Delta #1 retires

Naptime is all the time!

A vast majority of guys as they approach that age are phenomenal pilots and will leave a large hole in our corporate culture when they read mandatory retirement.

Whew. Ok, with THAT said, there's quite a few "Flaps up, after take off checklizzzzzzz....Zzzz........ZZZZ!!! *snort* Zzzzz..." and that's about the last you hear out of them for a few hours.
 
A vast majority of guys as they approach that age are phenomenal pilots and will leave a large hole in our corporate culture when they read mandatory retirement.

Whew. Ok, with THAT said, there's quite a few "Flaps up, after take off checklizzzzzzz....Zzzz........ZZZZ!!! *snort* Zzzzz..." and that's about the last you hear out of them for a few hours.
At least it's quiet... :)
 
At least it's quiet... :)

But generally it's a lot of work because there are a number of things to get done before we coast out.

"Approaching four seven north zero five zero west, next four eight north zero four zzz.... Zzzzz......ZZZZ! *snort* Zzzzz!"

Parenthetical thought bubble: "Sweet, he's got sleep apnea. I'd better get my A330 bid in"

Polar742
 
But generally it's a lot of work because there are a number of things to get done before we coast out.

"Approaching four seven north zero five zero west, next four eight north zero four zzz.... Zzzzz......ZZZZ! *snort* Zzzzz!"

Parenthetical thought bubble: "Sweet, he's got sleep apnea. I'd better get my A330 bid in"

Polar742

That has become my new pet peeve, lazy pilots. They simply don't know/care that when they don't do their jobs it makes the workload a lot higher on the other guy. I can't wait to upgrade so that it becomes less awkward when you have to say "hey dumbass, do your job."
 
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Oh, in this case, just old and sleepy.

Like grandpa.

Or Old Yeller right before the boars show up.
 
Cal interviewed me... and didn't run out of the room screaming from how awful I am, so kudos on that retard. I've met him on a few other occasions- you would never know how successful he has been with all the mgmt and instructor positions he's held. Just a truly humble and gracious man.... that career couldn't have happened to a better person.

We'll be seeing more of him around Ft Widget I'm sure. :)

You've got to keep reasonably busy when you retire, or you die. Sounds like he's wanting to keep involved in aviation and particularly Delta.
 
I got the pleasure of flying with Cal and laying over with him; he was a great pilot but he excelled at laying over!

He will be missed.

Kevin
 
If I didn't have an irrational fear of "what if", I would be a lot funnier and edgier.

Don't hold it against you... I think that fear becomes much less irrational when you start to become a "public figure." :)

Regarding Cal's story, I read both articles. It's pretty inspirational to see someone achieve such an amazing successful career. But it's even cooler to hear from you guys who know him first hand.
 
Fortunately, we have a lot of amazing pilots, some retired, some still online but rarely do you hear the stories publicly.

For example, one of my favorite captains in JFK and Cav knows him.

He played football for Harvard as a philosophy major. Got out, played QB for the New England Patriots (but he'll tell you that it wasn't when the Patriots were very good), then became a Navy SEAL. Did that for a few years and then his son got sick. Took a stateside job and became a pilot to be with his family. Got hired at Southernjets and then eventually became chief pilot in BOS. During a meeting with the EVP, he told him that he was "full of sh--" subsequently got fired from that job because it's political and if you want to keep your "non flying job", you don't buck the system and is one of the best, most mild-mannered, "Guy I want to fashion myself to when I become captain" that you will ever meet.

He is one of the few guys that if he said, "Trust me. it looks bad but fly a heading of 230" when we're about to penetrate a "Level Million" cell with severe turbulence, I wouldn't question his guidance. I've seen him face some ridiculous situations he will include you in, ask for your guidance, accept and respect your views and support it, but you'd better be right.

And he won't even tell you this stuff unless you have him cornered and know what questions to ask.

Humble. Great leadership abilities. Awesome customer service. And will stand up for himself and his crew. If he's got your back, HE'S GOT YOUR BACK.

Cav has flown with him and know who I'm talking about.

Sadly, when he retirees, you'll never know. But guys that have flown with him and knows his story, we will. And he will be sorely missed.
 
Fortunately, we have a lot of amazing pilots, some retired, some still online but rarely do you hear the stories publicly.

For example, one of my favorite captains in JFK and Cav knows him.

He played football for Harvard as a philosophy major. Got out, played QB for the New England Patriots (but he'll tell you that it wasn't when the Patriots were very good), then became a Navy SEAL. Did that for a few years and then his son got sick. Took a stateside job and became a pilot to be with his family. Got hired at Southernjets and then eventually became chief pilot in BOS. During a meeting with the EVP, he told him that he was "full of sh--" subsequently got fired from that job because it's political and if you want to keep your "non flying job", you don't buck the system and is one of the best, most mild-mannered, "Guy I want to fashion myself to when I become captain" that you will ever meet.

He is one of the few guys that if he said, "Trust me. it looks bad but fly a heading of 230" when we're about to penetrate a "Level Million" cell with severe turbulence, I wouldn't question his guidance.

And he won't even tell you this stuff unless you have him cornered and know what questions to ask.

Humble. Great leadership abilities. Awesome customer service. And will stand up for himself and his crew. If he's got your back, HE'S GOT YOUR BACK.

Cav has flown with him and know who I'm talking about.

Sadly, when he retirees, you'll never know.

Dude sounds like a BAMF. Adds credibility to my theory that if you're a badass, you don't say anything. Those who want to make it seem like they are, are actually just really insecure.
 
Dude sounds like a BAMF. Adds credibility to my theory that if you're a badass, you don't say anything. Those who want to make it seem like they are, are actually just really insecure.

The true BAMF's, you'll never know because they're quiet, and they make it seem like YOU made the decision.

Another one of my favorite captains had a situation in BRU. We had a drunken and belligerent passenger and instead of him heading out to handle it, he said, "Doug, go take care of that. Your decision is mine so don't screw it up".

Ended up denying boarding to the passenger and I reported it back to the captain.

He said, "Good. I'll fill the paperwork out."

I asked, "Do you want my version of the situation?"

He said, "Hey, I've flown with you for years, I trust your judgement and you'd probably have seen what I would have seen so I can assume. Don't wait until you're captain to start thinking like one. Then it's too late".
 
Glad you mentioned him Derg . He was the first Capt I flew with coming off OE on the 757/767. I had no idea who he was or his history and frankly I'm glad I didn't because I was a bit nervous and didn't need any added pressure. We worked a trip to BRU and for all his accomplishments we spent our time talking about everything but him. It was not until his break on the return flight that the other FO even mentioned his accomplishments.

Beyond what you already mentioned, I remember several things about that trip. First I remember a rather meaningless but bonehead mistake that I made. I remember my embarrassment but I remember the way he handled it, corrected me, taught me, and built me back up more. Above all I remember that he was a professional in EVERY way. Not just in interacting with other pilots or flying but with FA's, appearance, even topics of conversation.

He's a model Captain indeed.
 
Sadly, you're not going to hear about it when he retires.

LUCKILY, we have a lot of great stories from a lot of great people.

I remember when I was based in Dallas and I was doing some research on the F-14 that shot down the Libyan MiGs and the very next trip, I flew with the actual pilot who pulled the trigger.

At first, I mentioned that it was really heroic, especially in a time when we weren't at war and blah blah blah, and Larry said, "We were scared sh-- less and thought we were going to die. So if we at least picked off one of the -23's maybe one of us would have made it home to tell the story but we wanted the hell out of there."

Larry's been retired now for a while.
 
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