I spent a summer on contract at Blue Paranoia and it is an accident waiting to happen. There is zero maintenance done during the busy summer season, we flew a whole season with a leaking centre fuel tank which Boeing told us not to use. Didn’t stop the company dispatching the aeroplane on MXP-SSH trips with no tech stop though. At the same time we had an aeroplane loose a main wheel on takeoff not to mention a host of pressurisation, flap, avionics and flight control problems for the same reason of no maintenance.
The permanent crews where not much better. Two of the captains there were scared of flying (I know this is getting unbelievable now but I kid you not). Actually, given the condition of the aircraft if you were the nervous type you could see their problem. Nevertheless they were terrified every time on duty and the flight deck is not the place! One just lived terrified the other got around the problem by turning up drunk, Not having had a drink mind you but drunk. I noticed this on a MXP-SSH trip with the leaking tank and he sobered up over Athens, left the flight deck for about thirty minutes to top up.
The management have already been touched on and I can certainly confirm that there are problems. One of the management pilots would pass any pilot on a line check as long as he signed up to the Herbal Life pyramid selling scheme. A nice guy but in the wrong job. Another trainer was so bad that even the airline recognised that he was a problem. His brother was in the Italian CAA however which was the only reason the airline could get anything done, so he stayed.
There is more but you get the idea. I am not blowing the whistle because I have any axe to grind but this airline is a real accident waiting to happen, another Flash.
The above sounds incredible but it’s all true.
Kirk out…