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How I got hired by DAL, the good ole days

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The Delta party is pretty cool and they make a big deal about bringing your spouse, dressing up and celebrating.

It wasn't quite so formal when I got knocked down to the 88 last month.
 
Friend of mine at UAL in the late 1960s was called... he didn't have a commerical.. UAL said get in class.. he said I need to go home and pack... UAL said we'll have your stuff sent. The late 60s were a great time to get hired by the airlines... Those that did had a great ride with many missing furloughs, etc.....

The downside to your story Yip... is if your buddy wasn't a white male... she would have sat in that office for months...

Curious... when did Delta hire its first black pilot?


Still living in the past huh? Welcome to 2010. Delta has a fair number of black pilots. I don't care when the first one was hired, I only care that they have been given the opportunity to compete. That is fair. In the future, I see more black pilots - male and female - being hired. You sir are a moron. Remember the past; live in the present.
 
There was a time when Flying Skills and Determination meant everything...

Yes, a handful may have gotten in because they knew somebody or were related to someone, but that was far and few between.

Then we got HR and political correctness and now we have the system where-
Flight time and experience mean nothing if you are from a certain ethnic group or sex.

I don't judge a person until I know what their flying skills are like. But when I see and hear of certain people getting hired before others, I can't help but judge them by the fact that they didn't get hired by their skills and experience, but by the color of their skin or their sex.

Oh well, this is the state of America that we currently live in. Every great society has had it's high point before the start downwards. Just never thought I'd live to see it!

Always
motch

PS> I'll never forget my interview at DAL, to bad I didn't get hired. But at least I made it to another major that has alot of potential.
 
Good story pilotyip, but unfortunately, that ain`t the way it was done (and still isn`t at Delta) How do I know you ask? Well, I hired on th September `66 and know the drill (retired July 97). Chief pilot wasn`t involved in hiring, still isn`t. Personell, now called HR gave the written tests, if they liked what they saw in your application, then Personell guy and a Captain, either retired or active gave an interview. If you got an "up" from them, you got to go and see the shrink, take the MMPI test and he (the doctor) put in his two cents. At the time I was hired, Big D had 15,000 applications on file with about a thousand guys that were acceptable. I`ve heard those tales about sitting outside the school house door, or a variation of the story also. BTW, Sam Graddy was the first black pilot hired, about `71. The first black naval aviator was killed in Korea in `51, shot down in a Corsair.BTW, first female pilot was hired about the same time frame as Sam...She had it a lot tougher than he did...you know, woman shouldn`t be in the cockpit, mans world, etc.
 
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Someone asked about the shrink`s (Dr. Janus`) rocking chair. Do you rock? do you not rock? My friend had the typical session with Janus, answered the questions that he was asked (he was hired)and as they were finishing up, asked my buddy if he had questions that he could answer for him. My friend said 'Why yes sir, am I suppose to rock in that chair or not?" Janus told him that his wife was going to get rid of the chair, and he rescued it for his office. I had heard that Janus was a semi-hawk on the war, so I wore my uniform for the interview (not out of the service yet). He thanked me for my service and then asked if I had read this mornings Atlanta Constitution (newspaper). I told him that I had not. He them told me that the headlines were that the Marines had dropped a bomb on Hanoi and leveled 9 square miles, and what did I think about that? I told him that I didn`t think the government would trust the Marines with a bomb that big. He just nodded and that was that. I did, however check the newspaper.BTW, Janus commited suicide years later. Prolly talked to way to many pilots.
 
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Does DAL do a class pic with new hires? Heard that but not sure if it's just rumor mill or legit.

I do remember seeing the names of all 8 individuals on the counter welcoming us to Delta and our interviews. Very classy and nice touch.

motch
 

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