I've seen some posts out there how the company is not as good as it once was but could someone elaborate what its like working there?
CVG aside, AMF is not really a bad place to work, assuming you know what you are getting into and use AMF to further your own career goals (that's what they're expecting, which is why pilots are valued lower than "long-term" staff).
What you need to know:
1) Be prepared to "feel" like you work 24/7. Most runs are 6 days per week. If you fly UPS, you'll be on the ramp as early as 4:15AM in some places. You'll get in very late at night, just to turn around and do it again the next day. You'll spend all day in the outstation hotel. If you fly bank work, it may only be 5 days per week, but they're VERY long days. If you have kids or a wife, you'll only see them 1 day a week. If you're single, pretty much forget dating for the duration.
2) The best way to make it easy for yourself is to stay off the radar scope. How do you do this?
a)Be reliable - don't call in sick excessively, make all your check-in calls on time, etc.
b)Don't bend the airplane
c)Don't piss off the customer
d)Don't break the airplane in the outstation
e)Stay out of trouble with the FAA
f)Be prepared and pass all of your checkrides
f)Don't work in BUR
3) If you want to get to Turbine equipment as soon as possible, be willing to go anywhere, at any time, on a moment's notice. The minute you see an outstation turbine run come up, you bid on that run. You let the VP of Flight know that you're going to take every possible upgrade. You get into the 99 for six months to a year, and then bid on the first Metro or 1900 run that come up. Right or wrong, sometimes they'll bypass the seniority system and award you a run because you've shown a willingness to do whatever it takes. They're also more likely to give an outstation to a pilot that has demonstrated extreme reliability.
4) Outstations are great, especially for a single guy. The company will provide a hotel or apartment at night, and you can hang out at the airport/library/coffee shop/gym during the day = NO HOUSING EXPENSES. The quickest way to upgrade is to take an outstation that no one wants. This is a little more difficult in today's environment because more Chieftain guys are taking this approach, but it's still happening. Bottom line - if you're only willing to fly out of PDX/BFI/BUR/(Name your base), you'll never move up because of seniority issues in those bases.
5) Commuting - it can be done, but your life will be a miserable hell. For example, if you try to commute to an outstation, it's generally not in a place that Southwest will fly. So, you'll have to keep a car in the major city and then drive three hours to the outstation. In the winter, this can be difficult. That's why UPS uses a feeder to get to that outstation instead of a truck. They can't reliably get the freight there every day on time. You have to allow lots of time and options to get there, which means you are going to spend ALL day Monday getting there and most of the day Saturday going home. If you end up having to call in sick because you couldn't get on the jumpseat, you're going to get canned because they can probably view into CASS and see what you're up to (not positive on this).
The upside - you're going to fly 600-900 hours per year in turbine equipment in all kinds of weather and you will become a much better pilot. You'll have the time and experience to move on to a corporate or airline job.
