Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jun 2008
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While it is true the company can hire whomever it wants and set the conditions for employment, this will certainly have an effect on the overall makeup of the pilot group. I am not happy about it because it does lower standards overall when pilots win such lotteries. I know there will be good pilots that deserve to be here but there are also the likes of the pinnacle FO in line at Starbucks last week in MSP wearing a white long sleeve sweat shirt under his short sleeve pilot shirt. That is no joke! Captain and I were speechless! An FCR followed but I am sure it will go no where.

Last edited by iceman49; 12-21-2012 at 11:09 AM.
I think in fact we have agreed previously in the last contract....35% of new hire classes will be made up of previous ALPA pilots (something to that effect), FIG exactly where do you perceive the lowering of standards? The current pilot group has went through BK, the current pilot group has the same issues and any other group, perhaps we just do not want to acknowledge it.
Most of my time as an FO there was spent watching them and learning what not to do as a captain.
With first hand experience flying with the senior cadre at Pinnacle, that is a group of pilots that is stuck there for a reason (with a few exceptions). You talk about lowering standards- that is the bottom of the bottom. Bad pilots, worst personalities, and napoleon complexes abound.
Most of my time as an FO there was spent watching them and learning what not to do as a captain.
Most of my time as an FO there was spent watching them and learning what not to do as a captain.
Sure - the hiring process was tough here (and at pmNW) - detailed application, attention to details, CBT tests, interview, MMPI, and yes, the psych interview. But - that's what has separated the people who are too lazy to apply from those who want to work for a great airline.
I don't want them to get to Delta just because they waited around long enough and no one else wanted them.
With first hand experience flying with the senior cadre at Pinnacle, that is a group of pilots that is stuck there for a reason (with a few exceptions). You talk about lowering standards- that is the bottom of the bottom. Bad pilots, worst personalities, and napoleon complexes abound.
Most of my time as an FO there was spent watching them and learning what not to do as a captain.
Most of my time as an FO there was spent watching them and learning what not to do as a captain.
Can't abide NAI
Joined: Jun 2007
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From: Douglas Aerospace post production Flight Test & Work Around Engineering bulletin dissembler
OK ... so what if a requirement to interview X number a month and hire at least 50 percent of those interviewed? ... sounds strange to me also ...
... new hire class is not something to be afraid of at Delta. A very small handfull don't complete and as often as not they had also interviewed elsewhere and bugged out for FedEx or SWA. ... and just as often as not we have pilots who left other majors to come here.
... new hire class is not something to be afraid of at Delta. A very small handfull don't complete and as often as not they had also interviewed elsewhere and bugged out for FedEx or SWA. ... and just as often as not we have pilots who left other majors to come here.
Last edited by Bucking Bar; 12-21-2012 at 12:00 PM.
Line Holder
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Rumor coming out of the roadshow is once you guys start hiring, they have to hire 12 a month, and that number increases yearly. Should reach everyone on the Pinnacle list within 5 years. Will consist of a cog test, written and panel interview. So it's not a straight flow.
I agree with every Delta pilots concern on being directly hired without an interview. The way I see it, Delta management hires the pilots not DALPA. Delta does not have to ask the union who they can and cannot hire. Once hired DALPA will manage the seniority list. If Delta management wants to change the hiring process they don't have to ask the unions permission. I am not trying to make this confrontational just looking at what I believe can and cannot happen.
I totally agree. However, for every Gulfstream guy, there's a pilot at Pinnacle that went about it the right way, has a degree, humble about where he's at and only wants a chance to interview at Delta. Please don't lump the entire pilot group with these Gulfstream guys. It's bad enough I have to fly with some of these clowns on a daily basis.

Thank you for illustrating why a flow is beyond a bad idea. There are WAY too many bad apples at 9E for a flow to be allowed. There are a lot of great guys... screening has to be required for them to be allowed to come over so we can get the good ones and let the crazies die on the vine.
I think the Majority of Pinnacle pilots are professional and have been representing NWA and Delta with great enthusiasm and professionalism.. THese pilots deserve the chance to fly for Delta.
On the other-hand, I have witnessed some 9e pilots that are sloppy, arrogant, rude, and have an entitlement attitude. These pilots need to be selectively weeded out. How? I dont know.
TEN
12 a month? Wow. But there is an interview. Intriguing. Could work out for the mid seniority guys if everything you guys have been saying is true.
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Not only an interview but Delta has to have access to all Pinnacle, Mesaba and Colgan training records. 12 a month I initially but it increases. Don't know by how much. Maybe tied to your hiring needs.
Hearing talk of the Gulfstream guys brings back memories of the Northeast pilots that were the Albatross around our neck after that merger in 1972.
Mercifully the last one retired a few years ago.
IMHO the pilots I've flown with have been 98-99% good pilots and normal enough to hang with on a layover. The Northeast guys were more like 50/50. Some of them were so bad you saved some sick leave just in case... That was pre-Do Not Fly list.
Would really hate to see us take on another mass error.
Mercifully the last one retired a few years ago.
IMHO the pilots I've flown with have been 98-99% good pilots and normal enough to hang with on a layover. The Northeast guys were more like 50/50. Some of them were so bad you saved some sick leave just in case... That was pre-Do Not Fly list.
Would really hate to see us take on another mass error.
Last edited by johnso29; 12-21-2012 at 01:35 PM.
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