Do most smaller freight ops fly with old or minimal eqmt.?

[Center_Mid]

My impression is that many of the smaller freight operators out there fly older aircraft and use older and/or minimal IFR avionics. Is this true? Are most of the smaller companies really flying ancient Beech 18s and Cherokee Sixes using nothing but a carpenter's level and a stopwatch? Or are most you flying Caravans and Seminoles with full-on Garmin intergalactic navigation packages? Or something in between?

I don't fly freight and never have, so I'm asking this question mostly out of ignorance. The freight ops at my field (Boeing Field, Seattle) run the gamut from UPS on down, so it's hard to tell what the norm is.

[MikeD]

We had PA-31s with RNAV, C-208Bs with GPS, pretty good, though basic, IFR panels in both. Prior company had PA-31s, PA-32/32Rs,and C-207s with basic IFR panels. Mileage may vary with company.

[DE727UPS]

Really all you need is a couple of VOR/ILS's. It's so dead at night ATC will give you headings direct anywhere you want. If it were me, I'd take along my Garmin 196 GPS. I once set it up in the 767 and it was exactly in agreement with the onboard nav equipment.

[EatSleepFly]

My company has at least one Garmin 430 or 530 in every airplane. A couple of them have dual 530's. All but one have radar, most have stormscopes. All have autopilots/FD's, though some aren't the greatest (same models, just different quirks). The one in my current avatar has a 530, an Avidyne MFD, and wx radar/stormscope. The weather radar comes up on the MFD and can be overlayed on the terrain map (it also has TAWS). Pretty fancy I guess.

I have to add though, that our flying is a lot different than operators like AirNet, Ram, AirNow, FlightExpress, etc. We don't fly short hops on scheduled runs. We fly multiple 350+ nm (I've done a few over 500 recently) legs routinely, and like any other operator- into busy airspace, in just about any weather, around the clock. All single-pilot. Just to give you an idea- we have Jepps for the entire country and Canada in each of our airplanes at all times (except maybe the 310, that usually does shorter trips).


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Really all you need is a couple of VOR/ILS's. It's so dead at night ATC will give you headings direct anywhere you want. If it were me, I'd take along my Garmin 196 GPS. I once set it up in the 767 and it was exactly in agreement with the onboard nav equipment.

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That's very true. Sometimes I think all of this fancy stuff makes it boring. I actually like it when it's busy in the northeast corridor and ATC gives me VOR's, intersections, and airways to navigate. It's nice to have something to do!

[BrianNC]

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My company has at least one Garmin 430 or 530 in every airplane. A couple of them have dual 530's. All but one have radar, most have stormscopes. All have autopilots/FD's, though some aren't the greatest (same models, just different quirks). The one in my current avatar has a 530, an Avidyne MFD, and wx radar/stormscope. The weather radar comes up on the MFD and can be overlayed on the terrain map (it also has TAWS). Pretty fancy I guess.

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EatSleepFly,

Who do you fly for and what kind of flying do you do?

[EatSleepFly]

On-demand freight...check your PM's for the company (I'm paranoid).

[Center_Mid]

[ QUOTE ]
My company has at least one Garmin 430 or 530 in every airplane. A couple of them have dual 530's. All but one have radar, most have stormscopes. All have autopilots/FD's, though some aren't the greatest (same models, just different quirks). The one in my current avatar has a 530, an Avidyne MFD, and wx radar/stormscope. The weather radar comes up on the MFD and can be overlayed on the terrain map (it also has TAWS). Pretty fancy I guess.

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Did they train you on the FDs & MFDs much, or did they expect you to mostly learn on the job? Did you come from a typical CFI background (172s, etc.)? How was the transition?

[Stone Cold]

Not sure about the other small guys, but Airnet has radar in most airplanes, stormscopes in some, standard IFR Baron, Chieftain, or Caravan, with the Vans having more bells and whistles. All have AP, most have GPS's, and all are known-icing equipped. Also, our MX department is absolutely awesome. The Director of MX is old school and Airnet listens to him on everything...he's very proud to have as safe an airplane as he can provide us. I'm not on-line yet, but first flight in the Baron is tonight so I'll let you know how it is in a few weeks when I'm actually flying the line.

More updates to come later, but that's what Airnet has. Other companies vary greatly. Find a place you'll be happy with because you never know what will happen in this industry.

TX

[EatSleepFly]

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Did they train you on the FDs & MFDs much, or did they expect you to mostly learn on the job? Did you come from a typical CFI background (172s, etc.)? How was the transition?

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Yes. Training on the flight director is part of flight training. There was ground training on the Garmins (not much for me since I had several hundred hours in 430/530-equipped airplanes previously). The MFD is very simple to use, there was no specific training for that, because you can essentially teach yourself in a matter of a few minutes.

I came to this job from a regional and before that I flew pax charter as a King Air co-pilot (no fancy avionics in the King Air though). Before that I flew a Bonanza around for a company, and before that I CFI'd.

The biggest thing anyone would have to worry about coming into this job is being a rock solid, single-pilot instrument pilot, (followed closely by the schedule, or lack thereof). They aren't in the business of giving instrument training, and they have and will show you the door if they don't feel they can cut you loose to fly the line on your own and not worry about you. That said, I don't think most active and current CFII's would have any problem at all transitioning into this kind of flying.