Got another question. In the pool know, gentleman's guess is that my class date will fall very close to due date +\- 2 weeks. Obviously don't want to delay class date, I have worked my entire life for that day. Could I take a few days off during training? Wife is diesel and understands, but I would like to be there for a few days post birth.

Maybe in the past they would tell you to use sick time, but as I understand it now, there is a separate "unit" that verifies the sick time, it's not the CPO. I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to figure out that you called in sick a week before the baby was born.

That being said, I don't know if Delta would be heartless enough to take the pay away.

I know that when I had my first kid, I asked about using sick time (because I was unclear about it, FAs could, I didn't know about pilots) and was told in no uncertain terms by the CPSC that sick time is for YOU being sick, not someone else. (not true in California or Minnesota now as I understand it).

Get the FMLA paperwork filled out early by her Doc, and send it in. That will make it easy for the vacation people, they'll move the vacation wherever you want it, etc.

Quick thought while I wrap-up my bidding... Part 117 requires 10 hours rest for a normally assigned trip, but allows for last-minute IA's or GS, correct? In this regard, is Reserve treated different than Regular?

Simpler yet: have guys been getting Reserve GS with no problem, and no special lead-time on their X-days?

Take good care of mommy and get sleep when you can. If the kid sleeps at 3PM, go to sleep also. There is no FAR117 between birth and age two.

Having a kid has been the most fun we've ever had. We would have done it a lot earlier had we known.

That, and see Timbo's post below.

From BeerMan: "Congrats!!! My wife is due in May so I'm in the same boat as you. I'm trying to bid vacation around the due date as well. Rather than PD's, I wonder what the company would think about using our sick time to stay home for a week or two, especially the unverified sick time. I know of one case where the chief pilot told a guy to stay home and use it, so that's what I have to find out. Anyone had this experience???"


Beer Man and others:

Call DALPA and ask someone there, exactly what the procedure is, to get days off for the birth of a child. That's why you pay dues, and that's why they sit in the office 8-5, M-F, to answer these questions.

1-800-USA-ALPA

I just now called to check, there is a guy named Steve, sitting there waiting to answer your questions.

Good luck and congratulations! And let me be the first to say, "That baby don't look like me!"

Here I am, warming up for recurrent sim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yacXYY_upUg

It's a tribute to your fellow APC'ers that no one went for the spike, after such a nice set-up. I could think of several ways to play that :)

We had one not too long ago, and a lot of things seem memorable to me, but unfortunately not the way I set it up with Delta, so I can only offer congratulations.

Thanks Timbo, will do

You're looking at a company that claims to be a family, and in fact is pretty good when life throws a surprise at you, or some event like the birth of a child.

You also really don't know when the child will get there, so things will change faster than any reasonable lead-time you might give Delta. IOW, even if you want to ask for permission, you might not have anything tangible for Delta to work with, other than to push you back a class or two.

Personally, I'd ensure that Mom and baby have a good support structure, and I'd be very flexible. Once the baby is there, assuming you're in class, I'd very nicely mention this to the coordinator, be clear that you are flexible, and see what they say. Be prepared to suck it up if they ask you to finish some segment of training. Seems to me the odds are very high that you'd have some natural beaks in the schedule anyway. You're not the first guy in this situation, or the first guy to need to go home a day or two, so I suspect the schedule are built accordingly.

In a few years, you can remember fondly how exciting and happy a time the whole thing was, and how great a job you did getting Mommy her mother/sister/aunt/friend to help out. Buy lots of flowers, and do well in school, so you can buy lots of flowers again.

In mean this semi-seriously, but you don't want to be in the position where you skip a class, and you get furloughed over it, or don't get something you need, the kid showed up way early or late anyway. So here you are, bidding a little lower every month for the rest of your life, and now you're staring at holes in your living room walls because the little bastard got into your power tools, or the little princess painted a horse on your projector screen, and instead of saying something fatherly, you blurt out "you ruined my life"! So now you get to wait for them at therapy, as the child examines their resentment issues, like having "foreverjunior" as a middle name. For a girl.

Be a little ambitious, prepare as much ad you can, and focus on school. That's how I would approach it, hypothetically, but I never was faced with the choice. Congrats, and congrats.

Very good advice.

Thanks for the advice. I am very excited on both fronts.