Originally Posted by
Bill Lumberg
I flew into MSP today from ATL and had a break and went down to the crewroom under F11? Anyway, some DL-N pilots were upset with the new AWABS system, and one said he had heard that we were going to go back to the former NWA system in 4 months, since it supposedly "saves more money" in gas savings. I stated I did not see that, since the cost indexes are lower on the new system, being in the teens compared to always 55 on some NWA software. I would think they will waste more money training the majority of DL pilots (S guys) to the NWA system, and more paper, since I watched a DC-9 crew in MEM get their paper work last week and it seemed like a ton.
Saves more gas? Are they kidding? Maybe they should worry about some simple things first. I was on the ramp in MCO a couple of weeks ago. I was doing my walk around and saw three Airbuses with their APU's running and they all had air and power hooked up. I talked to one of the rampers and asked him if the DAL-N planes ever shut their APU's down. He said it's very rare and very annoying. They go through all the trouble to hook up the power and air and the crews never shut the APU's down. I also take Airbuses home all the time, and I have yet to see the crews do a single engine taxi. I know it's going to take some time to switch mindsets and habits, but it just seems like common sense to save fuel. Oh well...