Q/A With A CargoJet Pilot
Jack : What was flying for Air Ambulance like?
Stephen
When ever I retire from flying and I look back on my career I believe Air Ambulance flying will be the most challenging type of work I have done. The type of Air Ambulance I did was primarily long haul critical patients in Learjet 35s and Gulfstream G100. The job was 24/7 on call, and when that call came we would have to be airborne to fly anywhere in the world within 2 hours. Planning a trip Florida on its own can take an hour or two with organizing the ground ambulances, transportation of the patient, customs, getting medical crew and the correct medical crew for the particular patient, aircraft fuelled and the flight planning complete. You can imagine how much more complicated things get when the patient that needs to be rescued is in India and we need 4 to 6 pilots and 6-8 fuel stops with a Learjet that can only fly a maximum of 1800 miles at a time. But this is what made the job so enjoyable, you had to be ready for anything and knowledgable to fly anywhere in the world to do it safely and legally. But it did come with many challenges specially flying older aircraft (1980) that didn’t have the top of the line equipment like new airliners and corporate jets. We had a very basic Honeywell GPS and sometimes no moving map, we did not have CPDLC or SELCAL for oceanic flying and had to do a position reports by voice had listened to the HF radio at all times which you just don’t do if you want to keep your hearing. I would typically travel to 10 countries a week, up to 4 in a single day due to fuel stops that would take 30-45 minutes from wheels down to wheels back up. Pretty much the goal was to get to where ever the patient was a quickly as possible, and then re asses the situation once the doctor, registered nurse, and respiratory nurse have assessed the true condition of the patient. Many times the information we have received from the local hospital is far from reality. My first flight of line indoctrination was to rescue a Canadian in Krabi, Thailand and take them to Victoria, BC. It would take 6 pilots and 11 fuel stops before arriving in Victoria. We started the mission with 4 pilots, one doctor, one emergence nurse (RN), and one Respiratory Therapist (RT) who was also a RN from our base in Ontario and ventured out to Anchorage, AK with a fuel stop in Edmonton. We would all rest and I would start the next day with venturing up to Nome, AK for our first fuel stop. I loved crew rest in Anchorage because our hotel was on Lake Hood and could watch the float planes depart and arrive as frequent as a typical day at YYZ and get to have a beer with some of the local pilots if we had the time. But these were always very short stays of 10 hours of less as we had somewhere to be. Crossing the Pacific in a small jet isn’t really oceanic flying, you are over land most of the time. Due to our range we had to fuel in Nome, AK then fly at long range cruise over to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Russia which has an incredible approach over two large volcanoes which concluded landing on an old military runway that was built in blocks in case on was bombed it could be easily replaced. It was like landing on an off airport runway, very rough for our small Learjet wheels. We would be arrived by our handler and translator Natalia and of course the military personnel standing being her with the large Russian hats and AK-47s. The fuel truck and external power truck where both tanks from the soviet era that were converted for civilian flights using Petro as a fuel stop. We were in and out with ease after taking a couple pictures and off the Tokyo Japan where I would get off and stay while the other two crew members continued on the Taipei Taiwan for a fuel stop and then Krabi, Thailand. On arrival in Krabi the medical staff go directly to the hospital where the crew go directly to the hotel to start there 8 hours rest. However, their initial visit was greated by a patient that was in critical condition and unable to transport in the aircraft due to flesh easting disease on the leg. The medical team went directly into surgery and the flight was delayed to further notice. The crew in Krabi got to enjoy the beach while myself and the other pilot had 3 days in Japan to adventure around Tokyo visiting all the typical hot spots for a tourist. Days later the medical crew was able to stabilize the patient for transportation but was still critical condition. The flight home was going to be even more difficult now as we had to have a lower cabin altitude for the patient which means we have to fly lower…. Resulting in a much higher fuel burn. Luckily we had a great tail wind so we did not have to stop in Nome on the return trip from Russia but instead landed in Anchorage on minimum fuel. Luckily as a medivac aircraft we have priority over everyone so we weren't worried about being delayed due to traffic. The medical continued to work on the patient the entire time from Japan to Anchorage, when the United States Customs officers approached the plane and saw what was happening in the back they immediately turned around and said get your fuel and your good to go, they didn’t want anything to do with us. We fuelled and departed in less then 30 minutes and by the time we arrived in Victoria our patient was stabilized and conscious. Our patient even walked off the aircraft to the ambulance waiting, it was quite amazing what the medical staff accomplished over 4 days and in the back of a tiny Learjet 35. But this was the standard for the 3 years of long haul medical flying around the world. Was lucky to visit 90 plus countries as a First Officer, Captain and Training Captain.
Jack : What Do you do on layovers?
Stephen
Layovers are all different from job to job. As a corporate pilot I would have multiple days off at a time in the Caribbean or California and would make sure to have a nice rental car (paid by the company) to go on adventures. Pretty much every lay over was a mini vacation, eat at great restaurants, visit amazing beaches and find any activity to occupy our selves instead of just drinking beers on the beach. But once I joined Cargojet I was primarily flying nights as a junior first officer. Our layovers were 12-24 hours which left time to sleep, eat and repeat. I noticed I was always tired so I focused on eating better and working out and eventually took up triathlons. Ive noticed a massive improvement in my energy levels at work specially at night. Thus, most of my layovers which are still 12-24 hours start with immediate sleep once arriving at the hotel, then food, study for a bit then go for a workout of long run in the various cities we frequent, then eat again, sleep, back to work. I actually enjoy the shorter layover and how effectively we are used. If I’m at work I might as well be flying and not spend my money on a mini vacation.
