Purplewaste2021

Just flew my last trip and what a relief to be out of the purple promise and state of affairs. The following are my 75 + reasons why FedEx was a joke…. in addition to stagnation, Drive 2.0, and not to swing gear over the next decade for a shrinking operation.




Memphis. Need I say anymore? Great entertainment driving around if you aren’t afraid of being the true minority in all places of business and crime. Automatic gunfire is always interesting from the nearby projects at simulator building. Everyone local says Collierville, Olive Branch, and Cordova are the places to live. They are all dumps……and living 30 years behind the times.




Expense reports. Company Credit card used to stay at non contract hotels. Having to fight for every penny several months later. Fighting for a normal hotel charge, just think how stupid that sounds.




VP of flight ops, and the “new guy” from Atlas. Haven’t turned a wheel in 20 years and totally out of touch with reality. I didn’t think management could sink to a new low in this industry but now it has. LCA warned me about both of them being JV hacks and they were absolutely correct. The PSA memo was just an icing on the cake. Atlas leader will totally bring the Atlas playbook here for negotiations and massive cost savings. Another TA is atleast 18-20 months away from right now - March ‘24




BLG and 68 hours per month with a reduction to possibly 50 hours in the near future.




Hedge fund people joining Board of directors left and right should be an indication of what’s coming next 2-3 years




Scope language the company is seeking is dangerous and right around the corner. The company will break this rule anyway when they need their grand plan put in place in ‘24 for “Drive”




Incorrect wet lease payments to pilot group year after year after year. ALPA is even confused most of the time with whose eligible and when you were considered “activated”




No profit sharing. Making 2 billion per quarter. Not year, quarter. Number 17 on the Fortune 500 company




A terribly negotiated TA 1.0 from both sides. Very unprofessional and beyond cheap in all sections. This union and company don’t understand real time work rules that benefit both sides. As time goes on I never believed it, but now at times think ALPA is possibly paid off under the table. The negotiating committee would be a good stand up comedy show downtown after what I witnessed at the first roadshow in July.




757 chief pilot in late 2023 (mgmt) participating in group chats about TA 2.0 with many union reps. Such a true professional




ALPA Block rep 1. Bumps her own FedEx pilots off her jumpseat to make room for her offline husband. Such loyalty. That’s true love though. I hope she tries to catch a ride with me someday.




The lack of communication from company about anything going on in the business. It’s like they don’t even exist. Everything is a secret in every department.




“Meeting at the folder” to brief ? Why, when there’s 6 different briefings that will take place in the airplane before you move an inch. Then again the folder was a great place to find out what “type” of captain you’re paired with.




FO does every walk around. Even though mechanics do it as well at the same time. I have no idea how to program FMC for preflight “oh you don’t need to know any of the preflight aspects on the flight deck” is what some captains have told me




Let’s check every warning system on the airplane every flight. Nothing like a config warning being checked 21 times per week. Love hearing all the GPWS noises during preflight. Bus Tie checks on 757 as an example. First flight of the day checks is a term not used at FedEx




“Got your docs ?” …And if I didn’t what would I do at this point 10 mins prior to push anyway




Security briefings when there’s no jumpseaters is absurd.




767 CAs referring to jumpseaters as “could be hijackers” is an insult. (All 76 jump seats are in cockpit) I’ve heard it more than once.




767 and A300 captains that would say no if you asked to put your bags up front instead of in the back in the netting. Still scratching my head at why we couldn’t accommodate our own pilots




MD11 wrestling mats for rest areas. Great sleep




Water diapers. Need I say more. “That’s how it was when I was an FE back in 1992”




Overwater kit for W&B. Rafts are going to make that much of a difference? If it’s such a big deal why don’t all aircraft just have them installed ?




FOM briefings are from the 1980s. No one listens to any of this old non sense. I guess I didn’t share the “mental model” most flights.




CA reads/briefs the FO on the ATIS outloud ? I can read what came off the printer myself thank you very much




There is no common sense up until pushback with how much we brief and brief and talk about the simplest stuff. These briefings were “so important” most people referred to a briefing card or note checklist on iPad to make sure we covered all 39 items




Must take off times were mandatory briefs. Because IND-EWR with an on time departure is going to be such a factor for our day




It’s 89 degrees out and the cockpit is over 100. But don’t start that APU until 5 mins prior. Oh wait, there’s baby chicks/ducks onboard, start it 45 mins prior now. Never been more miserable and uncomfortable in an airplane than sitting in a FedEx cockpit. All fleets. Some captains have become sheep with this rule and don’t look out for everyone else onboard when it’s hot and humid




Paper fuel slips from 2001. At least I know that you really don’t need to turn them in because after IOE I didn’t and never heard boo about them




TOLD Cards. Unbelievable how much paper “needed to be present” entire flight. I threw a W&B in the trash once reaching cruise and the CA said “whoa whoa we need that, the FOM says so”




Performance briefing. I would say “K Indy”instead of “K I N D” and some guys would want me to say it again. This was an excellent indicator who I was sitting next to for the next few hours.




