Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
05-24-2010 | 08:36 AM
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From: A-320A
Another issue I've seen is that the MD-88s have their external-air port forward of the wing, and it's easy to roll out the hose and plug it in. On the DC-9 the port is way back below the engines, and several of the former DAL South gates don't have a long enough hose to reach it. The solution is a portable unit, but many places don't have those either.
05-24-2010 | 08:36 AM
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From: Legacy FO
05-24-2010 | 09:36 AM
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05-24-2010 | 10:27 AM
The Brown Dot +1
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From: 777B
ACL you are correct about the span of control issue, but I must ask why?
I'm a realist and know that flight ops management doesn't really want to hear what we have to say, but there is a structural failure in the corporation in regard to Flt Ops, Inflt, and ACS. Theoretically we have the same goals ... theoretically. The problem is that in the real world there are gross disconnects.
These are not new problems, and there are solutions to them, just overlooked solutions. IMO if they all came under the same department, we could solve a great deal of the issues. Right now it is easy for co-equal managers to blow off their counterparts in other departments.
05-24-2010 | 10:29 AM
The Brown Dot +1
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From: 777B
Valid criticism for last year. If they are not hedging fuel right now, someone needs to get their butt fired.
05-24-2010 | 10:31 AM
Inventory survival kit ..
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From: Seeking no jacket required rotations
------------
ACL you are correct about the span of control issue, but I must ask why?
I'm a realist and know that flight ops management doesn't really want to hear what we have to say, but there is a structural failure in the corporation in regard to Flt Ops, Inflt, and ACS. Theoretically we have the same goals ... theoretically. The problem is that in the real world there are gross disconnects.
These are not new problems, and there are solutions to them, just overlooked solutions. IMO if they all came under the same department, we could solve a great deal of the issues. Right now it is easy for co-equal managers to blow off their counterparts in other departments.
ACL you are correct about the span of control issue, but I must ask why?
I'm a realist and know that flight ops management doesn't really want to hear what we have to say, but there is a structural failure in the corporation in regard to Flt Ops, Inflt, and ACS. Theoretically we have the same goals ... theoretically. The problem is that in the real world there are gross disconnects.
These are not new problems, and there are solutions to them, just overlooked solutions. IMO if they all came under the same department, we could solve a great deal of the issues. Right now it is easy for co-equal managers to blow off their counterparts in other departments.
05-24-2010 | 11:01 AM
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Heyas,
Mostly DTW runs pretty well. About %10 of the time you'll need to call for a park job.
I disagree and have been in and out a good bit.
Outbounds, OTOH, run very smooth. They've been very good about the paperwork issue, and no one has said "boo" about waiting for the numbers.
I disagree again as we continually have to request power/air/lav dumps. The lavs being the hardest to get!
FWIW, MSP is about the same. Expect to wait on game day when the Vikings, Packers, Timberwolves or whoever else is playing.
They are about on par with ATL...not great but not horrible.
As for the APU thing, yea, you guys have a point. There is some past policy issues with this, but suffice to say, the rampers still take a running APU as a "don't plug us in" signal. Even calling into ops for a plug in results in a, shall we say, a tepid response.
The ramper I talked to said that exact thing. If APU is running it means don't need to hook anything up. Also said the 88 was easy to work b/c of the shorter hose as opposed to the extra section needed for the -9. Point blank said they don't like hooking up the -9 b/c of this.
Plugging in the AC is even worse, and I notice that compliance with this is pretty poor, even at DAL stations. Quite frankly, APU Sheriff or not, I'm not going to let my Pax bake. It takes a LONG time to cool down a DC-9 on the best of days, and if you don't have external A/C and you wait 5 minutes before push to fire up the APU, then you'll cook until you start down at your destination.
That's true for all fleets I'm sure. I'm also sure most everyone does there best to keep it cool plugged in or not.
