I don’t really want to do too much final analysis as there is far too little information available but here are my thoughts so far –
1) An awful lot of terrible, terrible journalism, whereby the dimmest of the passengers are the favourites for being interviewed. A classic example of this is the woman who said on TV that the Captain PA’d saying they had a problem with engine 3′!!!
2) The problems appears to lay with a switch in the nosewheel bay which identifies whether the aircraft is on the ground or in the air. It is referred to as the ‘air/ground logic switch’ and lets the aircraft systems know how to configure themselves. It would appear that either the aircraft did not shift from air mode to ground mode on landing or during loading the center of gravity shifted far enough rearwards to unload the nose gear oleo and trick the aircraft into thinking it was airborne. The captain (probably after consultation with his Maintrol department) chose to take 3 courses of action to attempt to remedy the situation. Firstly he climbed into the nosewheel bay to see if anything could be done directly to the unit (I don’t know exactly but perhaps a light tap on the side of the unit might just relaease the mechanism of the switch, it’s got to be worth a try), secondly he had the cargo redistributed with more emphasis in the forward hold to get more weight onto the nosewheel and thirdly he loaded the passengers on board and tried some sudden braking applications while taxiing to load the nosewheel and its sensor. He needed the passengers on board so that if the sensor changed to ground mode he could depart immediately without the crew going out of hours.
3) The ‘Captain covered in oil’ claim is sensationalism from the dimmer passengers. Many passengers have reported that while going into the nosewheel bay (an area riddles with hydraulic lines) he picked up a stain on his white shirt. Reports of him ‘fixing the plane’ are conjecture.
4) I have seen no evidence of any aborted take off as reported. He needed to make sudden brake applications as he was on the taxiway and could only do so from low speed. If he had been doing a deliberate take off abort he would run into a problem with brake temperatures which would delay any subsequent departure!
5) The media has mixed together 2 completely separate events to create a sensation. Let me explain. The ‘aborted take off to redistribute the cargo hold’ is rubbish. As I said above they were two entirely separate actions.
6) In my opinion the Captain actually appeared to go far beyond the call of duty to get those passengers home however their lack of knowledge has caused him to become persecuted. Whether I would have gone to those lengths myself I very much doubt but it was his call and I cannot see anywhere (yet) where he deserves a rough ride. When he faced the passengers in the terminal (again something beyond the call of duty) he recognised that their lack of knowledge was giving them doubts, so he was man enough to offer them the choice. I find it remarkable how many people who complained chose to put up and shut up rather than pay their own way! If it wasn’t for the actions of this crew the passengers would have been stuck in Mahon for probably at least 12 hours in the treminal building as there would be no hotels available in peak season.
It just goes to show what damage a little lack of knowledge can cause!
By: LBARULES - 16th August 2003 at 18:48
Good points Wys as usual. I know I have said a few things about MYT but im not saying they are a bad airline. They are a reputable airline doing a job and when I went with them In February apart from a 3 hour delay on the way back they were very good.
By: skycruiser - 16th August 2003 at 15:41
Regarding the oil on the Captain’s shirt,
I went to work last month and got some oil on my shirt from removing my luggage from the bus. I hope the pax didn’t think I went and fixed the plane.
By: wysiwyg - 16th August 2003 at 10:47
Especially as it was preceeded by an 0410 Faro (for which I have to set my alarm for 0210!) with 2 days in the sim before that, all with minimum rest in between! Knackered, probably much like yourself!
PS…and the Ibiza doesn’t take off until 10 past midnight!
By: SOFTLAD - 16th August 2003 at 10:36
Thats nasty a night DLM and IBZ.Know what it feels like mate.
By: wysiwyg - 16th August 2003 at 10:29
I hope this post makes sense but I have just got in (10am) from a very long night Dalaman!
As flightcrew we are very guilty of jumping down the throats of our groundstaff. We are paid reasonable (used to be excellent) salaries to do a skilled job but we tend to expect too much from the people who work around us. I am always expected to perform to a very high level so consequently I expect the same from the cleaner, dispatcher, refueller, etc. The problem is that these guys also work long anti-social hours but for much less money and correspondingly can frequently be highly unmotivated. The ground staff (along with the cabin crew) face another condiserably greater pressure in the form of 235 B757 passengers staring them angrily in the face! I’m not defending the situation but the ground staff are in a lose/lose situation when it comes to dealing with delays which when compounded by poor salary, understaffing, antisocial hours and other staff needed to dispatch other flights, etc so unfortunately the service they give reflects their feelings about their current situation. I know that is of no help to the passenger (I would be pretty livid too) but it is an unfortunate human nature which I think is probably more dominant than any cultural issue. On the other hand, there are a few Spanish airport workers who seem to be on permanent 24 hour siesta but you get that at all airports!
