Southwest Suspending hiring through 2024....

mikecweb said:
I never got any of this free drink nonsense on those layovers!
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Well you had to engage with them in order for them to buy you drinks. LOL You've been "booed" about as long as I've known you and would never be involved in those typecof activities. Tony on the other hand...
 
roundout said:
All the SkyWest kids looooooove that thing. Just ask them, or not, and they’ll tell you. ;)
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Guilty as charged. But since I'm stuck in it for a long time*, I guess it's good that I like it! (I really do) OO is the biggest 175 operator in the world.

It's a great airplane to fly, either automation or handflying, the FBW is extremely well-designed, all of the fundamental systems and their failure modes are well-conceived, the system logic is surprisingly excellent almost across the board, it's comfy for crew, an excellent ride for the passengers, it performs beautifully, and it's just a great all-around airplane.

(* Until I get fired for union rabble-rousing or lose my medical, heh)
 
killbilly said:
I think besides the Pratt issues it's been okay. I know the Mx guys have hated working on certain aspects of it, and it's a very grumpy airplane with electrical issues, but like I said, we (and SouthernJets) have figured out how to operate 'em.

SouthernJets has also done well with them, I believe.
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Hello MRO! They do a lot of their maintenance and engine work in house so a lot less waiting around for a Pratt rep to get back to you.
 
A300Capt said:
Ahhhh….the good ole days!

When every jet wasn’t a twin that looked like every other twin. It’s one of the reason I enjoyed the MD11 so much…it was different. Back in the day we had beautiful Tri-holers, DC-9’s, DC-8’s, classic Whales…equipped with 3-man (person) crews and navigation was primarily VOR, NDB’s and radar vectors. Long range consisted of INS, Loran and Omega. GPS and backup triple IRS, moving maps, iPads, SAT-COM and CPDLC…Pfffft! That was Star Trek stuff not yet available or thought of. Analog steam gauges were the norm. The B757/767 were the outliers. With the steam gauge jets you were actually required to know the systems inside and out (especially if you were a F/E), temps, pressures, time limits, system schematics, no FADECS or automatic system controllers to pilot protect you from yourself…

1989 and I upgraded to lowly f/o on the B757F. UPS was the launch customer for the freighter version of the 757. The Atari-Ferrari, the Starship Enterprise. I was a computer nerd in nerd Nirvana. Glass screens, triple IRS ( dual GPS now), magenta lines, LNAV/VNAV and automation out the whazoo. 600RVR autolands (300RVR on the MD11) were a huge improvement from CAT 1 approaches on the old analog birds. Seems like I went from caveman Wright brother flying to Star Trek overnight. Nowadays, a single engine Cessna has better avionics now then my first day on the B757 in ‘89, but it sure was something to behold back then. Going from VOR CDI’s and paper charts and magic markers to color moving maps, IRS/FMC accuracy and God’s eyeview SA which was a huge leap in navigation. Nowadays it’s the norm from day one of pilot training to the tip of the iceberg airliners like the B787 and A350’s which make the early B757’s look like analog birds.

Glad I got to witness a lot of it from the forward window seat. Avionics wise, it was probably a keen to how the DC-6/7 and Constellation guys felt when the first B707’s began showing up slicing flight times in half and flying over the weather instead of in it.

You don’t realize how much time has gone by and how much things have changed until you talk to a younger pilot and mention an accident, incident or historical aviation event and they have know idea what you’re talking about. Kinda of like talking about the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986. It was pivotal to those of us that witnessed it on TV and is burned into our memories. Probably the youngster’s only response would be, “What’s a Space Shuttle?” You then realize that, the world keeps moving along, time waits for no one and….you become (in the blink of an eye) an old geezer!

One day these youngsters will be talking about how they actually “hand flew” the aircraft and how there use to be two pilots upfront….
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Yes, this is a necro post and for that...I apologize. But man...you are bringing back memories of my middle/high school days when I would spend HOURS sitting in my backyard watching the departures from ATL. Of course, they were all crossing around 10,000 at that point, so I had to use binoculars, but the variety of planes/airlines was amazing. L1011s, 727s, DC9s, and the tails...EAL, the bright red tail of NWA, PanAm and of course lots of the old school (and coolest) DAL widgets and of course, "actual" commuter planes with those prop spinny things. ;)

It's just so hard to believe that was nearly 40 years ago when it seems like maybe 10. Now I see the same boring Airbus "what is it...they look the same!" and RJs. The only "cool" jet I see (outside the MIL planes) are the DAL 717s...and I only like seeing them because they remind me the days of flying on AirTran.

Even in my relatively short career on the C-5, there were many changes. Started with the triple INSs, steam gauges (or the cool "tapes" that were futuristic back in the day) and a really cool CDIPR (I think that was the acronym; an emergency transponder thing could be jettisoned from the tail) and an onboard air compressor to "air up the tires" after using the tire deflation system to land on unimproved fields. And of course, the FE having to pick through a bunch of charts to figure out how much we could take off when the runway was 6,000 and the temperature was 120 degrees with "ghost" obstacles throwing more charts into the mix. Then, glass and GPS and finally all sorts of new digital things and new fancy (and while offers great performance) engines that sound miserable. Days gone by...

OK, back to your regularly scheduled postings...
 
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