ATI interview

[MrSky]

Best of Luck to you guys!

 

[Colonel Savage]

Best of Luck to you guys!

Do they let you fly with beards?

 

[l8fr82hub]

Your not supposed to have a beard, but it's not really enforced.

 

[SIR MILO]

How much of the flying at ATI, would you guys say is military flying for you guys? Besides the scheduled BAX flying, is there any other real regular stuff or is everything else just charter? I've seen posted before that there is pretty much all imaginable charter flying being done, but who are the customers mostly.

 

[MrSky]

Do they let you fly with beards?

Back on the "Good Ol' Days" Yes indeed you could, now a mustache is all the facial hair you are allowed. Not that I even really liked the "Goat" but the wife HATED it so that made it all worth while!

If it were allowed, I'd grow it again, just to piss her off. But that has never really been an issue anyway...LOL

 

[b707guy]

Current management decided beards were a bad thing and used the somewhat lame excuse about having a "basis in FAR". Haven't noticed anyone recently pushing the issue, and we had quite a few with beards in the past.

We only have two current scheduled military runs, both are combis. Travis-Hickam-Kwaj, with a run to Wake I every other week, and BWI-Thule, Lajes, Patrick, Antigua, Ascension I, with stops at McGuire along the way. All the other great military freighter and combi runs have gone by the wayside, although we occasionally pick some of them up again when DoD can't do it themselves. There are fairly regular horse charters, most ending up in Dubai with stops in Stansted or Shannon. Then we get the really oddball charters, both mil and non-mil customers, but those are hit or miss, boom or bust, you never know.

 

[Colonel Savage]

If it were allowed, I'd grow it again, just to piss her off. But that has never really been an issue anyway...LOL

Now THAT was funny. I had looked at your picture and it looked like you had one, and naturally I thought of the beard/oxygen mask issue and thought I'd ask. I know the Air Canada guys can have beards, and some Euro carriers, but for some reason the FAA had some issue with pilots getting enough O2 with the quick dons, so I wondered about the newer inflatable kind (the "alien mask"), but I assume the -8 has the older quick dons.

 

[NERVOUS]

Now THAT was funny. I had looked at your picture and it looked like you had one, and naturally I thought of the beard/oxygen mask issue and thought I'd ask. I know the Air Canada guys can have beards, and some Euro carriers, but for some reason the FAA had some issue with pilots getting enough O2 with the quick dons, so I wondered about the newer inflatable kind (the "alien mask"), but I assume the -8 has the older quick dons.

Actually on the -8, FlightCrews are provided with individual oxygen generating canisters.

For use in emergency's, you simply pull the pin and suck on that 800 C blowtorch till below 10k.

It's pretty unorthodox.

 

[NERVOUS]

An older system, I forgot to add, that has its origins from Pre-war Soviet Iluysian bombers.

Unfortunately, ATI had a period of groundings and extensice delays back in the 60s, owing to some of the FEs using them up during some of our 21+hour missions. This coincided with mgmnt's. controversial then crack-down on smoking aboard company aircraft.

Fortunately, the company rectified the problem with a round of firings. The culprit FEs being easily recognized in the crew room by their Mick Jagger like lips.

 

[NERVOUS]

Luckily, some of the FEs got their jobs back-thanks to the good people of AARP and the folks at the 747 Local.

Hans Solo, I believe is still there. He was an original Pan Am Clipper Flight mechanic back in the 20s'.

I believe that at 115 years of age, he is one of the original PFEs still around at ATI.