Flew a trip with more DAL airplanes than NW last time around. Still amused by the fDAL response to the 753, though. We were coming down the jetway to meet the outbound crew, and they were "man, this is the long one, here is the gou...oh, wait, you guys are fNW...never mind". All done with smiles and good nature, though.
Nu
Mostly DTW runs pretty well. About %10 of the time you'll need to call for a park job.
I disagree and have been in and out a good bit.
Outbounds, OTOH, run very smooth. They've been very good about the paperwork issue, and no one has said "boo" about waiting for the numbers.
I disagree again as we continually have to request power/air/lav dumps. The lavs being the hardest to get!
FWIW, MSP is about the same. Expect to wait on game day when the Vikings, Packers, Timberwolves or whoever else is playing.
They are about on par with ATL...not great but not horrible.
As for the APU thing, yea, you guys have a point. There is some past policy issues with this, but suffice to say, the rampers still take a running APU as a "don't plug us in" signal. Even calling into ops for a plug in results in a, shall we say, a tepid response.
The ramper I talked to said that exact thing. If APU is running it means don't need to hook anything up. Also said the 88 was easy to work b/c of the shorter hose as opposed to the extra section needed for the -9. Point blank said they don't like hooking up the -9 b/c of this.
Plugging in the AC is even worse, and I notice that compliance with this is pretty poor, even at DAL stations. Quite frankly, APU Sheriff or not, I'm not going to let my Pax bake. It takes a LONG time to cool down a DC-9 on the best of days, and if you don't have external A/C and you wait 5 minutes before push to fire up the APU, then you'll cook until you start down at your destination.
That's true for all fleets I'm sure. I'm also sure most everyone does there best to keep it cool plugged in or not.
Flew a trip with more DAL airplanes than NW last time around. Still amused by the fDAL response to the 753, though. We were coming down the jetway to meet the outbound crew, and they were "man, this is the long one, here is the gou...oh, wait, you guys are fNW...never mind". All done with smiles and good nature, though.
Nu
05-24-2010 | 11:34 AM
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From: B757/767
Heyas,
Mostly DTW runs pretty well. About %10 of the time you'll need to call for a park job.
I disagree and have been in and out a good bit.
Outbounds, OTOH, run very smooth. They've been very good about the paperwork issue, and no one has said "boo" about waiting for the numbers.
I disagree again as we continually have to request power/air/lav dumps. The lavs being the hardest to get!
FWIW, MSP is about the same. Expect to wait on game day when the Vikings, Packers, Timberwolves or whoever else is playing.
They are about on par with ATL...not great but not horrible.
As for the APU thing, yea, you guys have a point. There is some past policy issues with this, but suffice to say, the rampers still take a running APU as a "don't plug us in" signal. Even calling into ops for a plug in results in a, shall we say, a tepid response.
The ramper I talked to said that exact thing. If APU is running it means don't need to hook anything up. Also said the 88 was easy to work b/c of the shorter hose as opposed to the extra section needed for the -9. Point blank said they don't like hooking up the -9 b/c of this.
Plugging in the AC is even worse, and I notice that compliance with this is pretty poor, even at DAL stations. Quite frankly, APU Sheriff or not, I'm not going to let my Pax bake. It takes a LONG time to cool down a DC-9 on the best of days, and if you don't have external A/C and you wait 5 minutes before push to fire up the APU, then you'll cook until you start down at your destination.
That's true for all fleets I'm sure. I'm also sure most everyone does there best to keep it cool plugged in or not.
Flew a trip with more DAL airplanes than NW last time around. Still amused by the fDAL response to the 753, though. We were coming down the jetway to meet the outbound crew, and they were "man, this is the long one, here is the gou...oh, wait, you guys are fNW...never mind". All done with smiles and good nature, though.
Nu
Mostly DTW runs pretty well. About %10 of the time you'll need to call for a park job.
I disagree and have been in and out a good bit.
Outbounds, OTOH, run very smooth. They've been very good about the paperwork issue, and no one has said "boo" about waiting for the numbers.
