busdriver12

Dang, now I know why those guys were flying till they were 80, as flight engineers. Trying to live until 82. Here I thought they just didn't have anything else to do...

MaydayMark

That Albie ... he's a pretty smart guy when it comes to this subject. I have a lot of respect for his opinion.

Just in case he doesn't make a good case to consider all your options, I'll chime in with another opinion. During a recent serious illness, I was shocked at how little support and concern I received from FedEx Management. I couldn't even get my mail forwarded (which included Expense Report checks!*?) Fortunately a good friend mentioned it to Sheree Weber (LAX FOS) and she was nice enough to take care of that problem.

There were other (MUCH BIGGER!) issues. I honestly believed that I was a loyal, HARD WORKING and honest employee for nearly 20 years. Maybe I was kidding myself when I thought that one day, after my last flight, that someone would be there to shake my hand and say, "Thank you Captain." I was wrong. I'm now very disappointed to believe that we're not on the "same team." Maybe we never were?


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Jetjok

Mark,

You shouldn't take any of that stuff personally, or in your case, perhaps you should. Just joking... Anyway, that's the way it's done nowadays. When I had my near-death experience and I was lying in the hospital, waiting for open heart surgery, the call I got from the company was from crew scheduling, asking me why I hadn't checked in for my trip. After explaining, I got a call from the duty officer to verify what I had told the crew scheduler. That happened in September of 2007. I stayed out on LTD until I retired in September of 2012, and from that call from the DO until the date I retired, I never, not once, received another call from anyone in FedEx Flight management. I once called the Chief Pilot to complain about that and he told me he had exactly the same experience when he had gotten sick and was out for a long time. It's just the way it is, what with over 4000 pilots. We all like to think we're special, but the fact is that we're just another warm butt to stick in a seat. I'd bet it's the same at other airlines too.

FedEx1

Our average retirement age isn't 62. It's 64. I asked ALPA.

FlyBoyd

I would ask for clarification. What is the average age of retirees retiring at 65 or less? ALPA probably still has the Jurassic engineers in the data. All data with 65+ one day is irrelevant now. Maybe if you remove them, it drops to 62.

busdriver12

Some of those guys were so old, maybe it drops to 52....

I have seen a number of early retirements from people that I've known, not just guys sticking it out till practically the very end. But that's a statistical sample of one person, so that doesn't mean much. But I agree with your statement.

StarClipper

Still no word on hiring at the Great Purple? All I need is one shot at this.

cjrflyr

Nothing right now. I hear end of the year and/or beginning of next year, but who knows

Flaps50

You have to retire at 64, cause it's illegal to fly at 65. So I'd guess most are staying until the very end these days if that's the new average age...

Dragon7

Check out the "Fedex Contract -Hmmmm" thread and it makes it pretty clear what is going on with relation to hiring. Nada for a while.