frmrbuffdrvr

I'm sure the runs will come open as existing pilots transition to type rated aircraft. The issue for what I assume you are asking (if you could be hired into one of those positions) would be if they will come open to direct hires. DFW tends to be a desirable location and often our ACP (First Officer to Captain) candidates take them, since they already have seniority. But we have had a couple of direct hires over the past several months. So my advice (if you have the hours for a part 135 captain) would be to go ahead and apply.

AnonymousAMF

Bonus was paid today and so begins the pilot exodus. Good luck to management and you can’t say you weren’t warned!

frmrbuffdrvr

There has been some measure of exodus every year since the P2P bonus was first initiated.

ZippyNH

ANYBODY who had ever been working in aviation during a "black swan event" will tell you, it's far better to be in the middle of the seniority list than a newbie or in class as hiring grinds to a halt...
Sept 11 was just one of many, and while many don't expect hiring to total stop (thanks to retirement) things aren't looking as rosy going forward for 6-12 months....
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MinRest

I’m still shocked AMF can find anyone to hire in 2020...

frmrbuffdrvr

Different people have different objectives. We have 8 starting Indoc on Monday,

ZippyNH

Not everyone wants to fly round the world, watching an auto-pilot.
There is something pure and enjoyable about actually FLYING a plane, and the lifestyle is very different. Some care about $$, some QOL, some the job.
The old saying different strokes for different folks! Ever notice the bottom 1/3 of the seniority list has a high turnover, but the top third is all longer term?
Lots of people find reasons to stay....and a few flew RJ's and left commuters to fly for AMF.
The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence, but watch out, it might be greener just because it's over the septic tank......

MinRest

I disagree.

I think 99 out of 100, or maybe 999 out of 1,000 don't go to AMF to stay there. It is a stepping stone to a better job. So I still find it confusing that anyone would want to go there as a stepping stone who has ATP mins. Why would anyone who gets into a career of aviation choose significantly less money and more days worked per month to fly ancient airplanes that should have been retired decades ago?

When I went to AMF in 2010 they were the only ones hiring. Every single person in my indoc class in 2010 was gone by 2013. We all took the first ticket out of there. The preferential interview programs are a good thing and are probably a big means of attraction to AMF so from a marketing and recruitment standpoint, its impressive. Just still surprised to see no advancement in the fleet or schedule in probably 40 years.

pilotinghombre

I was a Captain qualified in two different aircraft at Ameriflight for almost two years. Out of the four 135 companies I have worked at in my career, sadly Ameriflight is the worst company I have ever worked at. Upper management is very dishonest in many different ways. I should have quit from the start. My initial application was to be home based Captain. Then I was told I had to pick a base! I wanted to go to Burbank, but they told me Burbank was closed. Then the bid sheet comes out the next day and Burbank was open!!! Another pilot was given Phoenix. He bought a house in Phoenix than the company moved him to Salt Lake without notice! Eventually that pilot got so fed up he quit.

Pay was a constant problem. I had to fight for my moving expense bonus because HR was saying that two weeks of hotel, and car rental all comes out of my bonus. Eventually they paid the bonus. It took them two weeks to do that, and for two weeks dispatch had me on the schedule and was calling asking why I wasn't showing up for work! Meanwhile, I had never been given travel to my base lol. The company actually also skipped me on two paychecks in a row! They only paid me on a debit card when I threatened to quit. Per diem pay was also incorrect and never paid on time.

Maintenance was also a huge problem. Mechanics at Ameriflight are paid very little so there is a lack of experienced mechanics for the old planes. Mechanics will fight with you over squawks and frequently write "Could not duplicate." Some of the senior pilots have to give maintenance ideas on how to fix the planes. As soon as the mechanics start to figure out how to work on these 1970 and 1980s planes, they leave for better paying jobs.

Training was a horrible experience. The chief pilot is just rude. If you go up to him and say hello, you might get a hello back, usually he just walks away. This happened to me once. I asked the other pilots if I did something wrong. They laughed and said that is just how he is lol. The current director of training doesn't even have a flying background and he has no idea what is going on. If you get lucky and get a nice training captain you will be fine. However, get a bad training captain and he will send secret notes to the director of training and program manager about how bad you are doing. Then all the secret notes will be looked at (notes you never saw, so you couldn't defend yourself against them) and you will be fired. Amazing that the company does this. I saw so many decent pilots kicked out of the company or told to leave, yet Ameriflight is contracting out their routes because they don't have pilots! Ameriflight also has several outstanding bills that they owe FBOs. One place I flew to refused to fuel our planes anymore, until Ameriflight paid the fuel bill!

Three bases also closed in the 18 months I was there. The company is still recovering from the last CEO embezzling funds. The new CEO is a nice guy and seems like he is trying, but I don't think he can be successful unless he gets rid of the horrible upper management pilots and revamps the training department. I think perhaps the biggest problem is that the upper management pilots don't live in Dallas where the company is headquartered. They aren't even at work half the time. Their idea of work is doing a company conference call and then doing surprise line audits on route pilots to bully them and tell them everything they are doing wrong. Meanwhile nothing gets done, morale is low, paperwork and pay is a constant disaster. With management's attitude, if you work for this company, you really have to know how to protect yourself. It is single pilot IFR without workable autopilot, without altitude alerters, in old worn down aircraft and some of the aircraft even have no GPS (a frequent annoyance to atc when they clear you for a GPS approach or route). UPS will also try to push you, cuss you out, and blame you for everything. If you make even the smallest mistake, expect remedial training and a write up from Ameriflight management.
Lastly, the schedule is horrendous. Agreed this is the UPS customer's schedule and not all of Ameriflights fault, but since Ameriflight never has enough pilots to cover, the little vacation that you have accrued will be rejected. (is this even legal? Can they prohibit you indefinitely from taking vacation?) I don't know if it is legal, but even if you have vacation days built up, they will deny it. Anyway, you will show at the airport at 5:20AM and get back home at about 8PM to do it all the next morning. If they had more pilots, this schedule would be acceptable, but do it five to six days a week and you won't have a life. Even worse, at many places, Saturday morning you have to fly the plane somewhere for the weekend, than drive 3 hours home. Of course, you then start the work week on Monday with a 3 hour drive. So it is 60 plus work week with six hours of driving between flights. You can call fatigue, but of course that is an incident report and a black mark on your record.

I really regret the 18 months I sacrificed at this company. I met some decent people there and gained some good experience, but I wish I would have worked somewhere where I was appreciated and protected instead of being lied to and exploited. Being paid on time and being able to use vacation time I had would have been nice too!

own nav

And there were many who held on for the next "P2P." If that's going away, it's kind of a big deal.