J.O.

Company culture? In some places, admitting such an error can be grounds for a one-way ticket back to one's home country.

Other than Swiss, how many "2.0" versions of airlines have survived? I honestly can't think of another one

On 1/26/2023 at 7:53 PM, Tango Foxtrot said:

Delays and cancelations are inevitable. Have a few more of these around, and a plan in place, people won't be stuck out on the ramp all day. Buy the blades and find somebody that has the loaders, and operators unused in the winter.   

 

 How much does it cost an Airport Service Provider to cancel every flight for three days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YYZ doesn't have an equipment problem. They've spent millions and the garage is stocked with dozens of pieces of the latest airfield snow removal technology. Their problem is not having enough trained and qualified operators.

It's interesting that no similar claims were made when WestJet pulled the 787s out of YYZ. It was just a business doing business - cutting their losses.

That was a tragic day. I had met John Miller a few times around the flight school, very nice guy.

14 hours ago, Innuendo said:

A few years ago a French competitor in a "Round the World" yacht race needed a new mast shipped from France to a South American port.

Air France got it into a 707 freighter by way of removing a cockpit window and feeding it into the cargo bay.

I believe it was a bare extrusion without any rigging.

Wonder what that cost them.

How long is "a few years ago"? I don't recall ever seeing AF 707s at CDG, not even as freighters.

Southwest Airlines Has a Problem Bigger Than its Technology

Passengers should be very concerned about the message being sent by the airline's pilots.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Free Report had a high-profile meltdown that stranded tens of thousands of passengers over the holidays. The airline then fumbled its response to those problems multiple times.

First, Southwest blamed the weather -- and while storms led to the problem, it was clear by how the other airlines were operating that something deeper had gone wrong. After that, Southwest dropped the ball in how it apologized and compensated its passengers who got stranded, had to rent hotel rooms during the busy holiday season, or had to find another way to get home.

It was a series of errors that left customers angry and questioning whether they could trust the airline. That's a huge problem for a company that has built its reputation on being honest and transparent with its passengers.

In reality, though, people only have so many choices when it comes to air travel. That means that while people may be wary about flying Southwest, the airline's combination of value and flying to an awful lot of places probably will have them doing it anyway.

That's good news for Southwest, but the airline has a problem that goes much deeper than its software. Southwest's pilots are angry with the airline and they're speaking out about it very vocally.

Southwest Airlines Has a Pilot Problem 

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) released a scathing letter that started by sharing two quotes, one that touched upon the philosophy under which Southwest was built and the other on where it is now. The first was from the airline's founder Herb Kelleher.

“You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy. So there’s no constituency at war with any other constituency. Ultimately, it’s shareholder value that you’re producing,” said the company's founder and former CEO who passed away in 2019. 

The second quote came from current Chairman and former CEO Gary Kelly.

“Arguably, our shareholders have suffered for a long time when it comes to getting a return and our employees have been very well taken care of,” Kelly said.

The airline's pilots clearly don't believe the company continues to live up to those ideas. In the letter SWAPA released, it took bold shots at current management.

"How did we get here? How did we go from the most stable and profitable airline in history to the greatest meltdown in airline history? As with most organizations, the answer can be distilled down to one word: Leadership. Actually, in our case, it’s three words: Lack of leadership," the association shared.

Southwest Knew a Meltdown Was Coming

SWAPA shared that while the recent meltdown was a major event, it was not the first technology-based service interruption the airline has experienced.

"Systemwide meltdowns at Southwest Airlines have been increasing in frequency and magnitude over the past 15 years. From the original Midway Meltdown (and then the second larger one 1/3/2014) to destroying our on-time-performance with the added 'virtual airframes' experiment to the “router brownout” (2016) to the 'Jacksonville Center debacle' (Columbus Day weekend, October 2021) to what we are experiencing today," the letter declared.

The pilots' association believes that these issues were predictable and avoidable.

"There has never been any real accountability for the decision-makers as a result of any of these fiascos, or the numerous smaller ones in between. If the saying that 'insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results' is true, then what is it when the same people are allowed to do the same thing over and over again? Supreme insanity, perhaps?" the letter continued

The pilots clearly believe that the airline has lost its way and that Kelly has decided to focus on building shareholder value at the expense of employees.

