ACE Air Cargo
 

Anyone have any info on this company? Their website says that they're hiring FO's.

Do you have to have someone on the inside in order to get a callback? Are they really hiring FO's with a wet commercial cert into the right seat of a 1900C?

What're the schedules like? Two weeks on two off? Pay pretty decent? How many hours are their pilots averaging there monthly? 80-100?

Any info on this outfit would be greatly apprecited, as I know nothing about them.

If this is Alaska Central Express cargo in Anchorage, I can tell you a little about them...although I never worked there.

Not a 121 operation, so quite possible hiring pilots with very low time to the right seat of a Beech 1900.
Don't know what schedule they work today. It was 4-5 days a week around 10 yrs. ago. They would typically start early am out of Anchorage, and be back mid-late afternoon.
You do have to help unload the a/c at the outstations.

Somewhat of a checkered accident history.

Might be cheaper and easier to find someone to fly as a copilot, rather than find someone to come to the airport at 3am to help unload 4,000lbs of letters. 1200hrs in the right seat of a single pilot cargo bird might not be the best for the resume. A few hundred hours could teach you a lot though.

They use one of those "may not require a FO, but the plane can be flown 2 crew" reasonings to let you log the flight time.
They get an insurance discount for flying it multi-crew....and someone to help hump boxes at the outstations.

If you really want to build time -and get paid...last I knew, they would fly 60-80 hours an month.
Can't speak to the current wages. 10 yrs. ago it was like $10/hr...but, then again, a LOT of places were!!

It's not the worst way to start a career. And, you will learn a lot.

Thanks for all the replies.

Anyone know if you have to have someone on the inside, to be able to get their attention to score an interview?

The only sure way to score an interview as a low hour pilot is to show up in Anchorage. They get 100+ emails a week from low hour pilots looking for a job from the lower 48. Show up. If the chief pilot is there he'll show you around, let you sit in the cockpit of the 1900 and interview you on the spot. Hes a really nice guy. He was very upfront with hiring needs, start dates for ground schools and what you can do to make yourself more appealing to them as an employer.

I’m looking for current info on ACE.

-Schedule
-Pay
-Training

Thanks,

Former FO

Schedule - AM is pretty defined with 1230/0100 showtimes and you fly through the night. In summer, expect 14 hour duty days and about 5-7 hours block. PM is on call. Mostly moving Amazon and USPS. If you are on PM you usually do freight and that is rough on the body. Just moving jars and jars of dog food back and forth from the front of the 1900 to the back is rough.

Pay - 500 hrs is $35. Add $2.50 for every 500 hours after that.
Captain is 70 first year.

Training - Brutal. Know everyone in Alaska wants to work there. You have to have an in to really be called. It is tough too. They will send you packing if you screw up a memory item after the first week of ground. I liked this about them. Also, if you ever get called up to the CP, they will ask you memory items and let you go right there if you can't say them. They're dead serious about it because they want their crews safe and sharp. At 75 hours of IOE, if you do not have back-to-back thumbs up from the standards captains, you are gone. No exceptions.

Cons: You do not get paid to throw boxes. A lot of the FOs get injured. The midnight runs to Kodiak get tiring when you show up driving in at 1215 for a long day and dispatch tells you, "oh go back to bed! New showtime is in 3 hours!" Kind of BS and violates rest rules, but when you are building time...

Pros: Upgrade is based on ability, not seniority. Lots of flying. Alaska flying. You feel you got purpose as the people you deliver goods to need you. Great IFR flying and some wild visual approaches that only AK has

You might want to reevaluate your career aspirations right now before investing a lot of time and money into a field with not much of an upside over the next 10 years. You really need to think about opportunity cost and where you will be in 5 years. Starting a job as an indentured servant, to only be an indentured servant in 5 years time does not make much sense. Sometimes, it is better to cut your losses. You can always return.

From what I know about ACE, they used to recruit a few FO's who applied/called for the job. The one guy I know who got hired this way was 19 when he got hired. My theory on why they would hire someone so young was because you have to be 23 to get your ATP, so that gave them a little time to possibly hold onto the guy, but at 800 hours TT he was out of there anyway.

Your odds of showing up in Anchorage and getting hired on the spot to be an FO are very low right now. There are too many qualified guys willing to work for free right now. No turnover means no new hiring.

Summer AM schedule is show up at 1am and duty for 14 hours ?
Any nap room somewhere inbetween the 5-7 block hours ?