News and notes from around the interweb:
- United sent a Very Strongly Worded Letter to its pilots about safety.
- United will start serving real meals on its regional jets effective March 1.
- 4 members of the crew of a Norwegian flight headed from New York to Stockholm walked off, disagreeing with the captain that it was safe to fly in the snow. The flight landed in Stockholm without incident – though there’s some disagreement now as to whether there were the legally required minimum number of crew onboard for the flight. (HT: Alan H.)
- Thousands of Air India flights are delayed when crew members don’t bother to show up on time. A revolutionary new approach of docking the pay of crew that do this will be tested.
- More coverage of the investigation (including analysis by reader Eric M. Fraser) into whether United was offering a special flight for the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (which oversees Newark airport) to his weekend place in South Carolina, a basically empty flight that they ended immediately following his departure from the rule. It’s good to be the king.
- Will the perimeter rule at New York LaGuardia, which limits long distance flying to and from the close-in New York airport, be lifted? Most people who aren’t in the pocket of airlines without LaGuardia slots would probably rejoice. Allowing New York – West Coast flights certainly makes sense, and the British Airways flight from London City airport that uses immigration pre-clearance in Ireland could even fly there..
- There’s definitely more to this story. Like a tapping foot, maybe? (HT: Alan H.)
1) I thought the United story was a non-issue: if anything, I think it shows United really is committed to safety. The WSJ headline was ridiculous and probably means airlines won’t write memos like that in the future. Near-misses and mistakes happen everywhere so the danger is only in NOT pointing it out in a serious way. Read the NTSB accident database for a while if you want the truth – so BRAVO to United for taking these issues seriously.
2) The Norwegian article was insane – I thought “the pilot is always right” was something modern western airlines abandoned in the 70s (and asian airlines, well, ask them how well “the imperial captain” continues to work out). Captains are not captains because of actual experience but because of airline policy. Everyone is equally qualified to fly the plane, so when four completely qualified pilots walk off the job something is seriously amiss. And for Norwegian to suggest that “the captain has the final word even when four completely qualified transport rated pilots disagree and walk off” is ridiculous. I hope they pay a solid penalty – they certainly treat their pilots like crap.
@bode, umm, methinks it’s four FLIGHT ATTENDANTS that walked off.
I see the AI author shares Gary’s penchant for grammar! 😉