I’m sorry if this has been said before, close to 130 pages of posts is simply too much to go through.
I’ve been thinking about some of the statements that there’s a security problem with the low price carriers. At first I just waved it off but maybe there’s something to it after all.
I haven’t worked for a large carrier but when I drove business jets for a charter company we were a small group of pilots, say about 20, who worked there.
Anyway, the company was downsizing so about half of us got laid off. During the few months that the soon to be-unemployed pilots flew with us who stayed the atmosphere on flight deck got a little frosty. And I think that that would have meant that it would have been harder to detect if a colleague was loosing it.
In the case of large carriers, how would a situation with constant pressure from management, a mix of pilots with different employment situations (some full time, some part time, some contract) affect the climate on flight deck?
And what are the chances that a pilot, who doesn’t feel balanced, actually turning to the company if he knows he’s nothing more than a number on a sheet of paper with an eager line of other numbers just waiting in another pile of paper for a chance of replacing him?
And I’m NOT saying that anything of this applies to GW, I know nothing about the company, but merely in general.
On a side note. During intial training the word was that the larger company, the higher security. The longer you could avoid flying with the same crew member(s) the better as it would reduce the risk of the crew establishing non-SOP routines. Maybe it’s time to rethink this – the risk of going non-standard can be thwarted by proper training but training can’t help you to know and support your colleague.
Another side note. When I flew in Russia we had to be cleared by a medic before flight. It was just a 30-second look over but it involved checking the pulse and a question or two. If something was amiss, there would be a more thorough check.
The purpose of the check was mainly to stop intoxicated pilots from flying but I heard from others that they sometimes found out other illnesses (such as heart problems).
In the GW-case I find it hard to believe that a pilot who’s mentally ill enough to do what he did wouldn’t show any physical symptoms.