My in-laws have flown Allegiant a few times out of Bellingham and my father-in-law the former air traffic controller noticed a few 'sketchy' things that gave him pause.
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Huge Phuckups
- Thread starter FlyinRock
- Start date
My in-laws have flown Allegiant a few times out of Bellingham and my father-in-law the former air traffic controller noticed a few 'sketchy' things that gave him pause.
For goodness sakes. Just declare the emergency. And consider the totality of facts. Not withstanding the NOTAM closure, there is really only one runway suitable for the MD 80 at Fargo and they arrive overhead without enough gas to go to the nearest alternate, Grand Forks, just 70 miles away. Sure, IFR alternate not required, but common sense? Military jets and airshow fly in aircraft were operating there. The runway could easily be fouled for several minutes to hours.
Don't forget the dispatcher. In the airline biz the dispatcher and Capt are jointly responsible for the flight plan and must be in agreement on things like fuel load. Dispatchers are also the one who not only pass on all applicable NOTAMS, but they are the ones who check them first before planning the flight, and follow it's progress. The dispatcher should have known the late departure was going to conflict with a scheduled closure. Two senior management pilots (captains) and a dispatcher are each to blame. CRM anyone?
Don't forget the dispatcher. In the airline biz the dispatcher and Capt are jointly responsible for the flight plan and must be in agreement on things like fuel load. Dispatchers are also the one who not only pass on all applicable NOTAMS, but they are the ones who check them first before planning the flight, and follow it's progress. The dispatcher should have known the late departure was going to conflict with a scheduled closure. Two senior management pilots (captains) and a dispatcher are each to blame. CRM anyone?
These same two management aholes just fired one of their Captains for evacing the pax off his plane a few months ago.
FAs say smoke in the cabin. Captain declares an emergency and lands. Fire truck says there is smoke coming from one of his engines, FAs still smell smoke. Fire truck quits talking on the radio. Captain says on the radio he's going to evac. Someone who never identifies himself says over the radio "Don't". Captain ask who said that - no answer. Fire truck still not answering. FAs still smelling smoke. Captain evacs the plane.
Allegaint praises the professionalism of flight crew to press. Says good call, safety primary and this was safest thing to do. Then they ground the FO and Captain without pay. After a month, FO gets to fly again but no back pay. After 2 months, Captain fired for "unnecessary evac".
These two management aholes didn't divert because they didn't have fuel to get to the nearest airport. The had 44 minutes of fuel and it was 20 minutes or less to the next airport. They didn't divert because they didn't want to cost the company money. These two management aholes have been leading the charge at Allegaint to fly with the bare minimum legal fuel to save money. There have been a lot of Allegaint flights landing on fumes.
Allegaint is a scum bag operation..
FAs say smoke in the cabin. Captain declares an emergency and lands. Fire truck says there is smoke coming from one of his engines, FAs still smell smoke. Fire truck quits talking on the radio. Captain says on the radio he's going to evac. Someone who never identifies himself says over the radio "Don't". Captain ask who said that - no answer. Fire truck still not answering. FAs still smelling smoke. Captain evacs the plane.
Allegaint praises the professionalism of flight crew to press. Says good call, safety primary and this was safest thing to do. Then they ground the FO and Captain without pay. After a month, FO gets to fly again but no back pay. After 2 months, Captain fired for "unnecessary evac".
These two management aholes didn't divert because they didn't have fuel to get to the nearest airport. The had 44 minutes of fuel and it was 20 minutes or less to the next airport. They didn't divert because they didn't want to cost the company money. These two management aholes have been leading the charge at Allegaint to fly with the bare minimum legal fuel to save money. There have been a lot of Allegaint flights landing on fumes.
Allegaint is a scum bag operation..
Navy buddy of mine who went on to be a great chief pilot at AA told me in the the first month he was a captain, " Its great, easiest job in the airline. Everything is in the book. Do things by the book. If it isn't in the book, do the safest most conservative thing you can think of. You will never get in trouble for doing the safest thing or what they put in their book." I can't say I have seen anyone abiding by that philosophy getting burned at AA, even if the actions taken were costly or embarrassing to the company.
