Well I'm sorry Oldaircrew that you feel that way. Unfortunately, on my fleet we have had several DEC's come & go over the years which is something that I have had to embrace. Let's face it, if you leave EK you will most certainly be looking for a position as a DEC, be it China Southern, Korean etc.... As far as I'm concerned, I am a Captain in EK and if the opportunity arises to switch fleets and it suits me then I will take it. Maybe you should've taken the A330 Command like some of your brethren have done. I know they work hard, but they are Captains and soon they will transfer to the A380 with a wealth of good experience.
White Knight, maybe I should use the term Heavy in my call sign to alert Airports like Newcastle that I'm code E compliant. Listen, I get your drift, but some of your colleagues are using the term a little to often. What I said and if you read it correctly, the initial call should include Super. Not subsequent calls on the same frequency. Secondly, the point about the Air France incident I wanted to highlight the fact that because the sidestick is pretty much hidden from view, nobody could see what was happening. Just because an aircraft has more bells and whistles doesn't make it any more safe than before, it introduces a new set of problems. When you guys refer to the 777 as being agricultural, it seems to be a derogatory comment made with reference to the superiority of the A380. Boeing has a very long history of producing aeroplanes and seems to proceed with caution when new technology arrives. After seeing the British Airways & Asiana 777's crash, I can tell you that if I ever have to put one down or be a passenger on an aircraft, I hope it's a 777.