Scoobs,
There is a lot of this type of flying at Fedex. I was concerned about how I would deal with it when I got hired. I always thought nights were an EP in the Eagle and I had flown red-eyes from the west coast to points east while employed with UAL and thought they blew.
I was surprised to find that when I was based in MEM (and couldn't hold international flying), I actually preferred nights over the types of day flying available domestically. I can give you more details if you'd like but the bottom line is, I found it reasonably easy to sleep during the day (in a hotel). The duty days ("nights") are generally shorter and easier than typical days with a pax carrier.
I'm now based in ANC flying almost 100% international, so things are different but generally easier than the night flying I did domestically (so it can get better quickly if you can get to a place like ANC-we have new hires going there now). I commute there from the midwest US and my pay hours are higher with more days off than when I was based in MEM.
As far as the ANC guy who never "hub turns", I think he may be forgetting that many of our trips here have 2 legs (day or night) through stations in Asia. Most guys would call that hub-turning (even if the station you fly through is not an official hub like MEM). i.e. Take off from HKG at 2000L, fly to TPE, gas/load/go, fly to KIX (arriving around 0500L) and go to the hotel. If he's never done anything like that, it's probably because he's just been lucky - not because that type of thing is rare in ANC ('cuz it ain't).
Bottom line - Don't let the night stuff keep you from applying (if you're interested). The back side flying isn't really as bad as I had heard (IMO). If you find it is, there are ways to avoid it until you get senior. Overall, I'd take a Fedex schedule over any pax schedule I had.
Cheers,
JW
