Thanks Buzz. Looking forward to it. No more reserve and the trips are no worse than junior ER stuff. Plus no more HECA layovers.

Take good notes, Satch. I'm going to 800 training in April. I too have had enough of reserve, Africa and Georgetown.

I had enough of HECA and Africa in the USAF days to last a lifetime. That's one of the reasons I love the 800. Great jet and decent trips. Whenever you go OCONUS, its normally pretty cool.

Boeing does have a history (through its Boeing Capital division) of buying Airbus widebodies off airlines who order the 777. Boeing then finds itself in the interesting position of seeking to sell or lease off Airbus aircraft.

As for the 717, Boeing Capital recently reconfigured a stored Midwest bird and flew it to Boeing Field so Capital and Marketing people could look it over and get familiar with the plane. The idea being that Capital wants to lease the entire 25 717's from Midwest to one airline and not in bits and pieces around the world.

Sending the 717 to Seattle was a prelude to an aggressive marketing campaign at airlines. So, to me, this says there is no imminent deal with Delta, otherwise Boeing wouldn't be going to these lengths...

Ah, the good ole RUO. Trips go to LC guys first, plus you have no idea which LCs with lower a RAW then you may have a FAR 24/7 rest issue, 30/7 issue, or are perhaps finishing a trip on THAT day but are still on the Reserve Availability List even though they aren't available. Still don't know what genius designed that one.


New guys finishing training, pay attention to what I just wrote. The reserve availability list is nearly useless. NEVER rely on just it to determine if you'll commute to/from base.

This is absolutely true. You'll find your name on the list the day you finish a trip. Sometimes you're on the list before you even finish.

For New Guys:

One nice thing that we do have is a two-hour commute to base. You can catch a flight in as long as it gets in within two hours of your short call starting. It just requires a call to scheduling letting them know.

e.g. You have 8am shortcall. You can catch a flight that gets you into base by 10am or earlier.

This is great advice and is why I find myself constantly checking everybody's schedules. I'm such a stalker!!

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Vacation planning and non-rev questions for the Asia experts follow:

Thinking of taking a February vacation to Japan using Nagoya as a base. Looking at a trip to Kyoto and skiing at Nagano as primary activities. Realizing the Yen rate is heinous, anybody have any experience and recommendations on this type of trip? Any issues non-revving in and out of NGO? NRT will be the backup.

Wondering how often ATL based ER FO's getting called to fly trips to Africa. I check every so often and have not seen an Africa trip assigned to reserve pilots yet.