Amflight is the best way to end your flights
 

Yes,
been there for a few month recently and I have to say that I did not enjoy a single day.
The company is run by rude dispathers, ACP and training captain.
Typical answer that you can expect from them are:
if you are not willing to unload the plane by yourself you can stay in the plane all day;
no, we don't check the crossfeed of the fuel because we nevere had any problem with that and if you do it you'll waist my time;
is the engine smoking? of course is an engine!!! (unfortunately the turbocharge was broken and burning oil when this happened)
and stuff like that.
The fact is that the company generally hires young people at the second working experience and they are used to treat them bad because thy know that this is the only way people can log multi pic time. For the turbine, things are really variable, you may wait more than a year before you see a turbine and of course you start as a reserve, that means before you log 1000 hrs turbine PIC, it may take some time.
Min to be hire at AMF are 1200 tot; for a regional now the min time is 1500 (ATP min) so, the point is: whatever you did to log the first 1200 continue doing it, log 1500 and go for a regional.
You'll make more money (yes because AMF doesn't pay for the per diem, regionals do so at the end of the month you make more money in a regional, my paycheck can confirm), the payscale at AMF goes up 1$ per hour per year, in a regional it generally goes from 22-25$ at the first year to 30-35$ an hour the second year, once again you'll make more money at a regional.
Your schedule at AMF will be M-F, yes but it starts at 6 o'clock in the morning and it finishes at 10 o' clock at night with long stay out which are not paid for, on Friday will be even longer. You'll be very tired and all for like 10-15 hrs of flight time a week.
PIC time? Why do you guys want it? Regional and Major are and will be so desperate for pilot soon that are not looking for PIC time anymore but total time. If you have experience in part 121 is better than turbine PIC in a part 135.
Examples are: AA is looking for pilot with min ATP and ATP written, Virgin America has lower the min to 2500 total (with no specification about PIC time and Airbus type rating anymore) United and Delta are looking fo 1000 hrs turbine. Just check the respective website and you'll see your eyes. None is looking for turbine PIC so why are you?
The training at AMF is so hard for people who is not used to steam gauges that is easy to be wash out of the training and that will go on your paperwork, and that will prevent you from been hired from anyone, let alone Majors.
Does anyone know the name (or nickname) of a pilot who was hired from AMF straight to a Mayor (and I'm not talking about Air Tran, but MAJOR).
Bottom line, before applying to AMF, think about it twice and than don't do it, but go for a regional if your final goal is a Major part 121.

Wow, tell us how you really feel

Wow Ameriflight isn't 5% as bad as some make it out to be. First off we are contractually available per our agreement with UPS to help load/unload the chieftains and 99s. This is not the case in our bigger aircraft. Also on the DHL and Fedex runs, they do all the loading and unloading themselves. The chieftain can't even carry enough to make unloading it that big of a deal. It takes 10-15 minutes max and its nice to move around a little bit after sitting in the cockpit a while. I flew the chieftain for 5 months on a UPS run in phoenix and then got upgraded to the 1900 with no previous turbine time. The dispatchers I've met have been good so far. They've gotten my rental cars when I'm TDY at another base so I'm not stuck at a hotel all weekend. Dispatchers at some of the bases I've been to are former AMF or 121 pilots and wouldn't dispatch you into anything they wouldn't fly themselves. I was hired in September and I was the only chieftain guy in class. There were 8 DEC for the 99. Id say turbine opportunities are pretty open here. There is also per diem when your TDY, at $35 a day. As much as it's sometimes popular to bash the company you work for, I can't in good faith do it. The main frustration with the company for me is the communication flow from management to the line pilots. Feels like your in the dark a lot about what your schedule or future plans are. Most bases try to stick to a published schedule 3 weeks in advance, but my base only posted for the next week. The planes break frequently, but I've never had anything that was a major safety of flight issue (yet). Also not all scheduels are 6am-10pm. The DHL run I was doing was 6:25am-6:30pm. The schedule is different for every run and every base.

What he said. However, there is at least one or two immature ACPs that makes things difficult. Besides that, it's not that bad.

Really feel about what? Which one of the things I said?:confused:

Thank you for your feedback and replay to my post.
I'm really glad to know that my bad experience is only mine and no one else had the same bad experience, I'm always glad to be wrong. It means that things are not as bad as i thought.
Is everybody enjoining Ameriflight?
Just one clarification about the loading and unloading issue.
By the contract, and logic as well, the pilot is suppose to coordinate and monitor the loading and unloading phases. Which means: the pilot is in the cargo bay of the plane and hands the cargo to the driver of the courier who is waiting outside the plane. How do you do that if you are alone and there is no driver outside the palne? You should start unloading by your self, walk across the ramp with cargo on your hands (AMF doesn't want you to go to the FBO to ask for a cart or dolly because they don't pay for unloading fees!!). Problem is that if you cannot carry everything at once, you'll leave the plane unattended on the ramp with the cargo inside and this is not allowed by the company and Federal regulation safety related. The pilot is the ground and inflight safety coordinator and is responsible for the safety of the plane and its cargo.
You cannot leave the plane unattended with cargo inside!!
My experience was related to non UPS or FEDEX run but simple local courier that were always late.
AMF is a big company and everyone has his own personal experience, I just wanted to share mine.
Second things that i want to clarify: at Ameriflight the dispatchers are not FAA certified dispatchers, AMF is not required to have them and they are trained by AMF but not officially a dispatch. Which means if something happens when you fly, nothing will happens to the dispatch but something will be written on your paperwork and that, for sure, will be a problem in case you want to be hire by anybody else in the US within the following five years.
But the main question is still the same:
on this blog, does anyone know the name of a pilot who has been hire by a major straight from AMF skipping the regional? If not the question is always, why AMF if you want to work for a major? None is looking for PIC time but only total time.
But mainly why people is leaving AMF where they log turbine PIC time to go for a regional job where they log SIC time?

I'll admit, the names I know all went more than five years ago. But I can name six that went to Southwest, one that went to Frontier (before it was acquired by Republic,) one that went to UPS and 4 that went to Allegient. Like I said, most of these were 5 years ago or more, but American, Delta & United weren't much if at all at that time. They were still recovering from post 9/11.

I know a guy who went AMF to Allegiant this year. It can be done, but not by you it sounds. Ameriflight is not nearly as bad as you made it out to be

Maybe you should be concerned about inability to fly an aircraft on steam gauges. Not everything you will fly in your career will have a pretty glass screen showing you exactly what to do.

:eek:

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