Blue 06: I'd say you have no idea what you're talking about. Nobody turned this into a pissing contest, and we're not starting one. Compare the salary, benefits, work days, annual leave, union strength, t&c, company ownership, partners and network between Coast Air and Widerøe and you'll see the difference. So what if the flying is pretty much the same? I'm sure crop spraying is pretty fu(king cool, but I'm not gonna quit my job and move to Idaho. The initial question asked for a comparison between the different airlines of norway; Coast Air included. Coast has the worst deal for pilots (leaving KATO etc out of it). SAS probably the best. The turboprop operation is one type of flying, the jet ops another. Since the t&c between WF and the jet-ops are pretty much the same, it would be valid to highlight the difference between these flight operations. Not everyone will agree with Crossunders remarks, and not everyone will prefer this type of flying. But it is challenging... more so than any 757/737 ops. We're not "better" pilots (eye of the beholder)... we just have to work harder within smaller margins. It's tiring and probably knocks a good couple of years off your lifespan... no wonder the pilots who move over to the Q400 stay there. Shoveling !!!! is gonna build your mucles, but the guy driving the excavator is probably just happier.
As for the accident/incident rate, open your eyes. This is the reality we're dealing with every day, and none of us feel that "Accidents should... be accepted under any circumstance." Why don't you tell me why none of our Q400s of -300's have had any incidents associated with landings. Either you stop flying or you accept the increased risk. For fu(k sake, download the ALAR CFIT list (
http://www.flightsafety.org/cfit4.html) and do your own risk assesment. And we're doing everything we can to control those risks and keep the operation as safe as possble. These include: turbulence forecast models in real time, SCAT-1 approaches, touch-down zone lighting, radar controlled airspace, weather reports (yes.. we'd like METAR and TAF just like everyone else has), better friction coefficient measurements, better wind/direction inidcation, fewer mountains, less extreme temperature variations, removal of the NDB approaches, better overrun protection, better visual glide slope indicators, longer runways, wider runways and simpler missed approach procedures.)
Nobody "crosses" your magical "edge", it's an ever-present part of the flight environment we operate in. I don't have the time nor the interest in teaching you Safety Systems 101, but have a read through the following books and you'll be wiser:
"Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents" by James Reason
"Ten Questions about Human Error" by Sideny Drekker
"Investigation Human Error:" by Barry Strauch
If they wet you apeptite, log onto ashgate.com and order the backlog.
And I'd love to see the quote where anyone has said that WF pilots are "perfect." We're all pretty fu(cking far from it....
CSI Oslo: Hadde du kunne begrunne den siste kommentaren din? Jeg leser tydeligvis ikke det samme som du, men hører gjerne på dine argumenter hvorfor du mener Crossunders innlegg ikke holder vann.
BestGlide: Er det nå vi alle skal drikke urtete of synge "kombaja"? Og dersom LLZ approach til Honningsvåg med 50kts tailwind med sikling til 08 på b/a 0.30 og snøfokk ikke er "på grensen" av det forsvarlige for deg, så vil jeg gjerne vite hvor den grensen går. I så fall blir ikke jeg med deg....