Yep. There are some good pads near the hotels that you can get a free van ride to the TC. Thats what most guys, and a lot of the instructors, choose to do.

 

I see a lot of guys who fly the MD-88 love it. Has anyone flown both the MD-88 and the A320? Any thoughts on both?

 

The 88 is a decent bird. The only issue is the trips. I've had multiple captains say the only difference between being number one in the category is the ability to choose which lousy trips you want to fly. Most of the old Song flying is gone so its just a bunch of up and Downs with marginal layovers. The best plane I ever flew was the 757. The best trips on the -800. Can't speak for the Bus but ifit comes to Atlanta it may have my name all over it.

 

I realize that my comments will draw ire from some, but here goes. The 88 is easily the biggest turd I have ever flown. It is a sloppy airplane that is trying to be something it cannot be. I will say that it is a comfortable and reasonably quiet airplane, but those 2 qualities are not enough to overcome the myriad of reasons that it still sucks. Couple its $hityness with the awful trips and now you know why it is the junior airplane. If I had my choice I would not fly it unless you did not want to commute or had some other overriding QOL concern.

I have not flown the 320, but I have hitched a ride up front and it was very quiet and looked quite comfortable and easy to operate.

just my opinion folks, try not to burn me at the stake.

 

Flown them both, so here it goes.

320. You stroll onto the flight deck,and gently slip your kit and bag into place. You sit down, pull out the tray, and spread out the release. You reach over, plug the box, and then get up, stretch, talk to a few passengers, get yourself a drink. Low workload from taxi through landing, no leaks, and sun visors which work really well. The toughest thing you do is remember when to turn on/off the yellow electric hyd. pump! Don't get high and fast though, cause it's slippery.

M88. You contort yourself into the seat and nearly dislocate your shoulder trying to get your bag into place. There is hardly anywhere except on top of your open bag to set anything, which is where your Jepps lies, though unless you're 20/15 good luck reading it unless you bend down. The box is fine, some take a bit of time to process though. The preflight inside will have you yearning for the days of flight engineers when you could pawn that crap off on someone else. Bend over the yolk, and you can see the nav. display, and get used to doing this all day. Be sure to stretch before you try the engine start, you'll need both hands. Try to recall which airports have really bumpy taxiways, because holding onto the start switch on the delayed start (fDAL) during summer can be tough with a captain who taxies at any kind of good clip. Pretty decent plane in flight, although it's a two-handed autopilot and you have to watch the altitude being armed on the FMA, which have been known to disappear. Easy airplane to slow down, you'll drop like a rock with 210/flaps 23/gear. There is no sexiness factor on this airplane, but I like flying it regardless of all I've said. Previous writer was correct though, nothing beats the 757!

 

I have not flown either, but heard this quote the other day, from my 757 Captain that he heard during a displacement bid, "I'm in the Naval Reserve, screw getting displaced, - I'd rather go get shot at in Afghanistan than fly that POS MD-88 again."

 

I concur completely. Although I didn't get much time in the Dog, I remember what a pain in the arse it was. When I was going through initial, my wife would wake me up because I was doing the overhead flows in my sleep. Talk about a nightmare.

 

Are new hire classes getting the aircraft/base drop before showing up for indoc? If so, what's the drop for the next class? I believe the next class starts Aug 30.

 

The next class I think is Sept 6th. And yes we got a list of bases/equipment beforehand to rank order.

 

How much notice did you get from the time of interview call to the actual interview. Did you get the notification via email or via telephone?