Northern Air Cargo

azmedic

Well-Known Member
Anyone have any insights on working there? Pay/QOL? I see they have several SOC positions posted very recently.


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Speaking generally, I have heard that living in ANC, while somewhat remote, is quite enjoyable and you have access to all the same type of stores, etc. that you would living in the mainland US (although probably higher prices on groceries.) No idea about the company but it looks like an interesting opportunity for those willing to make the move up north. A key question in my mind would be CASS access for jumpseating to get back to the lower 48 occasionally.
 

Some airlines are in CASS but their dispatchers aren't...so it's still a question worth asking. I have heard some cargo carriers do have dispatchers included as part of their CASS program and others do not. Never worked in that part of the industry myself, but I remember at the last regional I was at, when CASS started up, there appeared to be a great deal of resistance on management's part to adding the dispatchers there to it - why, I do not know. I left before it got resolved so not sure what ended up happening.
 
Some airlines are in CASS but their dispatchers aren't...so it's still a question worth asking. I have heard some cargo carriers do have dispatchers included as part of their CASS program and others do not. Never worked in that part of the industry myself, but I remember at the last regional I was at, when CASS started up, there appeared to be a great deal of resistance on management's part to adding the dispatchers there to it - why, I do not know. I left before it got resolved so not sure what ended up happening.
This is true. Ameriflight Pilots are in CASS but dispatchers are not. Just one example though
 
This is true. Ameriflight Pilots are in CASS but dispatchers are not. Just one example though
Part of the reason is because AMF is 135, so their dispatchers aren't really dispatching. Same with some of the 121 supplemental carriers like ABX.
 
Some airlines are in CASS but their dispatchers aren't...so it's still a question worth asking. I have heard some cargo carriers do have dispatchers included as part of their CASS program and others do not. Never worked in that part of the industry myself, but I remember at the last regional I was at, when CASS started up, there appeared to be a great deal of resistance on management's part to adding the dispatchers there to it - why, I do not know. I left before it got resolved so not sure what ended up happening.

Truthfully,as unpopular as it’s going to be...the only real reason dispatchers need cockpit access is for FAM rides. Even that can be accomplished with an authorization letter from the DO.


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Truthfully,as unpopular as it’s going to be...the only real reason dispatchers need cockpit access is for FAM rides. Even that can be accomplished with an authorization letter from the DO.

That's true, but there's no reason NOT to have it either. The total number of dispatchers in the USA is relatively small, and the additional "operational familiarization" gained by doing more jumpseating/cockpit observation is beneficial for doing our jobs. I mean, when you look at it that way, there's no real reason for pilots to have jumpseat access when they're not flying a trip or performing IOE, or on airlines other than their own. In fact, Delta for years did not allow jumpseat access to pilots from other airlines, but they now do.
 
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As a regular commuter, the times I have been up front (even in a 737) have been worth it. Not only from the aspect of either putting a face to pilot or answering a question that they may never have asked, but also a chance to remind them what dispatch can provide and to never be afraid to contact us. It doesn't even have to be on your own metal.
 
Former NAC dispatcher chiming in

When I was there, pay started at about $20 an hour (which was about average for dispatch jobs up here). There wasn't a particular pay step increase, but I was also only there for close to 2 years and haven't worked there in 2 years either, so that could have all changed. Non-union when I was there, don't think that's changed. Schedules moved around a lot, between either being 5/2 or 4/10. Towards the end when I was there we had 4/10 schedules but there was a lot of OT since we were also short staffed. There was a non-rev agreement with a few airlines (Alaska/Horizon, the former Ravn and PenAir) but it was fairly convoluted to use that I never did. We also did have a jumpseat agreement but again I never used it so I can't speak to how it was, but I do know some other coworkers used it regularly without any issues.

As to the operation, when I left we operated a 737-200 and two 737-400s. We had operations running out of ANC, HNL and MIA. The HNL flight was operated by us for a sister company (Aloha Air Cargo). The MIA flights were 767-200s operated by us for another sister company (StratAir). Flights out of ANC were to the usual "bigger" Alaska airports. HNL flights were between the other "bigger" airports in Hawaii. MIA flights were run to SJU, PAP, LIM and a few new places as I was leaving). When I first started, we also had a plane based in LRD running charters (usually auto parts) to places in Canada, Mexico and other places. From what I understand now, they occasionally will move a 737 down to the states to run charters or contracts. Only other thing I can think of at the moment was when I left, they were just starting to work on getting ETOPS cert. From what I hear, that's still being worked on.

Any other questions I can try to answer, but like I said, it's been two years since I was there. I still keep in touch with both dispatch and pilot coworkers so I could always try to put feelers out if anyone was looking for other info.
 
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