Questions from a student pilot.
 

Hey everyone,

it was suggested to me that I create a thread for all my questions I have on here that relate to Southwest Operations, pilot life, flying the Boeing 737, SWA SOP’s for flying, and just general questions about pilot life! I am currently a student pilot with about 60+ hours spread across the Cessna 150, Cessna 172, Grumman AA-5A Cheetah, and the Mooney M20C. Hopefully I haven’t been a bother with all my questions regarding the pilot lifestyle! I am always eager to learn, and will hopefully one day get to fly with you guys! Y’all serve as an awesome inspiration to me, and make me want to chase my career more!

All the best and blue skies,

FLYBOY2900.

(Submitted 30,000 feet over Texas on SWA3246, N752SW.) 😁

Hello and welcome. If you truly love flying then this is the career for you. Most of us can’t imagine doing anything else for a living.

Admittedly, most of us (especially on this forum) are pretty negative about our company right now, but don’t let that discourage you. You still have a few years before you have to decide what airline you truly want to pursue.

Enjoy the training and the process now. When you look back on it in a few years as you sit in the cockpit of an airliner, you’ll remember it with fondness.

Boeing 737-700 Replacement
 

Hello everyone,

These questions are related to my previous (accidental thread) on the Boeing 737 MAX 7. Question 1:I wanted to ask if someone could enlighten me on exactly what the delay was about, I was sent a link and forgot to refer to it. I will refer to it now after this post to get more info. I know that Southwest is wanting to phase out the 737-700, which is unfortunate considering it’s my favorite variant of the 737 line, and it’s an absolute beast of a plane in my opinion, but times change. Question 2: With the -700’s phasing out, was the 737 MAX 7 ordered to take over the 737-700? Question 3: I guess this could also go with asking, is the MAX 8 supposed to be the overtaking airplane for the -800 when it gets ready to be phased out? Hopefully these aren’t questions that are too big or difficult to answer without making you guys have to type a book out to answer, but I’m curious to know about it! Are the MAX 7’s even going to be ETOPS? Or will they serve the CONUS routes in Southwest’s network? Again sorry about all the questions, thanks for your time!

Regards,

FLYBOY2900.

There’s nothing I know or want to do outside of flying. It’s the career I feel called to, and is my main love! Even if something comes into my life where I cannot fly the airplane for a living, you can bet I will do anything airline related from pushing bags, to maintenance! Aviation and flying are truly where I want to be for the rest of my life!

Also thank you for the kind words! I’m enjoying the ride, and look forward to the finish line, hopefully being in that left seat of a 737!

Consider yourself blessed. As you journey through life, take notice of all of the people that hate their jobs or are lost and don’t know what to do for a living.

We’re lucky to have found and pursued a job/career that we actually enjoy. Once you get enough seniority at the right airline, the added benefits are a very livable wage and lots of time off.

It seems like you have the love and passion for it and that will carry through all of the bologna it takes to finally “make it”.

Right now as my family assists me financially through flightschool, I have taken up a job in retail to round up some money to put my own skin in the game and contribute myself to my flying lessons as well. Retail is a big kick in the rear hours wise, but the pay is getting me all the more closer to my true and forever career! It’s nice to know guys who I don’t even know in person over the internet also believe in me along with my family and friends! Y’all are the best!

Generally speaking, new aircraft allow for network growth and, ultimately, will allow older aircraft to be retired. In the case of the -700, certainly as they get high in cycles it's the logical thing to do. SWA announced in 2021 that the MAX is the replacement for both the -700 and -800 fleets over the long term. There are some 400 -700's alone, so it will be an iterative progression(10-15 years, according to the article)
https://simpleflying.com/southwest-7...etirement-max/

As for ETOPS, it doesn't make sense to certify more aircraft than needed for the mission, which is Hawaii at the moment. I don't think (someone check me...I could be wrong) that SWA serves any other routes that would require ETOPS.

Personally(just my opinion), I believe SWA will at some point augment with to completely different model if they wish to tackle Europe ETOPS routes. I know there are variants of the 737 that *CAN* fly from East coast USA to Western Europe. But there's a reason there aren't any airlines doing it right now.

there are in fact airlines who fly europe to the United States on the max. Swa also plans to do Hawaii on the max7 so it will almost certainly be etops.

Thanks a ton for all your info!!! This is exactly what I was looking for!