Jack : How many flights do you do a week?
Stephen
Cargojet schedule is based on days worked not hours. Cargojet pilots have to fly 15 days a month….a day of work is defined from 00:01 to 11:59. This means if my flights check in is 2330 for a 0030 departure, the 30 minutes prior to midnight is a full days work. Senior pilots try to do flights that start just prior to midnight and return home just after midnight to reduce the actual amount of time away from home. Some pilots may only work 9-10 days a month and fly 40 hours. For me as a Junior Captain I’m flying 13-15 days a month and then picking up 3-5 days of overtime if I can. If I cam working 20 days a month that is usually 4 pairings that are 5 days long each usually totalling 70-90 hours.
Jack : What are the busiest times of year for cargo flights?
Stephen
Typically peak season for cargo is November to March. Back to school for kids we usually see increased payloads as well, however due to COVID19 everything is not normal. Cargojet had a record peak season that never stopped after March due to the increase of e-commerce with the public being at home and shopping online. Amazon flying has increased immensely along with the government flying to China for PPE.
Jack : Whats the biggest difference between the 757 and 767?
Stephen
The weight of the aircraft is the greatest difference 190,000 lbs difference in max weight but they are otherwise very similar. The biggest difference of the two aircraft for Cargojet pilots is the amount of payload we have on board which makes them fly very different. Typically the B767-300 we have a full payload of 120,000 lbs and flying back and forth from Europe. Our take off weight is 412,000 lbs of close to it for performance purposes and landing at 320,000 lbs which makes the aircraft a dream to fly, the heavier the better! But we fly our B757-200 close to max on some runs but we also fly that aircraft from Moncton to Halifax will minimal fuel and a minimal payload of mail. The aircraft is a rocket ship and is extremely difficult to slow down when it is so light with so much power. The pilot has to be much smarter and ahead of the aircraft to make sure it stabilized on profile and on speed. Otherwise, the flight deck is identical, the B767 we have GE engines and the B757 has Rolls Royce engines which have different operating procedures, limitation and engine instrument display. Hydraulic and fuel systems are also slightly different.
Jack : Why did you chose to fly cargo instead of passengers?
Stephen
I chose to go to Cargojet after being laid off from my corporate job when the family I worked for sold the aircraft. I had to move quickly to find a job and didn’t want to sit around waiting for a long interview process at a major airline. I had job offers from another corporate company but it would have put me in the same situation realizing there isn’t a lot of job security in corporate flying. So I decided to reach out to my friends, 3 of them happened to be at Cargojet. My other offer was at Sky Regional on the E175. Even tho I had zero interest in cargo flying at the time I wanted to still fly long haul oceanic and I had always wanted to fly a heavy wide body aircraft. I was lucky enough to be laid off on a Tuesday and I started work at Cargojet on the following Monday. After three years I don’t regret my decision and love the flying and specially the aircraft being able to fly the Boeing 757-200, B767-200 and the B767-300.
Jack : How much has your schedule changed since COVID started?
Stephen
Prior to Covid I was working 15 days a month with little over time flying. Once March 2020 came around I was doing 20 days a month or more (5 days overtime) primarily oceanic flying to Japan, England, and Germany. It has been very busy for cargo pilots.
Jack : How many crew are on board during your flights?
Stephen
We typically always operate two pilots on all flights. We do deadhead pilots on our aircraft a lot as the company does not want to transport aircraft via passenger airline. There are only a few flights we operate the flight with 3 crew to extended the duty day from 14 hours to 15 hours. Those flights would be to South America or for example Calgary to Istanbul. Even tho the flight is less than 12 hours it allows for a cushion for maintenance issues or cargo loading.
Jack : How long does it take to load all the cargo?
Stephen
We have flights landing in Hamilton CYHM from London, England with 120,000 lbs of cargo being fully off loaded, then reloading the aircraft with 90,0000 lbs of new cargo for the next destination in less than 90 minutes. But these are Cargojet employees and load masters, it could be much longer depending on the load team. Typically we would landing in Winnipeg and 30,000 lbs will come off and 20,000 added for our next destination of Vancouver and that will take 30-40 minutes.
Jack : What made you made you make the switch from the air ambulance and private jets to cargo
Stephen
Ive never just wanted to do one thing in aviation as a pilot. Ive made the move from various companies to continue to build my experience and the desire to want a new adventure. From teaching, flying float planes, single engine turbine corporate, twin engine corporate, long haul medivac, Gulfstream private jets to Cargo has all been amazing and very much go with the flow decision. Its hard to plan your career, I’ve been turned down from jobs I was over qualified for and been promoted into a position I never thought I would be in such as right now. As many pilots have now come to the realization the aviation industry is frustrating even when times are good, and my success to now has come from previous let downs of being laid off and turned away from other jobs. Ive just gone with the flow and enjoyed the adventure over the past 12 years as a pilot.