RE: Pilot grounded under drink suspicion

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-01-03 AT 09:19 PM (GMT)]Hang on everyone. Give the guy a fair trial! All this is based on reports from the sunday papers and TV. We don’t know for sure whether the smell of alcohol was actually on the guys breath. He could have bought some alcohol duty free and the cap leaked. Many old school BA flightdeck carry hip flasks so that they can take their drinks allowance home for a more suitable occasion. The flask may have leaked.
He says he had not had a drink since the night before. This may well be true. He may even have drunk in moderation as the law permits. Nobody has actually stated the level of alcohol in the guys system. If he had had one glass of wine 2 days before he would have had alcohol in his system so unless more facts come forward he is not guilty in my book.
Don’t mistake my viewpoint here, if he is at all PROVED to be out of order I will be the first to demand he be stripped of his license. What I will not do is be part of a witch hunt.

And finally…

quote – ‘The co-pilot was not able to fly the plane because he was helping police with their inquiries, although he has not been implicated.’

I find this a disturbing sentence for 2 reasons. Firstly how is the FO supposed to operate a legally required 2 crew aeroplane back to LHR by himself. Secondly and far more importantly if the FO believed the Captain was under the influence he should have been the one that reported him. If the Captain is found guilty the FO must also be brought to question.

RE: Mobile phones.

I’ve just acquired third hand a 3210 (shows how behind the times I am) but if I try to give it a top up charge when the battery is half full it will only recharge for a couple of minutes before saying the battery is full when it isn’t. If the battery is properly empty it will recharge normally. Is my battery knackered?

RE: Airline Business

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 25-01-03 AT 11:58 PM (GMT)]I trust that wasn’t the famoust Monarch 757 flight into GIB last year!!! I’ve never been there and from the sounds of it I think I’d quite like to leave it that way. Funchal, Samos and Corfu do enough for my nerves already!
We’re very lucky in the 75 that we have a very spacious cockpit compared to aircraft like the 73. It certainly makes opening a broadsheet newspaper easier (not that we ever do that of course!).
We used to get RavenAir in to do any slot maintenance for us in their little Aztecs but it seems the authorities want it done properly these days.

RE: Aurigny confirms the wet-lease of BAe146-200

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 25-01-03 AT 09:39 AM (GMT)]I have long felt that Aurigny’s biggest weakness is that for 30 years they operated almost solely inter-island with no real significant competition which has made the company lazy and not keen enough to reduce their ticket price. This sit back fat, dumb and happy approach can be illustrated by the fact that we used to forever complain that last summer’s inflight magazine would make it into the seat backs by the following winter. All we would get was apathy. If Aurigny is serious about upping the ante they need to either replace some of the staid locals at the top with airline experienced driven individuals or spend money on training them properly.
To a degree I can understand ticket prices being higher on small capacity aircraft but I would be disappointed if Aurigny kept prices high if they permanently operated 146’s.

RE: KLM and BUZZ and Air Lib Express.

I think that despite a crap brand once they get their independence from the outfit that murdered the great AirUK (which was not only a very successful scheduled carrier but also had a charter offshoot, now part of Air2000) and decent operating equipment, Buzz will be a very strong outfit. They are the largest service provider between the UK and France and are specialists at this.

RE: Pic Of The Day-New AF confrence room!

It would also mean getting different kinds of pictures on the board. Perhaps more day to day shots in addition to the stunning photos people are already posting.

RE: Two Airlines Apply For Cockpit Guns .

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 24-01-03 AT 08:21 PM (GMT)]The law gets really vague when it comes to being onboard an airliner. When the American carriers are in the UK they are sort of catered for by both UK and US law even though they are on UK soil/tarmac. It is very complicated and I don’t fully understand it myself.
To give an example of the complication, there have been situations where a passenger has died on a transatlantic flight and a doctor has been called for (only a doctor can certify death). The doctors may have realised the passenger has died mid-atlantic but may not certify death until landed at the destination to ease the paperwork.