mhaviate

I was wondering what a typical 16 day schedule looks like at Kalitta? It's hard to imagine getting 100hrs of pay a month as I've heard. Is every night a min. rest overnight? What is the minimum, 10hrs behind the door? Do you get some longer layovers to do some sightseeing? Fly with the same crew for a week? Thanks.

Puck Hawg

Back during the height of the Wuhan Virus, it was easy to fly 100 hours. Personally, I was crediting 110+ for a while. There are different needs for rest based on duty days and crew assortments, but generally, you’ll have 13-14 hrs at the layover.

Duty days can be long. Generally, you’ll begin a day in S Korea, head to some 💩 hole in China, sit on the ground 3-4 hrs, then head to Anchorage. That is normally a 20+ hr duty day.

You are required to have a 24 hr duty-free day every 7 days. It’s an unpaid day (like a lot of things we do), but it’s yours to do whatever. Sightsee. Sleep. Whatever.

We do a lot of long haul. Do a couple of 16 hr CVG-ICN and you’re halfway to 64 hr guarantee…I’m just 2 legs.

The place used to be great, but it’s a revolving door these days. Crews are disgruntled, the contract is a joke, and flying in and around the world in the heightened state of things (Russia, China, etc) just isn’t worth it.

Don’t count out n good domestic flying unless you’re in training or a check airman. The good domestic stuff and the HNL trips are all sniped by check airman, so kiss those HNL layovers goodbye once off IOE. (Again, another contract fail)

but, oh yeah, you don’t have to commute. That’s one good thing. There may be a few more. But if you have the experience, go somewhere that treats you with respect and values their employees. Or at least has a Union with some balls.

Likpa

Is this 777 schedule or the 747, you guys are talking about? Thank you.

AirlineMerc

Just a quick question to add on as I too got the call from K4 and seriously considering it. Does K4 have ZED agreements currently? The only information I could find was from 2017 and the answer was ‘no’ then. Has that changed?

Puck Hawg

My post was 747 life. I’d imagine the 777 is close to the same. Maybe a bit more scheduled as majority of the flying is DHL. I’m sure that flying will diversify as more 777’s come online.

There are no ZED fares, yet, but there’s always talk of them coming….just like the round and round battle to get hotel points.

I was harsh in my above post. K4 has been a great place to be the few years I’ve been here. It’s been awesome to see the world in a 747. After being strung along for so long, though, about “quality of life improvements” and them never coming, it’s time to head elsewhere.

This isn’t Connie’s K4 anymore.

dera

Did I hear right that you were going to a regional?

jhugz

People leaving for regionals is all you should need to hear to hard pass...

Puck Hawg

There’s an offer on the table. North of $500k (including bonus) over the course of 24 months and a decent contract to boot.

I thought K4 was my final career destination, but over the last few years, I’ve come to realize a) I don’t like long haul and b) it’s still a whipsaw like the regionals.

Not 💯 sure what I want to do, I just know this ain’t it. Again, I’m thankful for the people I’ve met along the way, the places I’ve been able to see, and the opportunity to fly an iconic airplane.

What’s crazy, is it wouldn’t take a whole lot to keep a bunch of guys here. A pay bump, retirement, and a few work rule improvements and this place becomes a career destination. But, the company has shown they have no interest in retaining pilots and are happy with the revolving door.

This isn’t meant to shy people away. It’s a good place but it wears you down after a few years. Just know that going forward.

Beer:30

I can’t recommend Kalitta as a career destination either. If you have more than 5 years left in your career go somewhere else. There are some good things, home basing and good crews. But the bad-very long days, complete dumpster fire contract which means no work rules, getting screwed over on things like sick call, vacation and scheduling. You will have very little time to get a break while being away from your family for 16 days. I’m fully aware that it’s a job and you are there to work and not be on vacation but you are basically on reserve and on call for your entire rotation. Whatever “trips” are on your line for the month mean nothing, they WILL change. Had a good rest at the hotel, finally feel kinda caught up on rest and ready to get up and get ready for the 18 hour duty day ahead? Oh wait, email from scheduling says plane is delayed and they’re resetting your rest so your departure time is now twelve hours later than original. Good luck being rested on that trip. It happens way too often.
I could go on and on but you get the picture. I only have a few years left to fly 121 and don’t think it would be worth it to bail and go to another 121 carrier but I’m very seriously considering trying to go somewhere I can fly past 65 and not being ridden like a rented mule and completely trashed health wise in my later years.
In today’s environment, Kalitta has fallen way down the ladder in being a place to go, there are much better options.

mhaviate

I thank ya kindly for the insights. It does help to understand the reality of life in the long haul world. An adventure, but exhausting also. If only those 747's weren't so enticing! Atlas and National are other options, but even longer stretches away from home. Still weighing the options, and thankful that there are so many options right now. When I graduated in the 80's you couldn't get a flying job to save your life.