Night Ibiza with all the Club 18-30 brigade tonight. Whoooppeee, my avatar all over again!!!
By: batbay - 15th August 2003 at 21:01
Oops! No, sorry Softlad, now we have a communication problem!
For me “knowledge is strength”, which is how I explained to my wife why I was reading ” The Worlds Greatest Aircraft Disasters” during a long haul flight.
My comment about the “dodgy” aircraft referred to the Bergamo situation which evolved after the Aircraft due to make the trip had a problem, and I had to wait until a 146 finished its GCI trip and was sent to get us out of Italy. I’d rather be delayed than be put on an aircraft that was questionable regarding servicability.;)
By: SOFTLAD - 15th August 2003 at 20:42
Dodgy aircraft ? No i dont think so. It had a minor problem but due to the rules we have to stick by the aircraft could not depart. I see what you are saying though you would sooner not know the problem than be told the truth about the situation ? We have a policy of being honest with our customers and keeping them informed.Each to their own though.
By: batbay - 15th August 2003 at 20:31
Yes, that’s accepted. Perhaps I should have taken the other side and congratulated the MyTravel staff for having the courage not to call in a “sickie”! I can imagine the hassle they got.
My initial comment was perhaps initiated by memories of a 4 hour delay in Bergamo this summer when my request to speak to a rep from FlyBe was met by the reply -“There are none”.
Yes, I know I tend to support FlyBe normally but I also accept delays as preferable to flying on a “dodgy” aircraft.
(Hope I’m not digging a hole here!):o
By: SOFTLAD - 15th August 2003 at 20:20
Batbay a Mytravel rep was with the passengers during their whole ordeal.Due to the length of delay they had a few different ones but the passengers were kept fully informed of all developments with the situation.It was the good will of the Captain to go talk to them to further keep everyone up to speed with the developments.I dont think they could have done anything else ?
By: batbay - 15th August 2003 at 20:10
Yes, Wys, once again you have given us the goods in an excellent sum-up.
Just one nagging doubt though – it’s all very well for members of the Forum (not directed at you) to denigrate “the local drunks”, but I wonder just how well communication was handled by the local ground staff to explain to the passengers just exactly what was happening? Thats not really the Captain’s job is it? Were the ground staff too busy to really communicate, or was there a lack of will to do so?
I might even suggest that there is a part of the Spanish character that is not willing to admit things are going wrong, (and I’m aware that there would have been local Brit employees as well) , and base my comments on my experience of living and working in the Balearics.
By: SOFTLAD - 15th August 2003 at 18:18
Forgot to say before but the oil on the Captains shirt came from helping the baggage people move the luggage to the forward hole.
By: Whiskey Delta - 15th August 2003 at 17:43
Re: MYT 757 at Mahon – my views
Originally posted by wysiwyg
It just goes to show what damage a little lack of knowledge can cause!
Don’t you wish at times you were a consultant for the media? Why don’t they contact at least someone who would have a vague idea of the normal/abnormal operations of an aircraft before they start piecing together the “facts” from local drunks?
You should email your little essay here to those invovled with the ill-conceived report.
By: SOFTLAD - 15th August 2003 at 16:42
Wysiwyg you view on this is around word for word perfect of what really happened.Its just so frustrating that the press dont take the real events into account and just go for what makes good news at others expense.I was going to post the tale on here but you have saved me a job.Thanks.
By: LGKR - 15th August 2003 at 14:15
must be one of the biggest things crews have as a major problem; little or no knowledge of the passengers when problems occur!
nice to here your comments wys,
LGKR
By: Ren Frew - 15th August 2003 at 10:43
Good points and what anyone with an ounce of sense would be thinking. Just one thing though regarding point 5. You say the media has mixed things together… This should be the media/journalists or indeed media/news editors.
We’re not all guilty of making up or enhancing events to make them more “meedja sexy” 😀
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August 15, 2003 at 10:39 am