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Twist & Shout
13th May 2017, 09:15
Rather than drift the HNZ thread...


One thing I am looking forward to in the "brave new world" is the demise of the hyper expensive, "make work", impediments to commerce known as "HR", "Safety" and "Quality Assurance", "departments".

I believe the majority of decision makers will quickly recognize that the most competitive companies, the ones winning the contracts, are the companies with the smallest "Mill Stones" along for the free ride. Once that happens these oxygen thieves will disappear faster than Clive Palmers memory.

I for one can't wait :)

hueyracer
13th May 2017, 09:32
Not gonna happen..its like safety checks at an airport-useless, but generating a loz of money...-it has become a huge business...therefor it will not go away again..

Twist & Shout
13th May 2017, 09:57
The rumor is, it is already going away.

Lack of pilots, engineers, and ground staff - everything stops immediately.
Support staff, like managers and "commercial" are essential as well.
No HR/QA? No one notices. The oil companies were interested when crude was $100/ barrel.

Anyway, that's the rumor.
Perhaps someone from HNZ or Babcock Australia can comment on the size of their respective "Mill Stone departments" compared with the Dinosaur companies that Can't Hold Contracts?

gulliBell
13th May 2017, 10:10
...Anyway, that's the rumor...

The QA guy is here to stay. He holds a similar status in the regulatory environment to a Chief Pilot or Maintenance Controller.

QA, Safety, SMS, all just a cost of doing business. Without these things there is no hope of winning any contracts however cheap a company might bid.

gulliBell
13th May 2017, 10:16
...Lack of pilots, engineers, and ground staff - everything stops immediately.


In theory only. In my 25 years of practice I've never seen a flight cancelled due to a lack of pilots. Although, on very rare occasions, I have seen flights cancelled due to not having an Engineer to fix a busted helicopter.

SASless
13th May 2017, 15:49
Nothing good came from the Personnel Office being elevated to the Human Resources Department!

Used to be the Chief Pilot hired Pilots and the Chief Engineer hired Engineers and what is now HR took care of the Paperwork!

That is the way it should be.

Cazalet33
13th May 2017, 16:04
Banksters are required to fund a Compliance Department. Nominally, they are also expected to pay attention to what the Compliance people tell them.

In good AOC-holding outfits, good people pay rather more attention to their Safety people than banksters do to their equivalent.

Mel Effluent
14th May 2017, 02:49
Rather than drift the HNZ thread...

One thing I am looking forward to in the "brave new world" is the demise of the hyper expensive, "make work", impediments to commerce known as "HR", "Safety" and "Quality Assurance", "departments".

I for one can't wait :)

Perhaps you are not aware that an AOC holder is required by the regulator to have the following in place:


Sufficient suitably experienced personnel
Airworthy aircraft, suitable for the type of operations
Acceptable systems for the training of crew and the operation of the aircraft
A quality system to ensure that all applicable regulations are followed
Accountable key staff, responsible for specific safety critical functions such as operations, maintenance and training
Suitable insurance.
Proof of sufficient finances to fund the operation
Sufficient ground infrastructure to support its operations.


The absence of any of these would typically result in suspension or revocation of an AOC.

I am not sure that I would want to fly in your "brave new world" operation (or are you just trolling?).

Twist & Shout
14th May 2017, 07:21
Perhaps you are not aware that an AOC holder is required by the regulator to have the following in place:


Sufficient suitably experienced personnel
Airworthy aircraft, suitable for the type of operations
Acceptable systems for the training of crew and the operation of the aircraft
A quality system to ensure that all applicable regulations are followed
Accountable key staff, responsible for specific safety critical functions such as operations, maintenance and training
Suitable insurance.
Proof of sufficient finances to fund the operation
Sufficient ground infrastructure to support its operations.


The absence of any of these would typically result in suspension or revocation of an AOC.

I am not sure that I would want to fly in your "brave new world" operation (or are you just trolling?).

I'm not deliberately trolling, but I admit sometimes it's hard to tell.

Nothing in that list has changed since the "old world".
All those things were covered by highly qualified and experienced stakeholders.

We seem to be currently living in a climate where every cent that can be saved, needs to be. The "rumors"* running around Australia are that some of the more (recently) successful companies have saved money by reducing and/or out sourcing some of the err, "non core" departments.

What disadvantage would a company with no, or minimal dedicated HR personal have? Certainly there is the potential to save serious money.

I'm not sure why a Chief pilot (MOFO) or Chief Engineer needs a safety department to tell him to do his job.
A pilots life and job are about safety. The fuel we load, the weather we study, the altitudes we fly at, the emergency procedures we study. We have a lot of skin in the game. Some "puke" deciding I need to wear a hard hat to check in the baggage compartment does ZERO for anybody's safety. All it does is justify the high salaries paid to the "Safety Department". And cost the company productivity and money.

