Allow me to add my two-pence worth.
JVJ is obviously hated by the Mauritians in flight ops management and more or less around the company because he represents a lot of what the PB, ST et al had to fight against I the good ol’ days of SAA jocks running MK (sorry fuzzyduck, no offence, but this company has seen its share apartheid and racism). These guys had to live with it, fight it. PB’s, ST, RM, and others commands were part of that battle. True, some of them deserved it some did not. Personally, I think that PB deserved his command. You do not have to be topgun to get a command. (that seems to have been the policy for a while now: PB, ST, AL, RM, RB, MG would not have given themselves command; honnest to god, they don't say it openly, but...
{However, the person PB has become nowadays is totally a different one}. ST also deserved his command. And when he was ATR CP, he was not the best of man-managers… He has seriously improved since, gaining in both maturity and wisdom. RM has remained his old self: hence the reference to windshear or R the Windvane as someone put it in this forum; not a bad guy at heart, but not reliable or cool.
What is very sad today is that it is Mauritians discriminating against Mauritians. As least in the good ol’ days, they knew who the “enemy” was: it was that “Racist SA guy”… Today, it is that “Racist Mauritian guy”… But racist against their own: the examples are numerous: Windvane refused flight request for the Mauritians; MALPA president derostered for 2 months plus; Mauritians go through a totally different and much harder route to get command or even training captainship… I think that deep inside, those running flight ops are not bad guys. However, somehow they forgot where they came from, and more importantly, they keep forgetting that they have turned into exactly what they were fighting for yesterday. I hope that at some stage they stop and have a good think.
DP, bless his heart, is the only one it seems that has remained reasonable till now. Hope he recovers soon. But he has had enough of fighting the others. He is the only guy, in ops management who has never been president of MALPA, has almost from the start been involved in management, but has been fair all the time.
All that said, however, I would like to expand a little on what was said by Maxmotoring. Indeed, PB shouldered Pierre Darpou out. But then, he has been upto something similar but more subtle with JVJ. The Cabin attendants union, AMCCA, was fighting JVJ big time a while back. JVJ wanted to appoint a lovely lady, CH, the company main bean counter as head of Cabin Attendants. AMCCA managed to veto that (probably rightly so since the lovely lady did not know the nature of a cabin attendants job). AMCCA had its own man who did brilliantly in the selection process earmarked. Most people indeed agree that he would be the best guy for the job. But this was not to JVJs liking. He wanted his CH next to him at the airport. Anyway, a protracted battle ensued and AMCCA Vice president NB fought that VERY hard… She had a whole team in the shadow, including some from management who had their own scores to settle. (They were the force behind her, including writing all those letters). She managed to veto that. Then, she got rid of the president saying that he was on management side, by having him lynched at an AMCCA meeting. This meeting was attended by AEA and MALPA presidents to give support to AMCCA… When later the s*** hits the fan, and Russlan is grounded, AMCCA new president, NB, shows very lukewarm support for him. And then PB writes to MALPA saying that AMCCA dissociated with MALPA and his president. A little piece of info that might be useful for you Russ is that AMCCA president, NB, is close friends to PB’s wife… When fighting JVJ, PB was very happy for NB and AMCCA to take on JVJ! How convenient, isn’t it?
Rumour has it that the JVJ is on his way out … Now, it will be interesting to see who gets that job! Heard that troops are furiously manoeuvring there… including a few pilots… So, PB, you might see one of your jrs on your head very soon. Quite a few have got MBAs/other degrees nowadays. And it is not always the most obvious ones that have got the longest teeth! If PB looks around himself, he will be surprised actually how many are TRULY behind him. Indeed, if he goes, ALL of them get promoted except the 9G Parrot. He can keep supervising his instructors… All the others get a chance to move up the ladder 1 notch! That includes FM…
