Delta Disqualifiers

Autothrust Blue said:
I mean, I'm not sure how you would be able to top multiple miles per second with subsonic darkness and box hauling.
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I know you guys are joking, but there are lots of people who have done some pretty incredible things in airplanes and who are also quite happy/enthusiastic about a relatively "ordinary" flying job hauling people or cargo. There are a whole slew of other aviation experiences that IMHO "top" airline flying in terms of raw excitement -- I've had quite a few of them myself -- but that doesn't exclude being interested in and excited about other "lesser" types of flying. I'm over-quoting the adjectives here, because that's not how I really fell about 'em, but seems to be how some folks do.

At a recent interview at a regional, when a chief pilot was flipping through my logbook, he asked, "you've flown a lot of really interesting airplanes it seems...what's the most exciting airplane you've ever flown?"

My answer: a Cub.

It isn't about speed, altitude, G, view out the window, weapons, cool uniform, or anything else.

It is about how it makes you feel in your heart, your gut, and your mind, and that's criteria that transcends all sectors of aerospace.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
The boom-and-bust thing has happened three times in my adult lifetime. For you reference, that's about ten years. I can't quite set my date/time to it yet, but it's pretty darned close.

It's happened on the REALLY BIG SCALE twice.
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The bust part certainly has, but the boom, as I remember it hasn't been quite as big.
 
I remember when that astronaut from Alaska with the psycho girlfriend came back to Alaska after NASA ended. I don't know where he ended up, but rumor has it he applied at Hageland while he was in the job search but didn't get hired. The ongoing joke at the time was, "Gawd, what's it take to get hired at Haggies? They won't even hire an astronaut!"
 
Astronaut seems like a very silly barometer when hiring pilots. I'm pretty sure a large percentage of people that have gone into space have been scientists and engineers. Mad respect to folks that are willing to risk everything to further our knowledge, but it doesn't automatically make them good pilots.
 
ppragman said:
I remember when that astronaut from Alaska with the psycho girlfriend came back to Alaska after NASA ended. I don't know where he ended up, but rumor has it he applied at Hageland while he was in the job search but didn't get hired. The ongoing joke at the time was, "Gawd, what's it take to get hired at Haggies? They won't even hire an astronaut!"
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I probably wouldn't hire one there either. There is such a thing as over qualified. My concern would be "how much an I going to spend on training this guy, and how long is he going to stay for."
 
mshunter said:
I probably wouldn't hire one there either. There is such a thing as over qualified. My concern would be "how much an I going to spend on training this guy, and how long is he going to stay for."
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They were hiring into the 207 at the time - I think they could spare the couple grand to train an astronaut to fly a sled. Hell, a fully loaded 207 has the same glide ratio as the shuttle - it should have been an easy transition.
 
knot4u said:
Astronaut seems like a very silly barometer when hiring pilots. I'm pretty sure a large percentage of people that have gone into space have been scientists and engineers. Mad respect to folks that are willing to risk everything to further our knowledge, but it doesn't automatically make them good pilots.
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Sort of like military pilots?

I kid I kid!
 
AAPalmTree said:
There are no cool uniforms. Unless I can wear shorts and flip-flops there never will be.
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I happen to think this is a pretty cool uniform to wear while flying:
u2-pilots-pressure-suits.jpg
 
knot4u said:
Astronaut seems like a very silly barometer when hiring pilots. I'm pretty sure a large percentage of people that have gone into space have been scientists and engineers. Mad respect to folks that are willing to risk everything to further our knowledge, but it doesn't automatically make them good pilots.
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For military pilots who were selected to become NASA astronaut pilots -- not mission specialists or scientists or the like -- it certainly is an indicator of skill as an aviator. They've had to make multiple highly-competitive cuts as a pilot before even being qualified to apply to be an astronaut. Top of their classes at multiple stages of undergraduate and graduate military pilot training, top grads in flight leader and instructor qualification programs, selected to go to Weapons School or Test Pilot School, etc. These guys are generally head and shoulders above the "average" military pilot in terms of airmanship and decisionmaking by any professional measure.

Let's also remember that the military flying community is a merit-based system where performance is constantly yardsticked against peers, and decisions about career progression are based on skill relative to peers. Seniority means close to zip; actual demonstrated performance means nearly everything.

2Fish, a current astronaut, was a classmate of mine in our F-15E initial qual course back in '99, and even at that early point in our flying careers he was a superb aviator -- far better than I was. He went on to Test Pilot School and then NASA....I went on to a career of quite a bit less than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_D._Fischer
 
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Hacker15e said:
At a recent interview at a regional, when a chief pilot was flipping through my logbook, he asked, "you've flown a lot of really interesting airplanes it seems...what's the most exciting airplane you've ever flown?"

My answer: a Cub.
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I think a lot of civilian types see what you do, pulling G's and what not, but don't understand the multitudes of ground time that is put into each mission.
Nor do they understand how the military takes the "fun" out of nearly everything...

(I may sound like a negative Ned, but I wouldn't trade my wings for a Delta job....I'd rather do both)


The ultimate freedom I have as a pilot (aviator?) is jumping in my bird and if I want to go left, I go left.
 
Hacker15e said:
For military pilots who were selected to become NASA astronaut pilots -- not mission specialists or scientists or the like -- it certainly is an indicator of skill as an aviator. They've had to make multiple highly-competitive cuts as a pilot before even being qualified to apply to be an astronaut. Top of their classes at multiple stages of undergraduate and graduate military pilot training, top grads in flight leader and instructor qualification programs, selected to go to Weapons School or Test Pilot School, etc. These guys are generally head and shoulders above the "average" military pilot in terms of airmanship and decisionmaking by any professional measure.

Let's also remember that the military flying community is a merit-based system where performance is constantly yardsticked against peers, and decisions about career progression are based on skill relative to peers. Seniority means close to zip; actual demonstrated performance means nearly everything.

2Fish, a current astronaut, was a classmate of mine in our F-15E initial qual course back in '99, and even at that early point in our flying careers he was a superb aviator -- far better than I was. He went on to Test Pilot School and then NASA....I went on to a career of quite a bit less than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_D._Fischer
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But are all astronauts miltary pilots first?
 
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