TIL that pilots can't have a full beard because oxygen masks can't make a seal. Guess that's where the pilot moustache stereotype comes from.
Good mask fit came up a lot during Covid. Moustaches can interfere too (depending on size, and mask shape)
Southwest Headquarters Tour
51–60 of 106 posts
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#52I was given a similar tour of Qantas's headquarters, including a walkthrough of their engine workshop and the chance to roam freely inside one of their A380s that was parked up for maintenance. I took heaps of photos, I suppose if this stuff is interesting to others I really should think about sharing them.
Sharing these raw and unedited while the topic is still relevant: https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ
Thank you! The Quantas Ops photos are awesome!
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#53Being a "superfan" of a corporation is already kind of questionable, but especially so when its leadership has been steadily dismantling so many great customer-friendly things that distinguished them from the competition. I'm glad at least something like this has survived long enough for you to have a neat experience.
You could’ve just said, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!” or said nothing at all rather than lecturing her on your politics.
Nothing against her, I just think it's not advisable to put a lot of emotional investment in a company that's already shown it's willing to throw away what made people loyal to it to begin with. I've seen a lot of other deeply committed superfans of Southwest feeling upset and angry and even betrayed at various unpopular and customer-hostile moves they've made in the last few years, so it was kind of surprising to see people still buying into their image. Maybe the changes just haven't hit something they care about (yet), but it's always risky to treat a company like they're family/friends/etc. (even if individual employees are great people).
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#54I don't know if if it's still there, but there used to be a really huge display of memorabilia and photos in their pilot training center along their first floor hallway that went on forever with photos spanning their history: from crewmembers dressed up in toga at company parties to NASA astronauts that became pilots, some of it really throwing back to their old school wild west culture.
Highly recommend reading Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinger for a little more background on SWA rough and tumble startup story with Herb K.
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#55I adore behind-the-scenes tours. I get there's a lot of work that goes into making it happen, but when you drop into a place where people work, you'll learn so much about real life problems that never make it to the Internet. The greatest tour I ever had was at the Smokejumper base in remote WA. At any time when they're open, you're allowed to drop in for a tour and whoever is there that day is obliged to give you on…
I worked a VR tour shoot of the UPS sorting hub in Louisville. There's a bit of idle time, but once the planes start arriving, it is non-stop action. Each plane is unloaded, packages are sorted/routed to the proper plane, they are then reloaded, and take back off ending in a bit of wow at everything that happened in that short time.
It answered a lot of the "what can Brown do for you" question in a way that no commercial could ever do. Their drop shipping and picking/packing facilities are impressive too including their cold storage areas that are massive warehouse sized freezers.
Also learned that the Louisville airport is listed as an international airport solely because of UPS.
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#56I was given a similar tour of Qantas's headquarters, including a walkthrough of their engine workshop and the chance to roam freely inside one of their A380s that was parked up for maintenance. I took heaps of photos, I suppose if this stuff is interesting to others I really should think about sharing them.
Sharing these raw and unedited while the topic is still relevant: https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ
Thank you for sharing!
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#57A few years ago, I got a tour of Starbucks headquarters from a friend. One thing I didn't expect: it's literally filled with rooms where people just taste coffee, all day, every day, to make sure it's what it's supposed to be. It's crazy how even something which feels mediocre so much of the time - fast-food coffee, a budget airline - requires an enormous amount of human effort to pull off reliably. (And yes, you can…
> filled with rooms where people just taste coffee, all day, every day, to make sure it's what it's supposed to be.
I’m picturing a room of tasters going “bitter, acrid, off-putting… approved”
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#58// We later learned that sadly only 6% of Southwest pilots are women, I am not sure that's a "sadly". I used to fly a lot and talk to flight crews. Aviation is a ton of crazy schedules and nights away from home (I assume this is well known) From a family perspective it's bad enough if dads missing from the house for days at a time, much more catastrophic if mom's not around like that. (A child's relationship with mom…
forgive me if I am wrong, but this comment sounds like we are trying to build a narrative. I might be wrong. No offense.
Is “build a narrative” code for something? The comment was pretty cut and dry as written.
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#59A few years ago, I got a tour of Starbucks headquarters from a friend. One thing I didn't expect: it's literally filled with rooms where people just taste coffee, all day, every day, to make sure it's what it's supposed to be. It's crazy how even something which feels mediocre so much of the time - fast-food coffee, a budget airline - requires an enormous amount of human effort to pull off reliably. (And yes, you can…
I would love to tour a coffee company (or a chocolate company). Two of my favorite things. :)
If you ever find yourself in Raleigh, Videri Chocolate offers tours! https://viderichocolatefactory.com/
Re: Southwest Headquarters Tour
#60I adore behind-the-scenes tours. I get there's a lot of work that goes into making it happen, but when you drop into a place where people work, you'll learn so much about real life problems that never make it to the Internet. The greatest tour I ever had was at the Smokejumper base in remote WA. At any time when they're open, you're allowed to drop in for a tour and whoever is there that day is obliged to give you on…
I went on the factory tour at the Airbus factory in Hamburg Germany. It's quite well done, very long (2+ hours), and does a good job of explaining why they're flying giant airplane parts from around Europe for assembly, and what goes on inside all those huge buildings. Among other things, you get to go inside the building where they used to assemble the A380, and now there's 4 smaller planes being worked on in the same space that used to fit one A380.