FedEx Questions
 

I just received an invite to interview and I had some questions,

1.What is the time on reserve if you are MEM based? And how does the reserve system work? Is it a 2 Hr call?etc?
2.With the current work rules how many days at home could someone expect to have on reserve?
3.Is there anywhere to go to find an estimate of career earnings? I know that it is one of the highest paying jobs. Just trying to get an idea for comparison with the new contracts the majors have
4. How many years would it realistically take to do mostly day flying?
5. Do most people use Emerald Coast and RST to prep?

It's an honor to get the chance to interview at FedEx. I can honestly say that I only have a broad idea of the job. So any help is greatly appreciated

Congrats and good luck! How long did it take to get the call from time you applied? Did you have a recommendation? A friend just got hired and he said he didn't think he would've passed without the RST and Emerald prep.

All your questions likely answered elsewhere. That said, at FDX the difference between a senior line and a junior line is probably more pronounced than most other airlines. You can make good money and coach your kids soccer team by staying junior or you can make great money by taking every upgrade as soon as it becomes available. Where you choose to live also changes the equation.

You will be scheduled 15 days of reserve in a 28 day month and 19 in a 35 day month.

FedEx interview
 

I highly recommend Emerald Coast (I have no idea what they charge, it doesn't matter). I've never heard of a complaint from anyone that did.

Aaron is one of the smartest guys in the "Get a job at an airline" business. They'll be able to answer almost all of your questions and they'll probably give you things to think about that you might never had thought of!*?

Congrats and good luck ...

MM

:cool:

[QUOTE=Tom fooloery;2327275]I just received an invite to interview and I had some questions,

1.What is the time on reserve if you are MEM based? And how does the reserve system work? Is it a 2 Hr call?etc?
1.5 hour call, can be reduced to 1 hour.

3.Is there anywhere to go to find an estimate of career earnings? I know that it is one of the highest paying jobs. Just trying to get an idea for comparison with the new contracts the majors have
Airline pilot central, look at hourly rates and multiply by 1000 to estimate annual earnings.

4. How many years would it realistically take to do mostly day flying?
You could do daytime flying within a year in right seat if you bid for more junior equipment and bid RB (afternoon call). If you want a line and flying days, a long time.

5. Do most people use Emerald Coast and RST to prep?
Yes

4. How many years would it realistically take to do mostly day flying?
You could do daytime flying within a year in right seat if you bid for more junior equipment and bid RB (afternoon call). If you want a line and flying days, a long time.

I will also add, that if you are willing take a risk and drop most of a junior night flying line (if it will let you, depending on seat), hawk open time, and check the sick calls every morning when they drop, you can turn a mostly night flying line into all day flying.

If you live in Memphis you can literally do what you want, open time (and/or fleet) dependant. If you're a commuter it will limit your options. But if you're willing to watch open time and keep a flexible schedule you can really trip trade your way to all day flying.

What are the RA and RB times? Or do they change each bid period?

I've been on the MD for 6 years, I've lived in Memphis my entire FDX career, and I've never done a MEM night hub turn. I use FXCal and trade every day. I fly when and where I want to. I take April and May off just to coach youth baseball.

RA: 0130-1330 (need to answer your phone between 0000-1200)

RB: 1330-0130 (need to answer your phone between 1200-0000)

Thanks.

So I'm guessing you would expect calls earlier in the period rather than later, or is this like a military alert status where you have a full crew duty period starting when you get the call?

RST founder got called into chief pilots office yesterday. Not sure what the outcome was.

Yes. For single crew ops, your considered on duty from start of the call period. For multi crew (international long haul) duty starts after a call.

Lots of folks doing well on Day1. Hmmmmm.

Any updates on this?

I thought the RST guy was a Delta pilot.

Such an impression was not an accident.

Aaahhh....

The "About Us" page tells very little "about them" other than they (he? she? it?) need a better proofreader.


"piece of mind"

"it self"






.

What is considered a "hub turn."

Operating into a hub, sitting around from 1 to 6 hours, operating out of the hub. The domestic hubs are MEM, IND, AFW, OAK, and EWR. Hub turns can be during the day or night.

International hubs are CAN (Guangzhou, China), CDG (Paris) and to a lesser extent KIX (Osaka, Japan)

What's RST?

Thank you. Much appreciated!

Just curious, why doesn't FedEx open EWR or OAK domiciles? Seems like a lot of trafffic through them, and I think it would increase applicants.

Probably because they don't have enough trips that originate and terminate there. It's also an increase to cost and actually provides less flexibility with crews once they're domiciled in base.

"Increase applicants"...lets just say that isn't on any list when FedEx looks at creating a pilot domicile.

I don't think there's a lack of applications at FedEx.

