there are whispers that bmi are to start Colobmo from LHR

The whispers have misheard, not ever looked at. It all arose from a classic case of people adding 2+2 and getting 5 when a staff member visited Colombo on company business.

exmpa

Rebooting a modern airliner is a fairly common occurrence,

Maybe you would like to enlighten us further with reference to types listed on your licence or for which you hold engineering approvals?

exmpa

As a lottery investor will I be entitled to my money back from the buffoons at VTTS/TVOC?

Yes, in exactly the same way as they will give you your money back if you don’t win.

I am not surprised by this latest turn of events. I have always been highly sceptical about the viability of the project and nothing would ever induce me to make any commitment to it, financial or other. I always wondered about the nature of the support that the ‘558 project attracted until I attended the V-Force reunion at Newark a couple of years ago. What struck me was that those most enthusiastic for it had little or no significant commercial aviation experience. The more exposure people had had to the harsh realities of aviation business, the less likely they were to see the project as viable. Why were voices not raised? Quite simply the “enthusiasts” did not want to hear what you said. If you disagreed with them, then you were disloyal. So, most just kept quiet and let them get on with it. Just to establish my credentials to hold an opinion, I did fly the Vulcan; I last flew it in 1972; and I did display it. I left the RAF after 20 years service and am still flying large aircraft professionally.

exmpa

A quick word of warning for all of you who hold a licence, if you have not yet mis-identified an airfield keep worrying. Everyone does it at sometime or other! It can happen to anyone and it will happen to you. Most of the time you realise early enough to re-orientate yourself and no harm is done. Sometimes crews don’t and what appears to have occurred today is the result.

This sort of event was common enough 40 years ago when navaids were nil or minimal but is much rarer today. The real issue however is what went on (or didn’t) on the flight deck that allowed this to happen. There are 2 crew with specific responsibilities following company procedures that should be designed to reveal errors. One thing of which you can be certain is that tonight 2 pilots are feeling very upset and going over everything that they did and one of them probably wishing that he/she had said something. Whatever mistakes or errors they may (or may not) have made they have my condolences.

As far as Ballykelly goes, when I was last there the runway was long enough for the resident Shack’ squadron and perfectly adequate for the Vulcan. An empty A320 will have no problem and neither would a 738.

exmpa

Wozza,

Go to this link: British Airline Pilots Association – How to become a pilot

You will find most of the information you require there.

exmpa

It cited last year’s collapse of EUjet as an example of what could go wrong.

Registered in The Republic of Ireland

The industry’s regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said it could cost passengers up to £200 to return home to Britain in the wake of such an event.

The CAA had no regulatory oversight iro EUJet, this was the responsibility of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

The committee said 90% of travel insurance policies failed to cover air carrier insolvency

Then it is up to the customer to buy a policy which provides adequate cover. If they don’t want to pay for it then they take the risk.

the number protected by ATOL, which provides financial protection for some air travel, is “in free fall”.

ATOL – Air Tour Operator’s Licence, not generally held by airlines anyway. The demise of ATOL is in line with the reduction of the Inclusive Tour Operators’ proportion of the total leisure travel market. If you want the protection that an ATOL confers then you pay for it in the price.

The bottom line is that if you want to travel independently and make your own arrangements and your choice of carrier is “Real Cheap Airways” registered in Ruritania then you must accept the element of risk involved. If you don’t like the risk then insure against it or book with BA, DLH, Air France bmi, Easy etc. Why should the passengers of these companies underwrite “Real Cheap Airways” punters?

Freedom of choice implies a responsibility to look after yourself, caveat emptor.

exmpa

Likewise, the A319 incident MAY (again we don’t know because we don’t have the report yet) have had a cause routed in maintenance, or it may not. But again, the decision to continue the flight – which you implied was the real problem – is not maintenance related but was a crew decision.

The point of issue in this case is the engineering action after the event (or lack of it). The failure was serious (potentially disastrous in some circumstances) but it is perceived that the subsequent company investigation may have been inadequate and the aircraft returned to service before the cause had been properly determined. As you correctly say:

the decision to continue the flight – which you implied was the real problem – is not maintenance related but was a crew decision

The circumstances relating to the decision to continue to destination are unclear. We shall have to wait for the AAIB to report for that aspect to be resolved. However it is worth noteing that the policy of most scheduled carriers is that in-flight defects should be carried to destination if it is safe and prudent to do so.

exmpa

Maybe they should have a look at Ryanairs safety, will make BA’s safety look impeccable.

I hold no brief whatsoever for Mr O’Leary or the airline he runs, but if you make statements such as the one above you must be prepared to back them up with evidence.

exmpa