Need opinions on Charter gig

turbomax97 · January 21st, 2008, 15:09

A CFI I know got hired at Omni as a FE on the dc-10 for Omni with about 800 TT, most of it being multi. I plan on instructing until May, I'm currently in the mid 800's and should be around 1200ish by then, with all but 100 of my tt being multi. I've got a 4 year degree, and will have my atp and fex writtens done by then.

It seems that I have a shot with Omni, their minimums don't really mean much if you have internal recs, so I wanted to hear what you guys think. I really don't want to do the regional thing, it's not for me, and honestly it sucks that I would take a pay cut from CFI'ing. Going for Omni will give me some heavy jet, int'l ops, and although the pay is low for the size aircraft, they just voted in a union and things don't look too bad there.

It looks like after taxes, with guarantee I'll gross around 26 - 2700 a month, with plenty of room to make more; it's not unheard of to make around 60k first year. Upgrade is sitting at about 2 years to the left seat, so it seems like a good gig.

LoadMasterC141 · January 21st, 2008, 15:33

Wow 800 hours and left seat in a widebody...in the UNITED STATES!
Those suckers have got to be old by now though eh?

turbomax97 · January 21st, 2008, 15:40

Yeah, they just picked up a few more replacement dc-10's that retired from NWA. They're old but they're awesome a/c...

UND_Flyer · January 21st, 2008, 16:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

Wow 800 hours and left seat in a widebody...in the UNITED STATES!

Umm... the way I read it, the guy got hired on as a Flight Engineer, not as a CA or FO.

AP2B · January 21st, 2008, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by UND_Flyer

Umm... the way I read it, the guy got hired on as a Flight Engineer, not as a CA or FO.

I read it that way too. Does the progression from FE to FO work the same as FO to Captain? I served with a guy in the military whose father was a "career" FE on an L10-11.

LoadMasterC141 · January 21st, 2008, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by UND_Flyer

Umm... the way I read it, the guy got hired on as a Flight Engineer, not as a CA or FO.

Doh! Sorry I did indeed miss that. Thanks for setting me straight!
That still seems pretty low. In the AF, you generally could not be an FE unless you were first an A/C mechanic or other flight crew for 3 years. FEs generally were thought of more as the plane systems "know-it-alls", and inflight mechs. Probably different in the civilian world then I guess?

turbomax97 · January 21st, 2008, 21:51

Yeah, it's FE -> FO -> Capt.

I believe minimums for Omni are 1000 TT for the panel, guys without recs are getting hired at a few thousand hours TT usually.

flyingmaniac · January 21st, 2008, 21:54

I was recently told that their FO minimums are 2,000 TT.

turbomax97 · January 22nd, 2008, 00:39

Posted mins are an ATP, 1500TT. Now what's competetive is quite a bit more....

So I still haven't gotten any feedback as to whether i should give it a shot, and why or why not?

flyingmaniac · January 22nd, 2008, 08:28

When I was flying back home through Atlanta, I met a guy who flies for Omni. From what I understand is that life as a FO might be lonely, because all he did was give position reports, flying those international flights.

falconvalley · January 22nd, 2008, 10:24

Alot of civilian outfits don't really do the "career FE" thing anymore. Don't know what Omni's story is, but at places like FedEx, you get hired on and if the only seat available is FE, you get FE and wait for the senority to hold FO on something. The AF is living in the past with the enlisted career FE. My brother, a mechanic at FedEx, tried to convince them to hire him as an FE if he got his license, but they laughed and said no.

scramjet · January 22nd, 2008, 11:04

There's still a few airlines out there that hire career FEs. Practically all US airlines did (hire career FEs) until the mid-60s when the Association of Flight Engineers struck at a few airlines and ALPA represented pilots offered to do the job for less. I was reading an article on that, it was pretty interesting. Almost got ALPA kicked out of the AFL-CIO. I'll have to see if I can dig it up again.

gomntwins · January 22nd, 2008, 11:15

Are there any Omni guys on here? I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you via PM. Thanks!

moxiepilot · January 22nd, 2008, 22:00

i know a few Omni folks and they seem relatively happy there; i don't have their emails to get in touch though

Bandit_Driver · March 1st, 2008, 12:18

I personally though OAI is way under paid for the type of equiment. They called me a year ago and I turned them down. Fly a DC-10 for 30-35K a year is insane especially with no significant pay raise in year 2.

turbomax97 · March 1st, 2008, 18:50

I think I changed my mind.

