The point raised in #250 is valid and well worth considering.
In the mid 1990's an RAF C-130 (heavy) was mid taxi towards the active when the Loadmaster comes up on the intercom and requests they return to the stand. When challenged why, he honestly could not give a definite reason, he had checked the W+B calcs and "on paper" all was well. However, to this aviator the palletised load just ”did not look right"........
Thankfully, his highly professional capt took him at his word and went back to sort out whatever was "the problem" Cue lots of ****e from ops and the movers in particular as he had dared to challenge a fairly large empire, but he stood his ground.
After an independent W+B recheck, the ac was 40 index units out of trim (fwd) with a corresponding MAC of about 9% (the limits are 15 - 30%). There then followed a particularly unpleasant round of buck passing form various factions with a view of putting it all on the LM as he had the final check. The who and why of the screw up are to a certain point irrelevant. The fact that this LM's intuition was disturbed enough to make a pretty ballsy call ( and respect to the BA mgr and engineer for doing the same thing ) was all that mattered and what would have been a pretty scary departure was avoided. The movers concerned got an interview without tea and biscuits (for the buck passing mainly) and the LM got a flight safety award.
Unfortunately it also said lots about the safety culture at Lyneham at the time that the movers felt the need to try and dump the cr@p onto somebody else who was just doing their job. But now it is much better, thankfully.
Take from that what you will, but my concern is that somebody was reduced from his position because of an event that could have caught most people out. Nobody made any attempt to hide anything, nobody was negligent (411A get real please) and was his call for the brakes a result of that professional instinct he had spent his whole flying career working towards. Yes this was an incident that required investigation but what has the final result done to promote an open culture at BA?
That you are even questioning why indicates that you are OK with the Commanders actions, perhaps?
No perhaps to it, I am more than happy. During my RAF career I flew with several people in various positions who in your (twisted) view had been grossly negligent. Everybody gets it wrong sometimes and if I were to walk into the Sqn with a list of guys I would not fly with because they had "screwed up" then (rightly) I would be viewed as the one with the problem.
After an incident during Gulf War 1, I was found negligent in my duties by a board of enquiry and I honestly did not know what I had done until the ac returned to base and the damage was found. What saved me, was my lack of experience on type and the fact that when presented with the evidence, I accepted full responsibility for my actions and I was heartbroken at having”screwed up". My willingness to accept blame even at the risk of my career said more about me than anything else and when I went on to become a leader in my own right, my mantra was " do your best, if you screw up, don't worry but come forward".
So 411A, go right ahead and lambast
