Ameriflight

Inverted said:
For sure. It is a great first part 135 stepping stone. Especially hearing that they will now start hiring VFR captains again. I don't know how many years its been since that has happened but I bet it is a decade or more.

Internal recs will go a long way, thats about the only shot somebody has going strait from AMF to a major.
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z987k said:
Wow, I didn't know that. I wonder what runs will be VFR.
Also IMO, if you have the mins and want to do 135, I think it's better than the AK gigs because after 3000 hours of 207 time.... well you are still barely hire-able in anything but a 208. After 3000 hours of multi and turbine PIC, well you can actually further your career.
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The last VFR runs were out of Phoenix ended about 4 years ago. 95% of AMF pilots are not going to the regionals.
 
I think that people are referring to hiring FO's with 900 hours in the Chieftains/99's, and thinking that they are hiring guys as VFR only pilots. I believe that those low time people being hired are going to sit right seat and build time as quickly possible (part 91 runs, etc...) and then upgrade to captain when they hit 135 IFR mins.
 
eightballfreight said:
Really? Who only had VFr mins Four years ago?
If I remember correctly, Amf was furloughing for the first time and they were IFR guys.
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They were chieftan runs out of PHX. That's the only place that I can think of where the weather is remotely good enough on a consistent basis to have those types of runs.
 
KLB said:
The last VFR runs were out of Phoenix ended about 4 years ago. 95% of AMF pilots are not going to the regionals.
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If it's not 95%, it's pretty damn close because the group of guys I flew with at AMF have all gone to a regional except @Inverted, another guy who went to air ambulances, and another guy who went to fly pistons in AK. Everyone else went to a regional, is asking me for a rec at my regional, or is still there waiting for Southwest to call them with all of their glorious thousands of hours of TPIC time. (According to the last SWA crew I jumped with, AMF is not a talent pool their interested in recruiting directly from. But hey, that was just one crew, right?)

You get into a funny spot there where the adventure of it all kind of dries up and you start looking for more variety in your flying. There are the odd ball guys who for whatever reason got into a professional flying career and yet want to be home every night. AMF is great for them. For most others it becomes a tedious lifestyle, I believe. And, you know, the pay still sucks.
 
UAL747400 said:
I still don't think it's a bad place to go to diversify your resume a bit, for yourself. I don't know if it matters(It SHOULD!), but you can get international experience here. You won't at a regional(Canada doesn't count). That is a perspective that is worth getting IMO. Not everyone that comes to AMF can get it though...
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With all do respect, you are not getting international experience at AMF any more than the regionals. Flying in PR isn't international, and going to Mexico and Canada, 90% of the regionals and charter jobs do that. The international experience that big corporate and charter operators are looking for, AMF does not offer. The paperwork, the planning customs etc. that all make international experience desirable on a resume, AMF takes care of for you.
 
Inverted said:
With all do respect, you are not getting international experience at AMF any more than the regionals. Flying in PR isn't international, an going to Mexico and Canada, 90% of the regionals and charter jobs do that. The international experience that big corporate and charter operators are looking for, AMF does not offer.
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Why do you say that?
 
KLB said:
The last VFR runs were out of Phoenix ended about 4 years ago. 95% of AMF pilots are not going to the regionals.
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Like I said, this was an internal rumor in addition to hiring right seat pilots that do not meet IFR 135 mins.

I don't know about 95%, but it is at least 75%.
 
spitfire5181 said:
What kind of international experience are they looking for?
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Well, dealing with passengers for 1, TSA requirements, no fly lists, customs etc. The extra paperwork involved depending on where you are going. The biggest would be ocean crossings, and ICAO experience. Somebody who is operating a Global, won't count your international experience as flying from BFI to CYVR. And although there are international routes with AMF that are international experience, the flight plans are center stored, customs is handled by dispatch, and you don't have to worry about passenger manifests etc.
 
Inverted said:
Well, dealing with passengers for 1, TSA requirements, no fly lists, customs etc. The extra paperwork involved depending on where you are going. The biggest would be ocean crossings, and ICAO experience. Somebody who is operating a Global, won't count your international experience as flying from BFI to CYVR. And although there are international routes with AMF that are international experience, the flight plans are center stored, customs is handled by dispatch, and you don't have to worry about passenger manifests etc.
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That makes senses, the only thing I would comment on is that I have had to file multiple flight plans while in another country. Mainly because dispatch support is not there when something goes wrong, or it's a holiday.
 
