Was there a restriction, whereby the guys that had their requests in by a certain time will get priority? I vaguely remember something about 7AM. You definitely can change preferences after that time, but you don't get priority over the guys that had earlier standing qualifiers in. I think it's designed to remove the advantage of guys sitting on top of open time all day long.

Or was that a G/S function?

As far as the training on the flight ops side this is what has me the most concerned..... I start MD88 school next month and probably will only use the new paperwork a couple times on the 747 before I leave. God help my sim partner (at least it looks like he is a South guy) and the first FO's I fly with.

NWA320;
No worries. It was new to me and it only took a few trips to get the hang of it.

Any slip that is put in after 700,1200,1800 will go to the bottom of the list with no regard to seniority. If that slip is still in place at the next PCS run, it will be slotted in to the mix where your seniority is.

You guys are right on. Us North guys really aren't a bunch of whiners (despite how it may appear from some of our posts on this board :cool:.) Overall everyone is on board and realizes that eventually things will smooth out. It's just that we haven't had much of a chance to get used to our new comfort zone for very long before it goes a changes again. I'm confident that after a month of this phase 6 stuff there will be no more than a little grumbling from the north guys as this becomes our new normal.

For example, how many guys are still complaining about the million "Altimeters - xchecked" items on the checklists, or the lack of the call "Flaps X, Taxi Clearance" from the captains? To be honest, I was really resistant to giving up the flaps callout, and now I don't even notice it anymore. The paperwork items will be the same in due time (Still wish I had my own release though :D)

The delays are coming from guys being deliberate and taking their time. I know we showed up way early yesterday to start sifting through the paperwork, and still barely got out on time. This self-on-the-job training is not ideal, but I really can't see a better way of doing it without severe additional costs and time.

Also, can someone please explain to me the purpose of the WDR preface that the agent hands you? If we are just going to get an update via ACARS momentarily, then what would we use the preface for?

And what does payload optimized mean? We had no tolerance so I'm guessing the two are related, but does that mean we don't have the option of adding/subtracting pax (or jumpseaters?) I've never seen a flight on the 320 where we couldn't take a jumpseater, but yesterday with no tolerance, how would we have added one? We were several thousand pounds under our planned TOGW and WAY under runway and climb limits, and burn and landing requirements were also not a factor. How do you get a jumpseater added in this case?



*For those that answer my questions above, be sure to put in for per diem and LCA pay in DBMS :) It's sad that I learn as much/more on this board as I do from company sources.

This is true but as the Captain I really need to know and understand the operational side before a few trips.....:confused:

Payload optimized doesn't preclude the C/P jumpseat. But if the passenger count or bag total is off, they have to resend it to you.

It usually means we're weight restricted for landing, although sometimes for T/O but those would probably be out west or up high.

It's a real pain for non-rev types especially out of SA. There was a really good article in the Spring 2009 issue of Up Front (p.24). You can find that in the middle of the Flt Ops page on DlNet under the communication section.

As a MD guy drop me a PM and I'll happy to help as much as I can. Welcome to the Mad Dog!

Dragon/Sink........great posts!

The ER fleet FINALLY got smart. Guess some of our LCAs (new term for us, so you see where this is headed) actually went out and flew with some of your LCAs and our guys put out a GREAT roseta stone memo. It's in the 757 fleet section, in the middle of the page, and is a great document for both north and south and any fleet.

The problem, as this pamphlet points out, is all the phases when when through over the last year or so, were written by north guys who had about as much a clue and the rest of us what was going on. Why we didn't get real south stuff is beyond me......but that is water under the bridge.

I carry this pamphlet with me and tossed ALL the phase crap out. Sort of like having the cliff notes when you were in college. And, for the north guys, it's even step by step by step..........<----"get the picture"/ "yes we see" :D

Ferd

The preface that they give you has all of the codes for new AWABS numbers, takeoff penalties etc on it. You need that to take the weight hit. Some things like A/T MCO's still have v-speed additions that will need to be taken out of the MDM, but that preface has most of the wight hits and intersection codes on it. Those codes are what you input in to the AWABS screen on the ACARS to generate new numbers.

That preface also will have a few others notables on it. Just keep on and digest it at the hotel.