GunshipGuy

Seriously?

742Dash

Interesting. So this non-college educated heavy jet Captain who goes into places like Bishkek and Eldoret is less qualified than a dripping wet product of a pilot puppy mill.

I bow to the superior ability of the modern RJ FO. All I have to offer is an A&P that includes scared hands, a subscription to the Economist and an ATP with a collection of type ratings and 18,000 hours. And no bent airplanes.

My apologies for offending the profession by my existence.

The Dominican

I've taken advantage of my education in many areas outside of the cockpit, business ventures and the likes but in almost three decades flying I'm still to find any area of our job as operators that require any higher level of academia than that of any other technical job. I don't mean to insult anybody or belittle the career at all but I just have to wonder how essential is a degree when it doesn't even matter what is the degree in? tell me of any other career that you don't need a degree in your field but rather just any degree will do. Can't be that important

scambo1

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Yeah, he still has no degree. He is retired from DAL (went during the mass exodus). He's probably 62 now. You wouldn't know it from talking to him, he has a naturally inquisitive mind and researches everything in which he is interested.

I think people are way to hung up on the "degree" thing:

Bill Gates has no undergrad.

Is an EE degree from MIT equal to a communications degree from one of america's top party colleges? Best Party Colleges by America's Best and Top Ten

With that said, a degree is part of Delta's hiring criteria and I do not think that needs to change. I just do not buy into the idea that it makes a person "qualified." Degrees are known barriers to entry, that is the main motivation behind getting one.

A note of caution though, UAVs are getting pretty wide acceptance in the military. What happens when they get the same acceptance by the public? The F-35 is built to be able to remove the pilot and install a guidance package. Many UAV operators are significantly less "qualified" (commercial instrument) than you and the USAF is about to enable the operator/"pilot" to control multiple (4) UAVs at once.

Oh yeah, UAV operators on average are paid more than 70% of airline pilots.

So chalk the whole arguement up to foolish pride.

forgot to bid

Wouldn't it need to be pref hiring at this point if its a non-CPZ DCI? BTW, how does the Mesaba deal work, were they hired by NWA pilots?

I think you're right. And I think the ERJ/CRJs taught them that works. Put it this way, EMB designed an airplane for abused exhausted pilots around the world to fly safely. To date, 0 fatal accidents unless you count the 737 that the ERJ-135 Legacy corporate jet hit in mid flight but the Legacy landed safely. I forgot what I was saying... buy ERJ-145s! No wait, my point is, FADEC auto starts, fuel panels you can't screw up, TCAS/GPWS, overheads that just demand everything be in AUTO, and so on.

I guarantee you airlines would be more selective over pilots that'll fly Saabs, Brasilias, Dashs and ATRs then they are over who flys ERJs and CRJs.

More importantly, who is that SOB Whitlow that forces us to go home early after a long day?!

acl65pilot

There has been a lot of rumors on that. It also makes sense if there is no desire/ reasonable ability to return the flying to mainline.

RepublicofTexas

Yep, flows reset seniority, longevity etc. If we are going to allow all of the DCI pilots that are also ALPA pilots to flow, how about they get a DAL Seniority number day one at their regional. That way they start longevity from day one and be default those seats are delta pilot seats.

forgot to bid

Alright, change of topic here.

In a few months folks are going to get that email to call Delta and schedule an interview. We know you need to go asap and get in class asap. So what happens if after scheduling it a conflict arises and you cannot go. In the oppinion of those at big D, how should an interviewee handle it? Especially if its a situation where an interviewee is an RJ pilot and their schedule options suck and they're not allowed personal drops but they know Delta asks about sick calls so thats not a viable option. What then?!?


BTW, I had the opportuntiy to interview with Delta in September or early October of 2007. I can't remember which. About a week before the interview my boss called and said we're flying all over the place, which included, the day before my interview. Knowing how things worked in my boss' world I cancelled the interview and rescheduled for Nov when the airplane was due for a maintenance check. Sure enough when my original interview day came my boss had me in the air. Had I told him I needed the day off, I'd been threatened. Had I told him I needed the day off to interview with Delta, I'd been fired.

RepublicofTexas

Do Not Call In Sick.

forgot to bid

We could call said airline Delta Express Lite.

At Coex I was around 1100 or so when I was hired 10 years ago Saturday, and from what I saw you had a lot of seniority squaters there. They weren't going to try and go elsewhere even though they could, they'd just hang around and wait to flow. Thus I was told for me to flow to CAL it'd be 10 years. Or had things continued with the way they were going I could go to another legacy and have 7 years of seniority there by the time I'd flow up to CAL. Had that held.

And I remember CAL was not happy in the sense that some of the people they'd be taking are people they don't want. And so they started doing pref interviews and actually took jr folks out of seniority, which made a mess but I understood CAL's point of view. They were literally turning Coex pilots down on that pref interview, hiring pilots junior to them and then one day being forced to take pilots they never initially hired and didn't want now through the flow- and for good reason.

At a minimum any flow program has to have benefits for Delta Air Lines and Delta pilots (i.e. flow down). Outside of CPZ, if we create a pref interview program to say at said airlines once you hit X PIC hours and X criteria then we'll interview you, then there still needs to be a reason why thats better than holding out for pilots at Coex, Horizon, Piedmont, AE, Air Wisconsin, Colgan, RAH, etc.

If there is no gain for Delta pilots, why then limit the hiring pool?