Ameristar Jet Cargo????

ready2fly

ready2fly

Well-Known Member
They are based out of KADS (Addison, TX). They fly DC-9's. Anybody have any info on them?

Good?

Bad?

Indifferent?

Please advise. Thanks.
 
They were advertising for the DC-9 FO the other day on climbto350-ATP, 2500TT, 500 turbojet, DC-9 time preferred...
 
its part 121 supplemental. they run it like a 135 on-demand. 18 days worked a month. i think starting pay is around 45k a year. the company is experiencing a mass exit right now, 121 and 135 side. the chief pilot just quit along with 6 captains. i'd say look else where for work if you could.
 
Queboat said:
its part 121 supplemental. they run it like a 135 on-demand. 18 days worked a month. i think starting pay is around 45k a year. the company is experiencing a mass exit right now, 121 and 135 side. the chief pilot just quit along with 6 captains. i'd say look else where for work if you could.
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Why are folks leaving? Care to share? Or, just wanted to say something bad?
 
Queboat]its part 121 supplemental. they run it like a 135 on-demand. 18 days worked a month. i think starting pay is around 45k a year. the company is experiencing a mass exit right now said:
Why are folks leaving? Care to share? Or, just wanted to say something bad?
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Please - do share. I'd like to know why the mass exodus. I'm meeting with them on Monday (tomorrow) and if you have any insight, I'd like to know going in.

The gentleman who called me asked "Have you heard anything about us? I know some pilots just left and said some pretty nasty things...."

So, if you know, please share.

Thanks!
 
Thanks, but unfortunately, I had to postpone due to a sick child. I'll reschedule in the next day or so.
 
sorry it took me so long to respond. i dont check this board that often. most are moving on because they no longer have to put up with working in an on-demand environment, due to the fact that everyone is hiring. i speak more for the 135 side cause thats where i work, but its all the same dispatchers, same crew scheduler, same lazy mechanics etc,etc. so i cant imagine it is much different. i came to work here because it was a good oppurtunity for me. do i regret it? not one bit. but if i had another choice i would have taken it. this is a hard job, simply as that. as far as flying not a single thing is scheduled. even when dispatch books a trip weeks in advance they don't tell you that you're going to do it until 45 mins before wheels up, because everthing is subject to change. that is the nature of on-demand cargo. if you can deal with this then aji might not be that bad of a place. expect to spend a lot of time on the road. when you drop freight, you never re-po back to a base. you go to the hotel, go into rest and wait for dispatch to book another trip once you are out of rest. company morale is very very low, everyone is looking for a new job. except for 2 or 3 life timers. mx is an issue because a lot of captains are too lazy to actually right the plane up and a lot of the mechanics tell you to write it up when you get to YIP or another base. why they do this? my guess is because they are lazy. pay on the 135 side first year(35k) is about 3rd year at most regionals. so in my opinion, with a big student loan loaming it was a no brainer why i came here. quick upgrade and you make more money. so take it for what it is. ameristar is a stepping stone. if you accept that then it could work out well for you.
 
I'd avoid night freight, Stan. You've got a wife and kid at home and in addition to being away from them a lot, the MX and work rules you'll see will scare the living crap out of you. You'll be gone all the time and I'm guessing you'll be asked to break rules that are put in place to keep you alive. You'll be flying poorly maintained equipment with horrible avionics into places that have approaches where you actually want to have an FMS and a moving map.

I'm a huge advocate of flying freight, but consider what kind of freight you get into.
 
jtrain609 said:
I'd avoid night freight, Stan. You've got a wife and kid at home and in addition to being away from them a lot, the MX and work rules you'll see will scare the living crap out of you. You'll be gone all the time and I'm guessing you'll be asked to break rules that are put in place to keep you alive. You'll be flying poorly maintained equipment with horrible avionics into places that have approaches where you actually want to have an FMS and a moving map.

I'm a huge advocate of flying freight, but consider what kind of freight you get into.
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you got it right, sometimes i'll do those black hole dme arc vor circle to land approaches into toluca at night multiple times a day. with nothing more then a basic six pack and 2 lines of data on "the original" gps.funny part is dispatch wont ask you to do anything illegal because of the recorded lines and what have you. there are just a few cowboys that really think it's cool to fly broke airplanes all over the country. nothing worth living for is my best guess why they do this. i've never heard anyone other then those "real cool" captains endorse this behavior. the chiefs hate it.
 
Honestly, people, I used to fly into Toluca in a 727 for UPS and we had nothing more than a "six pack" and VOR/DME/RMI. No GPS of any sort. It is what it is. Stay on the solid black line. It's neither difficult nor unsafe, in my view.

Perhaps we've reached the point where people don't feel safe unless they have GPS and an FMC.

I'm sure that's what they said 50 years ago when it was all radio ranges and ADF, then came along VOR/DME....
 
i've never heard anyone other then those "real cool" captains endorse this behavior. the chiefs hate it.[/quote said:
now that's funny!!!!! If your looking to build quick turbine time and don't care how you are treated or the safety of your life id say go for it!!! If you have a family stay away.. If you don't believe me Call Miss Patty and Miss Hughes who now get to raise their children alone and explain why daddies jet crashed when he was the safest pilot at AJI.

Just a little FYI One year ago there was almost 55 pilots on the 135 side and about 16 on the 121 side. Before the last two classes were hired this summer their were 22left on the 135side including their CP and the assistant CP waiting for his class date. the 121 side lost 8 including their CP
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DE727UPS said:
Perhaps we've reached the point where people don't feel safe unless they have GPS and an FMC.
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Amen to that brotha. I don't have nearly the experience you do, but I can't stand it when someone says "I don't know how or why you fly a single engine at night, in weather, with only a basic 6 pack". Well buddy, its because thats what I do and I stay on top of the game. I feel very comfortable doing it and I've not once put myself in an uncomfortable situation, including the time my day started at 6 pm during Tropical Storm Barry.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
Amen to that brotha. I don't have nearly the experience you do, but I can't stand it when someone says "I don't know how or why you fly a single engine at night, in weather, with only a basic 6 pack". Well buddy, its because thats what I do and I stay on top of the game. I feel very comfortable doing it and I've not once put myself in an uncomfortable situation, including the time my day started at 6 pm during Tropical Storm Barry.
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Your typical commuter pilot would kill himself if he had to rely on a six pack instrumentation package. Y'all are just a bunch of automation cripples and pansies who deviate around clouds.
 
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