Leaderboard

I'll echo the above. I'm a fortunate 2014 hire and so far in my career, I've made it to 55% as a 737 FO, 92% as a 330 FO, 8% as a 717 FO and now 20% as a 717 Captain. The best QOL and money I've made at the company is from the 717 (even as a FO), all of it attributed to my seniority in seat. I get all the vacations I want, the trips I want and days off I want. I have no problem making plans 9 months out because if it's not vacation, I'll get the days off no problem. Being senior in seat also allows me to have nearly complete control of my schedule. I've already dropped, swapped and traded my entire July schedule away. So right now I have nothing on my schedule and will just pick up easy/short turns (DTW-GRR-DTW being the holy grail) or trips that are one leg out at night with one leg home in the morning. I'm only able to do this because of being senior in seat (and live within an hour of base). Get senior and stay senior, even if it means staying a FO. Chase the QOL and this job is pretty dang incredible. I'm considering bidding back to 320FO because I'd be 5% in seat and hold a schedule of high time day turns. Day for day, high time turns as a 320FO pays better than 717Capt. Even without that, I'd probably make more in that seat anyway.

I am actually surprised it has not been a bigger problem in our community. 20 straight years of combat deployments for LDHD units takes a toll. Killing people is not a pick up game and watching your work on ever increasing resolution cameras makes it personal. I did 9 deployments through the years, was fortunate to have breaks along the way for school/staff....other were in a grind for year son end...90 on 90 off, 60 on 60 off...for MANY years. Same issue for the UAS folks who in many regards have it worse. Folks flying airplanes typically have the transit time home from a deployment to start the decompression process. UAS dudes can sit at the kitchen table eating breakfast with their kids, go to work, suddenly they get the call to kill a dude they have been watching for a month. They turn the dude into hamburger and spend the next four hours watching the body to see who comes to collect him...often with his family watching and grieving. They leave the GSU, drive home and are eating dinner 20 minutes later when their kid asks "how was your day Mom/Dad?

Are you and I in the same Air Force?

Valid. Supervisors should know if their ppl have a shaving waiver or not. That being said, until very recently the only dudes I saw with a beard were black. Since 2020 I have no problem believing supervisors were afraid to ask for fear of being labeled racist/hassling airmen of color.

'The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.'

Still many to be hired. But be realistic. Here's an interesting stat: A U-2 Brother was hired at UAL 3 years ago. He is 5,250 junior to me. And was hired over 21 years after I was. The pilot 5,250 junior to him? Hired about 30 months after him. There is a HUGE wave in front of you at UAL if you decide to work here. I was hired in a similar climate (I'll probably be 23+ years before I can hold WB cappy). It is what it is, however it doesn't mean you cannot have a successful career. But be realistic.

They want my knowledge and experience? Then make the compensation enough that I will be enticed FUPM.

The senior in the seat thing is great. I flew an AKL trip with a new CA (also Check Airman getting his 100 hours) and he said senior FOs should bid narrow body CA to share knowledge, experience, etc. My response was hell no. No point in suffering needlessly when you can get the vacation and flying schedule you want and only work 9 days a month.

Here's a hot take of mine...the "toxic leadership" people talk about all the time is way blown out of proportion. Sure, there are some truly toxic leaders, but because a leader wants you to follow a standard and doesn't kiss your ass in all things doesn't mean they're toxic. When I was a punk kid, I watched some Discovery channel documentary about a bunch of students going through BUD/S (I think it was called "Class 234" or something along the lines). There is a scene during their phase 3 where one of the Officer students told trainees to do something and they didn't do it. Their cadre dude smoked everyone and then told them how this is how you create bad, micromanaging Officers. I was mad at my dad at the same time and that really struck me because it was a very similar thing that I hadn't done and now had to deal with consequences. I put the emo music on pause, cut my hair, put on Rocky 4 and started my journey to become a barrel chested freedom fighter (written from my office as I hide from my responsibilities in the office).

