GearBoy

I was told that your company has plans for him and that he's getting one on the side. If he's lucky, they're paying for it. I also heard that SD would have had JH's job if he had only had that sheepskin.

mike734

Your ignorance is showing.

GearBoy

Unless, of course it was deliberate on my part. in that case, who's the ignorant one?

Here's to mud in your eye. Or maybe it was egg on your face. I can't remember which. Or maybe I can.

God speed Alaska Star Airlines (ASA)

Moose

Who is Alaskan Airways? I think it's a great time to get on with Alaska Airlines. We are very solid financially, most do not commute, new airplanes, good routes and pay. Alaska has it's warts though but I think it's a great place to be if you can get on. Getting on is the big trick nobody has figured out yet.

mike734

Nice try. The last person I heard say, "I meant to do that." Was my 10 year old.

GearBoy

Magic Mike,

Now. Now. Don't get your chonies in a bunch.

What's with you Alaska guys? Don't you recognize thinly veiled contempt or troll bait when you see it.

You Alaska pansies just don't wanna have fun.

GearBoy

Apparently ATC on anything other than the west coast hasn't gotten the word. Going in and out of EWR, BOS and ORD it's ALASKAN. Even my sainted 89-yr-old father says AlasKAN. They all can't be wrong.

Packrat

The "Mudhen/Arctic Eagle" mentality is a flying club. It originated in the ANC base when the "boys" were flying the 737-200. They all thought they were better pilots than anyone else in the system, especially the Jet America guys.

Unfortunately, that attitude led to them "doing what ever it takes" to get the job done. Why? Because if you wanted to take extra gas due to weather or alternate considerations and left 1000 lbs of dead fish on the ramp, the Ops agent would be on the phone to the ANC CP before you got your wheels in the well. Then you got to "explain" yourself.

I once heard one of the Arctic Eagles berating a Dispatcher for carrying TOO MUCH fuel on a 2500 nm leg from ANC to ORD then DEMAND to talk to the Chief Dispatcher when the guy wouldn't take the fuel off. This on the longest leg in the system, at night, over Canada with limited alternates to the 2nd busiest airport in the U.S. in a 737-700. Why? Because the Arctic Eagles routinely carried minimum fuel. And God help you if you wanted to take on fuel in a remote station like Kotzebue. "We carry gas TO Kotz, we don't take it out of there." Begging the question, "Why then do we TAKE it there if not to use it when needed?"

In Mudhen land, if you couldn't pull the throttles to idle at FL350 and not touch them again until 500 AGL, you weren't up to par. If you had to look at a chart for an FSS frequency anywhere in SE Alaska you weren't good enough. I guess if you spend your whole career flying to 10 or 12 airports you have everything memorized, but the Arctic Eagles demanded that of new hire F/Os and "Outside" new Captains alike. (For those of you non-Alaskans, "Outside" refers to anything outside the borders of the state.)

Yeah, they were quite a bunch. Whenever they got caught doing anything "outside" the regulations their defense was always, "You don't understand how we need to operate." Unfortunately, THEY didn't seem to understand that they still needed to adhere to Part 121 regs even though they were "obviously" superior airmen.

Fortunately, that attitude is mostly gone up there, but pockets still exist. It is very telling that the Chief Mudhen/Arctic Eagle was killed a couple years after he retired scud running...a true Alaska Legend. The saddest thing of all is the "Mudhen" mentality was even embraced by Flight Ops managers even as the scrambled to cover up the errors the mindset produced. Those that they knew about at any rate.

GearBoy

Honestly,

One would be well-advised to weigh all of the pros and cons of any airline. Far too often we go thru the process with blinders on or we keep asking the same question over and over again until we get the answer we want to hear.

In addition to having many benefits, Alaska also is a small carrier with growth in seat miles only. There appears to be little attrition, now and going forward. There are only about 1400 pilots flying their line in 4 bases. So, no matter how you slice it, there really aren't going to be that many new hires or upgrades going forward any way you slice it. That also means fewer bids and no larger international equipment over which to lateral in the future. No real International flying means lesser non-rev benefits as well and a pocket full of ID-90s for you and your family if you ever get to vacation with them.

So, be prepared to swing gear in the right seat for a very long time. Be prepared for displacements, base changes, force-transfers or worse yet, furlough. Be prepared for a long time on reserve where there's no right or wrong, only contractual and FAR Legal. in addition, expect no eventual perks as a senior FO either. No cushy lines. No vacations in summer. No 777s or 787s and the better pay and schedules that come with them. Plan on years of working weekends, nights and holidays only to eventually ugrade to reserve captain on Reserve in ANC at 12 years or 15 in SEA. But, don't worry. There will be a senior guy standing next to you in OPS on Thanksgiving or Xmas. He'll be the one bragging about getting premium pay or working thru vacation.

Just know what you're getting into. Then maybe you too won't be "disgruntled" in the end. A lot has changed in this industry the last 15 years, especially for those on the lower half of the seniority list.

I can only speak for myself. It didn't go down as I had planned. I don't think that I or any of the other senior FOs in this industry could have predicted or planned on the race to the bottom that the last 15 years has been.

But, the cliché about timing is true. Hopefully the new hires of today will have to wade thru less effluent than we did.

In the end, don't let the job or uniform define who you are. Work to live. Don't live to work.

Packrat

LOL! Or about having sold back his Christmas vacation...a vacation that you won't EVER be able to hold.

It amuses me when telling guys the truth is characterized as "bitter" or "disgruntled." I guess some people can't handle the truth.