Sounds logical and time will tell.

 

 

Sailing, I agree that fuel stops were an extreme rarity. However, offloading passengers was not. I flew it for 5 years, and if you had any type of mechanical delay in the summer, such that you couldn't make the 1020am departure, and it started getting hotter, you were often times over weight.

I've also sat at the end of the runway waiting to burn down gas to be legal for takeoff because the outside air temperature went up 1 degree.

It's also the only airplane I was ever on that actually got a GPWS warning on T/O in Atlanta because the thing wouldn't climb.

It may have been cheaper than a 747, but we got what we paid for.

 

I think the deal Mo'Ron made with Micky D's was, Buy one MD 11, get two Mad Dogs Free! Micky D's was looking for a US Launch customer, Swiss Air was already on, but nobody in the US wanted them. Mo'Ron stepped up...and AA followed, then sued MD when the fuel burn was wayyy more than they were led to believe.

I flew the beast out of ATL, from 1996-2000. It was good for doing Europe out of ATL, or Asia from the west coast, but not much else. Still, I only had to make one fuel stop going ATL-NRT, in ANC, in January, into a 150kt headwind all the way. But there were many, many flights where they had to block the back at only 220 pax, and fill it up with fuel (285,000 lbs max) and we had to wait to take off on 9L, because we needed the Downslope to make the AWABS work! We did have to declared min fuel one time into NRT when we should have made a fuel stop but our Dispatcher told us the winds would die off over Russia....not! We rolled in with 12,000lbs.,

One time we even got the stick shaker on the initial turn north, while bringing up the flaps, at 265 indicated (yes, we always had to ask departure control for 265, as that was clean speed). When we got to NRT we asked for a load audit. Turns out we were 10,000 over gross...

It was a fuel pig, no doubt. Sometimes we would fly all the way to ANC at about FL280, because it was too heavy to get any higher until you burned off a bunch of gas. I remember telling the guys back then, "As soon as the price of fuel goes up, they are going to have to get rid of these pigs!"

The only good thing about it was, Delta didn't have any spares, so if you were lucky, it broke, and you went home and got paid. BUT...if you were already in NRT when it broke, you got to spend an extra day there, for zero extra income.

 

About that BA 747 picture above, why does it say, "Operated by Global Supply Systems" on the nose?

Who is flying it? Are they BA Pilots, or is it outsourced to GSS Pilots, or are they the same?

When we flew the Song 757's, it said "Operated by Delta..." on there somewhere, is this the same type of deal...backwards?

 

Clean Min Man on the DC-10 was 292 KIAS at a 590K takeoff - haulin' butt!

 

....gj....

 

Richard has said the consolidation phase is not over yet. I think we will see more mergers before we see any organic growth. Organic growth is expensive and then you have to compete, putting new seats into a market, driving down yields.

He would much rather buy the competitor and dominate the market with less competition, and higher yields. Just look at the slot swap and NWA merger and Alaska code share and all the J/V's, rather than buying new airplanes for organic growth. That ship has sailed and rightfully so. There is no money in competition.

 

Man ATL's domestic terminals are a but of a joke, but D is a disaster.

 

Now that Christmas is over, and the credit card is... smoking... does anyone know when the next bid will be out?


Ed. Note: Unacceptable answers are as follows:

1. 4 to 6 weeks.

2. LAX or ANC 73NA is available, if you work for Alaska.

3. NYC E170A is available, if you work for """.

3.5 When we get leather jackets and ascots.

4. My friend in mgmt. says look for "The Mother Of All Bids" sometime this summer.

5. It is hopeless, Emirates will conquer all, update your displacement prefs.

Cheers and Happy New Year!!!