Finished

greaper007

Well-Known Member
Well I'm superstitious and considering that the last two times I tried to upgrade the classes got cancelled I wanted to withhold this information until I was through. However, as of about noon I finished all the requirements to be a captain. The entire training was actually less stressful than I thought it would be. Initial was much harder than upgrade.

My Fed ride yesterday started off interestingly (I really wish Kyle would have been working our flight). We had the whole plane loaded up and were ready to push. Since there was a fed onboard I wanted to make sure we had good cockpit to ground communications with the rampers. Unfortunately, as is often the case in IAD we didn't. While attempting to establish comm's the tug driver asked me to release my brakes, presumably to pull the plane up on to the tug. At that point he decided to start pushing us back into the ally, without clearance from me or clearance from the ramp tower. He pushed us about 30 feet before I could get his attention to stop the push. At this point he decided to unhook his tug and drive off to push another plane, while we still had our tail halfway into the ally. The ramp crew let us sit unattended with an engine turning for about 10 mins while they pushed another plane. After that the flight went off without a hitch.

The fed was pretty amazed at how the push crew behaved in IAD. I was just glad he was on board to see how bad it is sometimes.
 
Nice job, Scott! Yeah, the IAD ramp crews leave much to be desired, at times (well, more times than not).

Regardless, congrats on the upgrade, Captain!!!!
 
I had heard they where starting to upgrade, and was surprised I didnt see a thread. Congrats!!!!!

The IAD AWAC ground ops are piss poor, and am glad we finally have an IAD manager to help out with complaints.
 
Congrats Scott! from another Scott...
Not sure if we have met, but I am an old 19hundo driver from Colgan thats back in the company as a SAAB trainee (1/2 thru sim here in IAH). Hoping to get an IAD domicile, and look foward to flying with ya'. Are y'all still doing anything at the old "Z" gates?

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead
 
Congrats Scott! from another Scott...
Not sure if we have met, but I am an old 19hundo driver from Colgan thats back in the company as a SAAB trainee (1/2 thru sim here in IAH). Hoping to get an IAD domicile, and look foward to flying with ya'. Are y'all still doing anything at the old "Z" gates?

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead

Z gates, as in, US Airways stuff out of IAD? No. All UAL.

However....

[sidetrack]
Yesterday we had to repo a plane from IAD to CHO. The plane was at the hanger, and dispatch said MX was going to taxi it over and park it in the A gates where most of the UAX planes park. Only problem was that it was not a UAX colored plane, it was in Airways colors. Rampers refused to park it at first, and then reluctantly did. The MX guys ran away real quick, and when we walked out there they basically started to push us away, and kicked us out. All we needed was gas and would be gone, but we had to taxi it to the Z gates to get fuel, all because of the paint on the side.
[/sidetrack]
 
My Fed ride yesterday started off interestingly (I really wish Kyle would have been working our flight).
Thanks. Sorry I wasn't there. Matt and I would've had you set.


We had the whole plane loaded up and were ready to push. Since there was a fed onboard I wanted to make sure we had good cockpit to ground communications with the rampers. Unfortunately, as is often the case in IAD we didn't. While attempting to establish comm's the tug driver asked me to release my brakes, presumably to pull the plane up on to the tug. At that point he decided to start pushing us back into the ally, without clearance from me or clearance from the ramp tower. He pushed us about 30 feet before I could get his attention to stop the push. At this point he decided to unhook his tug and drive off to push another plane, while we still had our tail halfway into the ally. The ramp crew let us sit unattended with an engine turning for about 10 mins while they pushed another plane. After that the flight went off without a hitch.

The fed was pretty amazed at how the push crew behaved in IAD. I was just glad he was on board to see how bad it is sometimes.
Wow. I thought it was getting better. I guess not. What a tool...
 
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