Best Fleet For An S/O???

[Wing Flex]

B744, A340 or B777... Which is the best for a new joiner S/O to start on?

[Drunknsailor]

It really depends on your perspective. I am a -400 guy. We have 10(11?) ULH departures a day out of HKG 3 are to LA 3(4?) are to LHR and a smattering of others. THat means you will see a lot of LA and LHR!! The pro's of the -400 are that everywhere we go is a daily service so you will have 3 4 day patterns a month, every month. The A340 does several accented 2 or 3 times weekly services giving you the option of some longer layovers.( A buddy of mine has 84 hours in CDG next month) Of course longer layovers means fewer days off, but more beer time at the far end. All in all the rosters are about the same, until... the airbus guys get ccq'd onto the 330 then they go to Australia and DXB. These trips are not worth a lot of hours so the days off count goes down a bit, more choices of layovers, though. The 777 is not here yet so as they come on line they will have few dstinations so not a lot of variety.

As an office, the -400 is set up very well in that we have a toilet and the bunks right in the cockpit. The Airbus guys have to go traipsing about the aircraft for their beds and toilets. I do not know about the layout on the new 777's. The downside of the -400 cockpit is it is noisy and there is no tray table to cut your crew meal.(If you order the lamb curry you will not need a knife)

As far as working environments go, it is probably about the same although a larger percentage of the "colorful" captains described in this forum are on the -400. I do know that the 777 has the reputation of being the funnest fleet in the company.

All in all it doesn't really matter because you will likely change types when you upgrade!

:ok:

[Wing Flex]

What about the skippers... I hear stories that some of the older 744 captains make the S/O prepare the bunk for themselves. Is this true?

I've also heard the 777 skippers are generally younger and of a newer generation, hence supporting your statement,
I do know that the 777 has the reputation of being the funnest fleet in the company

[The Messiah]

The S/O makes both the bunks usually and somehow still manages to eat all the sandwiches before anyone else gets one.

[Yeager]

The good news is that as soon as you've finished doing the bunks you get to eat the sandwiches. And all in all its only for 3-4 years.
Get in here as soon as you can mate - that will see you "operating" an aeroplane again sometime around 2010 (unless you end up like this dude http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1271579.stm ). :ok:

[Traffic]

Yeager

Last time I looked, Darby was back at CX with his life under control.It's obviously not the heartless company many make it out to be. Virgin Blue, it seems, is not the be all and end all of aviation.

DT was not planning to fire him in the first place. It was KB that screwed up the process. If darby had grabbed the phone and gone straight to DT the next day, none of this would have happened.

FWIW.

[jtr]

Darby is back at CX. Where/When/How/Why?

And on the off chance you are not telling porky pies..

"It's obviously not the heartless company many make it out to be."
No, absolutely correct. It's a heartless company that is desperate to fill seats with qualified behinds - Ref. -49 ers or 22 ers or how ever many were un/lucky enough.

"Virgin Blue, it seems, is not the be all and end all of aviation"
No, but when you lob some bar snacks over your shoulder in youthful exuberance and find yourself on the breadline, it is still a job!

[hostile23]

Desperate times; call for Darby? I don't think so somehow.
This is garbage, they would never have him back in a pink fit.