PorkKnuckle

I flew with egyptair about 10 years ago. Such wonderful, well-mannered passengers, all waiting patiently in line. And the staff - so friendly, helpful, polite, professional. Such a pleasant experience it was.

We ended up in the jumpseats, which was nice of them as the flight was full.

I saw one of their captains in the terminal who had FIVE gold bars. He was strutting to match the opinion he (and his employers presumably) obviously had of himself.

On take-off, I was suitable impressed when the pilots managed to rotate, then light up their ciggies before the first turn.

Their phones were on the whole time. I know because they were piled on the centre radio pedestal right in front of me and one started ringing at about 5000 ft. I seemed to be the only one who thought this was odd.

Just like Capt Couscous in the youtube vid, their pilots' epaulettes had the widest, shiniest gold bars I've ever seen. I was impressed to see them tuck the harness shoulder straps UNDERNEATH the epaulettes so as not to tarnish the gold-coloured thread. They get themselves a new set every time they pass their sim assessments (if they pass).

fractional

For Ramp Checks to have credibility, ICAO must take the lead besides "recommending only". Recommending leaves countries and associations of countries to get themselves together and create SOPs to ensure home and visiting operators stick to the rules.
As one can imagine, this will be always disputed because the accused will always say they are receiving unfair treatment or the competitor or neighbour is getting preferable treatment.
Arabs back Yemenia as French safety row deepens Why shouldn't they? Then what?! Remember the "real" decisions out of every ordinary or extraordinary meeting of the Arab League... Window dressing.
I would not hesitate much in saying that many countries worldwide are very credible and serious about their operating standards, but still it is seen as a single or regional country's decision rather than global.
IOSA was a good start, but it is also an airline money making machine... with very high costs. Some may disagree, but I read it this way. How about the non-adhering non-complying operators? No one will stop them from operating and at a much lower cost.
As an example, a second string operator (non-IATA), operating a KRT-DXB route, will not have the same training costs and standards as EK or FlyDubai. Will this be a fair deal?
We need a new, credible and serious "world order" where there has to be a large number of items to ensure safety is paramount.
FTLs are something which is easily "read and perceived" differently worldwide and every single country has its own rules and this is accepted as long as it is adhered to.

TwoOneFour

Skypilot320:

I don't know where that article came from, but it's certainly not the one published by ATI. Looks to me like it's been deliberately manipulated to give a false impression, and I'd even go as far as to suggest that it's libellous.

This is the genuine article:


New EgyptAir chief upbeat on European safety assessment
Graham Dunn, Cairo (21Oct09, 15:58 GMT, 220 words)

EgyptAir insists it is working with the European Commission to address safety concerns, and points to no adverse findings from aircraft inspections carried out this month.

The Commission warned the airline earlier this year that it risked inclusion on its blacklist of banned carriers unless it addressed concerns in several areas of its operations.

European regulators stopped short of adding EgyptAir to the list, but intensified inspections of the airline and its air safety committee will review the carrier's position next month.

New EgyptAir chairman Hussein Massoud, speaking to ATI in Cairo, said: "We have been in close co-operation with them.

"We took the remarks and we started working at it. So far we have had five inspections since the start of October, they have inspected five aircraft without any single finding. So it is just a way of understanding each other. We have an ambitious programme for co-operation."

SU-GCM

it's 20th November and EgyptAir is operating Normally in/out of Europe !