For any of the guys flying to BED, where are you based? What are the routes like for BED? Any rumors about a BED base in the future?

Any current HWD pilots on here? I'd like to send a PM and ask a few direct questions.

Could I get an accurate account of what one could expect to earn first year on the PA-31 and/or BE-99?

Thanks

First page of the thread.

Gee, thanks. You are very helpful.



This thread is close to six years old, is it possible that pay could of changed in that time frame or what is posted on APC is outdated or inaccurate?

28K on the PA-31/BE-99 and 40K on the metro/1900. Is this correct?

Yes, these numbers are correct.

Sounds about right.

They will have to up the pay soon to compete with other companies. It's impossible to live on what they are paying.

Unless you are like one of your left coast guys who just uses and shacks up with lonely older fugly women with a home and who have stable jobs. Then its possible!

Just sayin it seems to be an option.:D

How many hours a month can you usually expect to fly? Is everyday just two legs? Or are there some schedules with some flying in between on your sits?

It really depends on the run. There are still some bank runs on the west coast that have several legs per day. You can probably plan on an average of about 40 hours per month, though there are runs (like the E120 run out of the CVG base) where you actually have to take about a week off a month to keep from going over the monthly hour limits.

Someone at my school said he was hired with just a phone interview, no face to face or anything. Is this the case right now?

Was your friend a former freight driver? Flown with someone on the inside? I just had the phone interview. Waiting to hear back for the tech/sim portion.

Where are you looking to get based?

I heard of a guy who did HR phone interview, then due to scheduling conflicts with him and amflight he did the second technical interview over the phone as well. No sim. Got the job.

I am interested in the 99 flying out of OAK/HWD.

How many hours a month do those BE99 pilots fly?

Also I know there is a line in Sacramento that flies out of MHR. How many hours a month does that pilot(s) fly?

Thanks for your answers!

This does happen on rare occasions. Most of the time though a face to face with a sim is prefered. If you can't get out to BUR, it can often be set up with an ACP at one of the bases.

I went thru the process earlier this month and was straight up offered to interview at the base of my choice, no requirement to go to BUR at all.

What are the chanes of gettig based out of PHX with Ameriflight?

If you don't mind taking one of the out stations, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the info, Freightdog. I sent you a PM.

What are the chances of getting based out of BUR with Ameriflight ?

Is KHWD(koak) closing or shrinking? Fleet seems small these days.

I heard is on the slow way out. Recently a senior BUR based AMF pilot was jumpseating on us and said the base has been losing money for some time now. Too few checks needing transportation any more was what he said.

Any HWD pilots could probably expand on this.

Some newbie questions.

-What are the odds of Ameritflight pilot making it to Majors straight without going regionals? Or is regional necessary or recommended steps before major? I'm asking if its common as I'm sure anything is possible.

-if going to Major from ameritflight is common, big disadvantage during training and interview compared to regional guys? I ask because RJ would be close to major jets than the planes at Ameritfligt.

Thank you!

There have been folks who have gone directly from AMF to the majors. Is it common? I guess that would depend on how you are defining "majors" and "common." If you look under the "Major-National-LLC" list for general airline information here on APC, you will see Southwest, one of the largest airlines in the country as well as Skywest, ExpressJet and American Eagle, all generally referred to as "regionals."

I personally don't know anyone who has gone to any of the Legacy carriers from Ameriflight. (Heck, I don't know much of anyone that has gone there PERIOD in the past 10 years.) But I know several who have gone to Southwest (though not for about 7 years), 5 or 6 that have gone to Allegiant in the last couple years and even one that got on with UPS about 5 or 6 years ago. There have also been quite a few that have gone to Skywest.

One thing to keep in mind when considering the Ameriflight vs regionals question. If you go straight to the regionals, it will be quite some time before you will be logging any PIC time. Every major I have looked at requires a minimum of 1000 hours turbine PIC time. So even if you believe, as some do, that 121 time is a plus for getting to the majors, you might consider AMF to get to the 1000 turbine PIC mark and then make the switch.

You have to also take into consideration that at Ameriflight, you're not flying with other Captains very often and so it's hard to network to know when someone gets on somewhere "bigger and better". At the regionals, one thing you have is strength in numbers. With a bigger pilot group at these regionals you have possibly a better chance of networking with other pilots to get to that next step. With that said, I wouldn't trade my time at Ameriflight for anything. Some of the most fun flying I have done to this point in my career. They helped make me a pretty darn good pilot.

Also, don't let some of these guys fool you thinking you need "121 time" or "jet time" to get with a national or legacy carrier. Myself and one of my friends from AMF are over hear at Allegiant in the MD80 and we both couldn't be happier. We also raised some eyebrows from the guys in the training department; apparently Freight Dogs who fly Metroliners who never flew at a 121 carrier, no FMS experience, or swept wing jet experience, can fly an MD80 pretty well. :-D

What it comes down to is good networking, do well in all your checkrides, and when you interview at XYZ Airline of your dreams, you convince them that you are trainable, that you will pass their training, and that they can stand to be with you on a 4-day trip.

Hope this helps.

Side Note: In regards to your last statement, I felt the MD80 was an easier step for me coming from a Metroliner than some of my classmates coming from Airbus, Embraer, and RJs. The MD80 is literally a step back into time.

I've flown older. ;)



And bigger. :D

No need to go bragging about it Ted. ;-)

Just because my airplane doesn't carry nuclear weapons doesn't make her any less magnificent. Ha

Glad to hear you are doing well Brett-I knew you would.

I haven't been with the company in about 6 months, my last flight with the company was about 3 days before they moved the airplanes from OAK to HWD. HWD is dying almost completely because the base manager is an absolute moron. Instead of securing new runs, or pursuing leads he is doodling on graph paper, and going on walks. I personally brought two leads on taking runs from other companies and he did nothing. One big box executive came up to me and personally told me to have AMF bid the only run out of SFO we didn't have, and we had a 100% chance of getting it. He did nothing to make it happen. If you go to AMF you will hear all about him, and there are about a billion cooky stories. It is sad because OAK was once a flourishing base.

We come from two different bases a few times a week...long days on return trips! I haven't heard of a BED base but that would kick ass (when it's not winter). That run gave me a good amount of hours my first 6 months.

Sorry. Just couldn't stand to see this thread drop to the second page. ;)

Any of you guys have information on the Brasilia FO position? Do people like the FOs?

There's a limited number of Brasillias in the fleet, and we just lost some Texas runs. There's definitely far more openings for cheiftain pilots than EMB FO's.

EMB FOs are the bottom of the pecking order and pay scale. However, you can get into AMF at an earlier time, build up seniority, and skip the chieftain for the 99 when you hit 1200 hours. I have seen a few people do it, and it has worked out pretty well for them.

Ameriflight
 

Hearing rumors that AMF is hiring direct into the 99 now, true? How senior is SLC now?

I wouldn't expect a direct hire into the 99 in SLC at the moment (if you want that you might have a better chance at OMA or BUF). A lot of the guys transfering into SLC have only been with the company a few months though.

SLC has a mix of pilots, roughly half the pilots at the base have been here since 2008 or earlier. Most of the 99 pilots have been with AMF less than a year.

The advantage to coming on as an FO is that you can come on with less than the 1200 hours that 135 requires for a captain position. As mentioned above, you then can transition to a captain position (most likely a BE99) when you get your hours AND generally after you have spent a year in the right seat of the Bro to cover you training commitment.

Yes, you will likely spend at least a year as an FO before transitioning. So if you are over or pretty close to 1200 hours (and a way to get there) you might be better off getting your 1200 and hire on as a captain in the PA31.

Thanks for the info guys!