That happens ALL the time. Have you never heard of FOs upgrading into different equipment?? Or Captains taking a different airframe??
Do you think a 737 captain has to become a 757 FO before he should be allowed to be a 757 captain?

Seriously, this happens ALL the time.

Awesome for the MD-88 pilots. Good for them.

 

How do you know he wasn't an Maddog FO the whole time? I never saw anyone say these guys were 737 FOs. At my previous employer (the US Air Force) we had a few guys upgrade as low as 600 hours, and they did fine. A year in five months on the line at Delta is a good bit more time than that. Also all of these guys were Captains before somewhere. This is not the first jet they will be PIC in. So I think they will do fine.

 

I honestly thought the OP's post was dripping with sarcasm, however I'm starting to reconsider. Why folks think it's ok for relatively young and "inexperienced" guys to pass challenging upgrade training flying 50-76 paying folks around in every imaginable weather and airport condition, yet balk at the thought of someone upgrading at a Major airline with the same vetting of "left seat decision making ability" is beyond me. Somehow I believe self projection of attitude and aptitude may be in play here. Just my measly two cents, take it with a grain of salt.

-2263

 

Lobaeux- I know your semi-new to the 121 world, and by all accounts are a good dude not purposely looking to pick a fight. However in 121 as long as you meet the minimums, and seniority to upgrade, that's how it works. At Delta I believe it is 1,000 hour of 121 before you can upgrade. So folks like myself (+4000 121) can hold CA at DL as soon as criteria #2 is met- seniority. Some of the Mil guys will get past over by virtue of the 1,000 hours requirement of 121. Just the nature of the experience required.

 

Yes, I realize that. But, let me ask a question.

What's the length of time before you can hold a line at DAL in the 737? How many hours can you expect to fly in a year and five months?

Hours prior to being hired aside, because they can vary greatly, how many hours will a pilot at DAL accrue in the first year and five months of being on property?

Isn't the normal track: narrow body FO, wide body FO, narrow body CA, wide body CA? Of course there's going to be movement, and there will possibly be individuals who have never flown a type becoming a CA in that type, but they've usually been on property flying for a number of years, accumulating quite a few hours in the process.

The possibility here is you could have an FO hired into the 757/767 for the first year and a half at DAL, an FO who probably isn't holding a line during that time (admittedly, I'm not at DAL so if you're a line holder within a couple of months on the 757/767 obviously this doesn't apply), and they can hold CA on a MD-88, a type they've probably not flown before their OE except in the simulator. That new MD-88 captain may have xx hours (going off the forums here, again an extremely dodgy proposition, but a year and a half in the 757 as a newhire, maybe 250 hours of seat time?) on property and no one sees a safety issue with this?

There hasn't even been a mention of being paired with a newhire FO, let's say he has 250-300 hours in the MD-88, more than that new CA, no one sees a safety issue here?

I'll acquiesce the point here, good for him/her/them. I really hope nothing ever goes wrong.

 

Dude get off your throne! He passed the upgrade training and took a ride with a fed on the DL cert. He passed the same training as a pilot with 30 years seniority! It's called learning and studying!

 

Why would you bid a junior captain spot on a crappy airplane at a major? Ain't nobody looking for PIC time anymore.

 

I didn't. And maybe they were FOs in the MD-88, maybe they flew MD-88s at a previous airline, it's not the point.

I'm raising the point that there is no ORM/risk management setup like we had in the AF. I was an ADO in charge of signing orders and vetting crews. If Delta has the same system, then all is great. Sounds like they have a CP who looks at crew makeup and decides maybe this Captain shouldn't fly with this FO because of lack of experience or lack of currency. I'm not sure that's the case.

Look, I know guys come to the major airlines with PIC time, plenty of hours, plenty of experience, it's not a question of how many flight hours. It comes down to regression, it comes down to system knowledge, it comes down to experience in the airframe.

You guys are saying there's no issue at all with someone with no time in type being the Captain, fine. I wouldn't want my family on that plane.

 

💸💶💴💵💰💷

Getting to fly with your favorite Capt of course.

 

Every single passenger today, all over the world, at all the carriers flying in the back of a B787 or a A350 are flying with a captain that has zero hours on that type....!

I came to the ANA group as a DEC on the 76 without haven flown it before, now I'm an instructor teaching guys that have never flown the airplane before...., it's done all the time in all type of A/C's

You do realize that many airlines hire non-rated DEC's right?