Jetlife

own nav

Stuff like this belongs on Flightinfo.

krudawg

That's a fair point buffdriver. But consider a 22 yr old, who goes to work at AMF after college but DURING college she had an internship at say, United Airlines, (made some connections while interning) and all she has to do is hit the 1500hr mark and get her ATP and United will hire her. But in reality, as you said, 2yr at AMF and straight to the Majors is almost as rare as a red herring.

aTomatoFlames

Internships are great but not that great. United wants to see jet time, maybe it's because I interned with the old company and most of my contacts didn't make it.

FreightDogs

Ameriflight is having an open house this Friday October 3rd 12noon-5pm and Saturday October 4th 9am-5pm at the Baymont Columbus 2323 Rickenbacker Parkway West, Columbus, OH 43217. Job offers will be made on the spot.

pilotgolf13

Hi everyone,

I am currently a Flight instructor in the phoenix area and am trying to find more information on knowing what to do for the next step in my aviation career. My long term goal is to end up at a major, but Ameriflight intrigues me because of the type of flying that they do.

I currently have 550tt and have looked into the 900hr program, however what is the possibility for getting based in PHX? My wife just started a new job and I know starting at 900 I would be in the chieftan and I hope by doing so I could be based in PHX and work myself up. If not, where is the next possibility, ABQ, BUR?

How do outstation routes work?

About how long does it take to upgrade?

What are your experiences with ameriflight?

Thank you for your help and time everyone!

Jetlife

Well you have a bit of time before you meet requirements at AMF and regionals so anything could happen between now and then. I would say if your end goal is a major, then go to the regionals. Again, this may change, but nobody has been hired into an actual major from AMF in a long long time. There have been a couple of guys that have gone to Allegiant and Jetblue but those are far and few between. If you had any interest in charter or corporate, with the possibility of the majors, AMF isn't a bad place to spend a couple of years. You will be underpaid and overworked but you're a CFI so you're underpaid and overworked right now.

Sounds like all the bases are understaffed right now so the ball is in your court on where you want to go, but again that can change tomorrow. Outstations work just as they sound. They leave from an airport other than PHX, and go to various airports.

The flying was fun at times and I gained a lot of experience. Your experience will vary greatly at the base you go to. I was in OAK and I still put it against any base in the system as the worst. Sounds like things are moving in a good direction for the pilots as far as pay. That being said, the planes get older and more tired, the crew apartments (if your base uses crew apartments) get nastier and the schedules never get better, they only get worse. If you're willing to move, you will upgrade quickly but if you stick in a base like PHX or the new ABQ base, who knows.... In HWD, it looks like a couple of Amerilifers are in the two turbine runs and who knows when they will leave, so I think upgrades there have slowed greatly. Upgrade times are going to really vary on when you get to your base, and the movement at the time. That being said you could probably get hired into a turbine once you meet 135 mins and are willing to take a crappy run in a crappy location.

My advice if you go to AMF is to get your time as quickly as possible, and move on. The longer you stay, the longer you are not getting jet time, 121 time or both which is going to be the next necessary step in your career to make it to a major. DO NOT DRINK THE KOOLAID! Be realistic. Southwest isn't going to hire you from AMF, United is not going to hire you from AMF. Will this change someday? Maybe but probably not if you look at other more relevant flight experience that charter, fractionals, regionals provide.

own nav

Most outstation bases run Monday night through Saturday morning. You spend 5 nights at the base (ie PHX) returning to the outstation each morning (ie Safford), after the Saturday morning leg, the plane stays at the outstation until Monday night.

In a lot of bases, upgrades are happening real fast (ie 99 direct hire or within a couple months, Metro in a year or less). Might depend on what your base has. ABQ is mostly chieftains, whereas PHX is mostly turbine.

My experience is that every base is different, as is every pilot. Some pilots have Shiny Jet syndrome, and can handle going back to 22K a year as soon as possible, have fun at the regionals. Others want to fly corporate, air ambulance or some government jobs. Of those who hold out for a Major, I've had more friends go to Allegiant than all others combined.

pilotgolf13

Thank you guys for the insight!

I don't expect that I can get hired onto the likes of United, Southwest, etc directly from AMF... But I am curious if flying at AMF for 2-4 years if I can get on with Allegiant, Frontier, JetBlue and those type airlines. Is this possible, or is it still not likely? Any thoughts?

aTomatoFlames

Your best bet would probably be Allegiant because we have a guaranteed interview "agreement" with them. It requires 3 years at AMF, 1000tpic, and 9 months in a supervisory role. If you want to skip the regionals it will require you to pad your resume with stuff other than just flying the line (eg. Training Captain, Program Manager, ACP, etc.). Even then it's not guaranteed, seems like there are plenty of people who seem to have stellar resumes that aren't getting calls from JetBlue, Frontier, etc.