Laughing_Jakal

Idaho,

With all the BS and vitriol on this board, I mean this sincerely. If you think there is a pretty good chance that you could expire before 70, I seriously hope you can compartmentalize this whole work/Contract thing and disengage as much as possible.

I sometimes think of the money I could make even working part time to 65, then I realize, I don't want to work till I die. Too many important things to do with our remaining years. I hope you're wrong.

Nothing about this company or ALPA is worth it. That said, as foolish as the move was to exit negotiations, I'm hopeful we can get a contract that serves the needs of all of us. If you can find a way to retire as soon as you can, think seriously about it.

regards,

Jakal

acecrackshot

The news is that the fact of conditions at Fedex have spiraled to subpar, and likely to remain poisonous on the backside of any contract, is becoming common knowledge in the aviation industry.

Perhaps Fedex will be lucky enough to be only game in town again at some point in the future when they need to hire pilots. I think the demographics of the industry, consolidation into 4 SuperMajors, and the increasing knowledge of the costs/risks of 1970s style freight flying will deter a sizable majority of people from coming here. Perhaps some military guys will buy off, and some people who for whatever reason cannot get a major interview will see Fedex as an option.

SpoilerAlert

Fedex is a sponsor for the upcoming OBAP convention apparently. They have to recruit for Purple Runway or the whole feeder op crumbles. Hope they don’t get many takers, flying an ATR in the middle of the night out of GRR sounds worse than flying rubber dog sheet out of Hong Kong.

And they’ll still get to flow on time and be on the bottom of the msl for years. Sounds fun.

acecrackshot

From the outside looking in, I don't know how they staff the Feeders in the first place. Must be a QOL job.

acecrackshot

Fedex leadership, their strategy and mid term planning has fundamentally changed, and there isn't a clear indication that the pilots as employees are a meaningful or core part of that intended future.

Every other airline, to my knowledge, at least gets some planning guidance from their management. Fedex is one big game of "I've got a secret." That was acceptable to the prior NC and by extention the MEC, as in PM's own statement, he valued as fact the statements of Managing Director or above, to the guffaws of the crowd.

acecrackshot

That reality is becoming manifest in the aviation community today, and unless Fedex wishes to greatly lower standards, or represents the only hiring game in town, likely will have a difficult time recruiting or retaining crew members. Multiple management statements, the long and short term personal risks inherent in a 1970s style cargo operation, near total absence of quality of life factors (basing, ease of commuting, types of flying, growth) have deterred even considering a career here for many people I know or have talked with personally.

SpoilerAlert

The only allure of flying this crappy night freight was good widebody pay and a good future. And some progression if hiring kept going. If you’re going to pay the same or less as majors then there’s no advantage anymore, and with no hiring you’ll enjoy your night hub turns till the end of time. With JD in the headshed, pilots are an expense and the cheaper the better- what’s a 767 crash when it’s just cargo. Ask him, he knows.

What I could never get over was the senior guys I talked with who told me we didn’t need to expend negotiating capital on new hires. “I got $2000 on the panel, was on the panel 3 years, you had $4000 and you get a window seat. You need to be thinking about your future, not the past”. I cannot imagine why someone wouldn’t want it better for those behind them. Just another toxic workplace tendency. That attitude will make sure we get mostly bottom feeders signing up for this abuse.

acecrackshot

Honestly, I can see Fedex becoming a H-1B pilot dumping ground airline with the end postal requirements for citizenship. Otherwise, the expectations of two generations of pilots in the US has changed significantly, and those in the pipeline now have almost modern levels of reasonable employer expectations, rather than the near 1890s urban meatpacking job expections of the 1980s to 1990s pilot force.

JohnnyDingus

A lot of the ATR's and Caravans leave around 6 pm to get into the outstation that has a trunk aircraft, they then layover all night and go to work once the trunk aircraft lands at the outstation. Their night hub turns allow them to get a full nights rest. Sounds like a gravy gig to me. Now if they are MEM base then thats like doing what we do now.

Stratosphere

You got that right . I think ive seen FCIFs every other week for a while where a pilot my age (60) or even younger has passed . A couple have been a few years older but not by much. It's definately sobering.