KLB said:
The last VFR runs were out of Phoenix ended about 4 years ago. 95% of AMF pilots are not going to the regionals.
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It had to have been more than 4 years ago. I was PHX based 2009 and there were no "VFR only" runs. I do I know that towards the end the lance runs were VFR only runs, but that was before my time.
 
z987k said:
Wow, I didn't know that. I wonder what runs will be VFR.
Also IMO, if you have the mins and want to do 135, I think it's better than the AK gigs because after 3000 hours of 207 time.... well you are still barely hire-able in anything but a 208. After 3000 hours of multi and turbine PIC, well you can actually further your career.
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Yeah, and you will have had to put up with the 207 for 3000 hours. Frak that.
 
skatergeek said:
I agree, I'd say 75-80% go to I regionals. I know there are A LOT of AMF survivors at my Utah based regional.
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Mormon Air Force! A lot of refugees from AMF, Lakes, Mesa, and Pinnacle among the ranks.

Friends always ask "Hey, do you think I should go to Ameriflight?"

And I say "No, because you'll probably just end up at Skywest anyway. Might as well get the seniority."
 
Cal Goat said:
Mormon Air Force! A lot of refugees from AMF, Lakes, Mesa, and Pinnacle among the ranks.

Friends always ask "Hey, do you think I should go to Ameriflight?"

And I say "No, because you'll probably just end up at Skywest anyway. Might as well get the seniority."
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That's very true, but I still recommend it. I wouldn't trade the experience I got there for anything.
 
Cal Goat said:
If it's not 95%, it's pretty damn close because the group of guys I flew with at AMF have all gone to a regional except @Inverted, another guy who went to air ambulances, and another guy who went to fly pistons in AK. Everyone else went to a regional, is asking me for a rec at my regional, or is still there waiting for Southwest to call them with all of their glorious thousands of hours of TPIC time. (According to the last SWA crew I jumped with, AMF is not a talent pool their interested in recruiting directly from. But hey, that was just one crew, right?)

You get into a funny spot there where the adventure of it all kind of dries up and you start looking for more variety in your flying. There are the odd ball guys who for whatever reason got into a professional flying career and yet want to be home every night. AMF is great for them. For most others it becomes a tedious lifestyle, I believe. And, you know, the pay still sucks.
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In the past three years out of my base, 6 have gone on to fly corporate jets, 1 has gone to JetBlue ( recently), and one left for air whiskey.

Lately MOST pilots have left for corporate flying. I'm work here and I'm telling what I know about not just what I've HEARD about.

Inverted said:
Well, dealing with passengers for 1, TSA requirements, no fly lists, customs etc. The extra paperwork involved depending on where you are going. The biggest would be ocean crossings, and ICAO experience. Somebody who is operating a Global, won't count your international experience as flying from BFI to CYVR. And although there are international routes with AMF that are international experience, the flight plans are center stored, customs is handled by dispatch, and you don't have to worry about passenger manifests etc.
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PR pilots fly to far more countries than any regional pilots wou old ever fly to. There is a lot of interesting flying that goes on down there. We deal with customs quite a bit more than you'd think. All the flight plans aren't canned. Sometimes we have to go into the flight planning offices and file them ourselves.

One thing about is that no two customs procedure is alike. There nothing too difficult about it but it's experience non the less.

It looks like you guys have gone to AMF gotten your experience and left or bailed for the regionals. And in the meantime selling everyone else's experience here short.

@Inverted, your boss and his boss (who I just hung out with last week) believe that AMF produces pilots that have gained the experience that fits in well with there own company to the point where the exclusively only hire AMF pilots. You mentioned it was the GIVE AMF pilots a chance. But it goes a bit further than that. It's because they know exactly what type of pilot they're getting. They know how they were trained and they're skill set.

There are two other companies that are doing the same thing.

The experience at AMF is worth something and it's a shame that you guys sell that experience short.
 
KLB said:
The experience at AMF is worth something and it's a shame that you guys sell that experience short.
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Considering the majors pretty much require 121 time along with some other easy mode stuff, AMF experience so far hasn't helped. We will see if the TPIC from AMF actually means anything to them but all the other experience means nothing.

I went into AMF not knowing what I wanted to do in aviation. I knew it wouldn't close doors and I would get some good experience. I also knew that it may or may not mean anything to the airlines. I hoped it would but that seems not to be the case.
 
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