I disagree again as we continually have to request power/air/lav dumps. The lavs being the hardest to get!
FWIW, MSP is about the same. Expect to wait on game day when the Vikings, Packers, Timberwolves or whoever else is playing.
They are about on par with ATL...not great but not horrible.
As for the APU thing, yea, you guys have a point. There is some past policy issues with this, but suffice to say, the rampers still take a running APU as a "don't plug us in" signal. Even calling into ops for a plug in results in a, shall we say, a tepid response.
The ramper I talked to said that exact thing. If APU is running it means don't need to hook anything up. Also said the 88 was easy to work b/c of the shorter hose as opposed to the extra section needed for the -9. Point blank said they don't like hooking up the -9 b/c of this.
Plugging in the AC is even worse, and I notice that compliance with this is pretty poor, even at DAL stations. Quite frankly, APU Sheriff or not, I'm not going to let my Pax bake. It takes a LONG time to cool down a DC-9 on the best of days, and if you don't have external A/C and you wait 5 minutes before push to fire up the APU, then you'll cook until you start down at your destination.
That's true for all fleets I'm sure. I'm also sure most everyone does there best to keep it cool plugged in or not.
Flew a trip with more DAL airplanes than NW last time around. Still amused by the fDAL response to the 753, though. We were coming down the jetway to meet the outbound crew, and they were "man, this is the long one, here is the gou...oh, wait, you guys are fNW...never mind". All done with smiles and good nature, though.
Nu
DTW ground ops can be terrible, and if they're actually on it the you'll often end up waiting for a gate agent. The other day I saw a ramper leaning on a container that said 'CAUTION FLAMMABLE JET A'. Do you know what he was doing while he was leaning on said container?
SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Add to that most guys won't even check to make sure the ground power is good, they just plug and run. TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
05-24-2010 | 12:09 PM
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From: Urban chicken rancher.
Nu works on a WB. It's a whole different world on the Varsity side, especially when on a WB.
DTW ground ops can be terrible, and if they're actually on it the you'll often end up waiting for a gate agent. The other day I saw a ramper leaning on a container that said 'CAUTION FLAMMABLE JET A'. Do you know what he was doing while he was leaning on said container?
SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Add to that most guys won't even check to make sure the ground power is good, they just plug and run. TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
DTW ground ops can be terrible, and if they're actually on it the you'll often end up waiting for a gate agent. The other day I saw a ramper leaning on a container that said 'CAUTION FLAMMABLE JET A'. Do you know what he was doing while he was leaning on said container?
SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Add to that most guys won't even check to make sure the ground power is good, they just plug and run. TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
And to make matters worse, as we're making PAs to the pax to explain that we're trying to get out on time, the guy dragging his feet the most was the baggage guy. Plus, he looked like he'd just woken up from a crack stupor. No semblance of a Delta uniform. A garish doo rag around his head, high top sneaks with the shoe laces untied and a wallet chain hanging down to the ground. I can only imagine what the pax on the right side of the jet were thinking.
Where is DTW management and what in the hell are they doing? I used to think our JFK ops were the worst. Not any more.
05-24-2010 | 12:11 PM
No longer cares
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From: 767er Captain
Nothing new in DTW. I have always considered it a failure of Middle Management as they seem to have allowed this behavior to become the norm.
Another ongoing issue that never seems to get fixed is plugging in air to DC-9's at the gates. I was in MEM, ORD, and LIT yesterday, all well over 80 degrees and we never once had air plugged in to the aircraft at the gates. They hammer us about APU usage, but don't seem to be able to make the people doing the "underwing work" do their part. May just be a case of "getting what we pay for" in labor force.
Another ongoing issue that never seems to get fixed is plugging in air to DC-9's at the gates. I was in MEM, ORD, and LIT yesterday, all well over 80 degrees and we never once had air plugged in to the aircraft at the gates. They hammer us about APU usage, but don't seem to be able to make the people doing the "underwing work" do their part. May just be a case of "getting what we pay for" in labor force.
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