Hired in 1985 with 5,600 total, 5,000 Civ, 600 mil

4000 multi/turbine/night

DC 9, LR23, KC135 time as well.

Joined the ANG after flying part 135 for 4+ years.

(flying cnxd checks in an AC690 mostly, with some LR23 F/O time too)

BTW, my 5,600 total was the highest in my new hire class of 24, but at the time there was no such thing as an RJ, and the Mil commitment was only 4-5 years so most of the Mil guys only had about 1,200-2,000 TT. I think there were only 4 of us civilians in the class.

A couple other Civilians in my class had the next two highest times with about 4,500 and 3,500 each, and the 3 of us where the youngest in the class at 24, 26 and 26.5. Average age of the class was 28, oldest guys (2) were 34.

Of that new hire class of 24 I think there are only about 10 of us still working at Delta. 6 left early just before bankruptcy, a couple of those guys flew for Polar and/or Atlas and other places.

Oh, my then new hire seniority number was...

are you sitting down?

3879!

That's how many pilots Delta had in September of 1985!

BUT...we did get to sit sideways on the 727 for 3 years and paid on the B scale for the full 5 years so there's that.

I got my first A Scale paycheck in November of 1990, and my guard unit was activated to participate in Desert Shield/Storm a month later!

One A scale check ($5K), and then back to active duty pay! ($3,000/month in 1990)

In 1992, after released from Desert Storm, I bid MD88 Capt/CVG and got it....4 from the bottom.

Most senior guys were shocked that a 'new hire' with only 6 years got a MD88 Capt. bid, so was I, but it didn't last long as the company soon sold off the DC9's and all those more senior (most of them!) DC9 Capts came to the MD88 and spit me out the bottom, back to the 757 right seat for 4 more years. Then in 1993 Delta started furloughing pilots for the first time in the history of the company.

My how times have changed!