Thats why the new DL contract is reducing the size of DCI by hundreds of airplanes.

The cat has long been out of the bag and you can't in reality just shove it back in all at once.

 

I've had the pleasure of working at several regionals (2 of which because DAL can't seem to make up their mind which group of "crazy loose cannons" they want operating their aircraft). I can count on one hand also the amount of people I don't want to work with, not because they are bad pilots, but rather because they are just bad people. I have never seen, in my short career, anyone do anything unsafe or ignorant. Nothing that would raise any flags to me, or any mistake that I know someone else in some other cockpit at some other airline isn't capable of making. 99% of the people I have come into contact with have been good pilots who make reasonable decisions when it comes down to it. And that same percentage of pilots come to work, try to have a good time and do their job right also. There is not one thing, mistake, difference, or ability that a DAL pilot has that any other relatively experienced pilot has. They just make more money doing it.

 

I have to agree, I can't think of one incompetent pilot I've flown with in 5 years. I don't know how he can say they have such a high percentage of super great people/pilots. I don't jump-seat that much but I've seen some miserable FOs at NWA/Delta. I've seen a high rate of Captains that love to micro manage. I don't know how you can like coming to work being micro managed to death every other trip as an FO. If everyone is so experienced shouldn't the crew know their respective job/role and not have to be told what to do every 2 minutes? The crews I encounter are always cordial but I think there is some serious exaggerating going on here (there is no company in the world where 99% of the people are great people).

 

The bottom line is most regionals don't have any hiring standards other than a pulse, and rightfully so at the wage they're offering. The majors pay more, therefore attracting a bigger pool, and can be picky about who they hire. But a flow to Delta without an interview? No way. You've got weed out the left seat addicts and the bad personalities.

 

Ok so if I'm doing something wrong, please educate us all. When you got hired at Delta years ago what were your qualifications? TPIC, TT, and do you fit one of the three preferential hiring criteria I listed in my original post (WAI, BPA, hook ups with daddy/mommy) someone has posted that your parents are very well connected, just wondering if it's true..

 

Don't know about educating you but I will pass on some observations of the past 40 years of trying to get hired and being in training, including new hires. I see lots of guys on this post emphasizing how much time they have and the type a/c they have flown and while that's important other factors and experience have lots to do with getting on . Example, 10,000 hr CRJ Capt with 8000 jet pic doesn't get a call. 5000 hr 747f FO does. He has 1000 hrs as a Twin Otter Capt and 1000 in the 747. HR and flt ops at most airlines work together to hire pilots and the hr folks have significant influence.Corporate types like HR people like diversity and indications of continued advancement of your career.Sitting in one place without adding to your resume while not red flag put you back in the pile with the 10000 other applications that look the same. I'm not saying the 10,000 hr guy will not get hired because when the airlines need lots of people they will get a chance. It's just that people that stand out to HR will be first.
And the reference to preferred hiring is a bit weak. Most blacks and woman over the years qualifications have been greater that the class average, in general there are just to many qualified to take in low time people. And as for insiders I know way more Capt sons that didn't get the call than did.

 

Even you could compose yourself long enough to pass an interview.

 

I dont know what amazing airlines you guys have flown for at the regionals that have all these great pilots.

In all the regional airline flying I've done, which has been quite a bit, I've come across dozens of pilots I wouldn't want to fly with before. Scary pilots. Unprofessional pilots. Do-nothing pilots. Know-nothing pilots.

Regional airlines have a lot of great pilots but the two ends of the seniority list seem to be pretty scary. The top is full of pilots who couldn't cut it anywhere else thanks to personality/skill/motivation/etc issues and the bottom has a significant (but is not full of) number of pilots who think that their aviation degree and freshly minted jet type rating make them God's gift to aviation and they know all and can do all.

 

A lot of responses from guys that have a very high opinion of themselves just because they pass an interview, jezz! Get off that high horse guys, in every company and every pilots list, in every country on earth there are good, professional pilots, there are guys who don't have any business flying an airplane and there are their share of "a holes" but it seems that in some companies there are more of the latter than in others.

 

So the flying public still likes to fly out of smaller markets and/or fly out of markets with greater frequency. Mainline still likes regional carriers to do this, I presume because of money.

Because this relationship exists, and the fact that regionals have lower minimums (even with the new ATP rule), does the regional and/or mainline partner have a responsibility to develop the regional pilot group?

-Similarly-

If the supply of pilots in the pipeline dwindles (as the media now likes to spread like wildfire) does the regional and/or mainline partner have a responsibility to develop the regional pilot group?

-Finally-

If a pilot has something in their past, i.e., the "skeleton in the closet" should they be damned forever?