KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler

USAF KC-10 (Retired ‘24) Lt Col Instructor/Evaluator & Airline 737 Captain. Views my own; think critically, verify sources & keep your seatbelt fastened. No DMs

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Got a kid interested in aviation? Not sure how to help foster it?

In the US, the Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) will give kids from 8-17 their first flight in a small plane!

I’ve flown a few; a great opportunity for kids & pilots, too!

https://t.co/P3q3JGIRE1

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@TheTrentHarvey Divert. There are avionics below.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Thankfully, it looks like water. Not sure about Airbus, but there is generally a valve you can close.

Jets don’t use as much of the “blue juice” for the toilets as they once did. Waste is sucked into an unpressurized tank that’s less likely to leak than the old design.

[Thenewarea51 @thenewarea51]

Is this covered under warranty from Airbus?

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@InfantryPilot Cool!

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Went gonzo on the kid’s dinner. Started w/ a Parmesan Garlic Linguine recipe & totally departed the fix.

White wine reduction, mustard, turned it into a pasta bar w/ bacon, toasted pine nuts, sautéed mushrooms…whatever sounded good. An egg yolk on top to stir in.

Winning.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@ChefGruel Chef, you do great things for all of us. I just wanted to thank you for creating these videos & sharing your knowledge. I watch nearly every one & try to learn what you are trying to teach.

Thank you, sir.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@Bhess

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@MidlandAero Where is you union pin????

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

OK, this is me trying to tap dance on the landmine again, but this song is making the rounds, so I’ll try to explain it:

Pilot contract negotiations begin very soon at the major U.S. airlines.

I’ve only seen it once before & it was during covid, so a particularly bizarre case. Nevertheless, during negotiations the airlines & unions have their own tactics to gain an upper hand. There isn’t a lot that can be done, but vague threats seem to be standard.

One of the airlines recently sent a letter to all pilots that basically said “hey, we can look at your sick calls & ask for evidence”. Which is kind of true according to the current contract & kind of not according to the industry standard practice, but the pilots were displeased with this threat.

It comes amid rumors that the airlines are using AI to check on sick calls & try to prove you weren’t really sick. Like, say, you posted golf pictures on your social media during the time of a trip you called in sick for. There are various other ways I’ve heard they are looking at it, and I think the techniques would be easy to carry out, but you don’t need to know details.

Now, I have no evidence the AI thing is true. It might be, but I have no proof. So you should take that with a massive grain of salt…I’m just trying to give you a clue about the atmosphere
& why pilots received the message poorly.

The union was also displeased. They took their own action, but it’s not relevant for this discussion.

Pilot sick call is a little different than other employee groups. Yeah, get the flu, call in sick. You don’t want to fly when in a physically deteriorated condition.

The 4 day trip you called in sick for may not be over by the time you recover from the flu.

But you also don’t want to fly when mentally distressed, either. That’s clearly a safety issue. There are times when you are not fit to fly one day, but can be good the next. Like, say, mom goes to the hospital in bad shape. But then they check her out & it’s something minor they can fix easily. Hopefully you get the idea.

Lots of examples, but you get the point.

Anyway, this song is a response to the situation I described. I happen to know the “Poker Pilot”…flew KC-10s with him. We had a lot of talented people in the KC-10.

So, that’s my attempt to tap dance on this landmine without it exploding. I imagine this could be seen in a poor light by both the airline & the union…I’m not trying to make anyone look bad, just be an honest reporter & help you understand. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

https://t.co/yAldAsyToW

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@InfantryPilot

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@BuzzPatterson Feel better, brother!

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@WithnailCA Thank you so much! That makes my day.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@JoshuaThePilot Great explanation!

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@matthewrquan Yeah, would be hard to justify taking the risk to lend it.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

As I understand it, this would probably destroy the airline miles cards. Or, in my case, my Marriott card.

I like my points, but I’m under no illusion the bank & Marriott give them out for free. Rather, it’s some percent of the value of what they collect in profit, and their profit comes from interest paid.

Now, 10% is a reduction, sure, but I think the bigger hit would be that these lenders would have to dramatically restrict who gets access to credit. Suddenly a huge percent of the people who have these cards will no longer be safe enough to lend to at 10% rates. So both the interest rate & the total number of customers will decrease.

I pay my card off every month, so they make very little profit off of people like me. Transaction fees & such, but no interest. There is no way Marriott or an airline can keep giving away points / miles if it isn’t generating profit.

Man, if the airlines lose their credit card deals, that would be a huge hit to them.

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Sen. Elizabeth Warren reveals Democrats have legislation ready to cap credit card rates at 10%.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@tscottme I didn’t know that! Count me as a proud Dead Beat!

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@N9XTN Yeah, I’ve seen that too but don’t know how accurate it is. I think probably pretty close, though.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@SeasonsRollOnBy I don’t think they’ll do that, no. It hasn’t improved things anywhere they went private, and they all have the same staffing issues.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

Our Dispatchers plan our routes around weather, but it’s an evolving situation. What the Dispatcher saw a couple hours ago may be very different when it’s time to actually fly.

ATC can issue route amendments. They change the route to help avoid weather, or airspace that closes suddenly. They can do so at anytime, from getting your clearance at the gate to mid-flight.

A major hurdle is that they have to predict how your route will interact with everyone else’s in addition to the weather. It’s pretty complicated in busy airspace, like the NE corridor (PHL, JFK, EWR, etc.) where a lot of traffic will pass through.

At times, the reroute leaves us lower on fuel than we’d like to be and adds significant time to the flight. ATC doesn’t want that, but there isn’t a better option.

I’m glad to see we’re trying to improve ATC. We’ve under-invested in the system for a long time & it’s been showing its age. Now, we need to get more Controllers…they are still seriously understaffed.

[Secretary Sean Duffy @SecDuffy]

PROOF OUR SKIES ARE GETTING SMART-ER

Every day, I'm posting an example of how our new air traffic control management system — SMART — is saving YOU from endless delays and cancellations.

Last week, a flight out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport carrying 119 passengers was supposed to hit bad weather. The initial plan was to fly around the storm.

That’s when experts in our SMART lab stepped in. Using predictive weather models, the lab developed a new, faster and shorter route.
The change saved flyers from a 33 minute delay!

Less time on the tarmac. More time at your destination. That's the power of SMART — more to come 🛫 @FAANews

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@thepstall I think it’s kind of treading water at the moment.

[KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler @MCCCANM]

@GearDown10 Yikes!