Ameriflight Pushes back start date 3 months
Posted by Mediocre-Clothes-233@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 47 comments
Hi everyone! This is my first Reddit post. I got hired as a first officer by Ameriflight and was supposed to start training with them a couple days ago but received a call 2 days before I was leaving for training saying that my start date would be pushed back to January at the earliest. I already quit my previous job as a flight instructor and lost my security deposit on my appt because I broke the lease and left early. I was just wondering if there’s a chance this post will find any other Ameriflight new hires that were supposed to start on October 14th!
pooserboy@reddit
Sorry to hear that. You found out the hard way that these jobs can be so volatile. I don’t change any living arrangements until I am sitting in class but that’s just my personal rule. In the meantime I’d try to find a temporary job or even reapply as a CFI
Mediocre-Clothes-233@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the advice! Being my first true commercial Aviation job I guess I wasn’t aware that even after signing a contract they could push the date back 2 days before my start date. I also know they just had a fatal accident last week and was wondering if they could have paused hiring due to investigation by the FAA. They blamed the delay on sim availability but I fear that it’s too much of a coincidence considering the fatal accident just a few days before my start date. Not sure though!!
schaf410@reddit
What fleet did you get hired on to? It very well could be sim availability (I left AMF last year).
Mediocre-Clothes-233@reddit (OP)
Emb-120 FO
blackstaple23@reddit
The instructor is leaving the company. They just massively cut pilot pay and the President gave himself a promotion and promoted a new COO in his place. No joke, those two things happened within hours of each other. Lots of pilots are leaving the company rn because it’s so bad.
schaf410@reddit
Isn’t the sim in Paris now? I know they decommissioned the sim in ATL, and that was the last sim in the US I’m pretty sure.
standardtemp2383@reddit
paris france???
schaf410@reddit
Yes
Mediocre-Clothes-233@reddit (OP)
Yes it is. I was supposed to be going to Dallas for Indoc and systems and then Paris for the sim
schaf410@reddit
Yeah I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Historically, AMF does not run classes during November and December because it is their peak season. It really doesn’t surprise me that sim space is hard to come by, so if they couldn’t get you in this month it makes sense to me that they are having you wait until January. It’s unfortunate but not much you can do about it! Best of luck in training, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me! I went through 120 training twice, once as a FO and once as a captain.
skyboy510@reddit
They aren’t going to put you through indoc and systems just to sit and wait for the sim, and there are no Nov/Dec classes hence the January date.
skyboy510@reddit
Yeah, it’s for sim availability. You’ll almost certainly still have a job come January if you haven’t found something else.
74_Jeep_Cherokee@reddit
Guy in my regional indoc had a contract and was literally sitting in class at Eagle when they got sent home.
Hire until they furlough is how the industry has been since forever.
PILOT9000@reddit
It could be sim availability, it could be because of the crash, it could be because of a million different reasons. This happens in the 121 world too.
skylorde787@reddit
Wait till you get the temporary license with your new type rating… THEN YOU HAVE THE JOB.
blackstaple23@reddit
Greetings from a current AMF aircrew. Can confirm they are a dangerous company run by people who do not care about your safety, wellbeing, quality of life, life in general, and certainly not the regulations. Amongst aircrew they have a nickname, Amerderflight. I’m very sorry they did this to you, but please count it as a blessing. Personally, I would have continued as a CFI. A student wouldn’t kill you on purpose. These guys, I’m not so sure. If it would increase their bonuses they would do just about anything. Chin up, blue skies
NuttPunch@reddit
Consider it a blessing you can avoid AMF now.
No_Diver_2133@reddit
Better than CFI.
NuttPunch@reddit
I think the pilots involved with their fatal accidents probably would disagree
No_Diver_2133@reddit
Flight school planes aren’t maintained much better and CFIs have more fatal accidents than AMF does, so what’s your point?
NuttPunch@reddit
Pretty sure most of those low time pilot deaths are from places like AMF. You can do better
YupYup_3@reddit
Easy with the facts there bud. This is reddit.
I loved every minute of my time spent flying freight. 3000 hours in the beech 99 plus another 1000 in the 1900. I can’t tell you how many pilots I’ve met over my career who were “terrified” at the idea of flying anything over a c-172 single pilot. I’ve since gone the captain route at a legacy and still meet pilots who act as if I went to war and nearly died doing that type of flying.
