Meatball lineup angle of attack.....MD11 Hook, harness, landing gear. Fly Navy

Bigfoot was a new hire in my class. Man, could he do a V-1 cut!

Right for line up.

I flew the MD11 for eight years. One as a F/O and seven as Captain. It is a fantastic machine but I always like to treat it like its a thoroughbred racing horse. Now I've been on a horse a couple of times in my life and unless you know what your during with respect to landing a MD11, it would be like someone letting me ride a horse like Citation or Sonadore and saying go take it around for a few laps. I might be out of my league just a bit. You absolutely must be on your came all the way through touchdown. On centerline, no drift, none, nada, and once you make your flare regardless of what airplane you flew before YOU are now a carrier pilot. In that, power now controls the glide slope and nose controls airspeed. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. It is not an airplane for beginners IMHO. The 11 has plenty of power, the MD-30 is an ok jet and flies nice too. The MD10-10 is what I affectionately called the Thunder Pig. On the other hand the B777 is a piece of cake. Heck the crosswind limits are 38 knots. If you can land a Cessna 182 then you can land a triple. Good luck to everybody on this bid.

From my FedEx experience:
B-727 is a trick pony. If you know what you are doing she will do magic.
A-300 is a plow horse. Very easy to fly but not very exciting.
MD-11 is a thoroughbred. You'd better know be on the ball. But loads of fun, comfortable and super sophisticated.

They're the ones without the grey hair..

Or now hair. Some of the new hire pictures show guys that aren't that young.

It will be interesting to hear your view after flying the line for a while.

True but with 18, 000 regional pilots there won't be a problem filling classes.

My concerns about a future here compared to the legacies was for several reasons...

1. Concern about long term growth. We seemed to be "flat" around 4200 pilots, hiring only for attrition.
2. Scope/belly freight
3. Leadership issues--the pattern of "***?" questions about things like the 767 sim issues, etc
4. Succession issues...who takes the reins when FWS retires...

In 2011-12 I was a bit more pragmatic. I'm getting happier about the little micro-trends I see happening here, fwiw...

1. The latest bid has us growing. 200 pilots isn't a huge leap, but it indicates we aren't putting all our freight on boats or trucks anytime soon.
2. Still concerned, but pulling into CAN two night ago and looking at a row of 777s seems to indicate we are still going to be moving some of our own stuff for a while. More important, the numbers of A300 and MD11 capts on this bid indicate those planes aren't all desert bound anytime soon.
3. Not ready to slurp down too much kool-aid, but the fact our VP of Flight ops is sending birthday cards to pilots and the director indicates at least someone wants to improve management/pilot relationships and morale. I am more encouraged that the company alluded to breaking up the 76/75 bidpacks, which will make operations smoother for both pilot groups IMHO. It seems that 2 fresh sets of eyes with an outsider perspective might just allow for a few improvements in our day to day operations.
4. Still worry about this, but nothing I can do but hope for the best. Richard Anderson did some good things at Delta, but is now on the way out. Hard to say "go to Delta!" just based on management success recently. For the right guy, Delta may still be the best gig...but it wont' be because of RA at the helm.
5. TNT. It reinforces the growth and new opportunities available to the corporation and to the line pilots.

It will be interesting to see how junior the bottom WB captain and NB captain are on this latest bid. When you are junior here, you are going to be hub turning on the wrong side of the clock. With movement, guys who want to chase the bucks and don't mind the tougher trips can do so. Guys who choose a QOL track look like they will be able to gain some seniority and not just get beaten up for years. I hope this trend holds, and am more optimistic that I've been here for some time.

Anybody familiar with how many trips per month the 777's are doing? And about how long each one is? Just looking for an average.