Not a N thing as “ Northwest’s” does not roll off the tongue with the finesse of “Delta’s” or “United’s!” Honestly, I recall hearing “ Continental’s” more than any other carrier utilizing the possessive, back in the day.

The most hilarious radio liberties I ever heard was flying with a green book dude (that is indeed a North thing, green meaning former Republic [ the real Republic, not phony renamed RAH entities]; Republic consisted of predecessors North-Central, Hughes Airwest and (most important for this story) Southern Airways. Prior to the merger with NW in 1986, Republic pilots were destined to be narrowbody guys for life, if their carrier survived, as 727s were the top end, with 757s on order. No RJs back then, but in-house flown Convairs and Martin 404s did the short haul. If you came from Suthin, DC-9s were your deal. Hence, the infamous Roberts Award, which fenced the NW wide body captain seats for 20 years ... part of the seniority integration arbitration applying a “career expectation principle.” Before I digress further into airline history, the point is: I’m a DC-9 copilot flying with a good ole’ Suthin’ boy who could hold the 757, but with triple digit seniority, was senior to most NW DC-10 and B-747 captains at this point, around a dozen years post-merger. And he is ****ed about that. But he is actually a chatty, happy go lucky guy who seems to know every ATC person from Duluth to Miami. Picture the most extreme cartoon hillbilly character and matching suthin accent or one of the backwoods characters from “Deliverance,” with a similar number of intact teeth and a big goofy smile. Check in went something like this; “ Memphis Cennah, Northwest three seventy two wit cha. Pride of da Fleet.” His 40 year old Douglas was always “Pride of the Fleet.” Nobody blinked an eye since he was well known. It went on from there ... “ Chuck is that you down there? How’s the wife, how’s the kids? Dude was on a first name basis with every ARTCC controller, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. Insisted on taking radio calls on his leg. He was hilarious in an idiotic fashion - he’d be heckled to death by today’s RJ jockeys.

 

Classic, love the stories of the old guys with character. Heck, BP’s name is still in some of the old engine logs.

 

Back when he started, ATC may have only had a couple of pilots to talk to each hour. Kind of lonesome.

 

I heard meowing on guard while on with shanwick the other day

 

Maybe a cat got a greenslip?? There have been a lot going around....

 

Hmmm....was it African or European meowing?

 

I didn’t know RJ guys got North Atlantic green slips 👀

 

Goes junior. Flying the tracks without auto throttles is a PITA.

 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Virgin-Atlantic-Reveals-Plan-for-Massive-Expansion

I'm not going to lie... mentally I've already spent the extra hundred dollars I expect to find in my profit sharing check if Virgin Atlantic's massive expansion plans come to fruition.

 

Just to be clear this announcement by Virgin is a attempt to get the majority of slots if a 3rd runway is ever built at Heathrow. The earliest that might be is in 2026 and it’s doubtful it will ever be built. If it is built the route expansion plan does not include US destinations. They are specifically targeting IAG served destinations where there is no current competion.