It’s not for everyone. But I loved it.
NuttPunch@reddit
Easy their bud, I wasn’t saying anything about diverse 135 experience. I was making comments on AMF specifically. Thank you though for being god’s gift to aviation
SkippytheBanana@reddit
They had a fatal accident last week so my guess is they’re pausing new hire training until they get resources back to normal.
Acceptable-Wrap4453@reddit
Man they had an accident earlier this year in NH too. That one fortunately was not fatal. there was freezing rain in the area the morning of the accident.
SkippytheBanana@reddit
Also another nonfatal takeoff accident somewhere in the Midwest earlier this year.
YupYup_3@reddit
I have 3k hours in beech 99 and reading your comment hit kind of hard. I looked up the crash and what a bummer. I don’t know how I missed the news.
skyboy510@reddit
Which fleet?
broke_ass_CFI@reddit
What exactly are they looking for? They won’t call me back or any of my friends who are well above their minimums
MeatServo1@reddit
Aviate or UPS intern for FOs.
broke_ass_CFI@reddit
I know Aviate people 2x the hours they want, and they don’t get calls either.
MeatServo1@reddit
It’s also the busy season, so they may just not be hiring till next year.
Oregon-Pilot@reddit
Skywest pulled a similar stunt on me, albeit with more than 2 fucking days of notice. I had about a month of heads up, though I had not renewed a contract in anticipation of flying for SkyWest, and that burned me.
This is a lesson in always look out for yourself first because you can be sure as hell an employer of any kind is going to do the same. Don’t hesitate for a second to make the decision that’s best for you, even if it leaves an employer high and dry.
GopherState@reddit
I know that jobs are hard to find as a low time pilot right now but I would take this as an opportunity to apply elsewhere.
I have a friend at AMF who started this year and he was super excited to go there right away. He is hoping he can get out ASAP, he fears for his life regularly with the condition the planes are in and the conditions he is forced to fly in. Two fatal accidents over the last two years is super bad nowadays. This isn’t the 1930s, fatal accidents for a carrier like this shouldn’t be happening with frequency.
XxVcVxX@reddit
If he spends the time bitching to you about being forced to fly planes he doesn't trust in weather he can't fly in, he's using his time wrong.
Never been forced to dispatch into any weather that wasn't legal during my time there, and the planes are capable enough and I wrote up anything with zero repercussions.
GopherState@reddit
I mean I’m a little more inclined to believe him than you when there has been two of the fleet he flies go into the dirt in the span of like 14 months.
XxVcVxX@reddit
Pilots don't push back against stuff and then go anyways because they feel the pressure of the "culture" and now it's a bad feedback loop.
PILOT9000@reddit
Pressure of culture and pressure of management. Fly the broken plane in bad weather, or have your schedule reduced and/or get fired?
XxVcVxX@reddit
Nobody has ever been fired because they refuse to fly for a legitimate reason, and they already barely have enough pilots to get your schedule reduced lol. This isn't working part time at a dollar tree
It's the pressure of being labeled a "freight dog" and sometimes peer pressure.
PILOT9000@reddit
Maybe not at AMF, but it has happened at other night freight 135s.
XxVcVxX@reddit
Which management person is waking up at 5am to call up 1 guy that won't fly to convince him to fly?
NuttPunch@reddit
You’re both right. It’s just most pilots are willing to take it than they are to pushback. Especially since companies can be vindictive.
bhalter80@reddit
2 and a half, there was the 99 in Manchester where the pilot put it down in a backyard
Freiburg killed the pilot and instructor
The one last week was just the pilot
No_Diver_2133@reddit
Fucking brutal. Sorry man.
SpaceMarine33@reddit
Dang that sucks.. sorry man.. curious though, what are your hours?
LowTBigD@reddit
This shit happens regularly.
Time to start looking for a job.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Hi everyone! This is my first Reddit post. I got hired as a first officer by Ameriflight and was supposed to start training with them a couple days ago but received a call 2 days before I was leaving for training saying that my start date would be pushed back to January at the earliest. I already quit my previous job as a flight instructor and lost my security deposit on my appt because I broke the lease and left early. I was just wondering if there’s a chance this post will find any other Ameriflight new hires that were supposed to start on October 14th!
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