Yeah, having that 2L door available to speed up the emplaning/deplaning process for 180+ passengers really sucks.

I'll betcha that the difference between turn times on the 73-9 and the 757 is 15 minutes at least.

 

Not yet it isn't

 

Thanks to Southwestern Airlines for not raising the bar!

 

A 757 replacement? Not going to happen. Why? Both Boeing and Airbus have a comfortably thick order book for aircraft that can do 98 percent of the routes, spare parts galore, and trained pilots, mechanics, simulators and inventories. Developing an entirely new aircraft is incredibly expensive. Assuming they are talking about essentially a narrowbody 787 with GTF engines, the program would never break even, because the 737 and A320 have been improved well beyond what they were originally conceived to be.

Which is of course, sad. Because the 757 does what it does very, very well. And it does that because it incorporated lessons learned, and was engineered to a very high standard by people who saw what happened to B17's, and B52's when things went badly. Extra metal, extra power, extra wheels, extra brakes, extra system redundancy all add up to an aircraft which has no equal.

But the calculus used by airlines today are purely cold numbers. Being able to stop on a slippery runway, climb over weather, board pax in separate classes, takeoff and land on high, hot and short runways, and provide a comfortable and safe environment for the crew is not part of that calculus. You know who still cares about that stuff? People who fly corporate or private. Look at the G650 or the Citation X. Mach .93 at 45,000 feet, synthetic vision, XM weather, lightning detection, heads up display, satcom, datalink. Nothing but state of the art. The best we can hope for is a third manufacturer who decides to create the next generation of commercial airliner. They'd have to be crazy though. Or maybe heavily state supported.

 

All good points.

 

There is a good "behind the business" piece on the DLnet about aircraft acquisitions at Delta. It's the reason we're making so much money, but it's also pretty enlightening as to the future of our fleet. The good news is we're going to keep making money, because their system is a solid one. The bad news is that if you like flying big airplanes, you should go to United. RA stated in the Wings Club presentation that the 747 replacement would ideally have 100 fewer seats. So that's the top end of our future fleet...

 

Question for FlightLine WW or EasySwap users: I used to be able to download reserve manning (still can using WW) and then it would display horizontally as a calendar color coded green and red along the top...

I can't figure out how I did it, or with which program now?? I can't find a display for reserve manning along the top for either WidgetWorks or EasySwap. I'm thinking it was in EasySwap that it was displayed, letting you see swap trips underneath that had manning to work with. But I can't find it now.

Any help would be appreciated, thx!
RK

 

Well, I'll never see a new NB in my career I don't think. I'd actually be pretty happy with the 737 if they could just add these:
1. temp controls that worked and you set a tube temp (78F) and it automatically held it. And move the main controls back to the cabin so those who feel it can tweak it!
2. Place to store my bag! Just increase the size of that cockpit bag storage a wee bit, 1" horiz and 2" vertically would do... EASILY DONE if you'd just move that stupid fire extinguisher up on the bulkhead behind Capt seat.
3. Fix the stupid intercom/FLT thing so you can wear a headset and talk to the other guy without uncovering your ear and going deaf, or having to reach down and push the actual MIC switch in wrong direction to chat every time. Voice activated like every single motorcycle helmet setup and light GA plane.
4. Put the FMS button brightness control for MY FMS on MY FMS... not on a single control that tweaks allllll the other switches. With 900 buttons being different than 800/700 FMS buttons, I actually have to be able to read the things at night now to hit the right ones... and the left seat guy's idea of what's good never seems to work.
5. Redo the autothrottle control algorithm to a "never exceed" control algorithm for the redline zipper... the closer you get to the zipper, the more agressive it is at staying on bug or below, NOT drifting higher to within a knot of MX overspeed.
6. Fix the dang toilet seats to stay up when lifted.
7. soft rubber covers for those switches on the overhead I always bang my head on when standing up.

That's it. Some small tweaks would make the thing livable.

 

And better soundproofing.

 

I respect the APA, and I don't "look down on them." But you apparently never met an ALPA achievement that you liked, nor have you ever acknowledged a failure of non-ALPA groups.

The APA has a mixed bag in my opinion. I will call a spade a spade, and I will give credit where credit is due. Here are their pluses and minuses.

Pluses

- Were willing to go on strike, and had done a good job setting up a strike, educating the public, the pilot group etc, until Bill Clinton ended it via PEB after 30 minutes.

- Negotiated a pay rate of $186/hr (I believe) on the 737-800 back in the late 90s. This actually was the original stellar pay rate, which allowed us to negotiate $190/hr. THAT pay rate along with several other factors at DAL and UAL gave us the C2K payrates everyone still waxes poetic about.

- Were willing to vote NO on a crappy TA even while in BK. I don't think that the DAL pilots would ever do that. And guess what? The world did not come to an end.

- Did, however, eventually say YES to a follow-on TA.

Minuses

- The "sickout". Possibly the stupidest grass-roots "I'm angry with the company, and by god I'll show them" wildcat action in the history of organized labor. Not only did they get **** off a federal judge, not only did they get a $50+million fine levied against them (which was eventually forgiven by the company, but if you think that came for free I have a bridge to sell you) but they really handicapped the entire airline pilot labor force for years to come. The sickout was the original inspiration for management to run to the courts to get injunctions levied whenever they felt that the pilots might be causing complications in the operation of the airline. Thanks APA!

- The "just say no" mentality that caused them to reject a lucrative TA that was presented soon before 9/11. They then got nothing and liked it for many years after that. Of course no one could have predicted 9/11. But who can predict any number of negative events that will always crop up in this world. While any "yes" or "no" vote on it's own is neither good nor bad, it shows that always voting no does NOT--repeat, NOT--always guarantee "more" later on.

And to be fair, voting "yes" is also no guarantee that "that was the best we could do." (See earlier part of this post).

- Age 65 posturing. The APA likes to posture that they publicly put out ads opposing raising the retirement age to 65. So what? Not one congressman, including the APA's own district, opposed raising the retirement age. ALPA figured that out, reluctantly. Rather than trying to throw spears against the tide ALPA actually worked with Congress to craft some of the legislation language, such that recently retired pilots (at 60) did not come back to "their" left seat. If it weren't for ALPA's efforts there I have no doubt that that is exactly what would have happened.

APA has no, repeat, zero clout in Washington, and neither does USAPA, the IPA, the DPA (they have no clout even at DAL these days) or any other in-house union. "If you aren't at the table, then you are on the menu" is a cynical, clever, and completely accurate depiction of how life is when it comes to aviation, our lawmakers, and our careers.

The APA is a good union with a good pilot group. I just don't feel that they are as good as you seem to think they are.

I also hope they negotiate a very lucrative contract, not only for their own pilots--who deserve it in spades--but for all the rest of us as well.