What are the major differences between life flying the 747 and the 777?

Any information over the schedule, destinations, pilot group, and overall lifestyle would be appreciated.

May have been asked before, but looking for some recent information.

Thanks!

 

At the moment and subject to change in the next year the 747 is the busier fleet as there is more 747s than 777. Tthe 74 side does more flying and to a lot more dirrect places. The 777 appears overstaffed at the moment whilst they wait the new deliveries. BUt things are changing ..but changing on both sides. The 747 I think will be the fleet with the most flying and most overtime for the near future with the most varied destinations and a lot of military flying. LIfestyle is the same in both, just you can and will get more hours per month and more OT possibilities on the 747 fleet side. No matter what fleet you fly the roster is the same , the pilot group is the same... although remember here you really bid days at work and days off, not where you are going.. they give trips on the bid lines but its rare to fly them. The only constant is change and by that you could see 3-4 changes per day in the upcoming days schedules.

 

With more 777s arriving, has this changed much in terms of hours flown and lifestyle? Are there any benefits to flying the 777 vs the 747 at Kalitta?

 

The question you should be asking is, which fleet has the least crazy ride along mechanics?

 

Lol you got stories to share? Do tell.

 

Well, the Triple doesn’t really have FME’s. Yeah there are stories. 15-20 days a month living on an airplane drives some of them nutty. Most are really cool.

And pilots on the Triple fleet are starting to break guarantee.

No new contract in sight. Tariff impact uncertain. It’s still a decent place to work.

 

Any updates or insights on schedules/locations/QoL on each fleet? If you had the choice would you fly the 747 or 777?

​​​​​The class that just started was split 5 on the 747 and 12 on the 777.

 

In preparation for expanded fleet, 777 staffing was increased. With the delays (which should be expected, as they happen more often than not) in delivery, this led the 777 to be greatly over staffed, which means min guarantee, trips to the sim for landings, etc.


Both fleets spend a lot of time bouncing around between Hong Kong, Anchorage, and Incheon. The 747 crews get to ‘appreciate’ mainland China more, while the 777 crews spend more in Japan.

Overall, the flying looks quite a bit different than it did a couple years ago, and I bet it will look pretty different a couple years from now.


Either fleet is fine. The 777 is the future, but the 747 has many years ahead of it. Pick whichever sounds fun to you, then swap in a couple years of you’d like to try the other.

 

With the 777-300ERSF's arriving you're going to see a lot of Japan flying with contracted flying to / from there. More Europe and beyond for DHL and South America flying. "Threats" of overtime "soon" on the 777. More being hired into the 777 fleet.