LTAET. It works about 5% of the time. The monthly reminders and LCA talking about it gets exhausting. Again, common sense item when you’re number 20 in line at JFK not number 3 going to 18R. The more its emphasized the less your crews will comply.




Can’t have ground and tower in COMM1. Departure freq has to be in standby entire time from gate to lift off in COMM1. No one can explain that one yet.




Below the line taking the runway. Unsafe as FO is heads down for entire time and it’s constant challenge and response




“Before TO checklist complete, runway 36L verified” doesn’t need to be said after you read back a takeoff clearance. It can be done anytime. Then again I’m sure navy guys not on a carrier are overwhelmed at an airport with more than 1 runway.




FO “has the airplane” but the CA is always advancing the thrust levers. Ok sure why not 🤔




Keep your hands on the thrust for climb and decent ? That’s an old 727 thing. The A/T do a much better job than any human 95% of the time




Making a change in the FMC yourself while climbing and descending while PF is the biggest no no. Autopilot on of course.




The airports that were considered “special airports” …nothing special about them other than short, and CAs anxiety about them were comical. Was rare that an FO got to land at these places. RNO, ROA, ONT, RIC, ELP, etc




The detail in briefing an arrival is absurd here. Both pilots are totally out of the picture as we’re going check check check check check. Sometime during a decent or runway change there are 5 mins where no one is flying the airplane. Period.




Vacating a flight level to ATC ? That’s only for a non radar environment in North American airspace. No other airline does anything remotely close to that or has an FOM carry over rule from the 1980s




Altitude verification. Let’s wait silently and point rather than just say the ALT ourselves.




“100” RA

“Continue?” Awesome phase of flight to question someone’s intentions




Briefing when we’re going to add xwind correction and what RA we’re going to flare at is all nonsense. It’s inbreeding from the Air Force. To watch more than one Captain get frustrated with me because I told him I didn’t know shows you just who is in your left seats.




FedEx will have another accident and it’s going to be due to “this isn’t what we briefed” so I’ll take control at the last second.




The DeBrief on the shutdown checklist. Just what I want to talk about at 0600 as the sun is coming up and all I want to do is get into limo and crawl into bed. Any flight that was damn near perfect and the captain wanted to sit there and waste time probably was most irritating. Also a dangerous thing on probation because what FO is going to bring up issues with a weak ass CA when he needs a good PEP report. It’s a terrible idea in the true interest of safety.

————————————————————




Vips collapsing as we’re trying to bid or open time goes live.




FCIFs about 93 year old retired military guys dying. Like it was breaking news. Just this past week some senior captains mom died and it was a flight ops memo




FCIFs of current pilots dying due to the vaccine and boosters stopped after it became obvious what was going on. 6 guys in a 3 month span all middle age and in good shape. Try and change my mind




FO First class medical required for domestic 2 person crew. Waste of pilots time and company reimbursement




Leaving work and have to go thru security. Such trust in your crewmembers on their way to the parking lot.




Dash cams in crew buses. More trust




Purple WIFI that employees aren’t allowed to use in all buildings




Having to scan employee badge to make a copy, or simply print in AOC, or simulator rooms. Again, trust.




Okta Verify, period.




New Bluetooth stair locks. Why? No other company has this much paranoia over security.

Let’s get our iPads out in the rain and snow to unlock a staircase. Brilliant.




Flight Ops manuals are a mess. Information greatly scattered. It’s a hunt for everything in iPad. No links for anything




Lavs that never get emptied. I love opening up an aircraft that has sat all weekend shut up with a full lav. I have yet to be on an airplane in a year where the bathroom wasnt a hold your breath escape room. To get it emptied the captain had to write it up




A picnic cooler that would get restocked once a day for drinks. Awesome coming out to an airplane with melted ice and warm diet cokes. “Hey can we get some fresh ice and a few new waters thrown in here?” “No we don’t do that at this station. Submit an insite to maybe make a change”




Coffee thermos from the late 70s. When are those cleaned?




INSITE. A website where you submit operational issues. The responses made for some good laughs.




MEM Sleep rooms that have blankets from Desert Storm. Pillows that smell like sponge.




