Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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- - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta? (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/delta/36912-any-latest-greatest-about-delta.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp (Post 783767)

The issue is the aft bulkhead replacement or whatever that has to be done at a certain amount of cycles in a DC-9's life... doing the mx on that is traditionally considered to be cost prohibitive.

Let's see if the nine-osaurus can avoid extinction... anyone seen a meteor around here?

The bulkhead limit isnt the issue in the near term. Most of the remaining -30/40s could fly for a number of years before hitting the cycle limit per the DC9 fleet manager.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 783829)

Do you mean; when will we start talking about these?

http://www.artsjournal.com/outthere/red%20tie.jpg

+1

YES, absolutely. Beats the "other drama" that this thread has been producing lately. Can't we all just get together and sing "KUMBAYA".
Disclaimer: In no way intended to violate the TOS by making reference to a religious song. :cool:

GJ

You want me to edit the non-religious reference? :D

Gear Jerk:
1) Shortly
2) We should know by next wed. They stated they will announce a dance partner by then.
3) I would say we will know when they will hire in about three to five months. Spread for safety! :)
Not a question of if, just when. We will be way short this summer. They think that GS can cover it, but with every route they add, that gets less likely.

Look for some AC destination swaps in the near future. (more)

Oh yeah. on number three. I could give you a number but I would not want you to think I was full of malarkey. :D

Going forward I expect it to be in the ballpark of double digit percentages of the seniority list. It will start off slow though, and if things keep getting better it will pick up. Number is a moving target day to day.

I am looking forward to my profit sharing check this year.

ACL,

Thanks for the info. Too lazy to find the post and quote you :rolleyes:, but if I remember correctly, there were estimations again of the number being near the "total number of pilots that ASA had on property".

Again, not expecting anyone to commit to any numbers, or offering any suggestion that by using the ASA example, that those would be preferred pilots (Bucking Bar:cool:), just commenting on a post I remember from earlier days.

Thanks again,

GJ
(Within double digits of the bottom of the list, just looking for some scraps from all those senior guys like Tsquare, Carl, Denny, and Alfa.) :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superpilot92 (Post 783832)

The bulkhead limit isnt the issue in the near term. Most of the remaining -30/40s could fly for a number of years before hitting the cycle limit per the DC9 fleet manager.

True, the aft bulkhead AD isn't an immediate issue, BUT, if you invest in a pile of cash to re-engine an AC, you want a bunch of years to amortize the cost.

The AD isn't anything trivial, which is why it's been cost prohibitive in the past. But facing the need for lift, and in the face of need to re-fleet other parts of the fleet, AND the looking at the cost of spooling up a new NB fleet, not to mention the unit costs of $15-18 million a piece, then the pencil gets sharper.

1) Re-engine
2) Update the avionics (IE some kind of GPS)
3) Do the aft bulkhead mod
4) Do another "20 year" overhaul on the airframes

If needs to add up to less than a new fleet, and ya, it could happen.

Nu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gearjerk (Post 783841)

Of course nothing is ever official, but they like it that way.

I was told 1800 but that just seems high. I have asked ppl about that number and most cannot see it. Take 800 off of it and I think we are more in the correct range over the next two to three years. After that it should be a constant flow unless we go see the 100 seat jet or something crazy like that.

Suffice to say with new foreign ownership rules, anything is totally a guess and can change very quickly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NuGuy (Post 783844)

I agree, I was just stating that the bulkhead really isnt the issue. Its being said that the -50's will get additional mods in the near future to increase efficiency. Supposedly they will get the new tailcone and fairings to improve efficiency. Mods are relatively cheap considering that the aircraft are paid for. It would be a lot cheaper to mod the -9's than to buy new. Not to mention the flexibility that the -9s provide for IROPs, aircraft substitution, etc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superpilot92 (Post 783853)

...Its being said that the -50's will get additional mods in the near future to increase efficiency. Supposedly they will get the new tailcone and fairings to improve efficiency....

And here's the list and a date:

The DC-9-50 drag reduction package is currently under development and reduces drag by 4%. The package consists of the following elements:
Low Drag Tail Cone
Rudder Hinge Covers
Flap Hinge Fairings
Aileron Tab Hinge Covers
Elevator Tab Hinge Covers
Re-faired Tail Skid
Wing to Body Fairing
Slat Segment Seals and Trailing Edge Extension
Spoilers Trailing Edge Extension

The package will be flight tested in May 2010 with subkit delivery beginning in June 2010

Super98 > Products > DC-9

Cheers
George

[quote=keenster;783780]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 783709)

I sure am glad that you are in a group that was big enough to worry about and that you got 5% more on your W-2 because of this guy. However, if he had anything to do with the 747 group ( which I have been told is a small sub group and not worth worrying about), I am not happy with his attention to our problems. I can say the reverse in that our schs went down hill and I made less pay and had less quality of life. Now here comes the argument of downsizing. Well Most every fleet downsized either in aircraft or hours flown. All I am saying is that it took a month of Schedules not working well(25-30%) more guys on reserve than normal with huge amounts of open time before they addressed rotation construction. We were begging for months for help. No increaase in flying, no increase in airframes, but shazam better rotation mix for April. What is so hard to keep the same mix of trip lengths i.e. 25% short 50% medium and 25% Long. That is pretty simple. Not sure who corrected the problem company or union. Probably company because they saw the huge problem of tons of open time and twice as many guys on reserve.

But being in such a small subgroup pay no attention to this post. And if Scrappy had nothing to do with this( I don't know) my apologies.:cool:

The 747 was not unique in what happened. We had all the same issues with the 777 in NYC. There seems to be a it has to happen tomorrow mentality with a lot of pilots. Fixing things takes time and yes sometimes they have to look at the great good for the overall pilot group. Giving the company exemptions from parts of the contract to build better trips or relief on min and max hours ect. can come back to haunt you later. This airline has been combined for 3 whole months. Massive changes have taken place. More changes will come. Some are going to have negative effects on portions of the seniority list. Things will get fixed if they can be at a price the company is willing to pay. Anytime your in a small fleet you tend to get skewed results. Those results can work for and against you. Lots of pilots have taken years off from working and yet still drawn the reserve pay by being in nitch categories. I know MD11 guys who took 5 years off. Sometimes your the dog and sometimes your the hydrant but no one is out to get you.