The only time I am will be in the left seat of anything is when I am driving my car to the airport!

 

Patience, grasshopper, patience. Your time will come...

 

We all know better than that, acl.

 

Knowing acl, he probably has a detailed forecast of his career progression from all the "dot collecting."

 

Now who thinks I would actually do that.......


I figure I will upgrade to the left seat of the 787 in 2027

 

You make the assumption I am itching for a left seat. I am not. I now see the genius of guys camping out in the right seat of the 767. I make no assumptions on anything I will bid from AE to AE much less that far down the road.

Simply put, I am content in my current seat. Also I like flipping switches and pushing button!

 

Fedex and Kalitta Air use EFBs, I believe. It's a workable solution, if the company is willing to put the money in.

 

CAPN,

If there is one issue that is clearly not a N vs. S issue it is the suckiness of our bases. Service should be consistently better at all of our bases. The really, really, (said in my Shrek voice) bad experiences seemed to be randomly distributed through the system.

Scoop

 

He said there is no way you could convince him... so why try?

I couldn't speak intelligently about North bases anyway: I've only been to MEM once, and DTW a few times. I was absolutely amazed by DTW. Not awed and impressed. It was more of a "jaw drop" kind of thing. Beautiful facility, though.

As far as "The ATL" goes, a good year for me involves only two visits. Cretainly, you can't order a sandwich without someone scowling at you. But aside from a few kamikaze tug drivers trying to cut you off, and the fact some of wing-walkers seem to be speed-limited, I can't say I ever see operational problems. I dislike the vibe of the place, but I have to respect the throughput. The entire airport is a monstrous, well-oiled machine, designed to, and highly successful at, moving planes and people.

Let me close with another compliment of sorts... Considering the insanely crappy set-up, I think the people on the ramp at JFK are much improved. I can't say I've been waiting for marshallers, or for a tug, in recent memory. I even get the impression some of the kids are trying to make it work. How bizarre.

 

I agree that NY is getting better. Seems to me the people below are actually motivated, and I saw some rampers running/jogging to our gate the other day when we got in a little early. The problem I see is that the "ramp tower" is very slow to be proactive in getting info to the rampers. We have to call to tell them we are sitting waiting for a tow-in/marshallers. I did speak to someone who works in the ramp tower/ops though and says you have no idea how hectic it is up there. All these whinny pilots calling and stepping on each other and all demanding instant gratification. TIC