The Cavalier

I frankly don't care what DCI pilots think. They should board behind DAL employees on all Delta brand flights. Furthermore, explain to me how a bunch of empty seats are good for employees of an airline again?

Bucking Bar

The back story was that President Carter had been briefed on stealth technology and was advised the B1 would rapidly become obsolete. He cancelled the program, but could not defend his logic due to the classified nature of the stealth program at that time. Reagan (not yet President) did not know about stealth and saw the B1 as a populist jobs program. Once elected, he kept his promises.

The B1B has been adapted to fight in ways not envisioned by its creators. If this aircraft had stuck to its original mission profile (high altitude bombing over the Soviet Union) it would have been target practice for trailer dwelling missile swine.

IMHO Carter was a submariner and stealth resonated with his ideas about war fighting.

BTW, what have those guys got against the great State of Nevada? Those landings are uglier than my attempts to land an MD88 in a crosswind.

727C47

a voice of sanity and reason ^

capncrunch

I dont want to harsh on you but I'm curious why you have done nothing to improve your station. I went to the same flight school you did, at the exact same time you did and I've been at the majors since the end of 07'. To get there, I had to change airlines a number of times and move towns an equal amount. You have stayed at the same sinking ship for ten years and done nothing to fix your situation. Can't figure out for the life of me why you stay. Does not compute. Help me out. Why would you stay right seat at ComAir for 10 years?

I'm not trying to be mean but you need a kick in the a$$. Move on already. Damn.

Elvis90

The B-1 was designed for low-altitude penetration, which was a follow-on to the failure of the XB-70 mission, which was a 6-engine trisonic high altitude penetration bomber. After Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his high altitude U-2, the USAF scrapped plans for the XB-70 and designed the B-1. It has a low radar cross section for an aircraft it's size (1/100th of a B-52), but it's definitely not stealth.

I agree that the B-1 has adapted to missions not envisioned by its creators. When low altitude surface to air missiles got more effective at lower altitudes, that mitigated the low altitude threat.

Elvis90

That's easy - they don't get much flying time, plus it's a very young crew force. Another reason might be they got bad instruction from me.

I'm learning that the MD-88 is a classic "real man's" airplane. I've enjoyed flying it...I better enjoy it, because I'll be on it a LONG time!

One Taco

One's preference for location aside, I have to say this only works as hyperbole. As someone who has the frozen veggies on the jewels as I type, and has nearly passed out twice within the last 12 hours, I'd have to say 'sans the pain killers' .... ugh, just hard to think about right now. And I know you are TIC, but still!

And while we're on the subject, I remember this coming up some weeks ago as a topic on the 'Latest and Greatest.' Personally, it took me quite a while to come to this decision, as I was trying to weigh the needs of our family, against what you might call religious reservations. The most difficult aspect of it is that too often the guys you might want to ask are precisely the same guys who are too close to ask such a personal, private question.

The funny part was that the doctor was asking me yesterday how I wrestled with the decision because he saw me bring my bible into the consultation (I always bring my own reading material to places I expect to wait around - to make good use of my time). Anyway, I won't get into all the issues I myself had to weigh, but I just wanted to lament the reality of how taboo the subject is - to the detriment of ever finding good council.

"Peas out"

nwaf16dude

That runway at nellis has a pretty severe down-slope, and you'll often have to land with a tailwind because of noise and proximity to the city. Gets short in a hurry if you land a little long or try to finesse the touchdown too much.

capncrunch

There are many billions of planets in our galaxy and there are billions of galaxies in the universe, do you really believe the creator of all this cares what you do with your junk?

Bucking Bar

Guess with this next bid I'll have to re-read "Fate is the Hunter."

The only crosswind landing technique that seemed to work as to bug the speeds up until the Captain started complaining... then back that off by 1 knot to silence his warning.

Can we bring back the inflatable rat and march around Crew Planning's cubicle? Sure, it's an impotent move, but cathartic none the less. Four years of displacement bids simply, suck.