Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Hubs and Hub managers

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations | Hubs and Hub managers

DVA12501
Captain, B737-800
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Joined on January 07 2015
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247 legs, 539.7 hours
233 legs, 518.3 hours online
239 legs, 518.9 hours ACARS
14 legs, 37.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 01:50 ET by Jameil John

I'll start off by saying I know our VA has "Home airports", but selecting a home airport to me anyway has no real effect, you can select any airport even ones that are not the real delta's hubs.

I suggest we have hubs. For example if your hub airport is KATL and you select Find A flight, KATL will be the default 'Departing from' airport.
If you don't what to fly out of your hub, you can change the 'Departing from' to KLAX for example. If you selected a codeshare airline like Aeromexico or KLM the 'Departing from' will switch to blank, allowing you to select an appropriate airport for that airline.
The same thing should work for our sister virtual airline, Air france virtual.
In each DVA pilot's profile in between 'Additional Ratings' and 'Flight Academy Certifications' it should say for example, Hub Airport : Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (KATL).
Also a DVA member can change their hub once every 7-30 days.

The real Delta Air Lines hubs are:
* Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
* Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris)
* Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
* Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
* Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
* John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York City)
* LaGuardia Airport (New York City)
* Logan International Airport (Boston)
* Los Angeles International Airport
* Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport
* Narita International Airport (Tokyo)
* Salt Lake City International Airport
* Seattle–Tacoma International Airport

So when DVA adds hubs, a pilot can choses one of the 13 hubs as their hub.

Also if a member wanted to join the KATL hub, but the KSLC and KLGA hub don't have much members, and the KATL hub has a lot of members. A hub manager or another DVA staff member could could suggest KSLC or KLGA to that member. That way all 13 hubs can be fairly balanced with the amount of members.

I would also like to see in addition to Senior staff,Administration services, and Chief pilots are Hub managers. Hub managers should be a new type of staff whose jobs is to oversee and maintain his or her hub. Hub managers have the ability to approve Pilot reports and schedule check rides for pilots who are a part of the hub manager's hub.
I am the KATL hub manager, I can approve a pilot report or if the pilot report does not meet our VA's PIREP standards reject it and give a reason why it was rejected. Also If a pilot in the KATL hub makes a request for a checkride, I can assign one.

Hub managers can only approve/reject PIREPS and assign check rides to pilots who are in their hub obviously.
Hub managers should get their own @deltava.org email addres, and recive notification emails if a pilot in that hub manager's hub files a pilot report or request a check ride.
For example when I become the KATL hub manager my DVA email should be, Jameil_John@deltava.org.

Hub managers could be able approve or reject check rides of members who are at least two stages below them. For example if I'm in the 777-200 program (stage 5), I can approve or reject a checkride of a KATL hub pilot who is currently in stage 3 or below.

The requirements to be a hub manager should be
-Be very helpful on the water cooler and Teamspeak(once we have one.)
-Must be a DVA member for at least 5 months.
-Have a good record with no disciplinary actions for a year.
-Must be 16 years or older.
-Must be active.
-Must accept or assign a check ride for at least every 10-30 days.(what should it be within 10-30 days?)
-(When DVA has a teamspeak 3 server. I will go more in depth on a DVA TS3 server later.) Must be Active on teamspeak 3.

Thats all for now.

Please tell me if something should be added, changed or removed.
I strongly suggest DVA adds hubs and hub managers, not only adding more functionality to our virtual airline, with the addition to hub managers it will make responses to a hub member's check rides and requests for a checkride faster, if that member's hub manager is online and available.
Hopefully DVA gets hubs and hub managers and I become the DVA Atlanta hub manager.

Thank you fellow DVA staff and pilots!

Jameil John

Captain, B737-800

DVA12719
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
OLP

Joined on July 26 2015
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153 legs, 258.9 hours
32 legs, 43.1 hours online
145 legs, 252.0 hours ACARS
16 legs, 23.9 hours event
12 legs dispatched, 16.4 hours

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 06:40 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

I like a lot of what you are saying, Jameil. A couple major changes though:

1. You should have to be here for at least a year. Not 5 months.
2. They shouldn't be allowed to assign checkrides. That's a job for the Chief Pilots only. The CP is an expert in his field and we can't just let other people take his job even if it might speed things up a bit.

Yisrael Wealcatch (DVA12719)

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 07:16 ET by Jameil John

Cool, thanks Yisrael. I agree the minimum should be at least a year a part of delta virtual airlines to be a hub manager.
Just remove everything about Check rides, leave that up to the chief pilots only.

