itsmytime

That’s right. I stand corrected, that may be there best shot at a flow.

SoFloFlyer

This would be for pilots: Are you encouraged to hand fly the plane when you hit the line after training? As much as the plane is automated, I want to keep my skills sharp when my time comes around

LoneStar32

You can hand fly as much as you want below 29,000 feet.

Wilfortina

But no, you’re not encouraged to. Do it if you want, but I’ve never had anyone suggest that I do so

Longhornmaniac8

This might be a little misleading within the spirit of the question. Talk to virtually every pilot on the line and they'll agree that hand flying is a good thing. While you might not ever get a "hey, you should hand fly this thing," it's more or less implied that there is benefit from doing so.

To OP, I regularly hand fly it into the flight levels, and have seen people click the autopilot off around 6-8K feet if the weather is nice.

Edited to add: It's important to be mindful of the other things going on in the cockpit, though. On a really short hop, the other pilot could start getting task-saturated if you're hand-flying the entire thing (ATIS, landing data, MCP, approach brief, radios, announcements, etc). You're a team up there, and be aware when you're making them do everything. On a long flight where it's not all compressed, fly it as much as you want!

OkieDuster

What are the training schedules like as of now?

Is IAH still hard to get into?

Longhornmaniac8

Currently about 105 days for training. Working on getting it back to 90.

IAH is super stagnant. 2 months in a row with no vacancies posted in either seat. Most FOs that are upgrade eligible seem to be waiting until they can hold IAH, which requires IAH captains to leave or move.

Things can and likely will change, but right now IAH is exceptionally tough and very slow moving. Ask me how I know.

OkieDuster

What about Kansas City? Located in Okie land so I'd be a commuter to either place and can get non stops from OKC to both.

Longhornmaniac8

Kansas City has more movement, but it's definitely slower than the movement at our average base.

baemp1re

How hard would it be to get SDF or IND out of training? I live about 5 minutes from CVG and commute distance to both is roughly the same. SDF would be preferable, but IND would be just as good.