There were signs that said we weren’t allowed to switch out the coffee containers or make popcorn in AOC. So you trust us with your aircraft around the world but can’t make a batch of popcorn ?




Bathrooms in MEM got “remodeled”

Consisted of a new glossy floor and a roller bag rack. The same urinal has leaked and overflowed for over 3 years now.




A nice jumpseat lounge that has the fluorescent lights on the highest intensity at 0300. Why?




A 777 LCA stopped me at 0400 in the cafe to tell me my tie was too loose around my collar. Priorities. If there was a hat policy here it would be great for those types. F15E probably




Airport standby? Something that airlines had in the 80s and 90s. Waste of time and money. Have a seperate call out time and problem is solved. 30 min, 90 min and 2 hour call out. You’d never need limos, 20 sleep rooms, or hotels ever again. When I suggested this to union they looked at me like I was a cowboy from the Wild West. Then again “that’s how we did it on the 7-2”




Getting put into “sub” Again, zero work rules with sections that are severely out of date.




R24 use to be R24. It’s now the open time filler. Oh wait “R16 long call is amazing for commuters now” - current NC member that commutes from GRR (brilliant negotiator) ignorant and stupid too.




Having to get released from reserve. I was just on duty for 13 hours, there’s nothing you can do with me but now I’m on hold for 10 mins to officially be “OFF”




System bids. They should be called decade bids because it might take that long to get a training slot. A system bid every year doesn’t benefit either side. Much too large and take too long to train out. There should be 3 vacancy bids per year not an annual entire system shuffle. That’s old 1990 TWA bidding stuff




Indoc was 9 long days that taught nothing about important things such as bidding, payroll, travel expenses, travel bank, vacation options, booking travel, banking, bidding for training, where to park, where to get a sleep room, here’s how to get updated uniform pieces , how to drop, trade etc. Instead it was 9 days of telling us the things we could be fired for. Many senior captains are still paranoid and scared of the company due to this culture and it’s pathetic. I almost forgot the “secret code” is so important to have on file incase you crash and die. That way the company will tell your family the details. Yep that’s really important guys, that code and bringing a gun to work beat into new hires daily. The best one was the LCA fired mid flight for having a gun from MEM - LAX onboard and security missed the item but upon landing was terminated. Believe she was here for 25 years. Company really takes care of their pilots as you can see.




Probation that lasts forever and PEPs that mean nothing. Once off probation you got a 50 min phone call from a retired guy reminding you what you can be fired for, AFTER listening to his naval career story




“PRO” sim instructors. Some were fantastic and laid back. Most have zero common sense and very little 121 experience.




Training grading. There’s a section that’s mandatory of what could be improved. Very little comments of how nice of a job a crew progresses through the course and more notes about how the student didn’t adjust their ruder pedals as part of the preflight flow. Praising, confidence and motivation from instructors isn’t in their AQP program.




The briefings for sims that lasted 2 hours prior and an hour after showed that the big picture was never a priority. Stump the student with FOMs quizzes was way more important than a perfectly flown single engine non precision. I won’t even get into how MDA/DA/DDAs were taught.




Required to wear a tie to my type ride at 05:00 on a Saturday morning…..Why?




MD11 fleet updates, messages, memos, and long drawn out training about approaches, flares, tail strikes, landings, de-rotations. This airplane was the easiest to land in all conditions and the emphasis put on this showed you the paranoia and gun shy attitude to landing a large wide body.




Another winter meltdown this January. FedEx simply doesn’t know how to handle it, plan, anticipate, make a decision, keep the fleet out of MEM for the love of god until weather is gone. Scheduling, DOs, all think they have the magic formula to make an ice event smooth and they make it 10 times worse. Simple decisions make their brain melt after 1/2 a shift.




MEM Multi million dollar state of the art de-ice pad but cant staff it and it handles 4 aircraft per hour now. This is acceptable to DOs and fleet managers as normal.




I had high hopes and expectations coming to purple, but man has it been disappointing and run poorly. I look forward to my next carrier with an immediate upgrade and a ton of common sense in their flight dept. it’s ok to laugh and have a good time at work too. Flying should be fun not a simulated trip into combat every night. Way too serious flying a MEM-CHA “mission” or “sortie”




When arriving separately to work don’t forget to say “I’ll meet you at the jet” instead of airport, ramp, airplane, stairs, ops etc. Guess “the jet” sounds cool from the military days.




Some (not all) fleet chief reaching out to pilots as soon as PRIA requests come across their desk. Asking where you are going or if you have a class date. Then reminding you that you can’t work for 2 air carriers at once. Actually you can. Trust me it’s done all the time. All they want to know is your end date so the bid packet won’t be affected for following month. You have no obligation to respond to this micro managing.




