Originally Posted by
beernutt
People will take any opportunity to hate on Curly. He wasn't a saint, was very polarizing and definitely spoke his mind.
His retirement picture in the Atlanta pilot lounge was filled front and back, and an additional foamboard as well, with nothing but compliments and thanks for everything he did for the pilot group over the years. Probably 500 signatures.
Subjectively I think people's opinions on him are driven primarily by where they were hired, where they are based, and more recently, who they have flown with that likes grinding axes. Objectively he helped bring the pilot group and Delta as a whole to where we are now. If that makes him a bad guy...
Curly was the only ER captain I ever saw do a walk around on a 3 man crew. Additionally, he bought the beer on layovers. He came across way different (and deservedly so) online than in person (unless you really got him spooled up). Having tangled with him online but also having flown with him, I give him the benefit of the doubt and say that I didn’t always agree with him but he was a good guy.