Originally Posted by tennisguru

I'll take a stab at a few:


- NYC seems pretty easy to get as a base, how difficult is it to live in Brooklyn and commute to all 3 airports ?

Should be fairly easy. Depending on what fleet you are on can determine which airport you will have to report to the most.

- Can I bid for my initial base as a new joiner ? If yes, can I bid for a fleet in particular ?

Yes, everyone bids for their preferred combinations of base/aircraft based on the selections offer to that specific class.

- if I understand well, year 1 will be Reserve (short or long call), is this correct ? How long before a new joiner based in NYC can hold a line and bid ?

With NYC being so undesirable for most people, it goes very junior. Depending on which fleet you end up on you may not even sit a day of reserve before holding a line. As long as hiring continues at a brisk pace you won't be looking at more than a few months on reserve. Definitely not anywhere close to a year. And living in base bidding reserve can actually allow you greater schedule flexibility and more money making opportunities...

- Time to upgrade is key to me. What is a “reasonable time” for a command upgrade in NYC and what aircraft are available to new upgrades ? Again, new command = reserve ?

Right now people with less than 1 year on property are holding NYC captain spots. While nothing is guaranteed, the trend is likely to hold for another year or two so if it's what you want you should be able to hold captain in NYC fairly quickly. As an extremely junior captain, you are probably looking at a few years of reserve.

- how is the atmosphere in the flight deck, what’s the culture like, atmosphere during layovers ? how is the gradient in the cockpit ?

Every airline has their small percentage of idiots who make life miserable, but they are the exception, not the norm. In my 5 years here I have yet to fly with another crew member who I would not want to fly with again.

- Lastly but not least, the safety culture. How is it, is it fair ? Are crew honest and transparent when messing up and are they afraid or not to write safety reports when needed ? Any hand flying allowed or not ?

I'd say we have a decent safety culture on the pilot side of things. Lots of people make mistakes and it's treated as a learning experience. Two things get you fired from Delta immediately: Lying and stealing. If you don't do those you'll be ok. Now there are some safety things based on fatiguing schedules and such, but I've never gotten push back when I've called in fatigued or delayed a flight for food.

Hand flying is supported and allowed. Other than using some common sense as to when to do it there are no restrictions, other than obvious things like CAT III, etc. People are encouraged to keep their hand-flying skills current.

Thanks for your help.