Originally Posted by Timbo

Close, I was based there 1986-1996, it closed October 1, 1996, and yes, it was a "senior" base, as were most of the other smaller bases that were closed in that time frame. When I was hired in 1985 we had 7 bases; MIA, IAH, MSY, ORD, DFW, ATL and BOS and we only had 3880 pilots! The fleets were DC9, 737-200, 727, 75/76 (no ERs) DC8, L10-11 domestic and L15 international.

New hires were all trained as 727 FE and depending on which base they went to they could move to other fleets, with as DC8 engineers, 10-11 engineers or if you were really lucky you might score a right seat in a DC9 or 737. I went to MIA for my first year, had wayyyy too much fun, and had to bid up to BOS due to too many no-shows at the NHANG when I couldn't get on a flight to BOS. Oh, our 'probation' was a full 12 months and probation pay was a fixed $1800/month regardless of what you flew or how many hours you flew. Thankfully I had that Guard job!

We only got 1 S3 pass our first year, 2 in our second year, not until you had completed 5 years did you get unlimited S3 passes and Delta didn't allow us to jumpseat so there were almost no commuters. It wasn't until 1996 when they closed all the smaller bases that Delta let us use the jumpseat to commute, and they only did that to save Delta millions in paid moves they would have been liable for if everyone moved to ATL.