Originally Posted by JungleBus (Post 1659352)

Just got back from my first trip of Mad Dog IOE, and boy, have you guys been pulling the wool over my eyes! For years I've been hearing "The Mad Dog is a worthless piece of crap" and "Rube Goldberg was a McDonnell Douglas engineer" and "Mad Dog don't care, she's so nasty." It only took me 4 days to realize that the Mad Dog is in fact a docile, reliable, well-behaved gentleman's airplane! I can only surmise that rumors to the contrary were started by junior guys trying keep senior bubbas off the airplane. In the interest of correcting the record and salvaging a much-maligned airplane's reputation, I present the following:

Mad Dog Rumors and Facts

Rumor: Mad Dog trips involve 7 legs a day followed by 10 hour overnights in Huntsville and Greenboro.
Fact: I flew between 1 & 3 legs a day, and had long layovers in DEN & DCA. Mad Dog trips are so cake I was able to eke 2 days use out of each shirt!

Rumor: The Mad Dog is uncomfortably hot in summer.
Fact: This rumor was clearly started by pasty MSP crews. The Mad Dog has a lovely tropical climate similar to some of my favorite spots in the world such as Thailand, Mexico, & the Caribbean.

Rumor: The Mad Dog is an unreliable maintenance queen.
Fact: In four days we had one MEL, and zero malfunctions. The check airman assured me this is very typical. I'm pretty sure his little smile was not sarcasm, just satisfaction at flying the best airplane Boeing ever made.

Rumor: The Mad Dog is busy in the right seat before takeoff.
Fact: With practice, a three-armed FO can knock out pushback items, engine start, after engine start, reading the WDR, setting thrust & speed bugs, taxi items, runway update & change items, delayed engine start, after delayed engine start, and before takeoff items and associated checklists in no more than 7-10 minutes of intense labor. It helps if you're crosseyed like me, you can keep one eye on what you're doing and one eye on where the CA is taxiing, throwing out "clear rights" & flipping lights on & off where appropriate.

Rumor: The Mad Dog is busy in the right seat after takeoff.
Fact: Heck, you don't even really use that third arm very often when airborne. When you're pilot flying, all you gotta do is fly the airplane...plus run ignition & anti-ice every time you go through a wisp of a cloud, do half the PM flows where the switches are on your side of the cockpit, and program the box. It's not like you're using your left hand for anything else, it has autothrottles for pete's sake - & they work great, +/- 20 kts!

Rumor: The Mad Dog's VNAV doesn't work well.
Fact: It works extremely well in keeping you from going up or down if you don't really want to. If you REALLY want to change altitudes, you gotta tell it with half a dozen key strokes, executes, & MCP button mashes. And once it's going, you just gotta let it run. I set up for the FRDMM2 arrival into DCA at FL310, set 6000 in the MCP, & then visited the lav, ate some lunch, took a nap, & when I woke up we were at 6000 feet on downwind for Runway 1! Again, the CA assured me this is perfectly typical.

Rumor: The Mad Dog's thrust reversers are impossible to deploy symmetrically.
Fact: This one is actually true, but I find that one engine at 1.1 EPR and the other at 1.9 slows you just as well as both of them at 1.6. Trust me, I tried this.

Rumor: The Mad Dog's brakes will embarrass you.
Fact: This is actually a matter of technique. The technique I like best is to really get on the brakes early, heat em up real good good, then yell "you got it!" at 60 knots and smirk as the CA shimmies, squeals, shudders, and chatters those puppies all the way to the gate. At that point you turn to him and say "I dunno skipper, they worked great for me!"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eoNW9Ae9R_...970b-500wi.jpg

I've come to realize that the Mad Dog, much like the Honey Badger and the NYC crew base, is not "so nasty," it's just maligned and misunderstood. I've now seen the light, and am even starting to wonder why aren't all compasses mounted behind the pilots and read with a series of mirrors? It just makes sense. New hires considering bidding the Mad Dog, especially in NYC, should definitely do so. You'll thank me later.

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1659394)

Contract 2012 reduced not increased the number of 76 seaters allowed. Looking at the companies current fleet plan it appears they could have executed the current fleet plan with minor time changes under the old contract. Remember they could go to 255 76 seaters under the old contract. It now appears they don't plan to get near the new number. We could be still waiting to be allowed into the mediation process. Instead we are 9 months away from openers on the next contract.

Originally Posted by scambo1 (Post 1659410)

I think at this point, anyone who says 717s hinged on C12 is delusional. That doesn't even make a good urban legend anymore and does highlight "spin" from DALPA for C12.

Originally Posted by gzsg (Post 1659400)

Do.you believe our concessions are still necessary?

Originally Posted by GunshipGuy (Post 1659396)

Because it's a way to judge how well our union works for us. Since DALPA does not set goals the survey is what we can use to judge how successful they are at doing their job. Baring that, they operate with freedom to not be measured against any defined metric.

Originally Posted by Alan Shore (Post 1659432)

I judge the way my union works for me based on its achievement of my goals, not yours, and in my assessment of what I believe should a, would a, could a been possible under the circumstances at the time. That is the only realistic metric in my view. At the end of the day, we must each cast our votes for or against a TA or a rep on our own personal and informed assessment of those metrics.

I do not need to know whether my fellow pilots value this over that to make those judgments.

Originally Posted by Alan Shore (Post 1659432)

I judge the way my union works for me based on its achievement of my goals, not yours, and in my assessment of what I believe should a, would a, could a been possible under the circumstances at the time. That is the only realistic metric in my view. At the end of the day, we must each cast our votes for or against a TA or a rep on our own personal and informed assessment of those metrics.

I do not need to know whether my fellow pilots value this over that to make those judgments.

Originally Posted by Purple Drank (Post 1659406)

Is he setting up an excuse already? "We couldn't deliver a good product because you didn't give enough to the PAC."

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1659274)

I posted one simple statement that this is the first time the company has mentioned a west coast 717 base. Nothing more or less. I personally have seen no talk about building up the west coast bases since the merger with the exception of the 767 base in SEA. I have seen discussion of increased flying but that does not go hand and hand with pilot basing. Prior company statements in fact indicated no new basing in the west.
SEA has however seen one of the largest percentage increases in pilot manning of any base since the merger so all is not bad.
In addition system wide the growth component in contract 2012 was projected to produce about 1100 new pilot jobs (excluding retirements and other attrition). It now appears we will handily beat that number!