Originally Posted by
WHACKMASTER
And the same recommendation about AA goes to you. Who knows how long you’ll on the bottom of our list.
Either way, welcome.
The other day I wrote an email I never in my life would have imagined writing, which was to withdraw from my AA class date. I'd have been in class right now. I started in professional aviation right after 9/11, so the idea that I'd ever have a class date at a major -- let alone multiple ones -- was just too implausible to consider. But going to AA would have meant commuting for the 15 years I have left in this career, and I didn't think that would be wise.
Still, it felt utterly awful to write that letter.
Everyone is super welcoming here. Training is top notch from what I've seen so far. Just being in the Lead center is fascinating with all the memorabilia and mil flight suits hanging up. "That building was decorated by pilots, not administrators", was my pilot wife's comment.
Lots of great folks in my class. The young guys (and girls) in my class are universally focused, dedicated, and are absolutely smarter and faster to learn this systems curriculum than I ever was at their age. It's humbling (in a good way) to be in class with people who are picking up this stuff better than I can, and yet I was running a flight school not long after they were born....
The base dynamics have changed significantly however... Looks like all new hires are going to BWI and MCO for the foreseeable future. It's difficult to anticipate, as you say, just how long the 2024 hires will be at the bottom of the list, which presents the very real possibility of transcon commuting to reserve for quite a while. But then again, if I had a dollar for every time I'd tried to predict the future and gotten it wrong...
Got my UAL class date in 10 days. So, decisions to be made. But right now I don't have any spare brain cells to think about anything other than our Systems oral in 2 days. I can't remember if the retroconfabulator is powered by AC/DC or GnR...🤔