(assignments day at X airline)
“What do you mean I have to fly 767! They have the worst trips and are run like mules! What a bunch of crap!”
(The ghosts of 2000-2010 roll in their graves, seeing this…)
SWA a stepping stone airline
- Thread starter MikeD
- Start date
(assignments day at X airline)
“What do you mean I have to fly 767! They have the worst trips and are run like mules! What a bunch of crap!”
(The ghosts of 2000-2010 roll in their graves, seeing this…)
Inverted
mmmmmm wine
I will say, I was one of those haters. I loved the Airbus as a work cubicle and it is undeniable that it is a better office to spend your day in, than a 737. That being said, I genuinely love flying the 737. I think it is actually fun to fly. I never had visions of flying widebodies so the thought of augmented crews in a 777 never interested me. I am really happy at AS, I get paid so much money for what I do and I genuinely love the job. It has been fascinating to watch the "grass is greener" crowd complain about company culture as they go to places like AAL lol.
It is interesting to see how the new, younger generation is behaving as they get hired at these companies. There is little emphasis placed on what the company is like as a company. What is the culture actually like? Instead, they want big jets and bragging rights. These things have become more important to me over the years and at 41 years old, financial stability and company operations have become way more important than the hourly pay in a CBA. This new generation has had a rapid-fire meteoric fast track to the legacy of their dreams. They haven't seen any hardship in this industry yet and they are going to soon find out at the next downturn, how dark this world can get.
DE727UPS
Well-Known Member
As I keep my eyes open for retirement flying gigs, the one thing I can come up with as a limitation is no more single engine planes (over mountains, night, or IMC). Back in the day, I'd take a 152 over the Cascades at night and not think twice. Now, my ex-121 butt is ruling out PC12 stuff. Have talked to a few PC12 guys and they say it gets high fast and glides a long ways. Say the nearest airport function on the GPS is easy to remember. The funny thing is I have no problem flying 1964 Twin Commander (almost as old as me) over forest fires in the mountains. I remember when SWA (maybe this was urban legend) had the autothrottles removed on new 737's cause the 200's didn't have them they and didn't want to do differences training. I can see children of the magenta line not wanting to fly without autothrottles once they get used to them. But, yeah Zap, things aren't like they used to be with kids these days.
tcco94
Future GTA VI Pilot
And go to another legacy that will be the same? It’s all going to be the same at the bottom of any of the big 3 who have hired 6000 people (and mostly youngins) over the last 3 years.
It amazes me people try so hard to sharpshoot their seniorities like this over a few %’s and take an abundance of risk for themselves and their family.
arkflyr
Well-Known Member
Not an urban legend, not only were they deactivated in the classic fleet the servos were physically removed.
lol wut? Pretty much anywhere else they go they’ll face the same “stagnation.” Thats just how it is now. If you weren’t hired before ~2020, you won’t have as good progression. Pretty much the only reason I see people leaving legacies for other legacies are base choices.
DAL kids showing up with no hat, “who wears this crap anymore?” And telling guys like @derg ”ah, get with the times, old m…..when are you retiring again? Just sit there and play along with my tik tok video I’ll be recording during the flight”, when he has the gall to attempt to correct them.
-200 is fun to fly with no AT and a sloppy AP. Keeps you engaged with the jet at least
And here, my dumb ass is still flying single engine helos at night, over and inside mountains, in occasional marginal Wx. Sometimes when these missions get extra special, like having to extract a search team, their dog, and their equipment from a 7300’ MSL mountain at night, from a small knoll that is the only place the skids can be placed, with snow flurries and rain from a storm line that had just approached, viz dropping off rapidly, and nothing more than pitot heat and windshield defrost…..I start to question some my life choices. But…..at least its its for something important at the moment that can’t really wait, so I just dig deeper into the bag of SA to extract cards that I haven’t used in a very long time. Doesn’t make it any more fun.
ERfly
Well-Known Member
I heard the best story jumpseating on them once.
They were trying to turn autothrottles back on fleet-wide once the -200 was retired. When they took the servos out of the -300s and -500s, they stuck them in a warehouse. They tried to look for the parts, but someone had sold them off years ago. Of course, Boeing no longer made the parts. So even when Southwest could have autothrottles, a lot of the -300s and -500s couldn't.
trafficinsight
Well-Known Member
It's not nice to try to kill your passengers tho.
Maurus
The Great Gazoo
A person hired today will move up an average of 480 numbers per year at Delta over the next ten years. At AA the average is 704 and United is 603 retirements on average.
United and AA provide a 1200-2200 seniority difference over ten years assuming the status quo is maintained. United is of course dangling massive international growth as a carrot as well that could throw a curve ball if they succeed.
These numbers can be a huge difference for pay and QOL purposes in the future.
I chose ten years because at that point retirements start to become similar at the big three.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Weird about the DPE shortage. I remember when the FAA took over ALL initial CFI rides. It took an act of God to get a ride with a DPE, and that was only if there was a six month delay or more at the FSDO. And there was a super minimum number that were still authorized.
Getting a DPE gig used to be really, really tough. You needed to be either dialed into the local aviation community TIGHT, or they had a need for a one-off rating or to do something specific since the ONE other guy died and you happened to be right place, right time.
The only airline guys and gals I've seen make it work out are those who had "grown up" at that location, or were long time members in the local aviation community, and was a "well known person of character" to the local FSDO.
These days, if you're retired, you'd need to build that up from scratch. You could volunteer for whatever local safety program the local FSDO has, and just work at it constantly. Probably take a couple of years and some good luck.
tcco94
Future GTA VI Pilot
That’s fair I always knew AA had the front runner at retirements. But is 1000 or under worth it is the question compared to other variables like what you are also giving up leaving a legacy like Delta? Could very well be a wash in total seniority difference. I certainly wouldn’t jump from a legacy to another if I had accrued seniority for that possibility. Depends on how long you’ve been though. People in this hiring environment always will jump around between the big 3 as long as hiring is continuing the way it does.
Kingairer
'Tiger Team' Member
Age 67 is a real possibility.
mastermags
Well-Known Member *giggity*
Yeah, but 480 vs 603 on a seniority list of 16600 plus is a pretty meager percentage. All other factors being equal doesn’t seem like a huge deal.
Maurus
The Great Gazoo
Over time that equates to a bigger number that can easily be the difference of getting furloughed or not. An upgrade or not. Etc etc.
AA is a 2200 pilot difference in ten years which puts you more than 10% higher in seniority. That is huge.
Obviously there are a ton of factors but I do see this being one of many for people getting to the legacy level.