Seeker

Southwest staffs and equips the airline for the 360 (or whatever) days per year when they don't have a winter storm to deal with. Every business and organization does this; from the person who decides (in July) how many plow trucks will available for the next winter to the person who decides on the staffing for the nightshift drive-through window at your local Tim's. I believe that most organizations (and the people responsible) put considerable effort into this planning. At great cost it would be possible to staff and equip the airline for 100% (theoretically) of the weather events that might occur. Of course this means that for 99% of the time you are overstaffed and have surplus equipment sitting idle - doesn't please the shareholders due to lost profit and doesn't please the customers due to higher ticket prices. I have often tried to explain this to disgruntled passengers in the airport. It goes like this; "Yes, passengers trying to fly today are delayed and disadvantaged by a lack of extra crew to pick up the slack but passengers flying for the other 364 days of the year got lower prices." Their reply, "Well, I would have paid more to have the extra crew available." Of course doesn't work like that. Millions and millions of passengers need to pay more so that on the bad weather day thousands of passengers aren't delayed. I ask people how they would feel about a system like this; your ticket price was, let's say, $1000.00 but you have the option of paying only $500 with a 1 out of 365 chance that you're delayed for weather - deal? Naturally, given the option, people do the math in their head and take the cheaper ticket. All that being said I do think airlines (hotels, restaurants, etc) that do a better job of managing this should be rewarded (with more business) and those that fail to do so should be scorned. The problem is that customers have short memories. Next year virtually all (certainly most) of the people caught in Southwest's mess will book again if the ticket is $5 cheaper than the alternatives.

Well, it is about the transport minister - seems close enough to be on topic.

You are correct but if I had to choose between an engineer or somebody with a BA in medieval poetry I'd choose the engineer. Of course Minister Algebra has shown us it's still no guarantee of success.

I think the general assumption about engineers (particularly mechanical engineers) is that the selection, training and eventual meeting of the qualification standards are "proof" of a high level of problem solving ability and underlying skills in logic, cost/benefit analysis, etc, etc. Furthermore that these are universally useful abilities.

Not necessarily. I have a family member who's an engineer and the stories he has to tell after 4 decades in the industry are shocking.

Well, that's not true. Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Halifax, Saint John, St John's, etc have had, and been using, these approaches since 2018 too. Pearson has had the exact same procedures but hasn't used them. It's not new at all, they just didn't use them.

Good one! Took me a few reads to get it.

Yeah, someone has to be so traumatized that they can never fly again after the terror they must have felt.

Thanks. Yes, she certainly does have presence.

Can't seem to find the FA being referenced.....

Unwritten? I say; write it down, publicize it and stick to it. Arrest the crew and the next day the airport is a ghost town.

Test

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

Railways? Luxury, pure luxury! The places I flew didn't even have railways or roads or power lines - nothing but lakes, rocks and trees. I used FOTM - finger on the map - as you'd fly along you'd move your finger to track your current position. Worked pretty well - didn't even use aviation maps, we used forestry maps because they were higher resolution at 2 miles to the inch. None of those bush planes had any sort of navigation at all. They were physically equipped with compasses but none had been swung in decades. One airplane I flew has an ASI, VSI, Altimeter, a clock that didn't work, a compass that always pointed North and a single VHF radio with a range of about 10 miles.

Yeah, I like the headline too: Climate activists stop private jets from leaving Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport Not many "private" c-130s and, unless I missed something they aren't jets!

I know, right! Then spent the next year flying at Rusty Myers too. No doubt delayed my airline career but wouldn't trade my time in the Beech for another two years at a flight level.

You can't post that without posting this. I spent one glorious summer flying this exact aircraft!

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

Maybe it would show the pilot was careless/reckless just before hitting the wires? I know whenever I used to fly under the wires I'd always aim to pass right under one of those big ball markers (they're a lot bigger up close!). Makes it easier to judge your distance.

Well, don't know what to believe now. There are many websites all around the internet referring to this as combat footage. Are they all wrong? One screen capture I got from the video seems to agree with the story about the fin damage when compared to a stock photo. The flames from the tailpipe (which I initially assumed to be from anti-aircraft munitions) could just be from the unusual attitude caused by the ejection.

Yeah, I was sent the link from another pilot that I know to be reliable and skeptical about these things. The Youtube channel specializes in combat footage and has over 2 million subscribers. Based on those two facts I accepted the video as presented. Well, let that be a lesson to me!

Whoops, posted a little too quickly. The comments say this happened in Russia, training flight in June or July. Pilot hit high-tension power lines which tore the fin off. Anyway, pretty dramatic video. Play it at 1/4 speed to catch a few frames of the aircraft tumbling away after the ejection. Also, interesting to note the pilot pulling into a vertical climb before ejecting to get altitude.

Hah! I knew someone would call me out on the "retired" bit. Of course I didn't mean retired like you are retired Kip - I meant retired like my Mother. This week, next week or the week after doesn't matter to her.

Friends and family will sometimes ask about booking, and using, a low-cost carrier for a planned trip. I explain that it's simply a lottery with unknown odds; should they get lucky and there are no adverse weather conditions (at either end or anywhere in the system) co-incident with their trip and the airline hasn't experienced a mechanical issue with the single airplane scheduled for their trip that they may be able to save a significant amount of money. OTOH, a weather event or mechanical event could result in a significant delay of up to a week during which time you will be responsible for meals, hotels, transportation back and forth to airport etc. Generally, if you're going for an event (wedding, funeral, cruise ship departure) I feel it's not worth the risk. If you're retired and just going on a random visit to family where +/- a week doesn't matter - roll the dice.