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Learned that lesson during a Meridian XC headed home from Willow Grove. We were going to airnav to McGhee-Tyson and then low-level it back home, until summer CBs got in the way. Hrm. Need a last-minute plan. IP and I used the proverbial 250-nm government pen to SWAG somewhere to file for, get gas, then one-leg it back to Meridian. Lunken Airport in Cincinnati? That looks like it'll work! Launch, fly, get ATIS . . . "Presidential TFR in effect from [2 hours from now] until [who cares??]." OMGWTF?? Shit!
Land. Don't even get out of our gear. World's fastest turnaround thanks to the ground crews there. IP takes the controls for a borderline inadvisably fast taxi out and takeoff. We clear the area with minutes to spare. Life lesson: always check the damn NOTAMS.
Shortly thereafter, my understandably flustered IP misremembers our level-off altitude as 1000 feet lower than it is. I've just got the bag up and my student IFR nest built. WHAM! *huge nose stuff, head bounces off canopy, and pubs go flying everywhere*
"Uhh . . . sir? We're cleared to FL260, not 250."
"Shit. Sorry. You have the controls."
"If it's OK, could you just keep them for a sec? I've got a mess to clean up back here."
"Sure, just let me know."
"Thanks."
Land. Don't even get out of our gear. World's fastest turnaround thanks to the ground crews there. IP takes the controls for a borderline inadvisably fast taxi out and takeoff. We clear the area with minutes to spare. Life lesson: always check the damn NOTAMS.
Shortly thereafter, my understandably flustered IP misremembers our level-off altitude as 1000 feet lower than it is. I've just got the bag up and my student IFR nest built. WHAM! *huge nose stuff, head bounces off canopy, and pubs go flying everywhere*
"Uhh . . . sir? We're cleared to FL260, not 250."
"Shit. Sorry. You have the controls."
"If it's OK, could you just keep them for a sec? I've got a mess to clean up back here."
"Sure, just let me know."
"Thanks."
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Can the FAA take action against the pilots for doing that?
In a word, yes. Part 121 FARs (airline ops) says in VMC conditions only need 45 min reserve. They were good there. But regs also say must take into account "traffic delays" at destination. They blew that one big time. As to not diverting just to save money, probably not a violation in this case because declaring an emergency is always an option and they did make it down ok. Me, I would not have gone to Grand Forks 20 mins away with just 45 minutes gas in the bag. Not a money saving thought. Declaring the emergency immediately after seeing the jam they were in ( not, negotiating) and landing at Fargo was the most conservative option. Divert to Grand Forks and you arrive with 20 minutes of gas. No Bueno! Yes, they are in trouble with the FEDS. And since they have an extreme fuel saving policy for dispatch the airline will get some extra attention as well. Muy Bueno.
After further thought I think I see where HAL was coming from regarding not wanting to divert to Grand Forks. They had to know maybe 100 miles out, before their decent, that Fargo was closed. They should have diverted to Gand Forks then, arriving over that airport with 45 min fuel, a legal reserve. THAT was the most conservative thing to do. But they didn't want to do that and bus pax to Fargo, or refuel and make the 70 mile flight later, so they tried to get dispatch to negotiate their arrival into Fargo. That put them into a corner where the emergency landing was the only good option. Yes, that will get them into trouble.
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This. I could have worded it better. They knew ahead of time since their Dispatch was supposedly already "on the phone" about this.
Imagine that... A lawyer acting like an asshole. Yes, the phones are supposed to be off, but dude, STFU and read your book.
This is a whole different kind of "crash pad." UAL not paying enough these days?
Were the ladies offering Starbucks or DD?
If the police allegation is correct, at minimum occupancy he was bringing in over $14K a week or better then $700K a year tax free!! Far better then any wide body captain in the bigs.
So you're saying we should be investing in crash pads?