Dutch TV programma KRO Brandpunt smells blood and keeps on broadcasting new items about the safety of Ryanair.
Tonight a new item on Ryanair (the third). They had an interview with Benno Baksteen. He was a Boeing 747 captain at KLM and chairman of the VNV (union of dutch pilots). He now is a consultant/ chairman for an organization advising on safety. Benno Baksteen has been invited in the past as expert in many news programmes discussing safety and accidents on aviation.
Beside the interview no new facts. Just a repeat of parts of the previous two programmes. Also again the same mistake. The programme mentions 17 aircraft diverted from Madrid at 26 July. Only three called mayday, all FR aircraft. Baksteen btw mentioned the Lan Chile mayday.
He was quite shocked about what he learned from the two episodes (in which anonymous Ryanair pilots told their story).
A few quotes of Mr. Baksteen:
-the practise of Ryanair flying with minimal fuel will eventually be fatal
-a crash will happen eventually.
-if the Lan Chile A340 would block the single runway at VLC things could have become very nasty for the two FR aircraft still on their way to their alternate VLC.
-Ryanair too much put the emphasis on reducing costs which is a threat for flightsafety
-a mayday call because of low fuel is very rare. It did not happen once in his career as a pilot
-the 30 minutes reserve fuel is for emergencies only. It should never happen that this reserve is used.
-the fuel league is no good. Calling pilots to the Ryanair HQ is intimidation. It has an affect on descisions of the captain in future situation on fuel planning
-Baksteen would rather (if he had a choice) fly HV, KL or EZ than FR
Last edited by 1stspotter; 6th Jan 2013 at 21:10.