I am seriously upset at the way some of you slap the face of IB flight crews and doubt the professionalism of pilots of different "cultures" which are not yours. Is it another form of, shall I spell it in the clear, pure
racism and prejudice...?
xxx
I suppose that, as I fly for the flag carrier of Argentina, and "if" or "when" we would have failed to install "snow tyres" (to spell British tires), to taxi out for departure in MAD, we would, the next day, become notorious, on Pprune forums, for having (dared) to taxi-out without installing "snow chains" on our 747 body gear units...? (Or, is it BA procedure to install such on wing gear units as well)... I assume, that you would not fail (between your cups of tea - with a slice of lemon...) to go on 121.5 to advise us "Latinos" of our lack of airmanship.
xxx
First of all, my Anglo-Saxon friends, who (seem to) despise pilots of certain nations, shall we say Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey... do not forget lovely South America... that you know very little about these people.
xxx
Speaking of Argentina, we have pages and pages of names such as Jones or Smith, O´Neil or Shilliday in our phone books in Buenos Aires, many have fair skin and blue eyes... and yes, have a "Spanish" accent when they speak their perfect English... We also have many German names among our pilots, such as Haas or Kaufman... I expect then, to hear that they are ex-Nazis (yet their parents escaped Germany 1933-1939 for good reasons) and we also have the largest population of Jews after New York City. Yiddish language is common here in Buenos Aires.
xxx
So, accuse the Argentinos to be "stupid Latinos" when we have to repeat a garbled clearance from ORD. For my part, I am a native of Belgium, and worked for PanAm 1969-1991 (in these days with a US passport), so, if any bad habits of my part, you know where I got them from...
xxx
In this day and age, when many pilots of "nationality X" have a career for airline of "country Y",
stop associating the flag of an airplane (and so called "regional culture") with the nationality of the flight crew. Who knows, the captain of that IB-6166 BOS/MAD was a Cardiff boy, ex "Cymru" pilot.
xxx
No, Japanese pilots do not do "harakiri" (sepukko) after a missed approach, and not all Saudi pilots say "Insh'Allah" after the estimate for "30º West" on the Atlantic routes on Gander frequencies. All pilots of the world are same nice guys who love flying and take pride in their job.
xxx
A few years ago, a Delta L-1011 taxied-out for departure, here at Buenos Aires SAEZ/EZE with gear pins still in the main gear (red flags hanging near the wheel wells). I was behind them, and told them about the problem. Their answer was "Roger that, Argentina 1234, going back to check it, thanks a bunch, owe you a beer" - I acknowledged by saying "10-4, good buddy".
xxx
It was not necessary to report this on Pprune and, get 250 opinions on how bad the Yanks are... The faulty idiots were likely to be Argentine ramp staff on duty to launch their flight.
xxx
Never got that beer they owe me... although I often go to their hotel bar (Intercontinental) in Buenos Aires. Maybe I should go to visit the United guys at the Sheraton... Just telling them of a Delta problem would earn me a beer...?
xxx
Happy contrails