How abouuuuuuuut… where you a……… MESA GUY?
(I know, I know, I'm margarita-free and I'm bored)
Southwest To Lower Minimums?
- Thread starter RMCBear08
- Start date
How abouuuuuuuut… where you a……… MESA GUY?
(I know, I know, I'm margarita-free and I'm bored)
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Ahem.
By the way, it's "Air (space) Lines" in your latest update. Yeah yeah, blah blah blah, back at Northwest, it was "Airlines" but shut yower hole.
I eschew responsibility in this matter. I blame autocorrect, teh intrawebz, chemtrails, cat videos, Bush, Gore, public schooling and the lack of an operative space bar on the council's mouse powered mimeograph machine (the little suckers moved into the office, so we put them to work!).
But if you give me 5 minutes, I can come up with at least another half dozen excuses.
Richman
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Appreciate it bro, but it's all of us pulling together. I just collect the karma into little jars, and spread the jam where it needs to go.
Richman
I'm up enjoying a late night cocktail. Damn, a toasted English muffin and some Lingonberry jelly sounds delicious now.
Damn you. I'm going to fail my "Avoid Being Captain Fatass" program.
Late night eating on VA avenue? It's all about the country ham, two eggs over easy and medium hashed browns at Waffle House. Then Spondivits for a "warhammer" o' beer.
My most valuable tool is a comfortable, engaged, empowered first officer.
Some guys come out of the regionals beaten to death from their previous corporate culture and you've just got to work with them and sometimes nurture them like a stray cat.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Nah, diner near home. Too near, as it turns out...just like that blasted Dunkin Donuts, which dispenses the nectar of the Gods in a timely manner with a weirdly efficient drive thru window (curse you auto-refill DD app!)
A man might have more distance between himself and his earthly pleasures, but the arrangement is most agreeable.
Richman
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
On a recent flight I asked the FO if he wanted to see the logbook. He said, "Nah, that's a captain thing." I reminded him that we lived and died as a crew, and I needed backup on making sure the logbook was legal because I will eff it up eventually. Sigh...
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mastermags
Well-Known Member *giggity*
For one thing, it seems like Southwest doesnt have quite the mass retirement issue that a lot of other airlines are coming up against.
As far as the TPIC thing goes, from the regional world there seems to be three fairly distinct categories:
A) Ive got 15,000 hours and 12,000 hours of TPIC in an RJ because I havent left this airline for whatever reason.
B) Ive got 5-7000 hours of 121 time but no PIC because of 8 year upgrades and its possible I will never upgrade at my current airline.
C) I made the lateral move or I got hired at a smaller/faster growing/bottom feeder etc. regional and I have 1000-2500 total time and am a Captain or right about to upgrade.
Obviously all three groups offer some great pilot candidates, but by keeping the TPIC requirement you are basically eliminating group B which has some excellent and very motivated pilots.
Then again, maybe Southwest can afford to be more picky at this point.
As far as the TPIC thing goes, from the regional world there seems to be three fairly distinct categories:
A) Ive got 15,000 hours and 12,000 hours of TPIC in an RJ because I havent left this airline for whatever reason.
B) Ive got 5-7000 hours of 121 time but no PIC because of 8 year upgrades and its possible I will never upgrade at my current airline.
C) I made the lateral move or I got hired at a smaller/faster growing/bottom feeder etc. regional and I have 1000-2500 total time and am a Captain or right about to upgrade.
Obviously all three groups offer some great pilot candidates, but by keeping the TPIC requirement you are basically eliminating group B which has some excellent and very motivated pilots.
Then again, maybe Southwest can afford to be more picky at this point.
JustinS
Well-Known Member
I love it when CAs care like that. In sim, I really felt like you just deferred to the Captain and life was gravy. I felt that way, but less during IOE. Then off of IOE I had some experiences which quickly shaped me to believe the FO is just as important in maintaining a safe and legal operation as the CA. I take my job seriously. I've seen enough taxiing SNAFUs to know that even though I don't have a tiller, I have radios, a pen, words, and brakes (as a last ditch effort). I've done some very "confusing" flying all over Mexico. Now that I've done it so much, I understand how it most of it works down there, and flying with CAs who rarely if ever have been to Mexico I save us a lot of frustration and confusion. Sometimes the CA misses something, and I'll speak up. I'm no Saint, CAs back me up all the time too and communicate things to me. My point is simply that you're a team up front, and although the CA has the final authority on the safe and proper operation of the airplane, a good FO can be a very valuable resource for a CA. On the flip-side a bad FO can make a CA feel like he's single pilot being a CFI-ATP.
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
True story...
While taxiing out in JFK, my FO asked "Do you know where you're going, because I'm going heads-down." I said, "Yup. Right on Zulu."
She started putting the re-route in the FMS, and shortly thereafter Ground said, "Ah, looks like you missed Zulu." Then she looked up and said, "Dammit. Zulu is behind us. I asked if you knew where you were going!"
So yeah. You gotta watch out for each other. Your captain is probably trying to kill you.
(Zulu turns in the middle of the runway, and I was looking for Zulu after crossing the runway...which was too late.)
Some people are under the false impression that violations don't happen in pairs.
Trust me, you can even be part of a three-man cockpit, snoozing away in the bunk in the middle of the ocean and still have to answer for what happens in the cockpit.
SpiceWeasel
Tre Kronor
True story...
While taxiing out in JFK, my FO asked "Do you know where you're going, because I'm going heads-down." I said, "Yup. Right on Zulu."
She started putting the re-route in the FMS, and shortly thereafter Ground said, "Ah, looks like you missed Zulu." Then she looked up and said, "Dammit. Zulu is behind us. I asked if you knew where you were going!"
So yeah. You gotta watch out for each other. Your captain is probably trying to kill you.
(Zulu turns in the middle of the runway, and I was looking for Zulu after crossing the runway...which was too late.)
Why didn't you hook your FO up with "tell ground we need to stop to enter the re-route"?
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
Yup. They only way an FO might get loose would be if the captain refused to let the FO participate, and forced a violation afterwards. But even then the FO should pack up and leave before it got to that.
PhilosopherPilot
Well-Known Member
Why didn't you hook your FO up with "tell ground we need to stop to enter the re-route"?
Yeah. I was trying to get out of the ramp, and across the runway first. I'm not saying it was good technique!
SpiceWeasel
Tre Kronor
Haha just busting your chops dude. Can't believe it took her that long to program it!
I've played the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" twice with the FAA in my career and I can't stomp my foot enough when it comes to the issue. The FAA doesn't care that you're merely an first officer or the captain gets grumpy when you correct him, it is YOUR JOB and the FAA will kick you in the pee-pee and smile as you writhe in pain.