Pretty sure he's referring to one's 90-day landing currency.


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SW FO considering FDX
 

Maybe, I don’t really know. But how would a SWA pilot know either? As a FedEx pilot, I can “look back” 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 days, 6 months and a whole year to date as well.

Having a spouse at FedEx is a huge bonus. Nepotism is a huge positive here. I'd ask your wife to start making contact with people here about getting you an interview. She should get on the female pilot's facebook page and start asking questions, start talking to people. If you want to be here, get her going on this. Of course, she'll have to want you here too....;)

The pilot couples here have a nice life when they're in the same seat position. Coerce her to give you her senior trips.

Haha, well my other half is a whiz at interior decorating, but I doubt he’ll fit in on the female pilots FB page. He does drop by the recruiting office at AOTC every time he’s there for recurrent to remind them I’m still alive...although now they tend to keep the door locked. Also done the purple bullet, and I attended his new hire day and talked with the Flight Ops VP, so I think we are doing all we can.


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Unless you’re Mark, who would always have to fly his and Margie’s trips.. I would always see her name on the pairing and show up at the folder to see Mark. She definitely got the winning end of them being in same plane and seat. :cool:

I heard he loved to fly and she enjoyed staying home more...so it sounded like a win/win for them. Or maybe she did the family scheduling and he just ended up in all the trips somehow.:cool:

Oops, I thought you said it was your wife, my mistake. Yeah, hopefully you'll get a call soon, but don't despair. It takes FedEx a ridiculous amount of time to call people in.

I know... I was trying to make a joke.. Tongue in cheek doesn’t work well on the internet..:eek:

I left WN for FedEx, albeit with only 6 months at the former. My assessment comes during my honeymoon having less than 2 years with FedEx.

If you can’t (or won’t) fly nights, forget it. I was at a regional for 17 years and chose not to commute, I had commuted enough times to know it wasn’t for me. Commuting at FedEx is a breeze. Do some homework on the city from which you plan to commute, there are some FedEx cities that are quite busy. I’m commuting from a city that offers plenty of FedEx jumpseats. I also ride paid commercial deadheads quite a bit now and it is very slick. I still jumpseat offline occasionally and get much luv from everyone.

The crews here are top notch. I’m speaking of the captains with whom I work and the crews I catch a ride from 3 times a month. Former military, cargo, airline, it doesn’t matter. Without a doubt they have been super cool and accommodating. It’s standard at FedEx to do a debrief after every flight. Not once has the captain bagged on me for a slip up. If it’s their leg they’ll only debrief their own performance. Seriously classy people.

If you absolutely, positively have to go out on overnights, buyer beware. I’ve gone out for dinner and drinks however some schedules aren’t conducive to a social life. No one will give you grief if you slam click, I’m not sure if people here even know what a slam click is.

People don’t complain much and they don’t rag on each other. Well, okay, if you were in the military expect the requisite us versus them banter. All in good fun. I wouldn’t characterize people as kool-aid drinkers either. Honest opinions and solid info abound.

Plan to be goal oriented. People want to move the freight, they come to work to get the job done. On the flip side if you want to drop a trip that’s not a problem, someone will take it. The first time I dropped reserve days my jaw hit the floor, that was a career first!

The interview was tough. I put a lot of time and effort into getting ready. It was my third “major” interview and the most difficult. The interviewers were friendly but they have a job to do. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I didn’t pass. No matter what you have heard or think, they are looking for honest, humble, polite, articulate people. So they make a mistake from time to time, yay for me!

For sure FedEx isn’t for everyone. Each month that passes I am happier with my decision to come here. I could have gone to United, stayed at Southwest, or come here. This job fits me like a glove!

ToF,

Glad to hear you are enjoying being here. A long, long time ago, I interviewed with both SWA and FedEx during the same week. It was during a period when hiring was slowing down, and I ended up being in the pool for a year. SWA called first, but by that time, I had made my choice and told them I wanted to work for FedEx, and it wouldn't be fair for me to take a training slot and then quit after 3 months. Not fair to SWA, and not fair to someone in the pool at SWA waiting behind me. SWA was really nice, and told me I had one year to change my mind and they would still take me. I am still at FedEx. I do appreciate SWA being cool about me turning them down. Some of my friends said I was crazy doing that, and that I should have said yes and then quit. Well, it worked out in the end.

Sometimes I eat dinner with the crew, sometimes I am too tired or I woke up early and eat by myself, that is why we have the 5 minute rule. I have never thought poorly of another crew member for missing dinner, it's just part of everyone sleeping, working out and eating on the schedule that works best for them. Now, if I have a longer layover, I will do my best to meet my crew for dinner.

The rest of what you said is also very accurate, but I am glad to hear that a more recent hire has come to the same conclusions I did over 20 years ago.

I picked FedEx so I could fly international, and fly a variety of aircraft so I wouldn't get bored. One of the good things about FedEx is that you can find your little niche and stay there to get senior, or you can make a change until you find a plane you like or one that flies to the cities you like.

Hands down, FedEx has the best vacation rules in the industry. I hope the young guys and gals can resist PBS so they can keep it. I also hope the union fails in this stupid idea to give away our retirement plan.

There are many "old" guys here, who took 8 years to get to the right seat of a wide body, and even longer to be a wide body Captain, due to slower hiring and the age 65 change. I am envious of the young guys and gals just starting out. You will truly benefit from a greatly accelerated career track. I think most of the old guys, including myself, are genuinely happy for you, but we also hope you will protect our contract, and we need to stop giving away the good deals, which seems to happen every negotiating period. Those good deals exist for a reason, and they should not be given up lightly or cheaply.

We debrief here because standards wants it that way. Some Captains take it more seriously than others. My goal is to make sure there are no unanswered questions, admit my mistakes to my crew, and tell them what I learned from it. At 0300, I know I am going to make a mistake somewhere along the way, and I tell my FO's it is their job to catch it. When they do, my response is either "correcting" or "thank you". I usually summarize what I might have done wrong, then ask the FO "what have you got for me"? That gives them the opportunity to debrief any mistakes they may have made in a manner similar to the example I have set. If they don't mention something I consider significant, I may debrief them on it, and do a little mentoring, but it is in the style of "you might consider doing it this way next time". Most of the time, the flight goes smoothly, with only minor errors. In that case, I might say, "I though it went well, except for whatever mistake I made, what do you have for me?" Asking for input makes them think for a minute, and they might bring up something I forgot. I also try to thank my crew for their good work at the end of every trip.

Sorry, I got long winded.