Originally Posted by
Check Essential
I truly can't understand this obsession with the management pilots.
Do you guys really have that much interaction with those people?
I don't think I've ever met one higher up than a LCA. (I take that back. The
Chief Line Check Airman gave me my IOE on the 737. Nice guy. Excellent pilot. Likes German beer.
Bought the German beer. We got along great.
)
Things must have been VERY different at Northwest.
Somehow I've managed to fly the Widget for 20 years and can't remember a single thing that was particularly remarkable or controversial about any fleet captain we've ever had. They do their job and I do mine.
Maybe its just me. I must be missing something.
I'll just give you my personal interactions. CS I have talked to quite a bit, whenever I felt something was WRONG in the MEL/CDL or needed a clarification or in any other of our other operating pubs, CS was usually the first call. JD got the ones that needed some horsepower in one way or another.
One example, Question I asked CS - Why can't we fix the QRH to read "When entering KZAK FIR with CPDLC/ADS include destination and aircraft registration on initial radio contact."
Another example - Old procedure with APU inop at the gate was to start BOTH engines prior to push and we had to start them in reverse order from normal ops. NRT tow-in gates allow one engine to be started at idle. E-mails to CS and JD...
Another example - ICN De-icing with APU inop. At the time ICN required APU power for de-icing at the gate and NW procedures required APU power with engines shutdown for remote de-icing. Catch 22 with no legal procedure in our books. Call to JD on sat phone...
I suppose at DAL first call would be to the duty pilot, who is likely not qualified on the aircraft who will then call CS or JD. Easier just to call them direct for aircraft specific stuff or email them directly for non time critical stuff.