Originally Posted by satchip (Post 891946)

What, I wasn't in your big picture? Oh, just your nightmares when Cam takes a debilitating hit when he tries to do that running thing. There I was holding Nick Saban's headphone cord!:D

Originally Posted by slowplay (Post 891827)

Delta will end regional service in four markets
October 27, 2010



Delta will suspend regional service in four poorly-performing markets this winter as it streamlines its fleet and reduces less-efficient turboprops and small jet aircraft from the Delta Connection fleet.

Service will end at Lynchburg, Va.; Florence, S.C.; and London, Ontario, on Jan. 4. Seasonal service at Hilton Head, S.C., will be suspended on Monday. No Delta employees will be affected at any of these stations.

The decisions were made in part becauseDelta is phasing the Saab 340 turboprop out of the regional fleet, and about 50 of the 50-seat CRJ-200 aircraft are being retired this year as well. In addition, revenue and passenger loads in each of the markets had declined significantly this year.

The market suspensions come as Delta focuses on maintaining its capacity discipline and concentrating growth in profitable markets. The airline’s capacity is forecast to grow between 1% and 3% next year.

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 891966)

I know you didn't say this, but since when is a turboprop LESS efficient than a jet? I flew C-130s in a prior life, and the fuel burn... even fully loaded, was far less than ANY jet I have ever flown...

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 891843)

Slow,

Sir, we don't measure this game by "you lose, I win." We measure our union by its ability to bring together pilots for the purpose of collective bargaining. We measure our union by the power it has at the table. Proactive engagement and working with management to our mutual benefit is a good thing, but it is not a replacement for a monopoly on their labor supply.

One leading candidate for MEC Chairman told me, and I quote, "Scope does not matter." His opinion is based, like yours, on the fact that economic trends are resulting in management pulling down RJ flying. Therefore we do not need to "invest" in job protection provisions which are not needed.

What scares me is that many completely fail to grasp what this is about. It is about UNITY. It is about a union powerful enough to come to the table and say "we represent pilot labor. You can not operate your airline without us." Every job outsourced makes this statement less and less true.

If scope has no value, then that should cut either way. If it does not matter, the management should not care if we close the loopholes in our contracts as the contracts they permit expire.

Of course it does matter. By minimizing scope's importance it prepares expectations for the next big scope sale. Richard Anderson now publicly draws the line at 100 seats and is talking more about the C Series engine being a games changing tech. Our Company publishes a 100 seat line with no rebuttal from ALPA. We've already outsourced a 122 seat platform that is restricted to an arbitrary seat limit which could easily vanish under economic stress. The C Series waits with no firm orders (except at "regional" airlines) as everyone waits to see who's going to operate the thing. I sit here with a Delta seniority number wondering too.

Of course the biggest storm cloud on the horizon is economic. Can we afford to replace our MD88 and 757 fleet? The 88's life could be extended, but the 757's structural limits are more finite.

Further, if "scope does not matter" then by extrapolation neither do our pilots' jobs. That is a terrible political position. We need to renounce our support for outsourcing in unequivocal terms. Sorry if that ties your hands, but unity is job one in a union.

Originally Posted by sevenfiveseven (Post 891968)

So was the airspeed!!!! ;) I keed I keed

Originally Posted by DAWGS (Post 891982)

Great post, except for the sorry part at the end. There is no need to apologize to anyone who doesn't share this sentiment.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 891937)

That's Homer walking backwards and dancing evidently, but still, he was walking backwards and thats because someone got to talk to someone high about the order of that performance check and someone low now gets it. I was also shown the big picture but cannot reveal it because it was big and beautiful. And in it, I saw north thanking the south and the south thanking the north, I saw Slow drinking a Samuel L. Jackson beer with Bar, ACL and Carl and they were all happy, I saw 80 showing his train set to Hockey and Super and J29 and they were happy, Tsquare had bought Luvjockey a round because he was happy, newk had found the ultimate 9- one that could handle him, cheerleader pics had become cheerleaders and red dresses were red dresses again. And I saw so much more and you were all very happy, and know that while I cannot mention you all or tell you what I saw it was all very beautiful.

All that possible, by using the O2 mask. Maybe I should've cleaned it but why?

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 892012)

OK, who serviced the O2 with nitrogen? Nitrogen goes in the tires and struts, Oxygen goes to the pilots.