Jameil John

Captain, B737-800

DVA3794
Senior Captain, A320
OLP, 737-ATP

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65 legs dispatched, 72.4 hours

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 08:45 ET by Vincenzo Musumeci

The set up that you describe above is the one used from the majority of the VA out there. ......not the case here at Delta.
For whatever reason Senior Staff has never considered this option, focusing more on aircraft programs at different stages.....we are one of the few VA where you need a Check Ride before you're allowed to use an aircraft of different stage of the one that you belong.
With this I'm not saying that your way is wrong, but the stages approach has always been in place from the very beginning and I don't see how is going to change

Vincenzo Musumeci (DVA3794)

DVA2887
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3 legs dispatched, 2.5 hours

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 09:16 ET by Andrew Vane

Thanks for your detailed and concise thoughts Jameil. I've seen how some other VA's have hubs and hub managers and how those things are run (from an outside point of view). There are many advantages of hubs but also a lot more issues with using a hub based system.

Having been in existence for 14 years now, longer than any other VA, I have to say DVA was created with an organized structure and vision which has served us well for these years. One of the major differences between DVA and other VA's is the freedom offered to the pilots. There are guidelines and a schedule to follow. There is minimal criteria for flight report approval compared to other VA's. There is also the freedom to not fly a set number of flights per month to maintain membership. You merely need to log in. We allow all program staff to review and approve flight reports. That way, whomever is online and available can approve a flight report instead of pilots waiting for a hub manager to return from vacation to get their flight reports approved. I already get a ton of help desk issues. I can't imagine how many I'd get if we had to depend upon one person to approve a flight report. Hubs would create more layers of management, not simplify things.

If you take time to read through the Pilot's Manual and other documentation in our document library, you'll see how DVA is operated. We're aircraft program based, not based on regional locations and there is a vast difference between the two.

In addition, significant web site changes would be required to revamp the entire organization and web based applications we already have here and which are currently being upgraded and expanded upon. Frankly, it would be easier to start a VA from scratch than to try to change our web site this significantly.

If a pilot here does want to become a staff member, there are guidelines and recommendations in the Pilot's Manual and there are occasional opportunities which open up when staff members leave. I would add that most staff positions require a minimum of number of months here, more than 5 months. I would also strongly recommend anyone interested in staff going through the flight academy courses we offer here. They're free and, like everything at DVA, you get out of it what you put into it.

Thank you for sharing your ideas here. We appreciate the creativity and energy our pilots put into the thought process of making our VA better! cool

DVA9052
Captain, DC-6
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Joined on September 14 2010
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42 legs, 112.4 hours event

Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 14:14 ET by Kyle Bjorklund

I really enjoy the idea of the aircraft program we have in place. For some reason, it feels more realistic for a real airline.
Here, you can say that you are an "Airbus Driver" or a "Boeing Driver." You get to have pride in your airframe of choice while you are in that program.
This virtual airline's approach to grouping pilots with aircraft and checkrides is totally unique - one of the best virtual airlines out there (in my humble opinion) for that reason.

Kyle Bjorklund

Captain, DC-6

DVA12104
Senior Captain, B727-200

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Posted onPost created on September 08 2015 20:27 ET by Brian Donaldson

Greetings F/O Jameil John. Welcome to the group!

I'm currently rocking my own little virtual Braniff DFW hub that once existed a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, with a proud 727 jetliner!
When I'm done with that, I'm gonna recreate the Delta CVG hub and fly the wings outta that.

A few months ago, I cruised the skies of Australia, then explored China, then Alitalia flight routes out of Rome.

It's pretty cool that we DVA rock star pilots can have our own little make believe world and get to launch into the skies wherever we feel we'd like to explore.
I myself have learned a huge amount more about the commercial aviation world since joining DVA.

The historic flights of DVA are nothing short of awesome!

You have good ideas though..perhaps create a informal group of voluntary DVA pilots who'd like to do that together and play in a informal non DVA
hub environment. Just throwing the idea out there.

The current DVA experience is really fun to explore though. smile

Brian Donaldson

Senior Captain, B727-200

DVA10339
Captain, B777-200
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Posted onPost created on September 09 2015 13:11 ET by William Anderson

I agree with what Andrew has stated. The reason DVA is so attractive to so many people is because of not only its uniqueness, but it's freedom. By going to a hub system, DVA is falling back to what OTHER airlines do. Not DVA. Therefore losing the uniqueness that it brings to the table.

William Anderson

Captain, B777-200

Posted onPost created on September 09 2015 19:21 ET by Yisrael Wealcatch

Agreed

DVA10670
Captain, B737-800

Joined on April 14 2012
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Toowoomba, Queensland Australia

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Posted onPost created on October 13 2015 19:14 ET by Christian Bonenfant

Agreed, with the above comments. I like the equipment program approach and the check rides. It stimulates knowledge and learning. Cheers

Christian Bonenfant

Captain, B737-800

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