JayDub

One of the management types in my office is a USU alum...he laments daily about Dickey. Even the good Mormons have learned "DAMMIT, DICKEY!".

It was originally blocked for 38 minutes, but the deviations in the departure out of DAL and a big deviation for weather impacting the Pioneer/Ponca City area made it a 1hr. 9min. trip.

Our boys just got airborne...

Subtract 20 years and she'd be my ideal woman.

Looks like they're taking a chartered, 137 seat, Southwest Airlines 737-700 from Love Field to Manhattan Regional Airport...wheels up at 2040z (1540 CDT). Southwest Airlines Flight 8068

Consider it done. I reopened the thread after making my point.

I'm getting annoyed with the back and forth between 3 people...so I'm shutting down the threads that have got the the point of borderline personal. I'm good with political discussion of both sides...but I think we all need a time out for a bit. I have left a couple of them open because those threads are (as of now) still in the realm of civil discourse.

Just got this off the FAA Advisory wire. It is the plan for all of the anticipated extra air traffic in Chicago Center airspace for Notre Dame football games.

She's not going to change my vote or anything...but she is kinda hot.

The whole idea of accusing any candidate of any party of "flip-flopping" is ridiculous. Big. Frickin'. Deal. Do you really want your "leadership" to be so short-sighted and closed minded that they can't change their minds when presented with new information?

Quite frankly...I look forward to seeing SMU fail with or without Padron. When do we play SMU again? I wouldn't mind seeing someone from NT put him square on his ass now.

With a very nakie Nicole Eggert on the album cover... (link might not be SFW)

Bingo...

Easy now, kids...there's just something about that word that Jesse used to describe Eva's posterior that makes me cringe. Gone Baby Gone...watched it on a Delta flight from Vegas to JFK (they don't censor the vid on demand movies in First Class). It was a red-eye, so I planned on sleeping...and wound up getting sucked in by it. Spectacular movie...just not sure its one you can watch more than once...just kinda twisted.

Methinks you're thinking of Idaho.

Well, at least there is a cold, dark place under Denver's airport...

So, Great Lakes operates 19-seat Beech 1900's in and out of Denver International to small Essential Air Service communities in the Mountain West. Keep in mind, the Beech 1900 does not have an onboard lavatory since the flights are typically very short. The following is a real Irregular Operations Report (IOR) explaining why the flight made an unscheduled return to the gate without any true operational-related issue that required a gate return. Read...and laugh 'til you crap your pants.

Rudy's was given a North Texas flag by me and MrStrange a few years ago and it hung there for over a year...only to disappear.

Can you really call it a "huge drop" when the price of oil went UP a similar amount just the day before?

If there is anything that could be as bad than airline management like United's Glenn Tilton, who rape and pillage the company at the expense of the employees...it is the idea of allowing pilots to run the company. Pilots are intelligent, skilled people. However, most of them are incapable of seeing the big picture beyond their own aircraft. Which is good...that's the kind of pilot I want. Worry about your domain, not the rest of the operation. I like how the US Airways dispatchers came back in the media and pretty much made the pilots look like idiots. The AA pilots do a pretty good job of that for themselves.

It would be naive to think the Dodges don't have a backup plan. I don't think it is too far out of the realm of possibility.

Weird indeed... The problem at a certain airline that operates roughly 300 silver MD-80's in and out of DFW everyday is two-fold. On the one hand, you have a heavily unionized workforce that is, as far as the industry goes, very senior and incredibly bitter. The bitterness is understandable, as most management/executives at the large legacy airlines are completely out of touch with the frontline employee. On the other side of the coin, you have management that is, as I stated before, allowing accountants to dictate operational policy. Yes, the FAR minimum fuel supplies are being followed (there is no leeway in these regs.) and on many days, that's all you really need. However, you can't make policies that don't allow for proper planning into certain weather and traffic conditions...and that is what a large amount of the uproar is about. Some of the issue stems from pilots who have been taking "comfort fuel" for no reason other than to have it on board for years...and they don't like being told that they don't need 2 hours of extra gas when flying to Omaha on a perfectly clear day along the entire route. Dispatchers are essentially being threatened with their jobs when they plan extra fuel for extended holding when weather or traffic management initiatives are anticipated at the arrival time is "not necessary". Here's how we do it...and how I feel it should be done (and, honestly, how the FARs dictate depending on your interpretation). Dispatcher plans the flight taking into account all factors. If extra fuel was planned (above the FAR requirements and the company-policy standard contingency fuel for that aircraft type/variant), the dispatcher will make a note on the dispatch release explaining the situation that he/she felt required extra fuel. If the pilot gets the release and and does not feel that fuel load is adequate, the captain will call the dispatcher and they will discuss. 99% of the time, this is resolved quickly between the pilot and dispatcher with a change in fuel load or an agreement that the pilot's requested fuel is not necessary. As long as there was a legitimate reason for planning extra fuel, that is the end of story. The company puts their trust in us to plan properly for each individual situation that each individual flight might face. What needs to happen is a big tone-down of rhetoric. The US Airways and AA Pilot's Unions seem to think that they can win over the general public by advertising that management is trying to make them fly with less. The problem with that old-school union logic is, no one in the general public gives a rat's ass about them. These days, the general public views pilots as whiney and overpaid. It's a misconception, but perception is reality. The quicker the unions shut up with the rhetoric...and the quicker airline management starts running an airline for the long-term and stops with the constant appeasement of the shareholders' short-term interests...the better off everyone in this business will be.

My point of posting this article was this...we are getting to a point where qualified people are being passed over for completely unqualified people just because they have what amounts to a $75,000 piece of paper on the wall. And there is something wrong with that. It is an emotional subject for me, because I do feel like there are things I've been passed over for because I felt sitting in a room with a bunch of people who were dumber than me benefitted me very little. And, for the record...I'm trying to get my stuff together to go back to school...but mostly online classes. Not because I want to, because I think the vast majority of college classes are useless, but because I do feel like I will never move up without that certificate of attendance. Absolutely it does. I'm fortunate enough to be part of a non-union labor force...and I like it that way. I feel I have more opportunities without the politics. That said, even the unionized DXers at other carriers are pretty level headed folks. It's the pilots that throw them under the bus for doing their job properly and the accountants that are dictate policies despite having no knowledge of operational factors that make them/us angry.

No one said they were worthless...there is plenty of value in a degree. However, this practice of interviewing and hiring job candidates with a degree and nothing more over candidates with no degree and a wealth of experience is the issue for me, here... And I would not want to work for you if that were your mentality. It's not encouraging less education...it is encouraging the right education for the right person. As you know quite well, I'm digging ditches out here, Tony. Let me make sure I understand. Let's say you decided to open an FBO. You would rather pass over a perfectly capable, knowledgable, and experienced job candidate and go for the new kid with a degree in Kinesiology to come work for your aviation related business?

The point he is making is "we have to change the reality". And we do. This hits close to me because I never finished my degree. I test out at a highly gifted level, but I just can't make myself sit in a classroom and learn about crap that I either a.) already know or b.) know I will never use again. I have more work experience, more knowledge, more cognitive reasoning ability, and more 'street smarts' than the vast majority of people I went to college with...yet, unless I go back and finish my degree, I will forever be limited strictly because of this stupid reality of hiring only those with a Bachelor's in anything. Sadly, employers today will take the guy fresh out of college with the B.A. in Underwater Basketweaving over the guy with 10 years of experience in the field and a record of consistent success in that field. We wonder why we are getting dumber and dumber...