New Cessna Aircraft - SkyCourier

Shepherd said:
There was a perfectly good short hauler, introduced in 1976, the Short SD-330.
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That’s what UPS feeders use. And Metroliners. And ATR-42/72. And lord only knows what else. Like I said, they don’t care as long as the contract is cheap.
 
Eric Gleason said:
I don't think this is going to carve many sales away from the King Air line, either. King Airs and PC-12s serve (mostly) different market segments (fast, pressurized, expensive, moderate size) than the Caravan/SkyCourier (slow, unpressurized, optimized for LOTS of cargo). They also have the advantage that there are a lot of pilots qualified for each. If a Kodiak fits the role for those companies that switched, my guess is that they picked the wrong airplane for their role in the first place, or maybe they went looking for a market after they already had their fleet, or maybe they'd been a legacy King Air shop from a time before there were better options.
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Legacy fleet mentality, as "chief pilot" ages out seeing a lot of change there as reported by young pilots I know. So all second hand....

Tim

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GlennAB1 said:
I read somewhere, they will be operated by contract carriers.
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Yes. I think it's Mountain Air or something similar that has had a contract with FedEx for years. Caravans were used a lot but they're using planes up to the size of an ATR-72 now I believe.
 
That was the Caravan II, produced mostly for foreign markets, and it wouldn't have been the first time someone reused a brand :)
 
mscard88 said:
6883015_orig.jpg
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ASA-> Always Stays in Atlanta

And that's the cleanest one I know...
 
CC268 said:
maybe I can get a job flying one of those for fedex
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denverpilot said:
P.S. Maybe not even the FedEx freight dogs will be happy. This thing will be designed such that a really cheap pilot can fly it... no offense to anyone who ends up flying it... but I'm sure that's a design goal.
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GlennAB1 said:
I read somewhere, they will be operated by contract carriers.
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Correct. It won't be FedEx pilots flying it. The feeder operation is contracted out to various charter companies. FedEx own the aircraft, contracts out the flying.

mscard88 said:
Yes. I think it's Mountain Air or something similar that has had a contract with FedEx for years. Caravans were used a lot but they're using planes up to the size of an ATR-72 now I believe.
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Our scope clause allows aircraft up to 60,000 lbs. MTOGW to be flown by contractors before having to be flown by FedEx pilots on the seniority list.
 
It looks pretty cool and looks like it fills some sort of niche. At least, Textron seems to think so. Basically a caravan on steroids right? I feel like there is some demand for that, given how popular the caravan is.
 
With a payload of three tons and a huge cargo door with the capability of loading three standard LD3 shipping containers, I can see why FedEx has ordered 50 of them with an option for 50 more. It definitely fills a niche.
 
This plane looks like a big, dumb, graceful elephant (that’s a compliment in case that isn’t clear) right up until you get to the struts attaching to the landing gear mini-wing. I suppose that was to maximize interior dimensions for the containers to fit, but it’s not going to do that airplane any favors in the beauty pageant.
 
Sluggo63 said:
Correct. It won't be FedEx pilots flying it. The feeder operation is contracted out to various charter companies. FedEx own the aircraft, contracts out the flying.

Our scope clause allows aircraft up to 60,000 lbs. MTOGW to be flown by contractors before having to be flown by FedEx pilots on the seniority list.
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Practically straight out of the press release, except that the aircraft will be leased from FedEx ,and operated by the contract company under their own operating certificate.
 
I could be wrong bu I read somewhere that it wasn't pressurized...is that true?
 
Zeldman said:
If this takes off....this could hurt Cessna's jet market.

Hmmm... looks like no off airport capability...
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Not really... More of a Skyvan/Otter replacement. King Airs just can't do cargo well, not in the weights and volumes that FedEx/UPS/DHL uses.
 
Looks like it would make a fine jump plane.
 
CC268 said:
maybe I can get a job flying one of those for fedex
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In my earlier reply to you, I said that it won’t be FedEx pilots flying it, since we contract out this feeder flying. Companies like Mountian Air Cargo, Empire and Wiggins, among others provide the pilots and FedEx leases them the airplanes. Traditionally (paradoxically), we really don’t hire from our feeder airlines. It’s rare to find a FedEx line pilot who flew for our feeder operation. Not without another stop at a regional airline first.

Well, I didn’t pay too close attention to the company’s press release about the new Cessna 408F, but when I read it, something interesting stood out.

These aircraft purchases are part of our long-term feeder fleet strategy and that strategy will not only improve our fuel efficiency and fleet reliability, but thanks to a collaborative training program we are planning, they will create a reliable pipeline of well-qualified pilot applicants for FedEx Express pilot jobs, leveraging the experience they will gain in our feeder system. (Emphasis mine)
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It looks like FedEx is going to have some new pipeline system from our feeder corps to mainline flying.

That’s definitely a shift in thinking for us.
 
Sluggo63 said:
In my earlier reply to you, I said that it won’t be FedEx pilots flying it, since we contract out this feeder flying. Companies like Mountian Air Cargo, Empire and Wiggins, among others provide the pilots and FedEx leases them the airplanes. Traditionally (paradoxically), we really don’t hire from our feeder airlines. It’s rare to find a FedEx line pilot who flew for our feeder operation. Not without another stop at a regional airline first.

Well, I didn’t pay too close attention to the company’s press release about the new Cessna 408F, but when I read it, something interesting stood out.



It looks like FedEx is going to have some new pipeline system from our feeder corps to mainline flying.

That’s definitely a shift in thinking for us.
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Yea I was just kind of bs'ing.
 
I didn't realize that contractors were flying the Caravans. Is that true on all of the routes? A guy I used to fly with took a job flying Caravans from Albany to Newark (I think) and I could swear that he said he was working for FedEx. Usually the people who work for a subcontractor give the name of the company that signs their checks when asked who they work for.
 
Sluggo63 said:
It looks like FedEx is going to have some new pipeline system from our feeder corps to mainline flying.

That’s definitely a shift in thinking for us.
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Everyone’s doing it. It’s all the rage.

Eric Gleason said:
I didn't realize that contractors were flying the Caravans. Is that true on all of the routes? A guy I used to fly with took a job flying Caravans from Albany to Newark (I think) and I could swear that he said he was working for FedEx. Usually the people who work for a subcontractor give the name of the company that signs their checks when asked who they work for.
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Nah. Folks in this biz just say they fly for whoever paid for the paint for the logo on the tail.
 
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