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Old 19th Aug 2004, 14:29
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EAN36
 
Join Date: May 2004
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Is Gulf Air up to its old tricks?

There have been a few ‘incidents’ at GF recently that makes one wonder whether the lessons of GF 072 (the crash that occurred because two locals could not fly a visual approach at night) have been forgotten.
Firstly, a Gulf National pilot undergoing Command upgrade training was written up by three expat Check/Training Captains as being unsuitable for Command.
The next thing is that the individual concerned is running around with four bars.
When one of the C/T Captains who was rather vocal about the situation, was asked how this could have happened, he said that the Chief Pilot for that aircraft type was of the same nationality as the new Captain, and that the relevant training records must have either been altered or shredded.
Secondly, a couple of weeks ago an A330 had an engine failure after departing LHE. At the time the closest airport was KHI, but the Captain elected to continue initially to MCT then to AUH, the aircraft’s scheduled destination; two hours on one engine in, I believe, a non-ETOPS aircraft.
The crew were both locals and the Captain apparently refers to himself as "xxxx”. (Happy Vfenext?) He also visited a local (Bahrain) school recently to talk to students about being an Airline Pilot, and in response to a question about female Pilots, replied that females were not “strong enough” to be pilots.
Lastly, recently a 767 hit a number of birds on departure from DAC. They continued to AUH (5+ hours away) with rather noticeable engine vibration. On arrival at AUH, one engine was found to have some rather damaged fan/compressor blades. And guess what? Nationals in the cockpit again!!
Another area of concern is what is the regulatory authority doing about this?
If it were the US, in case No.2 paricularly, the FAA would have probably shredded the Captain’s Airman Certificate by now.
I do not work for GF, but this information came from a very credible source. If someone has solid evidence that any of the above is not correct, I will happily edit or withdraw this post.

Last edited by EAN36; 21st Aug 2004 at 05:18.
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