J.O. & Maui ...
As you both know me (in one way or another) and we all know the individual involved let's see if I can resolve the conflict.
You are both referring to the same individual.
He did join on the basis of item B) on maui's list, BUT the actual circumstances in terms of the welcome from the locals was nowhere near as friendly as his experience while conducting the audit had suggested. On this score I know of where I speak as the same check pilot YTH did his very best to sewer both of us during line training.
To know all of his reasons for his leaving I suppose you would have to actually be him, but the reason that triggered his pulling the pin was neither a) nor b) on maui's list. The final straw had to do with KE's failure to honour the terms of his contract regarding family travel entitlements.
As maui should well appreciate, the honouring of contracted terms by KE and the contracting companies has been a sore point for pretty much every expat that every dragged his bag up to the 8th floor of the OCC. This was the case for this individual as much as any of the rest of us, and he decided that he'd had enough of being lied to.
As for torture, I guess that is a subjective assessment, but having spent time in the environment and now out of it in a more congenial environment I can tell you, maui, that it is amazing how much extra stress we carried each day at KE that you almost stop noticing or thinking about until you move on and realize what you were carrying on your back every day you went flying in Korea. Since you are still there you might not yet be able to appreciate this perspective. Though you might not consider it torture, there are many who would, and I have no doubt that J.O. is accurately quoting the individual of his opinion on this score.
KE is way ahead of where it was when we started. But then simply to still be in existence after DG & GS's memorable speeches on the 5th floor in 2000 has to be considered success. It still has a long way to go and there are still many issue left to resolve, particularly cultural ones, before KE will be able to look at itself and see an airline that makes safety it's first priority, or even a priority that always supercedes ethnicity or culture.
ELAC
PS - The IOSA audit is a perfect example of the problem that remains. KE can check all the boxes and yet the week (or two) before the audit the ex-CP on your fleet broke every company directive on night circling approaches at KIX and almost dropped a B777 into Osaka Bay ... and that was hardly the first time it had occurred. Audits check procedures and processes, not operating cultures.
Last edited by ELAC; 22nd Aug 2006 at 12:57.