It’s been an interesting couple of years here. Grass was always greener before I came and didn’t enjoy much of it here. This place is changing fast and it’s not for the benefit of the pilot. The hedge funds & shareholders win in the end with the times we’re living in and it’s a bleak picture for flight ops. I truly hope all the friends I made here do well, get a great TA, and it thrives into the future.




But hey, at least I studied naval aerodynamics for a month AND spent $500 for interview prep to be “an ELITE FedEx pilot”




….oh yeah, almost forgot…don’t bring a gun to work.

FXFF

I left recently as well.. lots of similar reasons for leaving.

This is a copy/paste of "list of reasons to quit" that I got from a friend who left recently as well. It helped push me to make the decision to bail too. He said "too much to fix" and I agree. No place is perfect but purple is deteriorating and it's simply not worth it to hang out and see if we can fix it.

Facilities awful - no pride in cleanliness or maintenance

• Toilets always broken
• Paper towel holders always busted
• Carpet always stained
• Faucets leaking for years
• furniture extremely worn
• Sleep room linens have holes and are nasty (stuck together *BARF*) even when “clean”
• Vacuuming in sleep rooms - not enough *barf*
• Airplanes were filthy
• Pack filters removed from planes
• Exposure to DG without premium pay
• Airflow MD-11 back to front, with DG behind you
• Hotel isolation for days and sometimes weeks on end - no extra pay
• Exposure to unknown anti-covid chemicals - no extra pay
• Insites left unanswered for months and in a few cases, years.
• No employee help text/call line
• No 24/7 contract enforcement
• IT is horrendous
  • KCM down for maintenance every Monday morning when you need it most instead of bringing it down at a sensible hour like Saturday or Sunday at midnight pacific time
  • VIPS always crashing
  • Have to pay for 3rd party app to view calendar in screenshotable format on phone
  • Need 3rd party app to make trip trading even somewhat doable

Substitution

• Seriously, wtf? 14 pages of language that benefits the company, and you can only get a hotel in base if you have dev funds?

Union (seems to be getting better, but we'll see)

• doesn’t even bother to negotiate for increases to anything that has a dollar amount
  • uniform allowance
  • international overrides
  • medical reimbursments
  • deviation expense allowances
  • nocat items
• doesn’t fight status quo violations
• capitulates early and fast during negotiations (2021/2022) and gets mad at us when we get mad at them for that
• constantly giving up work rules to help the company finance hourly rate increases.
• steady erosion of contract over time and nobody seems to care (fyigm)
• doesn’t file grievances
• doesn’t enforce contractual language (base replacement, seat selection fees, etc)

Expense reports

• also a huge wtf
• Money stolen from my paycheck for no reason
• Months if not years to audit, then suddenly just closed without audit - proof that they were just ****ing with us
• No appeals process
• Money stolen from my paycheck for scheduled layover hotels

Retirement

• no cash over cap? wtf?
• MBCBP insufficient replacement for $170k pension. Doesn’t even replace $130k pension
• FAE cap applied to MBCBP even though it shouldn’t be… wtf?

Pilot Culture

• lots of apathy, spinelessness, and "FYIGM" among our more senior crowd - glad these guys are the "silent" "majority" (aka minority). Huge shout out to the senior guys who voted no, you guys saved a lot of careers.

Work rules

• Company not penalized for base replacement/revisions/extensions/revisions
• Back end DH cancellation needs to cost the company more than just a few meager CH.
• R24 to R16 would have been much worse
• HSBY extension language much worse in TA2023
• 36 hour involuntary domestic extensions WTF
• 84 hour involuntary international extensions WTF
• they can extend you even longer if they declare an operational emergency due to their incompetence (with no penalty to the company for declaring operational emergency)
• No payback days (restored days off) for extensions
• 8 hour layovers ( should be 10:30 at minimum)
• Company can **** on contract by declaring operational emergencies, no extra pay for anyone who works during one.
• Unpaid time between hub turns with no per diem either
• Union gave up AVA because the company said its "immoral" for someone to clear their schedule and then work a trip at 150%, union didn’t ask for anything in exchange for this… wtf.
• No percentage cap on secondary lines (company can basically just cancel ALL the lines like they did in Nov 2022 and put everyone on SLG if they really want)
• No day-before reserve preferencing
• Reserve call out 1.5 (or 1.0) hours wtf
• No extra pay for airport standby
• Hotel standby can be added to a line-holder’s trip wtf
• Allowable rate for deviation hotel super low, good luck finding anything besides a motel 6 for the contract rate for that city.
• No contractual limits on “shotgun” type schedules from SLG or in built lines
• Commuter policy - only if the starts align perfectly for your commute situation, otherwise you're at the mercy of the DO or Fleet Captain.
• Company not required to credit dev bank with cost of ticket if purchased ticket is higher than baseline or established
• No FC deadheads unless over 5 hours block
• Most overrides only apply to scheduled, not greater of scheduled vs actual
• No pay for extreme sort delays
• No pay for laundry on long trips
• Airline miles/status/class of service not protected by CBA

