of us a break. We are trying to do just that. If I quit and went to some other job that would have you guys blessing then that is one less guy fighting the good fight here. I am here trying to make this a good place to work and hope it does get to where I think it can with the right pilots and management. So all you sitting on the sidelines looking down your nose at me and the others can come here when this becomes a descent company to work at.

Amen....Supplemental 121 Brother!

Space Monkey,
Exactly who are these Senior RJ captains working for and how long did it take to get equivilant pay?
And please do not count per diem. Per diem is not pay, it is reimbursment for expenses while away from home.

Again, Amen.

-People who work at the regional airlines don't realize that they can work for our 121 supplementals and 1. Earn enough money as an FO to buy a house, and 2. Have some quality of life.

Three...It's more fun to fly 747's to Brussels than it is to fly RJ's to Binghamton!

N!

Spacemonkey,
Not having any luck finding any of those senior RJ captains that make more than 5 year Focus captains?
You made the statement, back it up with facts please.
As noted in my earilier post please do not include per diem.

I know the thread is about Focus but w/ you Kalitta guys posting, I thought I would ask about the latest on your contract negotiations?

Going nowhere fast. Held up by the mediator.

Sorry to keep you waiting there 18Wheeler....(sounds like you were getting impatient) The Space Monkey has to go to work sometimes too you know..... and occasionally have a life outside of posting on a message board... As for not including per deim no prob... Since as you saw it actually made Focus look better, as you also saw my equations also showed a computed base before I added perdeim.... So 5 year CA pay Focus Air (no per deim) = $91,440... Let's look at some regionals (all calculations are based on guarantee so the numbers are probably lower than actual pay for a line RJ CA) ... 17 year CA CRJ 200 at Air Whiskey $92,700 top AW pay 20 year CA $101,700; CHQ 15 year E-175 CA $92,700 top CA pay 19 years - $102,600; Horizon 11 year CRJ7 CA $94,080, top pay 18 year CRJ7 CA $116,160; Mesa 17 year CJR 900 CA $91,884 top pay 20 year CRJ 900 CA $98,800; ASA top CRJ 7 CA pay 18 year $91,800; Comair 13 year CJR 7 CA pay $91,800, top CRJ 7 CA pay 18 years $106,200…. Anyway I tired of doing this now but you see my point plus all of my calculations that I just did are based of guarantees and you probably know as well as I do that unless you are on RSV it is very rare for a regional guy to fly just guarantee… So my numbers are on the low side and my point remains the same there is no reason for a guy flying a whale to top out lower than a guy flying a regional which is a fraction of the size…regardless of how many or few years it takes. The whole point of the McNary Watress Act of 1930 was bigger equip with more engines = more pay…

Are you really comparing a 19, 15,13 year payscale to that of a 5 year payscale? Please draw up some common sense. Really, to each his own, but if you going to compare payscales......please compare something that is truely comparable, like third year RJ pay vs. third year 747 pay. A third year RJ guy will never see what a third year 747 guy gets.

That's not the point the point is that the 747 pay scale should NOT top out at 5 years also that this is a bottom feeder payscale that is lowering the bar... esp. when compared to other 747 pay scales and finally that a 747 payscale should NEVER TOP OUT LOWER than an RJ pay scale does...

Again....please use some sense here.......I believe that you are smarter than you come off here on this forum. I don't believe that there is a guy on the property at Focus that has been there for more than three years, hence the reason for the 5 year pay scale. If, at some point, if in the next few years there are 6 or 7 year guys at Focus still on a five year payscale, then you can pop off with your rhetoric. By the way I believe your RJ replacing mainline flying is what started "lowering the bar" in regards to airline pay rates..........not the supplementals.:eek:

Wow mrvmo... well first off yes I am probably a lot smarter than you would guess... unless you're guessing me as some sort of genius then it's a different story... But anyway do some research dude. First Focus Air is a brand new company 1 year old I believe so it is impossible for someone to have been there for three years...and even if they had usually contact negotiations occur in 4 year cycles so they would hit the top anyway... As for regionals lowering the bar well yes there are some but not all and btw there have always been regionals odds are there will always be regionals. If the regionals needed to be mainline a/c then the unions should have negotiated pay rates all the way down to 1900's and metros back in the day to keep the regionals from comming into existance.. But simple fact of the matter regionals have been here since before I was born and will probably be here after I kick the bucket.... So dont tell me about steeling flying tell the FUKING UNION...(I would be happy to fill my current seat as a member of a mainline seniority list) As for apples to apples then.... 1st year NWA 744CA $132,192 five year $136,272 Top pay rate 12 years $144,432; 1st year UAL 744CA 131,820, five year UAL 744CA $134,940 top 744CA $141,960.... Back to Focus Air 1st year 742 CA $70,560 5th year $91,440 and after that top pay oops there is nothing else..... There again bottom feeder lowering the bar... Now mrvmo I realize that you are new to this forum (currently showing 7 posts) and haven't shown any indication of position of qualifications (so by your statements I'm guessing the answer is not much... probably a college student, PPL with a big mouth) but please.... please... please... for the love of God get a clue... and think before you open your pie hole next time.... Anyway I have to go back to work soon so gone for while....

I want to see what a 70K a year 747 scumbag looks like. Anybody got a sketch? If only people would have some dignity. 70K to fly a 747, unbelievable. To those trying to better their company now, I've got a better idea, how bout you quit and go to a place that's already acceptable.

I guess I was wrong!!! Now 8 posts must give me a LITTLE more merit?

Thanks for the info there spacemankey.
No, I was not getting impatient. There had been so many new threads started that my question had ben pushed to the second page. I thought that you had probably missed it since you had posted at least a half a dozen times and hadn't responded.

"Now mrvmo I realize that you are new to this forum (currently showing 7 posts) and haven't shown any indication of position of qualifications (so by your statements I'm guessing the answer is not much... probably a college student, PPL with a big mouth) but please..."

Your guessing is way off the mark here. I know Mrvmo and he is more than qualified to be here and post.

Mrvmo, congrates on the new job. Let us know what equipment you will be on.

Just to set the record straight.. The initial cadre at FA came in on 3rd year pay so many will be hitting 5 year pay in the spring. There is no way possible u can compare a 17 year RJ Capt to a 5 year "startup" payscale. Compare 1 through 5th with Kalitta, Evergreen, Southern, TWinds, Cargo360, Polar, Atlas. I would gather that FA is better than all except Atlas. I can almost guarantee u when they do publish a 17 year payscale it will be well above 17 year RJ pay but since they are only at year two with the majority of the crewmembers you may have to wait awhile. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!DMF.

Bottom line.... still bottom feeder...

An rj pilot calling someone esle a bottom feeder, now that's funny.