had 1 fedex pilot with over 2.5 years there in my interview group at Delta. FedEx was too hard on his family and decided to go to Delta

 

Some background, I’m basically 5 years in, nearly 34. I’m leaving regardless of TA pass or fail. I can’t handle 31 more years of night flying or around the world ops and a commute to MEM. I’ve applied to DL and UA and will just move to a base that I can see myself living in.

I have money saved, no family and nothing that ties me down. It’s a big decision, but I know I’ll be much happier. I flew pax at the regionals, while living in base, and have missed that type of flying ever since. I’m tired of feeling tired at work, and tired of getting on a plane to go to work. This place used to be good for a lot of guys and gals, but there are just better options these days. Sucks to start over, but 5 vs. 31 years is a big difference, and I refuse to be a slave to my seniority.

 

some UPS guys were on Delta Indoc this month as well
times sure changed

 

Well, disruptive pax diversions oftentimes make the news....Which happens every once in a while but still relatively infrequent given the thousands of pax flights a day. With about 19 years of 121 experience, I can't really remember diverting for an unruly pax. Maybe have five-0 on the destination end, but diverting? Nope.

 

More people have died from load shifts in recent memory than from pax issues. Having that keep you from cargo ops would be equally silly.

 

Between battery fires, load shifts, and rest rules, nobody can deny that 121 pax is safer than cargo. But they're still both pretty safe in the grand scheme (reputable US 121).

Even so, IMO the real statistical risk with cargo is the health impact of the circadian disruptions experienced by many cargo pilots.

 

Of course, cargo never talks back to you.

 

Neither do pax any more. We won't get caught dead arguing with some drunk arse-hat on the six oclock news these days... only way to win that game is not to play. Shut the cockpit door and radio for GSC and cops.

 

I don’t think pax flying is significantly safer than FX/UPS. Pax carriers haul cargo too and note that many LiBatt incidents were from shippers not following rules and/or intentionally disregarding them - pax carriers aren’t immune from this.

At UPS, we use fire resistant ULDs (cans) and fire blankets over pallets while pax carriers still have the aluminum foil cans. We also have EVAS on all aircraft. Last, having hundreds of people on board means hundreds of opportunities for haz, LiBatt items in check baggage, iPhones catching fires, and so on…

For FedEx/UPS, load shifts aren’t a major threat like they would be at an ACMI. I’m not aware of any significant events for either company in recent years - correct me if wrong here. At UPS we walk the main deck on the 74 before departure and on all fleets we usually have enough cans loaded that would prevent a significant CG change if things started moving around.

Circadian: intl/long haul, I don’t think there’s much difference and could even argue it’s slightly less fatiguing at Fx/UPS vs pax.

Domestic, night sort flying is taxing and a big percentage of FX/UPS flights but pax carriers aren’t exactly immune from back side of the clock work (eg. red-eyes, early am shows, etc.). There’s also a fair amount of day flying. Really, only a segment of pilots are flying nite domestic.

Another factor - FX/UPS pilots in general fly a lot less block hours per year that pax guys do which has the effect of reducing the risk for a lot of these factors. Less risk of hijacking. Less exposure to communicable diseases, etc.

Again, not arguing cargo is safer than pax, just suggesting that they are probably closer that your posts suggests.

 

Everybody calm down. The important thing is that we all realize and take solace in the fact that our own path is superior to anyone else’s.