Herb’s legacy and the culture he built from the ground up was centered on his employees and empowering them to make proactive decisions at the lowest level possible. However, the culture that Gary Kelly ushered in with his ascension to the throne was the exact opposite. Gary’s vision was to become the darling of the investment community while building an insulated and vertical hierarchical structure where all decision-making authority was slowly stripped from front-line experts with the most situational awareness and moved further up the cubicle chain in Dallas far removed from line operations.

That's actually some of the kinder language in the letter which comes at a time when the overall airline industry faces a pilot shortage. This could bring the issues to a head as the pilots' association believes the airline has chosen to return billions to shareholders in stock buybacks while raising executive pay over investing in technology.

"As CEO, Gary Kelly made a conscious decision to make the less than necessary investments in tech upgrades in favor of maximizing shareholder return because, well, 'our tech’s been working ok for 20 years.' While Gary’s financial acumen cannot be debated, his poor operational leadership and judgment have been demonstrated repeatedly with each meltdown and finally laid bare with the current situation we find ourselves in," the pilots added.

https://www.thestreet.com/travel/southwest-airlines-has-a-problem-bigger-than-its-technology

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20230115-0
 

Article includes a link to a YouTube video. Looks like a stall on approach.

Porter's plan to add jets started out with the C-Series in mind but the purchase was contingent on them getting approval to operate them out of YTZ.

I met the CF18 demo pilot in the line at the local Starbucks during the air show week a few years back. It quickly became obvious that his call sign was very appropriate, but I’m pretty sure it would fall afoul of this “new standard”.

Juan Brown posted an update based on the NTSB’s preliminary report. The Air Boss has much to answer for.

The United Kingdom....

All of which has nothing to do with the Aveos situation. Try avoiding straw man arguments. 

1 hour ago, Skeptic said:

In reality?????   IMO it all goes back to who appointed the Judges....

This isn’t the USA. Judges appointed by PM’s from both parties have a consistent track record of ruling based on the Charter, the law and case precedent.

The Canadian crew of a passenger plane that has been unable to leave the Dominican Republic for the past seven months is finally being allowed to come home.
 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pivot-airlines-crew-1.6649174
 

12 hours ago, Skeptic said:

The likely outcome is that the rule of the Quebec court will be upheld by our present Federal Government who like "Trump" seem to be unable to admit to a mistake or indeed to take a balanced stand.

Government doesn’t make decisions for the court system.

An innocent enough beginning which became a very scary but still fortunate outcome.

18 hours ago, Seeker said:

You have no idea.  I have a story I've never told here - "luck" doesn't come close to describing it.

Most of us have a story we're not proud to tell - all part of building the experience bag, hopefully before the luck bag ran out.

2 hours ago, Seeker said:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1587936385297940480

In spite of what the spokesperson said, the issue isn’t the signal, it’s the battery. They’re lithium ion and Lufthansa is right, they’re dangerous goods when carried in checked baggage. Now I have no idea how powerful the batteries in such a tiny device would be but the regulation doesn’t delineate by battery size. All LI batteries must be declared as DG in checked baggage and packaged accordingly. Inside a device and powered on is not that.

1 hour ago, Kip Powick said:

No need to mod.....

Could've just shot the fire out 

Or knock down lines of trees to build a fire break.

Great story Greg, thanks for posting it!

16 hours ago, Skeptic said:

Bbrrrtttiful Images Of A Flightline Packed With A-10s For Hawgsmoke 2022

Several years ago, my company looked into the possibility of converting A-10s into fire retardant air tankers. There were a few barriers to doing so, including the fact that it was never certified in a civil role. Unfortunately the weight of the Gatling gun is the piece that made it impossible. It couldn’t be removed because it’s integral to the forward structure. Too bad, it would have made a very effective tanker. 

Time of useful consciousness at 36,000 ft is not very long, and even less when the pilot is in their mid 70's and flying on their own. Those early Citations weren't equipped with the style of quick donning masks that are commonplace today. We called it the horse collar, and if it wasn't armed and worn around your neck, you didn't have much chance of getting to it in time.

Welcome back, Kip.

Very cool video! I suspect the shortened time frame of the footage above the summit was also a function of how little time the climbers are able to stay there.