What is a "good" freight flying schedule?
- Thread starter n57flyguy
- Start date
mtsu_av8er
Well-Known Member
Oh, my - you're going to get 300 different answers for this one!!
My favorite schedule was FLX304. I left Nashville at about 1550, flew 1.4 hours to FTY (in Atlanta), and sat there until about 0330. Then, I flew back to Nashville. It just doesn't get much better than that!!!
14 hours of pay, less than 3 hours of flying - and the days were mine, since I pretty much slept all night!!:rawk:
My favorite schedule was FLX304. I left Nashville at about 1550, flew 1.4 hours to FTY (in Atlanta), and sat there until about 0330. Then, I flew back to Nashville. It just doesn't get much better than that!!!
14 hours of pay, less than 3 hours of flying - and the days were mine, since I pretty much slept all night!!:rawk:
falconvalley
Absentee Dad of the OOTSK, Runner, Cat Frustrator
Ask yourself, what kind of flying schedule do I want.
My favorite at Airnet was 5 pm show and done at 2 am, Monday-Thursday. Got Friday, Saturday and Sunday (and the 7 big holidays off) off and with me being a night person, doesn't get any better than that!
My favorite at Airnet was 5 pm show and done at 2 am, Monday-Thursday. Got Friday, Saturday and Sunday (and the 7 big holidays off) off and with me being a night person, doesn't get any better than that!
They get the FBO ladies mad because they drink all the coffee and eat all the cookies.
In Vegas anything is game
You hang out with other dawgs at an hotel or apartment if at AMF
Schedule is anything Im sitting at the Apt in San Diego between legs. I showed at 0500 and will be off by around 1145 tonight.
Im pround to say 101A is going bye bye this week and its my last night doing it!
A good schedule is what I would say is 127 you leave Vegas at 11pm go to Burbank sleep fly back to Vegas at 6AM
Basically with any freight company you'll be able eventually to find a run that meets a schedule you like. Whether its alot of flying or alot of duty and little flying or little of each. The big thing you'll find with freight is that you will actually have a schedule. And the only thing that will change that is if you decide to move somewhere else or the run get closed. Makes it alot easier to establish a "life" if you have a set schedule. Oh and weekends off!
E_Dawg
Moderator
my freight schedule was pretty cake.
Show around 6am, be home by 8:30 or 9am. Stay at home until 4:30pm, done at the layover by 6 or 6:30pm.
Maybe 4:30 of work (including 'airport time' other than flying) for 8hrs of pay.
The only downside? Not sleeping in your own bed 5 nights a week.
Show around 6am, be home by 8:30 or 9am. Stay at home until 4:30pm, done at the layover by 6 or 6:30pm.
Maybe 4:30 of work (including 'airport time' other than flying) for 8hrs of pay.
The only downside? Not sleeping in your own bed 5 nights a week.
averyrm
Well-Known Member
Like the others said, it really depends on what you think is good. There are runs at our company with 3 hours of flying and a 5 hour total duty in the evening. There are runs that are 7 hours of flying and 14h duty day, and everything in between.
I liked my old run which was 10:30pm - 7am, ~4.5 block. Got to have dinner with my wife, and had a couple nice breaks between legs.
3 day weekends every week are killer though.
I liked my old run which was 10:30pm - 7am, ~4.5 block. Got to have dinner with my wife, and had a couple nice breaks between legs.
3 day weekends every week are killer though.
This is my first run but I just got my first paycheck for doing it and now IM SO HAPPY
. FLX104 Show up at 5am, depart by 6 and arrive OPF at 730am. Sleep, chat, watch T.V., Internet school with UVSC, steal the courtesy car, and read until 430pm. Depart by 5 and be off duty by 645. 13.75 hours of pay for 2.4 hours of flying and making 2.5 times what I made busting my butt as a CFI. Oh and weekends off, free living accomadations (for now), and per diem.
. FLX104 Show up at 5am, depart by 6 and arrive OPF at 730am. Sleep, chat, watch T.V., Internet school with UVSC, steal the courtesy car, and read until 430pm. Depart by 5 and be off duty by 645. 13.75 hours of pay for 2.4 hours of flying and making 2.5 times what I made busting my butt as a CFI. Oh and weekends off, free living accomadations (for now), and per diem.I've always thought freight companies ran a narrow margin business. So how can it be effective to have a pilot fly for 2 hours, followed by a sit, then to fly 2 hours back? It sounds like a good, easy day for the pilot, but I just can't believe it is economical for the company. Unless the customer is paying a premium to the company for this?
falconvalley
Absentee Dad of the OOTSK, Runner, Cat Frustrator
IMO, it depends completely on deadlines and when the customer can provide the shipment. If one aircraft goes from KXXX to KYYY and back everday and it's cheaper to just have the pilot sit at KYYY for 11 1/2 hours than to fly other revenue flights because of repositioning, then that's what they do. The pilot pay goes up when the plane is flying, so if you have an empty leg, you're paying the pilot to fly and burning gas and you're using up hours on the airplane.
EatSleepFly
Well-Known Member
Usually the schedule is what you make of it. Most of our runs where I'm based are fly out, sit all day, fly back and get home around 8pm. Some people hate it, but I think most of us make the best of it. It really depends on where you stay and whether that run has a crew car. I know of guys that have gotten a flexible part time job during the day. Some just sleep and watch TV all day. A lot of us ski, hike, fish, run, you name it. One of our guys hikes Snow King at Jackson Hole every day in the summer. Another one frames houses when he flies a certain run. A couple of our runs have two flights that layover at the same place, which is kind of nice- gives you someone to hang out with. It pretty much boils down to, you can sit in your crew apartment/hotel and rot, or get out and find things to do.
That's what they want you to think... :cwm27:
That's what they want you to think... :cwm27:
E_Dawg
Moderator
Remember that the hourly pay for many freight pilots is much lower than the hourly pay for regionals. So even though you're banking 8hrs a day it doesn't amount to much more than, well, regional pay for example.
mtsu_av8er
Well-Known Member
Hehehe . . . if you only knew!
Many of the small outfits are struggling to keep the doors open. The larger, more established companies, though - they're making a killing.
TFaudree_ERAU
Mashin' dem buttons
Think about who's paying for that 2 hours of fly, 10 hours of sit. Banks and medical laboratories. I don't think it hurts their budget to pay the freight companies to do that.
I think that is one of our biggest problems at Airnet. We have barely any fly 2 hours, sit 8 hours, fly 2 hour runs. Alot of us fly leg after leg after leg. Which is great for flight time but on two of my six legs I carry maybe 5 pounds. We feed a national "system" so we have to swallow the small lift legs to feed the heavy lift for the Lears.
