Imagine these scenarios. They are all real and happened to myself or my colleagues. It just goes to show that it really IS all Ops fault ALL of the time.
The week before Xmas a small airport closes because it has snowed and the airport doesn't have sufficient servisable equipment to clear it and when it does get cleared runs out of de icer for the ramp and it is so slippery that it is dodgy even to walk on. When it does open up again the shiny jets, of course, get preference. This, in the very unhumble opinnion of the CEO, is definately ops fault and we all get one of his special morale boosting talks, feely interspersed with the usual words like bunch of f***ing wa**kers, useless, why do we have an ops department, could do better myself etc etc.
When we do fly again, it seems there is no de icing fluid for aircraft to be had in all of Ireland. This is because no one expected it to snow (after all it was only MID winter) and there has been an unforseen demand for the stuff. Also the ferry that has the extra de-icer on board can't sail either cos the wx has been too bad. Quite naturally the boss isn't really best impressed as we should get some over on the ferry (which is not operating but that doesn't seem to matter and is probably something to do with ops being involved ) Obviously another Ops failing. Morale boosting talk full of words such as f***ing wa**kers, useless, why do we bother having an ops department, could do better myself etc etc. (These of course are the edited, printable highlights of his tirades as indeed are all of these precis!.)
One of the customers repeatedly turns up late with frt for the flights and as a result the flight runs late, as do all subsequent flights on that particular a/c. As this customer seems to run the airline and therefore gets exactly what it requires, boss and commercial will not approach them about getting their stuff here on time so the aircraft can operate on time. Of course the customer complains that the flight was late off and it's all bl**dy ops fault again because they are a bunch of f***ing w**kers etc etc etc., and I'm going to close ops down and do it myself.
Another customer holds a flight at an outstation for so long that the crew have to go into discretion to complete the last leg. They do this on a regular basis. Commercial are not interested despite being warned by ops that the crews are getting sick of it and will one day soon tell them where to stuff their last leg, find hotac and not be seen for several hours with consequent crewing and scheduling problems. Ops Controller dare not tell customer that he is having his aeropllane out of xyz NOW as the boss will go absolutely ape and he will get a morale boosting talk, (see above.) As a consequence, it runs very late, is ops fault anyway and ops get yet another good morale boosting talk from CEO. (you know the script now).
One Capt has a tech problem on his a/c which reduces his take off performance. He does not wish to take the aircraft on his planned route for valid FLIGHT SAFETY reasons. The controller on duty threatens to report him as being uncooperative as he obviously does not wish to have a morale improving chat from the boss in the morning. The boss finds out next day and the captain is, in his absence, tried, found guilty of being a f***ing w**ker etc etc etc and the controller in question gets a pat on the head from the boss as being a chip off the old block!! Of course, ops shouldn't have put this particular captain on this particular route as this fault had been around for some time and this captain has an aversion to flying unservisable aircraft (Can't see why!.) So, notwithstanding previous pat on head, ops are a bunch of etc etc etc.
Depite much crew sickness leaving barely enough crews to go around and despite aircraft going u/s on a regular basis with the same problems as yesterday, the day before etc.,(looked at it chief, no fault found//changed a box that should do it and other EASY fixes) meaning that there were sometimes three or four u/s aircraft a day, commercial still insisted on selling aircraft despite advice from ops and crewing. Don't get me wrong, I am as aware as the next person that it is flying that pays my wages and extra charters make a lot more money than regular contract flights which is why we always try every possible way to get them done, but when we already are struggling to crew the existing flying by calling in favours, asking crews to give up days off, leave etc etc and having to move a/c round to get servisable ones in the right place, sometimes commercial need to understand that it is time to stop saying "yes" we can do that. Despite being advised, commercial still sell and the commercial manager says "I have every confidence you can crew it" and when crewing/ops can't crew it the usual morale boosting talk ensues.
The boss has such a reputation within the ops department that no-one wants to initiate a call to him unless it is absolutely and unavoidably necessary. No one is actually frightened of him but there is no requirement to make a bad day even worse than it already is by having a conversation with him that usually ended with words to the effect that as ops seem incapable of sorting it out he would come and do it himself. One person has already left because of him and the rest of Ops are looking.
So, don't worry about aircrew giving Ops a bad time, this bloke makes them seem like amateurs!! After him it was sheer pleasure dealing with stroppy aircrew.
Keep up the good work
Doc C
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'An intellectual is someone who has been educated beyond common sense.'