The point about the MEC Newsletter is that parts of the ACPA leadership have bought their own line to the point that they don't understand their own numbers. It could be argued that 42% of the membership disagrees with the policy; for certain, 370 or so active pilots voted against it. In fact, it do...

The MEC Chair has released a Newsletter stating that the recent ACPA survey shows that "0ver 80% of pilots support retirement at 60". According to the results previously released, far fewer than 80% of the pilots voted.

Interesting concept.

For UC64 and all others; When Ray Hall joined Air Canada; 60 was not in the Contract or the Pension Agreement. 60 is still not in the Contract, it is in the Pension Agreement; no-one signs that. Prior to about 1986 CALPA opposed a fixed retirement age; that was the condition under which anyone joini...

There is no excuse for waiting 100 seconds before doing anything. Hands should have pushed the throttles through the instrument panel when they moved back at the wrong time. Of course if you cannot fly the airplane without the autopilot, you are going to die. Training at Boeing (Alteon), I asked the...

AC will be looking at hiring by the end of the year according to a "usually reliable source" late last week. That is presuming things keep going reasonably well. Presuming things go as they appear to be going, the age 60 thing will stop some retirements, and some will come back, but that will not co...

It was an article; possibly in Kitplanes, detailing all the things one of the conversion experts does to ensure long life in a converted Subaru.

Turbine Goose demonstrated single engine takeoff from water as a selling point. I believe the Aztec or 310 could do a single engine takeoff from a long enough runway with a skilled pilot IF someone was shooting at them! Skilled and knowledgeable pilot is the key, along with plenty of runway. Not eno...

Crossflow is no longer in the engine business. They were not good on delivering what they promised; people waited years for their engines, then had problems. In my opinion, they were asking too much from the engines. Too much horsepower promised for long life. The six cylinder Subaru is 3.3 litres; ...

This is one of those things (35,000 foot taxi limit for tires) that is poorly understood in the industry. Most pilots are unaware of the limit; and there is no guidance in any AOM or FOM that I have seen. It is a limit, so there is a problem if it is exceeded. In the case of most modern transports t...

Just to clarify; Transport Aircraft tires are limited to a taxi speed limit of 30 knots, and 35,000 feet of lineal roll. Takeoff or landing are not included in these limits. Tires also have an absolute speed limit which is normally molded into the sidewall. 225 knots is common. 35,000 feet of lineal...

The 30 knots is a taxi speed limit; presumably T/O and Landing are allotted a temperature rise over the longest possible T/O and landing period/speed. (The longest T/O roll I have seen was 65 seconds on a 340-300 in Delhi) There is no time limit on the taxi that I am aware of; the 35,000 feet is for...

All Transport Aircraft are limited to 30 knots taxi speed. This is a certification limit on the tires. If the speed exceeds 30 knots, the sidewalls will overheat, and the tire may fail; on this flight or another. This is a limit, not discretionary. The other limit on Transport Aircraft tires is 35,0...

C170B53 points out that technical training is being cut like every other kind of training. There is a general problem these days in all technical fields. Car mechanics don't understand cars, they just change parts without understanding what is wrong. Often, they don't even change the parts properly ...

One feature of the 787 is that the the GE and Rolls engines bolt to the same pylon and everything connects. In other words, the engine type can be changed as quickly as a normal engine change. So on a 787 the mechanic can change either type of engine using the same procedure. Hint; check the decal o...

The 787/777 will be very close from a handling and systems operation standpoint, thus no problem for CCQ. The 320, Embraer, and 787 are too far apart for most pilots. Even 320/330 won't work for most line pilots because of the different sight picture and completely different handling characteristics...

Regarding flying both the 787 and the 777. The differences in systems would not preclude this. The pilot doesn't care whether the anti-ice system is electric or pneumatic; the pilot selects the system at the appropriate time. The appropriate selection is "AUTO" or "ON", same as a 777. The 787 pressu...

One problem with this whole discussion is that ACPA is not educating the members. The material in the ACPA "Economic Impact" piece was shredded at the CHRT hearings; ACPA didn't tell their members that the ACPA hired gun did poor work and his numbers didn't stand up. The impact is much less than ACP...

A contract cannot be used as an excuse to do something illegal; mandatory retirement is illegal. By the way; a normal month for a 777 pilot is not eight days; more like 16. 15-16 hours for a european cycle; you figure it out. Maybe the senior 320 guys can do eight days on VR, SFO, or LAX turns. AC c...

Thewhole industry used to have a height restriction, because the controls and seat adjsutments used to be sized for 95th percentile males. In the 70's extra range of adjustment was built into seat and rudder peddal adjustments to accomodate a greater range of sizes. Military maximum heights were act...

787's will replace 767's and 330's. Once the 787 fleet begins to build, the old birds will go. Best of all, Boeing intends to certify the 787 so it can be flown by 777 crews (and vice versa) with a differences course. I trained at Boeing and the thought at that time was no simulator required; wait t...

Pension contributions are are 4 1/2% and 6% of salary for the basic and "Top Hat" portions of the pension. The pension benefit only increases at 2% per year of service, which makes extra years of sevice and fewer years of collection a double benefit to the Pension Plan. There are quantifiable saving...

Next contract, ACPA is going to take a vote, then put a requirement for wine in with every HD meal on the flight. After all. red wine is proven medically to be good for you, and the vote will pass. ACPA will take the postion before the Aviation Tribunal and the Courts that it is in the Contract so i...

The pension based "solution" to the Age 60 situation proposed by ACPA discriminates against those not retiring at 60 and will not fly further than the courts. That ACPA should even propose such a solution shows the arrogance and legal ignorance of the Age 60 committee. ACPA could ask that AC use the...

It is suggested that those who want to fly past 60 had a mandatory retirement age when they joined, and should leave accordingly. Actually, according to ACPA, 60 was not in the contract till the mid 80's. In fact, when those guys joined, CALPA opposed age 60 retirement. 60 was not negotiated, it was...