UPS Pilot, what would you like to know?

[FlyByNight757]

Do you fly the same plane or a different one each flight? Do you get pissed when finding other pilots trash, piss bottles etc

Sometimes the same but usually we sit a sort and change planes. Most of our folks are pretty good about keeping the cockpit clean. It's not a huge space so a mess would not be welcome plus I can see who flew the plane last from our maintenance logbook.

 

[FlyByNight757]

Some airlines are taking people right off the street and training them from the ground up….is ups doing this???

No, although they tried this back in the early days. Their plan was to take feeder drivers and turn them into fast feeder pilots!

 

[FlyByNight757]

What if you have to poop mid-flight?

We have a bathroom onboard.

 

[anonymous23456]

We have a bathroom onboard.

Don't mind him. He has never flown because they don't allow him to bring his poop bucket on any plane! Health hazard...

 

[FlyByNight757]

Why is the air always late?

Could be due to a few reasons. Sometimes air traffic control limits the number of airplanes when there are weather issues or too many airplanes going the same places (Florida). Sometimes weather will hit the sort and delay unloading and loading of airplanes which causes a rolling delay to all the follow-on gateways or an airplane has a mechanical issue.

 

[Coldworld]

What do you think UPS is? Crop duster?

No, although they tried this back in the early days. Their plan was to take feeder drivers and turn them into fast feeder pilots!

Sometimes the same but usually we sit a sort and change planes. Most of our folks are pretty good about keeping the cockpit clean. It's not a huge space so a mess would not be welcome plus I can see who flew the plane last from our maintenance logbook.

Do you know that kid who also has a mother who’s a pilot…saw them in an ups magazine a few years ago. Do you stick with the same crew or is it always someone new?

 

[UnionStrong]

We have a bathroom onboard.

He’s a sociopath.

 

[anonymous23456]

When did pilot union start? How easy was it to form a union?

 

[FlyByNight757]

When did pilot union start? How easy was it to form a union?

From the IPA website:
On January 10, 1990, the Independent Pilots Association was founded. It all began in late 1989 when founding fathers Bob Miller, Jim Sutton, Herb Hurst and Rick Erwin handed out union cards in the SDF cafeteria during the night sort. We are grateful for their tireless efforts, which laid the foundation to create what has become one of the strongest, most respected unions in the world.
During these past three decades, the IPA has endured and overcome numerous challenges, some of which threatened our very existence. Without question, the unique challenges faced during 2020 have added another memorable chapter to our rich history. Standing together, we are overcoming these challenges every day, emerging as a stronger and more unified pilot group.

It wasn't easy to start the union. The original founders were under a lot of stress and pressure from UPS but they prevailed.

 

[FlyByNight757]

Do you know that kid who also has a mother who’s a pilot…saw them in an ups magazine a few years ago. Do you stick with the same crew or is it always someone new?

We have several pilots here now whose parent flew here too, once they got rid of the nepotism clause. I have met a few of them. Sometimes you'll fly with the same crew for up to two months, but that's rare since we are able to trade trips for other ones, and if your partner has vacation or training then it will be someone else.

 

[burrheadd]

No, although they tried this back in the early days. Their plan was to take feeder drivers and turn them into fast feeder pilots!

They were all over the weight limit
Lmao

 

[Coldworld]

When did pilot union start? How easy was it to form a union?

We have several pilots here now whose parent flew here too, once they got rid of the nepotism clause. I have met a few of them. Sometimes you'll fly with the same crew for up to two months, but that's rare since we are able to trade trips for other ones, and if your partner has vacation or training then it will be someone else.

Do you guys have a “traditional seniority list??? If so do you know your # out of the thousands of pilots?

 

[Coldworld]

They were all over the weight limit
Lmao

Yep

 

[Coldworld]

From the IPA website:
On January 10, 1990, the Independent Pilots Association was founded. It all began in late 1989 when founding fathers Bob Miller, Jim Sutton, Herb Hurst and Rick Erwin handed out union cards in the SDF cafeteria during the night sort. We are grateful for their tireless efforts, which laid the foundation to create what has become one of the strongest, most respected unions in the world.
During these past three decades, the IPA has endured and overcome numerous challenges, some of which threatened our very existence. Without question, the unique challenges faced during 2020 have added another memorable chapter to our rich history. Standing together, we are overcoming these challenges every day, emerging as a stronger and more unified pilot group.

It wasn't easy to start the union. The original founders were under a lot of stress and pressure from UPS but they prevailed.

Weren’t you guys Teamsters way back when???

 

[FlyByNight757]

Do you guys have a “traditional seniority list??? If so do you know your # out of the thousands of pilots?

Yes we have a master seniority list. Right now we have 3,177 pilots on it, but that number will be shrinking as retirements occur while we are not actively hiring. I'm about in the top third of the list. Our most senior pilots were hired in 1988 and our most junior ones were hired in early 2023. We also have about a hundred management pilots, who of course are not on the seniority list.

 

[FlyByNight757]

Weren’t you guys Teamsters way back when???

Yes that's correct. I don't know all the details but they weren't happy with the Teamsters, so they started an in-house union, the IPA.

 

[anonymous23456]

Is there such thing as part-time pilot? If there is, can that person moonlighting jobs at passenger airlines?

We have our resident PT carwash here. Do you have PT airplane-wash?

 

[Coldworld]

Yes that's correct. I don't know all the details but they weren't happy with the Teamsters, so they started an in-house union, the IPA.

What is your favorite and worst airports to fly in and out of??? This is fun…we don’t usually get to ask all these cool questions…thanks for sharing!

 

[anonymous23456]

What is your favorite and worst airports to fly in and out of??? This is fun…we don’t usually get to ask all these cool questions…thanks for sharing!

Of course, Worldport is the best...you dunderhead!

 

[Coldworld]

Yes that's correct. I don't know all the details but they weren't happy with the Teamsters, so they started an in-house union, the IPA.

Do they hand out warning letters to you guys??? I had a pilot on my old route who was friends with a ups pilot and he said his friend was always bitching about how they were treated by mgt…if true sounds very similar to package and us feeder drivers.