EWR was a domicile until the 90s

We had a EWR domicile once. When we were posturing for a strike
('98?) the EWR folks were the most radical. I always assumed that Management closed it to get even with them. With United's bid base there is might be easy to j/s with them.

The 767 domicile in IND is relatively new. I always thought that I'd like an MD base there and that I would bid it.

MM

:confused:

Just some rough numbers for people wondering about bases here since it comes up from time to time.

Bases Ranked in Order of Size. (Rounded Numbers)

1. Memphis - 3,901 Pilots; 757, 767, 777, A300, MD-11
2. Anchorage - 220 Pilots; MD-11
3. Hong Kong - 170 Pilots; 767
4. Los Angeles - 130 Pilots; MD-11
5. Cologne - 100 Pilots; 757
6. Indianapolis- 80 Pilots; 767

Appreciate the data.

MEM heavy
 

Interesting numbers. Had no idea there were so few pilots at all the bases other than Memphis.

And apparently many of them commuters! After driving through the city today I can see why..

I scoffed Memphis hard for years, but my last training I stayed in a very nice Germantown area and rode my bike up and down the Wolf River and Shelby Farms trail systems. There are some nice areas and a lot of nice people there. No state income tax and some other advantages...

However, I commuted for 13 years and with just a tad of seniority that wasnt a bad life. There are also advantages to keeping work life and home life in separate orbits. My advice for new hires is dont do anything for a year, THEN make your call. You do not have to live in Memphis to make Fedex a great job.

But if you are an older newhire chasing $$,
living in Memphis is your best bet.

I'm quite confident that there are many FOs earning more than I do as a Capt...but it's not a Zero sum game for me

Sounds like at least most of the international trips are very commutable? Do guys just ride the jump seat to domicile?

Actually that depends on what your definition of "commutable" is. Unlike an airline, we don't have frequent flights to the hubs throughout the day. Flights from out stations to MEM usually depart either very early in the morning (maybe 0500-0600L ish) or the normal 2000-2200L departures with the daily freight to begin that night's sort. The easiest, most stress free commute at Fedex is riding one of our jumpseats to MEM, arriving within a couple of hours of your show time and heading out on your trip after a nap or squadron reunion over a cup of coffee. That only works for domestic ops (or Mexico/Canada).

Unfortunately, Fedex management has an issue with guys doing that before an international trip. There have been pilots removed from trips that were flying MEM to Asia or Europe because they used the company jumpseat and got to domicile with less than a "legal" rest period before their trip. Never mind there is no FAR requirement to do that and commuting time doesn't count toward duty day. Never mind the pilot may have slept all day at home, got a 4-5 hour nap prior to their 0400 departure and will be in the bunk 45 minutes after takeoff for another 4 hours. Somehow the guy who lives in MEM and hangs with the family all day, mows his lawn or spends his last few hours on the "honey-do" list before going in to work is different. Even though he might actually lay down at the exact same time as the guy who commuted in and may not be any more or less rested - commuters aren't trusted to manage our own lives pre-trip. But... I digress. You can see the issue.

What would be an "easy commute" is not. You get up at the crack of dawn (i.e. 24 hours prior to when you're going to be raising the gear handle) to jumpseat on company metal, arriving in domicile 16-20 hours prior to departure. Or you jumpseat or buy a ticket on a normal airline to arrive in MEM at a more reasonable time the day prior to your trip. Either way, you waste most or all of your last day off getting to or actually in MEM in order to rest when management thinks it's best for you to do so. Show up for you trip as an RFO, with plenty of sleep already under your belt only to jump into the bunk and stare at the ceiling for the first 4 hours of the flight. But, hey, you showed up for the trip rested. :rolleyes: Again, I digress.

Luckily, there are many international trips that start with a deadhead to another city. You cancel the ticket the company buys to that city from MEM (or whatever your domicile is) and buy a ticket from you home airport to that same destination. Then you don't worry about getting to MEM and the above mentioned issues plus you're on the clock getting paid for the commute.

Sorry - long answer to a seemingly simple question.

Hub turns occur either during the day sort or night sort. You would be inbound to the hub on a trip from xyz and will turn to a new paring new trip number etc on the outbound flight from the hub. Most trips that touch Memphis for MEM based pilots finish when they get to the hub and you then turn to a different paring. Its confusing at first because the Fedex Day is different.

we do have 1-2-3-4-5-15 day trips Those longer than 24 hours TAFB usually go through IND, AFW, OAK, LAX, EWR etc.

Actually he had spent the day flying with the reserves. And he was on probation. And was showing for a 15.2 hour MEM-DXB leg.

The other guy, the one not on probation, may have been sleeping all day, though.