Typhoon Season
With the Typhoon season upon us, We in Management would like to remind the cockpit crew of times past.
In the Kai Tak days we would have crew standby at the airport (accruing no credit time and no Flight Time Limitations restrictions) in case they were needed. We also had pilots calling crew control willing to work on G days in case they were needed. At the end of the day, the crew would have drinks at the Kai Tak Bar to embellish their day’s accomplishments, drinks from their own account of course. Back then the watch of choice was a Breitling. Only true Tri-Star pilots wore them of course.
As for the approaches in Kai Tak, the crew waited until the very last moment to go around. In the days of real aircraft, there were no sophisticated computers to dictate to go around. It was done on real skill and we expect this kind of performance from every pilot, especially with your pay and benefits. Those pilots kept the show on the road, even though we pay you less and have reduced your benefits; we still expect the same performance.
With this passing Typhoon we expect all cockpit crew to be available on G and O days to help with this disruption. If you accrue overtime, we will do our best to manipulate your roster later in the month to reduce your overtime payment. These are hard time with the price of fuel.
We in Management would like to remind the crew that discretion is expected during the Typhoon season, it is not optional. Crew Control, as always, will roster expecting the crew to use discretion, as we have always done in the past since 2001 whether it is reducing rest or extending your duty day.
Your average monkey can fly within the limits of the Flight Time Limitations, but we expect more from our cockpit crew with the amount of money and benefits we are paying you. We expect you to keep the show on the road.
If discretion is not used, you WILL be sanctioned to the Chief Pilots office at the request of the Director of Flights Operations to explain why discretion was not used. The part in the AFTL’s where the Commanders decision is final and unquestioned is for reference only. It is only to satisfy the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department so they believe we don’t intimidate our pilots. We work with impunity.
Please take this into consideration; we take this matter very seriously within our department and non conformance with be deemed “not looking out for the best interest of the company” and dealt with accordingly.
To My Bonus
The Management