That's great to hear. I want to either retire early or have my schedule controlled such that I can fly one or two turns a month and just ride the benefits. I'm on the other side of the equation and hired pretty early on in the wave, 2018. I could have been a captain at year three if not for covid, and now after 6 years I'm at about 12% of the first officers in my bid status. It is a truly phenomenal quality of life at that seniority level, and the reason why I haven't upgraded despite the 50% increase in Captain's pay over first officers pay. My retirement projection puts me in the top 100 if I stay towards mandatory retirement. Even so, at this point I doubt I will end up flying the wide bodies, and I'm not planning to upgrade for at least another 4 years. For everybody who have just recently joined, it takes a good 3 to 4 years to really understand the job and the many different ways to structure it. At American we have guys upgrading and flying as captains at their two-year anniversary, and the reality is that they took the upgrade well before they understood what was possible as a senior first officer. I wouldn't say they necessarily regret the decision to upgrade, but they sure do spend a lot of time complaining about the realities of being a very Junior Captain, and they are making less money than the senior first officers. Yes, it is possible that if you delay upgrading a Black swan event could crush the airlines again (it's going to happen eventually) and you will have missed the opportunity to upgrade. But being the bottom bitch in any bid status, especially during a downturn, can be a lot worse. I know guys who would have much rather been furloughed than sit for 5 years commuting to sit reserve. Just make sure you talk to some of the more senior first officers about why they haven't upgraded before you make the jump.

THIS^^ Could not hold CA until my 13th year. Never holding WB CA was not the end of the world. I cruised along in my career flying decent trips with seniority, lived where I wanted and commuted 1200 miles. Worked in the worst of times pay/BK wise but managed to retire long before 65 after being hired at 35. Don't be like my Deltoid Bro-in-law thinking you have to fly every Green Slip available to age 65. Enjoy the ride and don't make it harder than it has to be.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/40432029/reports-jim-schlossnagle-leaving-texas-texas-baseball-job Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

But his O-6+ sponsor said he was “a good dude” I bet…🙄

Dude, I don't mean to be rude, but this is an elementary understanding of him and the war. Any claim that the Germans, the US Army, and the overwhelming consensus of historians are all wrong should be backed up by a few more facts. He did not have overwhelming material superiority for much of the Africa campaign, early in the campaign he was outnumbered and outgunned as often happens in an amphibious invasion. He did not have complete air control, eventual superiority yes, but supremacy was not achieved until late in the war. The Germans did have a fuel problem, but the fuel problem is vastly overstated in the initial parts of the African campaign. The real fuel problems started when we were able to bomb refineries, which didn't happen for a while. The physical assault motivation claim is absurd. Slapping one dude in a fit of rage can hardly be considered "his sole idea for motivating". I also said "in many regards". He had some crazy bad character flaws; he was vain to a absurd level, he saw war as his chance to gain glory, etc. Not to excuse those character flaws, but often the greater the man, the greater the flaws. Everything can get magnified when you have someone that is almost larger than life. As O Face said, the enemy's appreciation of a military leader is a great indication and the Germans feared him more than any other man. That alone should tell us what we need to know about his abilities. As for his role in WWI, making any comparisons between that and Afghanistan is absurd. WWI: 53,000 US combat fatalities in about 18 months, Afghanistan, less than 2,000 in roughly 20 years. Leaders in the world wars were promoted based on their actual capabilities on the battlefield far more than we have seen in the last 20 years. That's how we ended up with a basically all-star team by the end of WWII that out led and out thought the enemy and now we're talking about open ranks inspections while we are at serious risk of losing the next world war. I'm not some Patton fanboy, but his results speak for themselves. I'd rather be led by a dude that slaps a guy for not fighting than led by a dude that thinks some lint on your uniform is indicative of your military ability.

Hey, leave me alone!

BLUF: he has lingering emotional strings attached to Mother Blue and is angry she does dumb things. He attempts pursauesive logic to sway her irrationnal choice to no avail.

Yeah well I for one am glad to see it slow down. Now, the HR idiots will hopefully be discouraged from hiring bottom-of-the-barrel pilots to "out hire" their competitors.

Pick based on mission and you’ll be happy. And even if you don’t get your choice, you’ll love where you end up unless you’re just a miserable person then it won’t make a difference where you go. If you’re interested in single pilot flying out of the T-1 track, I’d lean into U-28 because that community is going OA-1K and that’s only going to have a single pilot.