The cockpit isn't nearly as big as you might think, and neither is the wallet.
Understand. That's why they call it a joke.
That joke's older than I am. Or close.
And I know the line guys at UA certainly took pay cuts. And others for sure.
I wouldn't say anyone flying the 74 for them is exactly "hurting" financially, but it's not as lucrative as it once was. Kinda depends on how many wives, kids, and houses they bought over the years.
Knew all that other stuff too, except for the Mach numbers. Good stuff. Fun to know.
"Flew" the -400 sim at TK a couple years ago. Mostly let the other folks from the podcast fly while I chatted with the friend who got us the access back at the instructor's console. (They were having fun dragging engine nacelles on the ground in crosswinds trying to fly it like a Cessna.
)
He eventually made me get in the seat and threw some of the more interesting failures at me for entertaining and educational fun though. An outboard engine V1 cut is puuuurty interesting.
Y'all got a lot of leverage with those two outboard engines way out there, I must say. Pretty impressive yaw.
He briefed me on how to respond and later I asked what'd happen if I delayed retarding the good three and/or tried to fix things with the tiller. He (of course) said, "Well try it!"
I ended up in the grass next to the runway.
Simulator grass is hard, and holds big airplane's weight. Heh. Right...
I also learned to leave the darn rudder peddals alone in gusty crosswinds. Forgot all about the lovely rolling motion a little PIO starts up in a swept-wing jet.
"Dang, why is the nose wagging back and forth so bad?!" Between me farting with the rudder peddals and the yaw dampener fighting back, those landings were the worst.
Was awfully nice of him to do the paperwork to get us in. I'd been down there years before the new building was built in the 75/76 sim, courtesy of a different friend who no longer works for UA.
Back to the thread; when we used to land back at the home airport in Cessna 207's, a bunch of the other pilots would sit in lawn chairs along the side of the runway and hold up grading cards, or signs with a landing score on the sign. Silly, but something to do.
That's one aspect missing from flying when you're based out of a busy Class D.
Comraderie like that seems common only at single-strip rural airports these days.