I'll try to add some perspective as a "south" guy who recently transitioned to a "north" airplane. When I went through training on the -9 a few months ago, I heard every excuse in the book from the sim instructors about single engine taxi. At least from what I've seen so far in the DC-9 world, there seems to generally be a very strong aversion to doing this.

Having spent 12 years doing single-engine taxi on the MD-88, I see no problem with it on the DC-9... with some caveats:

- Yes, the DC-9 engines have less thrust than the MD-88 engines and, at heavy weights it requires a few seconds longer to get rolling without using too much breakaway thrust.

- There are places like MEM where single-engine taxi is prohibited in some of the alleyways.

- Because the DC-9 can generally only run one pack off the APU, there are also considerations for keeping the aircraft cool in the summer.

- And then there's the problem with the single-engine taxi weight restrictions in the Vol 1... which I think are ridiculously low... and the fact that the OE Guide contradicts the Vol 1 and says there is no weight limit for single-engine taxi.

Anyway, I have been doing single-engine taxi when it makes sense to do so, and it has worked out just fine... just like it does on the MD-88.

 

Even on the ER at JFK we would start both after push, get moving and then shut one down for taxi.

 

I wonder whats the worst case scenerio we could run a guy who has 8 days of reserve? You could do two back to back 4-days, as long as somewhere you get 24 hours off and they drop turns to keep you under 30 in 7. If you have one of these 18 hour 4-days, a simple drop of one long turn should do the trick.

And taxi, and taxi, and taxi, and taxi, and taxi...

 

LMAO! Too funny FTB!

 

I don't know about the training environment at MSP, but the training environment is fine in Atlanta. I have never had any problems with the instructors or the courses down there.

It's the LIVING environment. The MSP training hotel is a nicer hotel in a much, much, much nicer location. Virginia Avenue can be dangerous at times, especially at night. Most guys have a layover wallet they take when they are there and only put a small amount of cash in it. Like the amount you would easily hand over to someone robbing you.

 

I've got a couple 747-400 worldflight releases from a few years ago- plus several Pinnacle CRJ-200 releases. I'll scan snippets of those in tonight and maybe ftb can help me upload them so you guys can see the way the formatting looks in reality as opposed to our jacked up FOM version.

In other news..this is my last day on reserve for at least a month or 2! Woo hoo! I'm going to have to call Margaret or Steve just to make myself feel normal....

 

Dose darn norte' crews! Captains should have ultimate authority..even beyond the books, except dose darn norte' captians. Dey don't knooo what dey do!

 

That does not sound good. I've got enough to worry about during training, like how to avoid 5 am simulator periods. We don't need to worry about that kind of stuff, too. What's the chance we change hotels sometime in the future?

 

The training environment is just fine. It is indeed the LIVING environment. Watch out for the bearded clams that hang out at Spondivits after midnight.

 

I'll tell you, this is something the company should have addressed long ago. And in the absence of the company, where the heck is DALPA on this? There's nothing more important than the personal safety of our employees. Everything else pales in comparison.

DAL had better hope nobody ever gets badly injured or worse. They would have very difficult questions to answer in front of a jury as to why they allowed a known safety problem to continue.

Carl