Shaka Zulu:
LHR_777 it's not as rosy a picture you are painting of ground staff.....
for example: push scheduled right before shift change. push truck there, tug connected, a/c about to push back. small failure leads to a 10min delay. push crew buggers off since it's shift change. UN bloody believeable. Not my aisle mate is the simple answer....
I agree. It is unbelievable. However, whilst I acknowledge that it's not all 'rosy', there are those that do say "end of my shift, see ya", there are also plenty that say "i'm not finished yet, I'll stick around".
The problem is, each shift has a 30-45 minute overlap built-in. If a push-back team is going to walk, then the theory is that the replacement team is already there. That doesn't happen though, as the replacement team often have no transport to get the the tug/stand, because the outgoing-team take a vehicle with them! Madness, I know.
From personal experience, if I didn't stick around after my shift, the 83 and 163 (and anything else delayed after 22:30hrs) would never get a load sheet.