Air Transat CC falls from Aircraft

[flapsforty]

For the past 5 years I have daily closed the frwrd service door on various types of 737s without there being either steps or a catering truck in place. They are damned heavy and the only way for me to close it is to hike up the skirt, brace myself with one leg halfway up the door frame and then pull for all I'm worth.

Is it clever? No.
Is it safe? No.
Is it against company rules? No.
Do I do it because I am so brainwashed about getting away on-time that before reading this thread I have never even considered an alternative?
Yes!!


I have no ready answers here, but many things I wonder about. Mainly if it is a question of money?

Before the loco's, we had well trained ground staff employed by our own company. They felt responsible and had pride in their job and the company.
These days, most ground handling has been outsourced. To the lowest bidder. Who are cheap for a reason and whose employees care not one whit about what aircraft they are servicing.
Before the loco's, we had turnaround times that allowed both the flight crews and the ground crews to do a thorough and safe job.
Now we have to match the loco's turnaround times more and more, so the pressure is on pilots, FAs, ground handlers and everyone else involved in the whole sordid mess. Despite everybody's best intentions, attention to detail and thereby safety, WILL suffer when you are all rushing.
Before the loco's, being an FA was an attractive job thanks to the travel, the high standard hotels and the class of people one associated with. Because of the glam factor, the job attracted enough people so companies could be picky and hire for both brains and education.
Now flying is for everybody, and so is being an FA. At my own company, educational requirements for FAs have been drastically lowered, and it shows.
When I recently paxed with a certain loco the FAs couldn't have been kinder or more service minded, but their English PA was so heavily accented that even I, knowing what they were on about, coudn't make out most of what they were saying.

So for me, the reasons are somewhere here:
*People wanting to fly for as little as possible (and who can blame them?)
*Companies giving the travelling public what they want by lowering the cost of the operation to breaking point in their attempt at staying aloft in a competitive business (yes the managers are certainly to blame for on the one hand pushing the operation to the extreme limits while at the same time covering their sagging backsides with shoving regulations down people's throats which everybody knows are impossible to follow but which look good on paper)
* Regulatory authorities being too understaffed and underfunded to be able & willing to take significant action against the many inherently unsafe practices that are rife in our industry.

By allowing ourselves to be rushed, to work in ways that are dangerous because we think that is the only way to keep our companies aloft/to keep our jobs, we ourselves are greatly responsible for these happenings.

I have no idea how to change this, apart from once again telling myself that I will not be rushed by anything or anybody when at work.
And trying to remember my resolution next time someone is trying to push me to get away on time.