ZapBrannigan

Boy I wish someone had given me that advice 20 years, 8 airlines, and 3 pant sizes ago...




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dckozak

Some insight from a long time FDXer. Do not under appreciate the ill affects of back side of the clock flying. You do adjust (as a trip proceeds) but I don't think anyone really adjusts, and after a week or so of home time, its back to square one. Many posters on here that work for FDX or UPS, looking at the glass half full, will point out that day flying is there, when you have the means to bid or trade into it. True enough, but with so much night ops as part of the system form, you can't really get away from it unless you subjugate your seniority and schedule totally to avoiding night trips.
The thing I have always felt was scary about hub turns were not the normal rotations that are scheduled. The union and company work together to minimize the worse pain that the CBA will still allow. The bad is just how ugly any given duty period could be if events push a day to operational limits. At FDX we have contractual limits short of the FARs (which cargo did not get the 117 improvements). It is possible to start a duty day at say, 1900 and finishing at 1100 the next morning. Even worse, you could start at the hub at 0200 (did you sleep before driving or JSing into work??) and run to 1800!!
Does it happen? can you pull the plug after getting the run around? Yes you can call fatigue, but just having to shows how bad things could be with back side of the clock ops.

full of luv

But wait, I thought they were all, (infamously divulged by SWA Capt over center freq during unfortunate open mic),

"Gays, grande's, and grannies" nowadays????

e6bpilot

I think that advice is the best thing I have read on this thread so far.

e6bpilot

Ouch. That dude is still flying btw.
Flight attendants can be a plus or a minus depending on the crew. The best ones don't cause drama, deal with their stuff and leave it back there, pop their head in and say hello every once in a while, and will come down and get a drink and some food with the rest of the crew after a long day. I personally could care less if they are guys, girls, straight, gay, young, or old. If they can accomplish all of the above and communicate well when they need to, it is generally going to be a good day.
The bad ones...well, they can be pretty awful and can make an easy day a lot harder than it has to be.
Thank goodness there is a bulletproof door between us and the unwashed masses.

busdriver12

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

There's much to be said about living in domicile, however, not as good a deal if you can't pull reserve from COS.

I think much depends upon what kind of flying you like. Huge diversity at FedEx, you certainly don't have to do long haul international flying. This year I'll block about 300 hours, 60 landings, mostly day flying, 375K. Higher work load than usual, I could have worked a lot less if I chose. Did some three leg days, and it was tiring. I find it's hard to get up in the morning, do three legs, short layover, then do 2-3 the next day. I'm gonna look old no matter what I do, it's purely genetics! But much of what we do, we do to ourselves, chasing the almighty dollar.

pinseeker

Remember that we use the same taxi ways and runways that you do at the same time. I'm sure the traveling public would be happy to know that the plane coming toward them has no pilot looking out the window.

Also, in 25 years, they'd still be an F/O at SW.

ZapBrannigan

Solid burn. Also most likely laughably inaccurate. Any forecasts beyond 5 years in this business are nothing more than fortune teller prognostication.

FishnHuntin

I would mention this as well. Living with the rest of the world on your days off come into play. I personally did not care for 24+ layovers. I like being home. Flipping the body clock multiple times in the month suck the life out of you. Another thing for me is being 12 to 24hrs away from getting home in an emergency. I personally did not like that.

Albief15

All great points. I threw some stuff out on the cargo forum on same subject..won't duplicate it here.

What I will say is living in domicile (albeit Hong Kong) has allowed me to bid reserve and kick back a bit...I realize we use reserves differently than SWA. I flew about 275 this year, will gross about 400k after a few good deals like selling back vacation (twice) and a draft trip (9 day trip). I also dropped a bunch of trips to go ski during the winter and to visit the states in June, so not sure how it all averages out.

Upgrading to the left seat is great. I actually like the international flying long haul with breaks and a nap thrown in. It absolutely ain't for everyone, and I get that. I also did a lot more day flying (with seniority, trip trades, etc) at FedEx year 1-14 than I did the classic night flying. All the stuff guys don't like about night hub turns applies to me as well. I do a little of it now, but its 2-3 nights on 7-9 day trip, so I can live with it. The 5 star hotels and fun stuff to do in places like SGN, SIN, BKK, ICN, and NRT offset that pain a bit. But again--it ain't for everyone.

What I will say about FDX (or a legacy for that matter) is you do get a choice of some things besides AMs and PMs. You won't be humping all the time, and you won't be junior forever either. If you want a nice 1 leg day stroll to the west coast, with an 8-9 am departure the next day back to MEM you can get those too (I lived on those for years...). If you want to go to Brazil or Paris, you can. If you like weekend layovers in your hometown, you can get those now and then too. Its better than SWA, and its worse than SWA....depending on what can hold and your desires.

Money comes and goes, but we will have 2.5 year guys getting 250-300k as 757 captains. Previous low I remember was 4 year 727 guys during our postal hiring wave in early 2000s. Junior WB is now the MD11 and we have a couple 5 year guys who can hold it. 275-350k is easily achievable on that jet.

The point you need to understand is trip and duty rigs don't make our trips "less efficient". I am still getting a minimum of 6 hours day--whether I am at the hotel pool, visiting Normandy, skiing in Reno, or sitting in the cockpit. Internationally the average is 7-8 hours a day...so it doesn't COST you to not fly at FDX like it might at other companies.

Lots of friends both places. Either is a destination airline. Enjoy what you do wherever you decide to go...