Quality Assurance was once seriously explained to me as "a system that can ensure, for example, that a 300mm ruler, is 300mm long". If you think about it, it's a never ending, self feeding monster. We might need another system, to check the system for ensuring the length of the ruler is 300mm long.
Quality Assurance costs massive time and money, to not fix a problem, that doesn't exist.

*We all know many rumors have no basis in fact.

I'm kinda asking the Question: "Has anyone seen a downturn in these "Mill Stone Parasites" either in their company or when they have moved to another?

hueyracer
14th May 2017, 09:10
No-just the opposite...getting worse and worse....up to a point where a pilot was not allowed to preflight the aircraft climbing on top without a safety harness and a safety rope in case he slipped.....

That was the moment when i quit..

Seems there is only one regulatory body left with common sense-and this is the FAA..

Checklist Charlie
14th May 2017, 09:19
Twist & shout has an interesting if ill informed view of Safety and Quality Assurance department roles.

If he was to get his way I would lose out on some audit income but would more than make up the loss in my role as an accident investigator.

CC

Twist & Shout
14th May 2017, 13:26
Twist & shout has an interesting if ill informed view of Safety and Quality Assurance department roles.

If he was to get his way I would lose out on some audit income but would more than make up the loss in my role as an accident investigator.

CC

I'm very interested in not having an accident. Anything that reduces the chance of that is welcome.

I'm talking about things like having to find and wear a hi vis vest to walk out side. Take it off to get in the AC. Struggle back into it with the rotor wash threatening to blow it into the tail rotor if it becomes necessary to disembark with the machine running. All to not fix a problem that doesn't exist.
(Has anyone every been hit by a vehicle on a tarmac in a situation where wearing a yellow vest would have prevented the accident? I've never heard of one.)

I'm talking about pool cleaners being forced to wear life jackets.

Hard hats to look in a baggage compartment.

I'm always keen to learn.
Give us an example of a crash you have prevented with your auditing.
No sarcasm or malice. As I've tried to explain, I don't associate external audits with "safety departments" unless the recommendations are like the examples above.

Twist & Shout
14th May 2017, 13:39
I suspect I'm just "venting" now.
I'll stop.

Mark Six
15th May 2017, 01:27
Hey T&S, maybe you should just explain that you're fed up with a HR department whose idea of enterprise agreement negotiation is to look at what the other companies are offering, pick the worst agreement they can find, and then declare that this is the new industry standard. I wonder if that's the method they use during their own contract negotiations: "Hey boss, I just found out that the HR lady at XXX Helicopters gets paid less than me, so in order to make our company more competitive please reduce my salary accordingly".
Yeah right.

Frying Pan
15th May 2017, 02:12
Departments Marty? Where we're going, we don't need departments.

The end of petrol and diesel cars? All vehicles will be electric by 2025, says expert (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/05/14/petrol-cars-will-vanish-2025-says-us-report/)

Bit extreme...maybe 20 years too early...but it will happen.

hueyracer
15th May 2017, 04:22
There will stil be a huge demand for oil...although they are now able to make plastic out of plants, there will still be lots of oil needed for other things..i guess no one can name three things that dont have oil in them!

oleary
15th May 2017, 04:33
I suspect I'm just "venting" now.
I'll stop.

I spent 50 years in this biz, 20K of it in the cockpit on VFR and IFR jobs all over the world.

I totally agree, it is getting fricking ridiculous.

It seems now crews are not expected to think at all. Just fire up the rocket and follow the magenta line. :rolleyes:

Frying Pan
15th May 2017, 06:19
Times, they are a changing my friend.

I grew up in a world in cars with no seat belts, power cuts every week, and the threat of North Sea Oil running out in the 1990s!

Who would have thought that 30 years later the USA is a net exporter of oil, the North Sea has enough for an independent Scotland (maybe) and cars have seat belts in the back!

Plus, on a personal note, I now have solar panels on my roof and a Tesla battery in the cellar and the electricity company pay ME for my excess!

The article never says there is no need for oil, that I agree, just that demand will never be the same again.

Max Contingency
15th May 2017, 07:12
I love my safety and quality department. Once a week I walk into their office wearing flip flops, I sit precariously on the edge of a desk, light up a cigarette, spill some coffee on the floor and leave. It keeps them in useful employment.

Frying Pan
15th May 2017, 07:59
I'll leave this thread now I think...

My bad, I mistook the 'Don't HR realise I'm a pilot' thread for the 'Brave new world - Oil and Gas' one. ::rolleyes:

inditrees
15th May 2017, 22:52
There will stil be a huge demand for oil...although they are now able to make plastic out of plants, there will still be lots of oil needed for other things..i guess no one can name three things that dont have oil in them!

My old series 2 landrover after about one hour of driving....leaks like a bu***r.