Airhoss

Sitting through the sort... True misery.

BMEP100

We had a “sleep room”. Sounded like a walrus symphony, and smelled like a cheese factory.

UAL T38 Phlyer

That is hilarious!

Airhoss

And the best part,

After getting your 1.5 hours of quality sleep between 01:00 and 02:30 at the walrus colony during the sort. You got to get up and fly 3 more legs only to finally flop in a crappy cut rate hotel with no way to block the sun light or the noise from the 6 lane highway and an A/C unit that would loudly clank on and off in between ineffective periods of blowing hot air.

The good news was, at 19:00 you got to do it all over again for 5 nights in a row!

Man I miss flying DC-8’s all night, every night, well, not really, at all, not even a little bit!!

JurgenKlopp

I got to do all of what Hoss did except for some reason I had to help loose load tractor parts. No pallets in sh!t turboprop. Young and dumb, I never thought to call the teamsters to let them know I was touching UPS freight.

MaxQ

Mathteacher...hats off to you. March to your own drummer, as the only music that counts is what you hear.
A personal note. You mentioned James Stockdale in one of your first posts. About 25 years ago, give or take, I stumbled on a book by him, “Thoughts of a Philosophical Pilot”...or something like that. Besides making me an admirer of him, it was a catalyst for me to look at the subject of Philosophy in a manner I had not before. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis, har, but in a few years of personal reading and self directed study of the subject my worldview had profoundly shifted, and continues to evolve. Due to that shift, begun by Admiral Stockdale, I think I have a small bit of understanding regarding your decision.
Enjoy life.

CLazarus

Mid-Displacement update based on today's snapshot - with 4151 or 88% of displacees having bids in there are currently 2124 guys who will wind up in Bus/737 FO seats. So, if the trends hold the high end of those winding up on the Bus/737 would be about 2400... on top of the 3000+ FOs there already.

Before they rescinded 309 displacements, I'd estimated a high end of 2678 forced into NB seats - Displacement Bid 20-07D Some of the NB bases guys are bidding to are significantly different than my first guesstimate, here the current totals.

CLE - 39
DCA - 396
DEN - 325
EWR - 378
GUM - 16
IAH - 252
LAX - 202
ORD - 274
SFO - 349

Here's the part that's grim, we've hired about 2350 since 23 Jan 2016 (if you don't know why this date is significant, see 1-c-1-h). In his displacement announcement, BQ said "there should be enough information conveyed in this displacement for you to make informed conclusions". All by itself, this first displacement is setting us up almost perfectly to cut guys up to that hiring date. I've made an informed conclusion and am gonna throw up in my mouth a bit now.

Noworkallplay

I guess it depends who you are flying freight for. As a domestic knuckle dragger at Purple my schedule looks nothing like what you describe. When I was an FO I did very little night flying if any. In fact, as a guy who use to be at a “legacy”, I would never return to the 3-4 leg days of pax hauling with 3 hour sits at the terminal. Plus, I couldn't afford the pay cut.

I guess to each their own. Just like pax airlines all cargo isn’t created equal. I bet if flying cargo kept a bunch of pilots on property at UAL the line would be out the door.

Vernon Demerest

First off, he described his freight operator as an ACMI so don’t get your feelings hurt. Second, if you are upset at the generalization, don’t do the same in return. Not sure what “legacy” you flew for but seeing that you are now a captain over there at FedEx, im guessing it was during the lost decade that you are referring to. As much as I’d like to address your “couldn’t take the pay cut “ reference, I’m not going to stoop. I’m sorry your passenger flying experience and timing wasn’t rewarding. As someone who flies a narrobody for a legacy, I rarely do 3-4 leg days and cannot remember the last time I had a sit of 3 hours anywhere. But if I did, I’d enjoy one of the nice restaurants at one of our hubs if I didn’t have a multi course crew meal being served to me on my next leg. To each his own is right. Never applied to one of the freight haulers. Never thought I was above it at all but rather always wanted to fly pax. 22 years in (15 with current “legacy”) with 21 years to go and no regrets. Flown first officer on a few aircraft and captain last 7 years on narrow body. No doubt my job is not on stable ground going into next year but I wouldn’t change a thing career wise. I’m glad your career change has made you happy. Hope the attempted “dig” at pilots going through what will probably be the absolute worst period in the history of airline operations gave you what you were seeking. All the best.

Airhoss

No shizzle McDizzle! MENSA is taking applications I guess you should apply.