It's happened plenty:

http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html

I'm not completely sure what is meant by "NextGen"; is the 787 considered a NextGen plane? If so, it should be in service within the next couple of years (and that's before I retire).

As far as catastrophes involving new planes (and I assume you mean new types of planes, not ones that are fresh from the assembly line), there is some truth in this to the extent that basic design flaws sometimes only become evident after the plane enters service. The Comet, Constellation and DC-10 come to mind in this regard. But modern aircraft design, incorporating extensive CAD/CAM, has greatly reduced this type of risk.

I can barely stand the winters in D.C. No thanks.

NextGen is a new air traffic control system that NASA is involved in designing. It has a display like a GPS screen in the cockpit with other traffic shown, pilots are making routing/avoidance decisions. It looked like some communication from controllers was on-screen. Planes would be flying directly to destinations (not on corridors) with less communication with controllers.

This is the very close to what was on Mayday:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/asp/airspace/index.htm

-Increase capacity through dynamic allocation of airspace structure and controller resources.
-Effectively allocate demand through departure time management, route modification, adaptive speed control, etc., in the presence of uncertainty.
-Increase capacity through higher levels of automation for separation management, scheduling sequencing, merging, and spacing.
-Develop accurate trajectory predictions that are interoperable with aircraft flight management systems and account for prediction uncertainty growth and propagation.

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/programs_asp.htm
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/docs...r_06_26_07.pdf

[I think they showed them were flying a NASA test plane out of Dulles for this.]
[No it's New Jersey]

http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/may...tem-breakdown/

Ok, I'm about half-way done and I have a whole list of questions, but just one comment for now on nutty airports, maybe Cueball can explain it.

20 years ago or so they used to land 737s & DC-9s at Edmonton City Centre (Municipal) YXD (5800 ft) between the skyscrapers. My mother would tell me she would look down from her hotel room into the cabins as they flew by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thEgJjsdiYw

Do these large airliners have keys like a car? Every forget them back in the office?

No keys. In fact, the only airplanes I've flown that used keys were single engine GA planes. Even light twins (e.g. Piper Seneca) are keyless. You've just got to know which buttons to push to get it started.

So you could just jump in any 767 and fly off, theoretically? What measures are taken to prevent such a thing from happening?

What percentage of an airlines fleet s being used daily, how many planes are n for maintenance, and what do they do with the ones not in use and not in maintenance?

Don't fly over Utah anytime soon. The new "En Route Automation Modernization" system has been up at Salt Lake Center for several months now. Unfortunately, I can't speak intelligently on the system; I work at a small tower in a different region.

(There I go linking to faa.gov PR spin again. When will I learn? )

Theoretically you could, though you'd have to power back out of the gate using reverse thrust (doable, but not something we would normally do; American used to do this).

I'm really not at liberty to discuss security measures that are in effect.

I don't know the answer to that, and any answer I'd give you would be a wild guess, but the percentage has got to be high. These planes only make money when they're moving passengers and they do most of the routine maintenance in between flights. Major maintenance checks are done on a schedule and may involve ferrying the plane to other countries for the work.

I will be talking to Salt Lake Center tonight, flying back from Vegas. I'll ask them about it.

So, where do the planes "sit" when idle? Back at HQ in a big parking lot?

Thanks. I'm a bit interested in how the system is coming along. I heard there were problems when ERAM was first turned on and that there was a training backlog for the new system, but that was back in May.

At Atlanta we have lots of hangar space and at JFK we have some remote parking available to us at various spots on the airport property.

My Black Hawk takes keys and yes they are occasionally forgotten back at the office. It really sucks when that happens. Especially if you don't notice until the point where the checklist says to turn the key on, because by that point we're all strapped in and ready to go with electrical and hydraulic power on.

Thanks for sharing so much interesting info. I agree with the guys who suggest you should write a book.

Here's my question: What is it like when an FAA inspector check rides with you? Do they all more or less act the same way or do you have a range from casual to ball busters?

Well, here I am on page 90 after five or six days of reading through your posts every night, and now I don't know what to do with myself. All of last week I looked forward to jumping on and seeing what was next!

Thanks a ton W0X0F; as a Delta Diamond Medallion (March 1st!), your posts have given me a lot of insight into the operations of Delta, and aviation in general. I was pointed here by a post on FlyerTalk, and was hooked immediately. I've dreamt of being an airline pilot since I was a child, but when I was faced with college or flight school back in the late '90s, finances made the decision for me - college. Thankfully, I now have a job that requires me to be on the road ~75% of my time, so I at least get to enjoy the view from 36,000 feet often enough.

You've seriously ignited that desire in me to get out there and pursue my PPL again. Keep up the good work, and thanks for making yourself available for everyone here at 2P2.

Just wanted to add another thanks from an FT referral. This has been a really enjoyable week of reading. I have sent this link on to some friends who have a bit of a fear of flying, as I think that what you write and how you write it might make their flying experience a bit more tolerable. If they can get thru the 90 pages!

You made a reference to not ever wanting to fly a DC9 out of Detroit. Was it Detroit, or the DC9, or both??

W0X0F, you've already written the book, just find a good editor.

I feel like a book needs more anecdotes/stories, embellished if necessary, more like the guy in the GOS thread. I love this thread, and OP's writing style is perfect for this format, but I don't see it being a best-selling memoir.

Yes, story would need good embellishment, you know, like the time OP had the gang bang in Den Haag with the FA and her two identical twins and the time the bag of coke dropped next to the seat and OP forgot about it but the FAA was like cool story bro. Oh and we can't forget about the time OP decided it would be good fun to land on runway 13 instead of 31. Everyone had a good laugh at that one!

Pro-tip: if you're reading the thread while logged in then click on "My 2+2" on the menu bar above ^ then "edit options". Scroll down to "Number of Posts to Show Per Page" Most ppl believe 50 post per page is optimal, it's a lot less clicking

Finding an airport that had a runway 31 and a runway 13 might prove a little difficult.