Originally Posted by EngineOut
Furthermore, many major airline pilots I have spoken with haven't even heard of Mesa Airlines, much less MAPD. Particularly two America West pilots I met. "Pizza Airlines? Who's that? Oh Mesa? Never heard of them." And allow me to add they were not being obtuse. Seriously had no idea. Not kidding.
It would be absolutely impossible for any AWA pilot to not know about Mesa...their two bases are PHX and LAS, and at each of those airports they share numerous ramps, concourses, and gates with mesa to the tune of hundreds of daily flights. We often use the same ops, ramp, and gate personnel. Mesa and cactus ops are extremely integrated. Hundreds of mesa crews deadhead on cactus each week.
If that conversation actually occured with actual cactus pilots then they were most certainly being obtuse...
Since Mesa is the third or fourth largest jet regional, most mainline pilots at any airline are aware of them...this business is a small world, although your statements lead me to believe that you would have no way of knowing that.