Memphis

• pilots shot in crashpads
• extreme crime
• road safety is a serious issue driving to AOC
• no hotels, ground transport, or per diem for training
• Mediocre food options in AOC/AOTC cafeterias (when they are even open, which they’re not for weekends or night hub turns)

Pay

• extremely low rigs
• No AMDG or MDG
• No revision pay
• Company chooses when the pay clock starts instead of what it should be: door close and brake drop to brake set and door open.
• No profit sharing
• 15 year pay scale vs industry standard 12
• No pay for required drug tests or illness tests like Covid
• No redeye/night hub turn override
• No hazard pay for hazardous countries/regions (war, outbreaks, pandemics, hotel isolation, unrest, etc)

Scope

• ALPA national refuses to help us pursue UPS level scope
• Domestic wet-leasing needs to end. period. Let the company reactivate MD-11s and pay draft during peak if they need freight moved

Per diem

• none for out and backs or airport standby WTF
• No holiday pay
• Below industry
• No annual increase tied to inflation or at fixed rate even after contract expiration

Sick policy

• irregularity reports (what the ****)
• sick note requirements
• No transparency on sick policy point system

Training

• pay per day extremely low
• No pay for cancelled training (what the ****)
• No pay for 3in3 sim
• No pay for travel to 3in3 if not based in MEM (what the ****)
• TA 2023 only proposed pay for 3in3 if not paid for 3in3 in the last 90 days, which means you could easily be in a situation where you’re only getting paid for every other 3in3 even if you’re flying a full line
• Bid for a seat and then not go to training for years, don’t get paid until activated
• First year pay doesn’t begin until activated - doing IOE on training pay instead of getting paid for the trip you’re actually doing wtf
• No per diem during new hire training wtf
• No hotel during new hire training wtf
• No hotel during training for recurrent or seat change ITU wtf

Hotels - worse than RJ hotels

• bad locations
• Low rent hotels (courtyard Marriotts, Hyatt place, etc)
• Often sharing walls with low rent hotel clientele throwing parties
• No language prohibiting adjoining rooms
• No language prohibiting ground floor rooms

jackryan

Oh, this is gonna be good…

Shadow Recruit

Who wouldn’t want to be based in a city that declares a state of emergency that continues for a week after a moderate snow storm because the water isn’t drinkable? Lol

Not loading the box or setting your own thrust is definitely one of the things that frustrates me about the actual flying here.

Some of your other concerns are totally valid too.

That being said, you’ll find a lot of things you don’t like at your next gig, hope you’re ready for those as well. I think overall you made the right choice though.

Viejo

The main thing that you're correct about is that they do suck the fun out of flying here, like nowhere else.

dera

Might want to recheck that before shouting that too loud.

AIM 5-3-3

Additional Reports

1. The following reports should be made to ATC or FSS facilities without a specific ATC request:
   1. At all times.
      1. When vacating any previously assigned altitude or flight level for a newly assigned altitude or flight level.

Shadow Recruit

AIM isn't regulatory, but the amount of times I’ve reported vacating and then had a controller ship me to the next frequency indicates that the vacating call has some sort of use. If they’re swamped I won’t step on anyone to get that call in though.

Stan446

You're a sharp and bitter person. There's only about 4,000 guys you're behind now. You seem to be pretty cluesless about airline life, I'm sure your next job will be worry free.

dera

Point being, there is no "That’s only for a non radar environment in North American airspace." as OP claimed. If it's in your FOM, depending on the verbiage, it is regulatory through that.

JackStraw

You forgot to mention the captain that’s been here 2()+ years telling you that it’s ok that it sucks at Fedex now because it’s hasn’t always sucked at FedEx then regale you with stories about the 727 and “riding sideways” for 6 months and how FedEx has always sucked. But… Just stick with it. It’s great! Maybe you can also hold Toluca night hub turns when you’re a captain in your 60s.

And, don’t worry, any time they’ve had an emergency or a death in the family FedEx has always allowed them off their current trip to go home, you know, because they care about us…. Just don’t crush him and let him know that even the regionals and ACMIs share that policy.