Eagle offspring. . I am also an 8 yr rj fo at a dying airline and interviewed yesterday. I can answer any questions if u wanna pm me.

Do not come here because you think you will see your family more - you won't. People are leaving in order to see their families more. To give you an idea, over the past 3-4 years, 3 'Mom FOs' with newborns have left (for other Airlines) because they actually want to see their children on occasion. :rolleyes:

I can't answer any of the questions accurately since I am no longer at aay. But I came from XJT as well and (besides pay, which is better at aay) EVERYTHING else is worse, health insurance, home time, xjt contract (currently) way better. If your wife has good ins and doesn't mind not seeing you much it might not be a bad move, but honestly even if you are "lucky" enough not to get HOM/TDY (whatever they want to call it) working 6 days in a row is exhausting, then add broken planes and scheduling into the mix. I had a buddy who had been at xjt 6 years and just left to go to compass....

I don't know what the performance for the MD-80 says. Is there a penalty for manual spoilers?

I understand the argument about ideal conditions, etc, but where does it stop?

Would you turn it down for crosswinds approaching the limit? I'm mean, your not a test pilot and it's not perfect conditions. What about the T/Rs being inop?

What if everything is working but he is still not comfortable with the margin? In my flight sim today, I had a 404 foot stopping margin if rejected at V1. That's doing everything perfect. Good thing I sit in a comfy office chair.

Uhhhh...

"Go ahead, it'll be like flying the B727."

Followed by... "I know you are a brand new captain, but how old are you again?"

I think there is enough hiring going on right now that time on reserve will be fairly short...'till the music stops! The Dec and Jan classes from this past year are mostly lineholders now, and a few are actually CA upgrades to a bona-fide base, as well as the HOM (TDY) base. A NH will likely get TDY'd around a bit 'till the next class comes online for you to bid out to a regular base.

How frequent, and how large are the classes?

I believe there's a place in management for you! When can you start?

Yes there is a penalty for manual spoilers. Don't remember what is.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I don't trust our dispatchers to figure out our landing performance.

A couple years ago, I found myself in a similar situation. We were supposed to go to an airport with an 8,000' runway. The only way in was an ILS, to minimums, at night, with a 10 knot tailwind. Ordinarily, not to bit of a deal, except for the braking action was poor due to snow and ice. My very "helpful" dispatcher had calculated we only needed 7,500' to land and stop, which included a 15% safety margin factored in to the number for which I don't really remember why. According to the tables in the book and QRH, under our anticipated landing weight, braking conditions, and the tailwind, I came up with closer to 11,000'.

We didn't go. The dispatcher got really unhappy, called me all kinds of names, and told me he was going to call management and tell them I refused to fly. I told him to go ahead, and I still wasn't going.

We eventually got in, several hours later, after they had been busy plowing the runway. I never heard a word about it from anyone in management.

Our dispatchers will try to force you in to anything. Safety here? It's just a meaningless word.

Under out wonderful Merlot PBS system, everyone gets reserve! It doesn't matter what your seniority number is.

Being TDY'd depends. They rolled out this wonderful thing of home basing. They say those people are the ones that will be subject to TDY all the time. No one knows much about it, so no one knows if it will work.

If it doesn't work, or there aren't enough people available that are home based to be TDY'd, they will pull people out of whichever base they determine is "overstaffed."

Also, being on reserve in PIE doesn't mean you will just cover PIE. If you are on the 80, right now they will get you a rental car and send you to SFB, PGD, and FLL. They will also get you a plane ticket and give you a scenic tour of the US as they send you out chasing broken airplanes. Or, they might buy you a ticket to pick up a plane from heavy maintenance, which is always an exciting flight.