nibake
Powder hound
Did you end up going there?
FedEx Feeders
- Thread starter csomm
- Start date
Did you end up going there?
jspeed87
Well-Known Member
Yup. Been PIC on the 208 for a couple months now. QOL is good on the van side. ATR not so much tho lol
nibake
Powder hound
The ATR based runs can be some of the best QOL anywhere, unfortunately they can go away at any time as mine did, and with the lack of pilots a lot of the based guys are getting involuntarily sent out from what I hear, which is not good for them. Sorry for all the van guys in the Caribbean. I hope things work out for them.
What happened down in the Caribbean?
nibake
Powder hound
The routes were given to a different feeder company.
Itchy
Well-Known Member
I’ve heard that Mountain stuck its booby in the proverbial grinder.
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nibake
Powder hound
Runs were being dropped for lack of crew over a year ago. Pilots have been leaving in droves for about the same amount of time. FedEx must have decided it was time to take them out to the woodshed. Ironically, FedEx's idea of the purple runway did nothing whatsoever to keep people from leaving, and probably brought very few new recruits, so it was in large part their fault. I can only imagine now they are staking all their hopes on the 208 SIC program.
jspeed87
Well-Known Member
We lost couple of TLH runs in Florida. For some reason, the older crowd is attracted to MAC. I actually think the job is great, abit the pay and some other stuff could be better. I seriously doubt the SIC will last long. It takes forever to build time, and most young aspiring 121 Pilots will just bail for the regionals.
nibake
Powder hound
That's exactly what I'm thinking. They are trying to create a pipeline with the SIC program, sure, but what is going to keep pilot's from bailing as soon as they get ATP mins? Right now, there is no motivation for them to stay when that happens.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
SIC on a 208 run that typically flies 4-500 hours per year seems like a terrible detour for a 250 hour newbie.
They will sit right seat for two years before they can upgrade in the 208, another year before they can upgrade. After a year in the 208 PIC, they can move back to the right seat of the ATR for another two years till they get 1000 121 SIC. Then they can upgrade to ATR CA and wait for the call to Memphis. That's at least 6 years from if my math is right.
"Purple Runway"? More like "Purple Oregon Trail".
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
“You have died of rime ice”
Apophis
Resident Iconoclast
The Van Guys were given preferential hiring opportunities by Wiggins, who have taken over the flying from us. The problem is, based pilots at Mountain get every 6th week off and that doesn’t include vacation either. AFAIK Wiggins has no PTO built into their schedule, so transferring to them without moving from Puerto Rico means a huge hit in QOL for those guys.
Plus, we had a glut of floaters who would cover runs down there, and now that the flying is gone they’re kind of stuck on Reserve hell because there aren’t as many routes anymore.
Additionally, we lost both TLH-MCO runs a few weeks ago. One based guy there quit and the other is basically on endless Reserve....which probably wouldn’t bother him as he’s close to retirement.
Interesting times....
nibake
Powder hound
Well, basically 6 years to be able to start waiting. One of the problems with the Purple Bataan Death Marchtm is that right as it came out there were some very qualified applicants who interviewed with FedEx. One was a check airman with a solid record who had served for about a decade at MAC. The other had military and heavy time, and had gotten back in the game with the ATR after time off. When those who were paying any attention saw that type of candidate sent packing, we realized that FedEx had little interest in hiring guys from the Feeders and a program that gets you an interview ends up not being worth the paper it is written on. Talk about mixed messages.
I would say, though, if someone could swing SIC on the van and flight instruct at the same time that would be phenomenal for a guy with the 250 hours. Then of course, upon reaching ATP mins, bail on MAC and take a job at a regional, etc.
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USMCmech
Well-Known Member
The whole "we won't hire any of our own feeder pilots" idea at Purple and Brown is bizarre to me.
I had the impression the 208s at MAC were single piloted? Is the SIC thing new?
Apophis
Resident Iconoclast
Yes, brand new. They haven’t been implemented yet though. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them scrap the whole program. Who the eff wants to be SIC in a Caravan.
Apophis
Resident Iconoclast
The whole "we won't hire any of our own feeder pilots" idea at Purple and Brown is bizarre to me.
They do though. It’s just a slower process than going to a regional or otherwise.
We have 2 guys in training at FDX right now that left from the ATR, and a couple last year as well.
Not all of our ATR guys want to work at big purple either. Some would rather (and have) work at an LCC or legacy.
Bamaaviator
Well-Known Member
Are the employee reviews on indeed.com fairly accurate of the feeders? Wiggins seems to have pretty good reviews, but MAC does not. Also, does anyone have any first hand knowledge on corporate air in Montana? Or CSA? I've tried searching for them, but there seems to be very limited info on them, even on JC and APC. I'm curious to learn more about them, company culture, pay scales, schedules, pilot/management relations, etc.
ShortField
No one of consequence
I flew for Empire in Montana, which put us in the same break room with the Corporate people every morning in Great Falls. Great group of people, some of whom were lifers. They had a few gripes, but generally seemed pretty positive.
nibake
Powder hound
Corporate has a hangar with offices at KFAR. If I understand correctly that is where the CP works. You might be able to get some contact info googling for those offices. I have said "hi" to a lot of corporate pilots but don't know any well. My friends at MAC say it hasn't gotten any better.
