FLIGHT OPS FLYER MARCH 12, 1999 **************** ************* Have You Completed the Climate Survey? ------------------------------------- Your perceptions and opinions are vital to United's performance. Please take 10 minutes to respond to the Spring Employee Climate Survey recently mailed to employee homes. You may respond to the survey by calling an 800 number available 24 hours a day. This is the first survey of United's entire population since early 1997. It's also the first to include questions that make up the Employee Confidence Index, which assesses, through specific questions, employees' overall satisfaction with their jobs and their confidence in United. United is using the Employee Confidence Index to measure its progress on the company's People Objective for 1999. The objective is designed to focus United on becoming an employer of choice in the industry and, in the long term, one of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For." If you have not received a survey at home, please call the Benefits Service Center at 1-800-482-5236. Employees Share Threat of Volcanic Ash -------------------------------------- At the American Meteorological Society's annual convention earlier this year, Flight Dispatcher Len Salinas and Meteorologist Dave Kleckner presented information about volcanic ash clouds and the safety threat they pose to aviation. Additionally, Salinas -- who is respected as a volcanic ash expert in the aviation industry -- submitted a paper detailing the subject and its impact on air carrier operations. Information from their presentations received coverage in two January issues of the "Air Safety Week" newsletter. Salinas shared facts about volcanoes and volcanic ash including: ***More than 90 aircraft have encountered volcanic ash over the last 20 years; ***Although seven air crews lost all engine power in the incidents, no aircraft have been lost due to volcanic ash; ***An average of 55-60 volcanoes erupt each year. About five percent of these eruptions eject ash clouds that reach flight altitude; and ***Because current aircraft radars cannot detect ash clouds, which tend to be invisible, crews are especially dependent on advisories and warnings from supporting agencies. Check in Early, If You Want A Good Seat --------------------------------------- Occasionally, deadheading pilots and other employees traveling on positive space business tickets show up at the gate only to discover that their advance seat selection is gone, their reservation on the flight is gone, or both. Here's a reminder about company policy. For international travel, any Advance Seat Selection will drop out of the computer 45 minutes prior to departure. At 30 minutes prior to departure, the entire reservation drops out. For domestic travel, these actions occur at 20 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively. DFW Terminal ATC Automation --------------------------- DFW is testing a Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS) that assigns landing runways and precise metering times based on the optimum profile to touchdown for each aircraft. This testing is the next step in the development of CTAS, and pilots are asked not to request specific runways during the evaluation. A gate-specific taxi time optimizer may be added to the runway assignment tool by year end once the basic airside features have been validated. DFW controllers now use CTAS-generated flight directives for all runway configurations, and the program has achieved controller acceptance in the high 90 percent range. This indicates they think CTAS can now produce decisions that at least match the performance of an average controller in quality. The goal is for CTAS to produce the decision quality of the top performing controller on each team, to be matched by every other team member. United continues to press for a CTAS installation at DEN for the purpose of developing a departure tool to match the arrival capability, and for expedited installations of the current arrival tool at LAX and ORD. ORDFO Seeks Flight Operations Supervisor Candidates --------------------------------------------------- Flight Operations is seeking qualified candidates to fill an ORDFO Flight Operations Supervisor position. Current Flight Operations Supervisor Rufus Hutchinson is returning to the line effective April 23. A Flight Operations Supervisor provides assistance to the Chief Pilot and offers direction and supervision to apprentice pilots. Additional responsibilities are listed in the March 12 posting. Interested candidates should submit a self-nomination form and resume to "WHQPE Job Posting" by 3/22. Welcome Aboard -------------- Twenty-three new-hire pilots began training at the Flight Center this week. The total number of new hires for 1999 is 179. Their assignments are: 6 B727 S/O 6 to SFO 6 B300 F/O 6 to ORD 4 U30 F/O 4 to SFO 7 B737 F/O 7 to ORD ************************************************************ Flight Operations Communications, WHQVF 847/700-7288 "Flight Ops Flyer" also is available in the United Airlines section of CompuServe under "Pilot Information." ************************************************************