Originally Posted by
OscartheGrouch
Well WM, I am flattered that you have responded to my query. You have been reluctant in the past and I anticipated no reply.
Having been employed by SWA for more than 25 years, I will tell you that it doesn't matter where the pilots came from. You sound like the idiot new hire pilot (25 years ago) who, not knowing that I was a former Marine pilot made the same statement you made. "Ex AF with no prior airline experience." He must have felt because I had long hair and was younger I must have had civilian (or airline experience) and would agree with him. I ripped into him just like I would rip into you if I ever here that kind of crap out of your suck hole. This is not rocket science material flying the 737. You either can do it or you can't. It is absolute crap that somehow someone who came up through the civilian track is better suited for this industry or would make a better employee or union brother.
You frankly have a chip on your shoulder and I am so thankful that sooooo many "colonels" will always be senior to you!
They are veterans and deserve much more than losers like you can even imagine. Have a nice career here at Southwestern Trailways. I look forward to flying with you.
The Oscar
Yawn. The avoidance bid list out of PHX is literally twice as long as the rest of the entire system combined. One base has literally double the amount of people on it than the other nine combined. Why is that? I'm sure you don't need to be reminded that PHX is home to the "Luke AFB Mafia".
Also, a very high percentage of all the incidents, runway & taxiway excursions are by guess who.......ex-AF with no prior airline experience.
The bottom line is this as I've had well over a year to observe these people; they come to SWA with no civilian flying time (many, many with no clue about crew concept) and an obvious "get the mission done mentality". Because they have no prior airline or even corporate/charter experience, they buy into the rush rush mentality that is to this day prevalent at this airline (with the accompanying bi-weekly incident it seems) not having the benefit of being "raised" under previous Flt Ops departments where "slow, safe, and methodical" are the way to operate an airliner.
Let's just cut the bull^#_£ and call it for what it is. As this being my fourth 121 rodeo, SWA line operations is appalling and by far the least safe BECAUSE SO MANY OF YOU ARE ALWAYS IN A RUSH, refuse to use the automation to help you maintain safety, and have a generally cavalier attitude. Don't like hearing that Oscar? Guess what. All of the above opinions and observations are shared by a great many pilots at AT/SWA. Trust me on that.