Captain Kila's State of the (Aviation) Union Address

Derg said:
I haven't seen that for over a decade except when you see some drunken DALPA guys talking around the bar after a meeting.
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I'm calling bull scat! They use them in CPO communiques and the CQC vids. Don't tell me you already forgot about "Chugger!"
 
Cptnchia said:
I'm calling bull scat! They use them in CPO communiques and the CQC vids. Don't tell me you already forgot about "Chugger!"
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I mean like actual "Regular Line Joes". We have a hoardes of seagulls that haven't worn black slacks in years that don't even own a pair of non-polarized sunglasses suitable for cockpit use.
 
You know you're dealing with an arrogant ass if they're wearing reflective sunglasses....

...and the mirrors are on the inside!
 
To be fair to the Lead PIC thing. It is in our GOM as a position. Basically the dude(ette) that is responsible for keeping all the manuals and company docs for the aircraft up to date. Keep SOPs current AAAANNNNDD display a high level of professionalism and standards for the assigned aircraft.

I screw up the last one. ALL THE TIME
 
I once met an Osprey driver at an air show giving tours of the bird. Really nice guy - Marine.

His name patch said, "Trainwreck."

I was dying to ask him how he got that one, but I'm sure that a) I'm not really supposed to ask and b) I sorta suspect he wouldn't want to tell it.
 
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Crop Duster said:
He makes it awfully personal, true. This is counterproductive to his message. But if you can get past the rant, he does make some excellent points.
Too much "Captain's swagger"?
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+1 pay to play is what he is getting at. Its lost in the delivery but also valid. Pilots would rather eviscerate one another in an orgiastic display of schadenfreude. This is the archetype that management desires. I'm not fond of the Mormon cult either. There are few degrees of separation between owning a strip club and polygamy. I hate them both. This sort of entitlement ego is just as repulsive as unchecked pride.
 
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ClarkGriswold said:
A certain airline told us in indoc "you're not the big cheese anymore and we don't go by call signs here so leave it at the door". The FOM also does not allow it for identification. I've learned the guys who still insist on using it are quite... uh, fun to fly with.
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Point at things with your elbow.
 
SKYROCK said:
+1 pay to play is what he is getting at. Its lost in the delivery but also valid. I'm not fond of the Mormon cult either. There are few degrees of separation between owning a strip club and polygamy. I hate them both. This sort of entitlement ego is just as repulsive as unchecked pride.
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There are pay to play outfits, there are places that make you pay for type ratings, so what? Do I want to see them go away? Absolutely! But the real thing to consider here, is that there are lots of great jobs out there right now and if you meet the requirements, that is great, but that is a baseline. Most of us know that by now. Most of these good jobs now are won by networking, personality and going above and beyond the requirements lists on paper. This is a free market society and companies can hire whomever the hell they want. So we can either complain about it and be unemployed, or get in line and get the job.

We complain about lots of unwritten rules that have benefitted us all at one point or another in our careers. Nepotism, friends hooking up friends etc. Yea it hurts when you are on the raw end of that deal but it also feels pretty good when a friend walks your resume in that gets you the call to interview.

Honestly, there are some relevant points in the article but mostly it screams "I know little about the industry I say I have decades of experience in."
 
The best are units where guys only know someone by their callsign and have to really think to remember their fellow squadron mates' actual names.
 
MikeD said:
The best are units where guys only know someone by their callsign and have to really think to remember their fellow squadron mates' actual names.
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I don't think most folks outside the military flying community (and the fighter/bomber community, more specifically) appreciate how callsigns actually *become* your name when it is how you are referred to for years and decades on end.

Two of my squadrons used to have "First Name Friday", on which we were only supposed to refer to each other by our first names. Failing to refer to someone by their first name (or using pronoun cop-outs like "you" or "dude") was a violation that you had to pay in cash at the ops desk immediately. Violations in my first squadron were a dollar, but the second squadron charged $5 for each infraction.

For those who aren't familiar with USAF custom, Friday is also the day in which we wear "Friday nametags" on our flight suits that have our callsign on them instead of our given name, so that significantly increased the challenge of having to refer to squadronmates' actual given names.

We paid for a lot of squadron cookouts and stocked the snacko fridge healthily using fines from First Name Friday.
 
That letter was amazing it's like someone who lived in a bubble their whole lives suddenly woke up.

It will get better.

My .02$

Go 121 and drop the entitlement. I for one don't care what you did in your past life. Nor do I want to hear about how things were done there.

Also. Pro tip: most of the places that didn't send you a TBNT letter are totally unprofessional likely surprisingly so. You didn't want to wind up there.

Go to a regional.


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Hacker15e said:
I don't think most folks outside the military flying community (and the fighter/bomber community, more specifically) appreciate how callsigns actually *become* your name when it is how you are referred to for years and decades on end.

Two of my squadrons used to have "First Name Friday", on which we were only supposed to refer to each other by our first names. Failing to refer to someone by their first name (or using pronoun cop-outs like "you" or "dude") was a violation that you had to pay in cash at the ops desk immediately. Violations in my first squadron were a dollar, but the second squadron charged $5 for each infraction.

For those who aren't familiar with USAF custom, Friday is also the day in which we wear "Friday nametags" on our flight suits that have our callsign on them instead of our given name, so that significantly increased the challenge of having to refer to squadronmates' actual given names.

We paid for a lot of squadron cookouts and stocked the snacko fridge healthily using fines from First Name Friday.
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Most civilians see it as silly and holding onto the past. I spent a good amount of time around a guard fighter squadron and if I saw any of those guys I'd have no clue what their first name was. Just "oh what's up stoner. How's your boy boner been?"

I don't see it as silly if two airline guys who also happen to be fighter/former fighter guys refer to each other as the name they knew each other by. It's a point of pride and I get it. Respect.
 
learhawkerbe400 said:
Most civilians see it as silly and holding onto the past. I spent a good amount of time around a guard fighter squadron and if I saw any of those guys I'd have no clue what their first name was. Just "oh what's up stoner. How's your boy boner been?"

I don't see it as silly if two airline guys who also happen to be fighter/former fighter guys refer to each other as the name they knew each other by. It's a point of pride and I get it. Respect.
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I spent 5 years in the Navy. I am very proud of it, I don't deny or ignore it. However, I do NOT let it define me now. There are 2 types of veterans, those who left the military and those who didn't. If somebody makes you call them by their callsign, they are a D bag and their head is still in the military.
 
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