Alas once again the spotlight and the rifle sights have swung back onto the ramp, instead of being firmly aimed at the ivory towers of (mis)management!
Fascinating to see all these individuals designing or highlighting various "widgets and gizmos" to try to prevent this happening again, even though the might of Toulouse, the prime contractor, seemed unable to prevent it at the drawing board stage?
Unless we in our various roles as airframe drivers and airframe fixers exert the maximum pressure on the architects of the 25 minute turnround, the inadequate reporting times and the crazy devaluation of the engineering profession (it was one once), then the entire story will soon be re-enacted by another fleet & another company
I used to watch Captains and later found myself rushing to try to get ontime departures in order to compensate for the shortcomings of other areas of the industry which initiated the delay which we were now trying to minimize through rushing.
One day the haze cleared and I realised we were shooting ourselves in the foot by covering up the defects in other parts of the operation and leaving the beancounters and managements various with that warm wet feeling they were doing a good job. "Hey folks, look at our punctuality figures!", forgetting what sweat and tears had been shed on the line by the aircrew and engineers to achieve that result.
Now when the schedule looks like it's crumbling, through no fault of mine, I will enquire and initiate what little action I can as a mere line dog and then the "thumb-twiddling" starts and I recline the seat, close my eyes and wait for those responsible to catch up with their act.
I appreciate that they are probably having problems due to the same cost-cutting, manpower-pruning, resource-trimming exercises which got the company executives their promotion and bonuses in the first place, but the hasty action of airline "support" departments is rarely as deadly as the haste of engineers and pilots.
So once again I plead with the responsible contributors to this thread, can we please get away from the niff-naff and trivia of latch and cowling redesign, mirrors, phone cameras and overalls for pilot to lie on the apron, and concentrate our ire and our fire on where the ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY lies, including the sleeping dinosaurs in CAA/SRG and EASA?
