PDX pilot base?

[gay_pilot18]

Doug,

Does Delta fly there B-777 domestically. I ask cause I thought they only flew them internationally but like last month me and my "friend" went to MCO I I-9'd he used my buddy pass and we saw a Delta 777 parked at the gate. It had just arrived from ATL. and was being prepared for return flight back to ATL Kinda odd I thought at that time for a airplane of that size and range. As they could use a MD-88/90, 737-800 or 757 for a short flight like that. So what's up with that huh?

Also are the 767-400ER's flown both domestically and internationally?

Lastly lets pretend for a min. that I had 2500-3000 hrs. and the airlines were hiring and I landed my dream job a pilot position with Delta. With the 727-200 now retired what aircraft would new hire pilots start out in MD-88/90 or 737-800?


P.S. Delta needs to order the 737-900

 

[derg]

The 777 pilots fly both domestically and internationally. Most of the domestic 777 flying usually corresponds to training new pilots before the "big jump" across the Atlantic.

The LAX 767-400 category only flies to Hawaii under international rules, whereas the ATL 767-400 only flies domestic.

 

[twothousandgt]

[ QUOTE ]
Doug, does delta ever give incentives to have your base city change? Like (if this ever happens) if they were running low on pilots flying 767er out of JFK, then would give incentives for you to take that role?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know about Delta, but UAL has a program called TDY (someone at UAL know what the acronym stands for?) where pilots can be assigned a temporary domicles based on monthly demand. For example, April's TDY looked like this:

*1* 400 CAP FROM LAX TO ORD
*1* 400 CAP FROM SFO TO ORD
*2* 777 CAP FROM ORD TO SFO
*1* 777 CAP FROM SEA TO SFO
*1* 767 F/O FROM SFO TO HNL

Basically, the ORD 400 domicle was short 2 captains it needed to complete the schedule. So crew scehduling posts the available TDY (usually a month in advance) with the bid packages. It's awarded like anything else, most senior guy requesting it usually gets it.

Doug, does Delta do anything similar to this?

 

[A320_DUDE]

[ QUOTE ]
Does Delta fly there B-777 domestically. I ask cause I thought they only flew them internationally but like last month me and my "friend" went to MCO I I-9'd he used my buddy pass and we saw a Delta 777 parked at the gate. It had just arrived from ATL. and was being prepared for return flight back to ATL Kinda odd I thought at that time for a airplane of that size and range. As they could use a MD-88/90, 737-800 or 757 for a short flight like that. So what's up with that huh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the "offical" reasoning on using a 767,777, and MD-11 equipment on those Atlanta-Florida runs is crew training, but we ALL know its just capacity dumping against AirTran so they don't grow too big.

 

[derg]

[ QUOTE ]

Well the "offical" reasoning on using a 767,777, and MD-11 equipment on those Atlanta-Florida runs is crew training, but we ALL know its just capacity dumping against AirTran so they don't grow too big.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, it's for training because a lot of your reserve FO's fly as "cruise pilots" and don't get landings for months. So it helps having a short domestic hop so your FO's and some captains can get their landings in.

Also, those 777's and MD-11's are packed to the gills and almost leave hourly. If you downgraded from heavy gauge equipment, then you'd probably have jets leaving every half hour between ATL and MCO which would really stink.

I used to commute from MCO to work in ATL and believe me, that was one of the hardest commutes of my entire career! Packed aircraft and a flurry of jumpseaters!

 

[n77j]

Yep the ATL-MCO route is one of the hardest one to get on whether you a revenue or non-revenue pax. The only time i saw Delta use a smaller aircraft to MCO from ATL was during the holidays when they had 81 standbys in one flight. They had to bring in a B738 and ship them up to MCO. I heard they do that quiet often during the holdays as traffic is extremly high between the two cities.

 

[gay_pilot18]

Doug,

When you listed all the pilot bases you never said anything about MCO isn't Orlando still a Delta hub? Also doesn't the 767-400ER have greater range then a 767-300ER so why does Delta only fly the 400ER domestically?

 

[derg]

[ QUOTE ]


Doug,

When you listed all the pilot bases you never said anything about MCO isn't Orlando still a Delta hub? Also doesn't the 767-400ER have greater range then a 767-300ER so why does Delta only fly the 400ER domestically?

[/ QUOTE ]

MCO isn't a Delta hub, but was the main hub of ops for Delta Express. MCO is closing next year I think.

The 767-300 outperforms the -400 big time. The -400 was meant more or less as a replacement for our domestic L1011 category.

Plus, to pick on JetBlue and Air Tran!

(sorry, had to pick on ya!)

 

[flyindrumminpilot]

Delta still has delta express out of orlando right? Their not closing that are they?

 

[derg]

DLX is being replaced by Song (just a 757 painted in green with Delta crews) but the normal 757/767 categories (ATL/SLC/CVG/LAX) are doing the flying.

So a few legs might be a mainline leg, then they may do a 'Song' leg, and so on.

 

[Mr_Creepy]

It is also being replaced by Chautauqua. Song hasn't even started on an MCO flight that I know of. So far all I've seen is JFK-PBI.