Educating, defending and liberating the pilots of yesterday, today and tomorrow. I’m a Gulfstream corporate pilot, former airline pilot and an O.G. #AvGeek.
Atlanta, GA
Joined September 2015
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The Pilot Liberator retweeted
United wins 14 of America's 40 busiest domestic routes, more than any other airline. Frontier flies 32 of them, also the most, and wins none.
Who wins each route, by share of seats, is a pretty clean map of each airline's strategy. United's wins are almost all out of its hubs in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Newark, and Houston.
Delta wins nine, and seven are out of Atlanta. Four of those go to Florida: Tampa at 73%, Orlando at 69%, Fort Lauderdale at 59%, and Miami at 57%.
American wins six, and four touch Dallas. It leans on DFW more broadly too: of the busy routes where American has two thirds of the seats, more than half touch DFW.
Southwest wins six, all but one in the West, and never with more than 53%. LA to Las Vegas is the most open route of the 40: Southwest 26%, Delta 21%, United 19%, and American 14%. Southwest's real strength is one size down. On routes ranked 201st to 1,000th, it has 28% of the seats and wins more of them than anyone.
Alaska wins five, out of Seattle and Hawaii.
Frontier doesn't win any, and that's the point. It goes after the price-sensitive slice of the biggest markets, and Spirit did too until it shut down in May. Over the past year the two had 2% of the seats on smaller routes and 12% on the 20 busiest. More than half of Frontier's seats are on the 200 busiest routes, against about a third for Delta and United.
ALT US map of the 40 busiest domestic routes, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026, each line colored by the airline with the most seats. United wins 14, mostly between its hubs in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Newark and Houston. Delta wins 9, mostly from Atlanta, including Florida. Southwest wins 6 in the West plus Orlando to San Juan. American wins 6, mostly from Dallas. Alaska wins 5 from Seattle and Hawaii. Source: BTS T-100.
ALT Bar chart of the 20 busiest US domestic routes by total seats. Each bar shows the leading airline in full color and every other airline in a lighter tint. DFW-LAX is 75% American, ATL-TPA 73% Delta, ATL-MCO 69% Delta. LAX-LAS is the most split: Southwest 26%, Delta 21%, United 19%, American 14%. Source: BTS T-100, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026.
ALT Line chart of each airline's share of seats by route size rank. Southwest peaks at 28.1% on routes ranked 201st to 1,000th and falls to 12.0% on the 20 busiest. Frontier rises from 1.1% on smaller routes to 9.4% on the 20 busiest. Allegiant has 7.7% of smaller routes and none of the busiest. Source: BTS T-100, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026.
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
COFFIN CORNER: WHEN THERE’S ALMOST NO ROOM FOR ERROR
At high altitudes, an aircraft can reach a critical point where its stall speed and maximum operating speed become dangerously close. Even slight turbulence, a sharp turn, or an attempt to climb can push it beyond these limits.
The safest recovery may be to descend, increasing the margin between the two limits and restoring a safer flight envelope.
That’s why pilots call it the Coffin Corner , a situation where even a small mistake can have catastrophic consequences.
Note: Coffin corner is a possible aerodynamic factor, not a confirmed cause of the Learjet 60 crash.
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
I’ve seen the Learjet footage & heard the tapes. If you can avoid listening, I recommend doing so.
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
What happened to the pilot shortage?
5 years ago the deficit according to the news was extreme.
Now, a lot of companies requiring 3000-5000 hours to be considered.
Hell, a vision jet job wanting 2500 and 500 turbine. 😂
My old time building wants 1000 and 250 multi.
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
Yesterday, on 19th October 2026 Airbus A340-600 of Lufthansa performed its last flight after 23 years in the skies.
But these beautiful four-engine giants will always hold a special place in the hearts of the pilots, cabin crews, and technicians who have worked with them. 💙
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
NetJets filed plans for a private terminal near Austin-Bergstrom. About $19.5 million, an 8,000 square foot terminal plus ramp, with construction aimed at early 2027 through mid-2028. They're also looking at a hangar and office campus at Dallas Love Field.
Fractionals are building their own ground stops. If you own the airplane, you still choose where it sits.
@HavenASG @flyinhighpod
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
Two Pilots N Paws Freedom Flights helped save this girl from euthanasia in GA to the best life in CO and filled a hole in my heart! Angles are everywhere. I Can't Thank You Enough ~ Judi Harrington #WhyWeFly #angels #homesweethome #thejourneyhome
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
Northwest Orient
Douglas DC-10-40
MSP/KMSP Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl Airport
August 1981
Photo credit Mike Martin
#AvGeek #Airline #Aviation #AvGeeks #Douglas #DC10 #NorthwestAirlines #NWA @nwa_airlines #MSP #Minneapolis @mspairport 🇺🇸
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
My digital graphic drawing of retro @FlyPanAm Boeing 727-227 N385PA ✈️💙
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
2 United Airlines B747-400s seen here in this photo at San Francisco Airport in March 2012 #avgeeks 📷- Sergey Rimsha
"Not every airline career is a rocket ship to the top. Bad luck, bad timing, downgrades from captain, involuntary base transfers, and awful commutes can be the impetus to go from the airlines to corporate flying." #bizav
propilotmag.com/retention/
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
Amazon Air has roughly 4.4X the major accident rate of global airlines and 18X the fatal accident rate, per departure.
Something is seriously wrong with how Amazon is operating. I suspect the model of subcontracting to random tier 3 “airlines” is broken.
Two Amazon-operated 767s. Two different operators. Two runway overruns
It is worth noting that In November 2024, another Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 overran the runway at Vancouver International Airport.
The aircraft reportedly crossed the runway end at around 109 knots, travelling roughly 1,250 ft beyond the paved surface before the nose gear collapsed.
All three people on board survived.
Now, less than two years later, another Amazon-linked 767 has suffered a runway overrun this time at Miami International Airport, with a van carrying 7 people struck by the aircraft.
Two serious 767 overruns. Very different circumstances. But the similarities demand a hard look at aircraft performance, braking, runway safety and stopping distance.
The NTSB investigation in Miami will have a lot to uncover. ✈️
The Pilot Liberator retweeted
THIS WEBSITE LETS YOU SIT IN THE WINDOW SEAT OF ANY PLANE FLYING OVER YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW.
no download. no app. no account.
you open the tab and you are in the sky.
it's called Stowaway. stowaway.live.
it finds your location. pulls every plane and satellite passing over you right now. click one. hit "Stow away" and you are in the window seat. real terrain. real weather. real light for this exact minute.
the guy who made it, jheising, said on Hacker News he built it because as a kid he would watch planes cross the evening sky and try to imagine what the world looked like from up there. Stowaway is that, without the airport.
441 points on Hacker News. people are not bookmarking it. they are flying in it.
just a website that lets a normal person see Earth from a stranger's window seat for a few minutes.
we built the internet and somehow one of the best things on it right now is still:
open tab.
sit in a stranger's plane.
watch the sunset from 35,000 feet.