Apparently they want you to have a Flight Engineer CERTIFICATE prior to starting training.

So my only option is to go pay at a place like Aeroservice for a ticket - which I'm sure is the cost of an automobile, and then work for them. I don't think I'm going to do it.

Proud Pilot · March 1st, 2008, 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbomax97

I think I changed my mind.

Apparently they want you to have a Flight Engineer CERTIFICATE prior to starting training.

So my only option is to go pay at a place like Aeroservice for a ticket - which I'm sure is the cost of an automobile, and then work for them. I don't think I'm going to do it.

You need to look at it as an investment in your career. Plus your first jet be would be a widebody!!! That would be just too cool!!!!

Soku39 · March 2nd, 2008, 03:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proud Pilot

You need to look at it as an investment in your career. Plus your first jet be would be a widebody!!! That would be just too cool!!!!

Cool has nothing to do with it. An airplane is an airplane. By that logic its completely fine to go fly an ERJ-170 for $17,000 a year. Don't ever pay for a job, even if it is a shiny, err... not so shiny 30 year old widebody... flying sideways.

wrxpilot · March 2nd, 2008, 05:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proud Pilot

You need to look at it as an investment in your career. Plus your first jet be would be a widebody!!! That would be just too cool!!!!

Yeah, that'd be sweet when you couldn't afford to pay your bills. Awesome!

moxiepilot · March 2nd, 2008, 10:50

The guy I know at Omni is pretty happy doing it.

gomntwins · March 2nd, 2008, 12:10

Their pay is not great... first year guarantee is $36,500 now-- that is pretty crap for being FO on a DC-10. The only reason I keep kicking this around is to get the widebody experience that some of the ACMI freight ops like to see on a resume. My longterm goal is to keep flying freight.... I know a lot of the companies like the widebody time on a resume- the other way is to go to a legacy I suppose and move from there. The pay is still better than Northwest-- guarantee of less than $25,000 first year.

turbomax97 · March 2nd, 2008, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soku39

Cool has nothing to do with it. An airplane is an airplane. By that logic its completely fine to go fly an ERJ-170 for $17,000 a year. Don't ever pay for a job, even if it is a shiny, err... not so shiny 30 year old widebody... flying sideways.

Exactly my reasoning. There are plenty of other companies to go work for on the panel that don't want you to pay for your own certificate.

gomntwins · March 2nd, 2008, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soku39

Cool has nothing to do with it. An airplane is an airplane. By that logic its completely fine to go fly an ERJ-170 for $17,000 a year. Don't ever pay for a job, even if it is a shiny, err... not so shiny 30 year old widebody... flying sideways.

This isn't paying for a job. The company requires a FAA license to sit sideways before working for them. There's nothing wrong with that. I worked at a flight school that required I had my CFI before working for them. Every company out there requires you have your commercial prior to working for them- all out of pocket. This company has to fill engineer spots and requires applicants to be FEs before working for them. Granted this is not the norm in the industry for engineers-- but companies requiring certain type ratings, certificates, and licenses is not by any means uncommon- and if they want people to show up with their FE cert, that's fine.

Soku39 · March 2nd, 2008, 13:23

I got ya, just with most of your 800 being multi it seems like there are more places to go where you can make way more cash 2nd year (I'm not sure about that statement being true if staying in freight), without getting the FE cert. I guess in my head an FE is more minor than say a CFI or a Comm, sorta like the companying typing you vs. you paying for the type, and all of this is coming from someone with half of his time, most of it single engine.

30West · March 2nd, 2008, 14:09

I think Omni is a great opportunity, but there id one major consideration that no one has mentioned.

You will have to be prepared to be away..and i REALLY mean AWAY, for around 20 days a month. 20 days in a row, not out and backs with a day in between. The way the schedules work, you could possibly be gone for around 40 days straight when the schedules come together the wrong way. This is a serious consideration if you have any reasons like a wife, gf, kids that you want to be around for.

You definately need to consider the possibility of being stuck as an FE for longer than you want as well. If you get stuck in the FE seat for a year, then get furloughed, you are SOL as far as being flying current.

Other than those I think it would be a great opportunity to fly a really cool plane all over the world.