About two thirds of the decisions I make in the cockpit are driven by either flight attendants or passengers. I'm no fan of night flying, but flying boxes around sounds pretty good to me.

Well, I CAN say from experience that passengers are a big pain in the arse. 8 years of pax flying was enough for me. I am glad there are people that want to fly people. You all can have it. I will enjoy being the freightdawg.

BTW, no, you don't see people flying cargo besides the people loading the plane.......THANK GAWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just the way I like it (btw, I am a very social and outgoing person just not when it comes to customers in a job setting)

It's about 1,000,000,000,000,000 times less of a pain in the a$$. When the van drops you off on the cargo side, you are at the airplane literally in 2 to 3 minutes.

I never said anything against cargo flying, but I did defend passenger flying. I don't suffer from any of the problems you had when flying passengers. I won't see you in Hong Kong until I switch to the 777, but if you're ever in Amsterdam, I'll buy you a dutch beer.


It's sounds like you might not be based in the US, that's another reason I'd pass on some cargo jobs. The night flying is not a problem for me, I fly the North Atlantic which is all nights- Eastbound. I do some US Transcon redeyes too. :D

"I never said anything against cargo flying, but I did defend passenger flying. I don't suffer from any of the problems you had when flying passengers. I won't see you in Hong Kong until I switch to the 777, but if you're ever in Amsterdam, I'll buy you a dutch beer."

I guess I took your saying "I'll take passenger flying anytime" as a slam against cargo flying. My mistake then. If you have never suffered any of the problems I discussed previously that makes you the only one on this board. You are one lucky guy! I was in Amsterdam last week. Sorry I missed the free beer.

"It's sounds like you might not be based in the US, that's another reason I'd pass on some cargo jobs"

Dude, first you would have to be hired by a cargo carrier to pass on it. That is no easy feat these days as we have lots of passenger pilots trying to get hired with us every week. I don't know any cargo pilots leaving UPS or FedEx for jobs with passenger carriers right now. As far as where I am based, you are way off base once again. I am based here in the good old USA. Beer is still on me when you make the change to the 777 and get to HKG. Look for me in Someplace Else. I'll buy you a dutch beer there at 2 for 1 Happy Hour.

That's true. Like I said in the cargo forum - the last year or so I've been more interested in flying cargo because of that. I've been watching the cargo deck at my local airport and it seems a lot more appealing with less hustle and bustle. And I think an added bonus - people may stop flying, but people are always going to mail things...

"That's true. Like I said in the cargo forum - the last year or so I've been more interested in flying cargo because of that. I've been watching the cargo deck at my local airport and it seems a lot more appealing with less hustle and bustle. And I think an added bonus - people may stop flying, but people are always going to mail things..."

CR the truth is there is good and bad about both jobs. I have flown both and when you add all the pros and cons together, for me cargo is a better overall way to go. One of the main reasons is your last statement. A buddy of mine that I helped get hired at FDX behind me left here for Delta. He was above the whole "cargo" flying even though that is what he did in the Air Force. He left me a viocemail about leaving for Delta and I haven't heard from him since. Had he stayed here he would be an MD-11 Capt now instead of an MD-80 F/O in ATL. He may still be happy with his decision, I don't know. No one has a crystal ball here so the best advice I can give is keep doing your research, try to talk to pilots that have flown both pax and cargo, and work hard enough to be able to make that decision when the time comes. What is riding behind you shouldn't be a big factor in your decision IMO. I had an AA F/O tell me one time that cargo pilots shouldn't make as much as Pax pilots because we have less responsibility. This dufus actually thought that when I was shooting a Cat III down to mins, bringing in a jet on one engine, or escaping a severe windshear that I wouldn't do the best job that I could because it was only boxes behind me and not people. I explained to him that it was my arse I was worried about saving, not anyone or anything behind me and I had never met a pilot that flew a plane differently when the chips were down because of what they were hauling. Anyway, he looked at me and said.."I never thought of it that way". He then proceeded to screw up a 15 knot Xwind landing so bad that the Capt had to take it in the flare. Anyway, I digress. Keep asking the right questions, keep working hard and above all....fly safe. I look forward to buying you a beer one day in Someplace Else!

I may have to take you up on that someday :D FDD - I really appreciate your response. Thanks!

LOL Classic! I wonder how much a full boat load of cargo is worth. Anyone have real data on that one? I would imagine many millions.

"LOL Classic! I wonder how much a full boat load of cargo is worth. Anyone have real data on that one? I would imagine many millions."

The revenue generated on FedEx's Osaka to Memphis non stop is rumored to be 5 million per flight. What the actual cargo is worth is likely less.