Who else thinks Southwest retired planes too early?
- Thread starter Bradley W
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tspear
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Timothy
I missed not in all three together. Looks like it is just required training for all three groups. So in theory could a pilot get qualified in all three?
Tim
jonnyjetprop
Cleared for Takeoff
According to my source, the FAA would not buy off on having SW cross qualifying crews on the three different groups. SW lobbied hard that the Max be considered in the same group as the NG, but the AEG wouldn't sign off on it.
Sluggo63
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Sluggo63
We ran into the same sort of problem with our 757/767 fleets. We have 3 fleet types. Our 757s have the IS&S upgrade that replaced the original 757 instruments with larger displays. We have a fleet of 767s that came from the factory with the original round dial instruments, and we have a fleet of 767s with the Large Display Screen (LDS) modification by Rockwell Collins.
Although it’s all the same type, the FAA won’t allow us to fly all three aircraft simultaneously. It’s caused a scheduling nightmare, and we are soon going to split the 757 & 767 fleets so there won’t be any intermixing of flying.
Although it’s all the same type, the FAA won’t allow us to fly all three aircraft simultaneously. It’s caused a scheduling nightmare, and we are soon going to split the 757 & 767 fleets so there won’t be any intermixing of flying.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Messy. And interesting since in the early days of the 75 and 76 Boeing tried really hard to make that a single type rating, and got it. Amazing how changes over the years can screw all that up.
Larry in TN
En-Route
It is a single type rating. The discussion is about if they can be operated as a single qualification under part 121.
denverpilot
Tied Down
I understand. It’s just semantics for the point I was making. Airlines wanted one [insert type rating, qualification, training] for multiple aircraft and got it and then the updates screw it all up. Just an observation. Nothing that important about it to me, I don’t have to make an airline budget work.
jbDC9
Pre-takeoff checklist
Huh? What language are you attempting here? It doesn't appear to be English...
Doc Holliday
En-Route
Not everyone is addicted to the Internet, say like a flight sim guy.
So have you ever flown on SW Bradley?
Doc Holliday
En-Route
He's very young. And I'm sure he devotes more time to playing on his flight sim than studying English.
Larry in TN
En-Route
They have the single type-rating (for all 737s, all 757/767s, and the 777/787) which saves them time and money when pilots transition between categories within the type rating. They also have significantly shortened transition courses for transitions between the A320/A330/A340 though I'm not sure how those type ratings are broken down.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Doc Holliday
En-Route
And have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
No but I’m sure you can write a 5000 word post telling us all about it.
denverpilot
Tied Down
And you can willingly show up to a discussion board based upon the written word to ***** about reading. Awesome! I’m impressed. Really.
If you’re looking for the Cliff’s Notes, I recommend AOPA’s twitter account. Much less work to read. Reading is hard.
hindsight2020
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hindsight2020
You can get a bowl of misinformation anywhere on the internet. I come to POA for the extra serving of snark. 
bflynn
Final Approach
The no answer has been given already. SWA wants/needs to maintain a single pool of pilots for training, admin and scheduling. The best they could get to was two pools and they couldn't do that.
tspear
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Timothy
bflynn
Final Approach
The best SWA could get to is 2 pools of pilots - 3/5/7/8 and 7/8/Max. But all their operations and systems are aligned to support one pool of pilots.
tspear
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Timothy
ok, so SWA is retiring the older 3/5 series planes so they can go back to a single pool of pilots?
Tim
Larry in TN
En-Route
The 737-500s were retired some time ago. Southwest retired the 737-300 fleet just prior to accepting delivery of their first 737 MAX so there never had separate 737 qualification categories. If they had wanted to keep the 737-300 fleet they would have had to split into separate categories.
They currently operate the 737-700, 737-800, and 737-8 MAX.
My airline currently operates the 737-700, 737-800, 737-900, and 737-900ER, all as a single qualification. We have 737-9 MAX and 737-10 MAX on order and they should also fit into the single qualification.