Well, it's a good theory and I hate to mess with your comfort zone, but since the DC9 is the smallest and lowest paying equipment, it is also the most Junior. The Captains will likely be in their first Captain's seat and the F/Os are almost entirely from the most recent batch of new hires. With that said, the category is shrinking with the drawdown (only the DTW and the new ATL base are left) and as pilots are displaced to other planes, it will generally leave the most relatively senior Capts and F/Os within category flying those last couple flights.

I'm not sure this is true. I have heard that DC9 captains are some of the most experienced, and they bid these routes because they can be back home the same day after the short runs the DC9s make. In addition, they actually enjoy flying these birds. Virtually every DC9 captain (and FO for that matter) I have seen seemed to be very experienced and not at all junior.

Yeah, from what I know, the most senior pilots are the one's flying the shorter routes - same goes for the senior FA's. Not always, but by and large this seems to be the case.

Delta's mainline safety record speaks for itself, but the DC9-50 pilots are not going to be new trainees, because they do not teach new pilots how to fly the DC9-50 anymore and I agree with the previous poster, none of the pilots on the DC9-50 are going to be junior. They likely are going to be the oldest hires ready to retire rather than taking on new certifications for other aircraft now flying. There could indeed be pilots with certifications for multiple aircraft flying the DC9-50's but again, these are likely going to be people who were flying the DC9-50's previously.

I have flown on DC9-30's with USAirways and those planes were solid as a rock, the problem is they had a lot of delays with them.

Obviously Delta's DC9-50s have gone through heavy maintenance checks and are in excellent condition, plus you are not getting novice pilots flying these planes.

^

Now, compare the age/experience of DC-9 pilots with that of the junior league regional jet pilots on the RJ's that are replacing the DC-9s.

Don't get me wrong. All, we can presume, are professionals with thoughts of safety in the forefront.

But, one group has fewer years in the seat.

My rule of thumb when I started flying was to fly on a plane younger than me flown by a pilot older than me. Obviously as I have aged both have been near impossible to achieve :cool: YMMV

I resemble that remark. :)

Well guys, I don't know what to tell you other than I'm on the Delta Seniority list and I know exactly which seniority numbers are on which aircraft. The DC9 is Junior and getting moreso by the day. There are almost no single day trips on it (DTW has the best chance at them). In fact, just the opposite, the DC9 has lots of 5 day trips and has the highest average trip length of all the narrowbodies at DL. Even worse, the DC9 is the one plane you will find the dreaded 5, 6, and even 7 leg days on it.....and yes, new hires went to the -9 on the last hiring binge. In fact, a fair number of them had trouble in training because they came from Regional Airlines where they flew glass planes and had little experience on round dial flight decks.

Now, on the plus side, because of the general stagnation on the pilot side of the airline, even the most junior Captain has at least 10 years at DL, so it's not like they're wet behind the ears, but they are the most junior Captains at DL. Further, as someone who has over 6000 hours in DC9 derivatives, I'll be glad to tell you that it's a hell of a plane. You can drain every drop of hydraulic fluid out of it and remove all electrical power and it'll barely know the difference in terms of flying.

To the OP...if you don't want a DC9...
 

Going back to the OP's point
Um, not to be snarky BUT...
if you are flying from LAX to ORD and connecting thru DTW, you are clearly loyal to Delta vs the many other non-stops AA, UA, WN, etc, etc....

And if you're gonna be loyal to Delta by flying past ORD and connecting to DTW, then you're gonna have to fly on some DC9s once in a while....

yes, I am loyal to DL, but also, as far as red eyes go, DL has the best options to ORD. After all these comments, I am mostly excited to fly the DC 9.

Where did you find a DC3 to fly on?

Fully agree- went out of my way to fly a DC9 ATL-ORD this past February :cool: sadly no UG but still :cool:

Find it funny to mention AK and 3rd World in same statement- but fun to see DC6 and DC3 freighters flying around ex-ANC ^

The level of experience a lot of the regional pilots have is extremely low and safety standards are not up to mainline pilot standards at all.

All of the firms like Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, USAirways and United and more have excellent training procedures in their mainline fleet along with extremely well trained pilots. Time and time again these firms have shown their competency.

But you are right, in the regional market, it isn't up to the same standards. You get these really young overworked pilots using in some cases turboprops which are minimalistic planes which even the most experienced pilots would have serious limitations working with.

Not sure where you are getting your information from. The DC9-50 fleet has been extended into 2013 and the training equipment (including one full flight simulator) are being moved from MSP to ATL in the fall. New hires in recent months have gone to the DC9.

Ooooooh. I know the answer to that question, but it's not a nice thing to say :D

Yet another gutting of NWA jobs from MSP to ATL. Man I wish that merger had never happened, but understand the market dynamics that led to it.