Originally Posted by
prickly
Taxiing accidents have long been among the least forgivable and career ending mishaps in the industry. But there can be other dangers.
In my old and now defunct airline the most unacceptable and dangerous taxi speed was one that would get you on blocks at just a few minutes prior to 2300 local time on the last sector back to base. Given that after 2300 local up to 14 underpaid cabin crew would be compensated taxi fare from CLK to their homes, which for many werein the dark and mysterious depths of the Kowloon peninsula, despite being one of the safest cities in the world at the time. Cockpit crews would be reminded of this prior to the last departure and during the sector and woe betide any cockpit crew arriving within 5 minutes prior to that magic hour. So -10 kt taxiing or many other devious manoeuvres were carried out to ensure the parking brake was not set and on blocks time recorded as 2301 local.
And thus the endless supply of Terimisu and other goodies would continue right up to retirement. The following heart attack months later serves as a reminder but I still get Christmas cards from a few of those appreciative FAs.
And I should add that this was not the reason the airline is now defunct.
This was also the airline that had an unforgivable and according to Airbus, unfathomable number of wide-body rollbacks off stand, due to pay by the minute which was at least $10 AUD to $15. The place was a rort and most notably, in hindsight, from the “company men” who’d also play against the union. Roll-back Jack? If you ever own an airline, it’s the company men to beware of as much as your bottom dwelling maligners.
Back to Alliance. Mentioned above as a reason for taxiing slow is the amount of training going on. Pilot numbers and attrition haven’t stabilised? Is it really a great idea to have an airline in continuous training mode or should CASA force their hand and consider pilot turnover a matter an RPT operator, at his level, must address?