⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Tailskid - I don't know which airline you're getting furloughed from but what if it takes a while before you get recalled? What if your airline goes belly up? - after all, no one can predict the future.

Without being current you might have to pay out of your own pocket to make yourself marketable again once airlines do start hiring...

Wish you the best but in my view sitting home collecting unemployment must be the worst option out there. Personally I'd do anything that'd somehow keep me in the loop - flight instructing, freight- , corporate flying or back to a regional.

Hope you'll be back at your airline soon...

steel

Start prioritizing your options, and get ahead of the rest of the furloughed pilots. More time won’t hurt. If you lack PIC turbine, which you need both at SWA and at FedEx, then start positioning yourself toward reaching that goal. However, a Ce208 isn’t going to get you anywhere with FedEx. Three guys/gals giving you an internal recommendation, along with the required mins are going to get you here at FedEx. I don’t know about SWA’s min requirements.
Nevertheless, if that’s the only job out there, then go do it. It’s hard work, but it has a lot of advantages too. You’ll be home a lot more. I would guess the maintenance on the airplanes is pretty good because the freight has to move, and it’s moving with FedEx’s name on the side of the airplane. One big disadvantage is they pay just enough to keep you there.
Disclaimer…written on the normal amount of sleep a freight dog usually gets while on the road.

v2plus25

And don't forget to check out the foreign jobs available throught parc or wasinc or whoever. You'd have to live overseas, but the pay is relatively good and it'll keep you current.

Sorry to hear about the furlough.

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Not necessarily, my buddy flies a Wasinc contract for JALways and lives in HNL... It is "overseas" but I think it's still in the US...

brownie

That should qualify him for vice president spot.

AL E NEWMAN

Does he have hairplugs? Its all the rage with Marxist candidates.

hyperone

From the Pilot.Fedex website:
Qualifications Needed for Fedex
Typical qualifications for consideration as a FedEx pilot.

Commercial Pilot Certificate with Multi-engine and Instrument rating (without limitations)
Current ATP Certificate or written
Current FE Turbojet Rating or written (FEX or Basic/turbojet)
Must pass FAA mandated drug screen
Recency and type of experience is considered
Meet requirements for and currently hold First Class Medical certification
20/20 correctable vision
College Degree from an accredited college or university
Eligibility for rapid visa issuance, issued by offices in the United States to fly to any FedEx destination.
Ability to obtain clearance from United States Postal Service for handling or access to U.S. mail, which includes FBI fingerprint check, and candidate must have resided in the United States for the last five consecutive years (except for U.S. military assignments).
Eligibility for issuance of US Security Clearance
1500 hours total fixed-wing time as pilot-in-command (PIC) or second-in-command in multi-engine turbo-prop A/C or jet A/C or combination thereof, including a minimum of 1000 hours total fixed-wing pilot-in-command in multi-engine turbo prop A/C or jet A/C or combination thereof.
Note: PIC for this purpose is defined as Captain/Aircraft Commander of record, not simply the sole manipulator of the controls.
Note: FedEx considers only pilot time in fixed wing aircraft toward minimum qualifications. This does not include simulator, helicopter, flight engineer, bombardier, navigator, RIO, EWO, WSO, NFO, or Special Crew.
All certificates and ratings required to be U.S.A. FAA issued.

v2plus25: "And don't forget to check out the foreign jobs available throught parc or wasinc or whoever. You'd have to live overseas, but the pay is relatively good and it'll keep you current.
Sorry to hear about the furlough."

pilutguy, v2plus25 is correct about the availability of jobs overseas, but if your goal is to eventually get a job with Fedex, be sure you note the above highlighted requirement to have resided in the U.S. for at least the last 5 years. Taking a foreign job and living overseas could disqualify you from a future (whenever that may be) Fedex job.

savannahceltic

Ahhh, no. You are just too used to insanely low hiring minimums.

Times are not so tough, they are just not as easy as you have grown accustomed to. Pilots have had to deal with a poor economy in the past, and those that really wanted the career did what they had to.

You are just having to deal with the same situation most senior pilots have (years of instructing, flying checks, or whatever it took to get enough hours to even be allowed to apply).

Suck it up. If you want to be a pilot, be a pilot. Dealing with furloughs and downturns is part of the game. If the best flying job you can pull down right now, is driving a Cessna, then do it. (many guys stuck having to be a CFI would like to trade spots with you).

When the hiring starts again, you will have a better shot of getting on with someone if you kept flying (instead of having sat around on unemployment). Currency counts, and those guys that have stayed current will get hired before those who have not.

Sorry to sound harsh, but a lot of you RJ guys need an attitude adjustment... Just because it was easy for you up til now, does not mean that the rest of your career will be such a cake walk.

You just have to make the choice if you really want to be a professional pilot, and deal with the sacrifices it entails.

There's a reason they claim you are not a real "airline pilot" until you've been furloughed at least three times.


Good Luck

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Well, I'll take any VP newbie including one who's not very 'polished in the Washingtonian speak' over one who's been lying to the public for the last 33 years spreading his leftist agenda - but that's not what you meant is it?

CrimsonEclipse

Sounds to me that you need a job.

You can worry about being hired by Fedx or SWA later on.

CE