Then ask yourself this DIVOSH;
Why don't aerocare do the push backs on the Q-link 717's in places such as Melbourne?
They are carried out by, you guessed it, Q-link ENGINEERS.
But back to topic and those who crave the decimation of the engineering ranks in order to push the minimisation of standards. No doubt, bag snatchers can carry out the average pushback. Just as an aircraft can be routinely flown by remote control (refer U.S. drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan). But when things go wrong on the pushback and, as in Singapore with a QF A330 some time back there is an uncontained tailpipe fire on engine start, it's nice to know a competent person is on the end of the headset to give the crew an accurate picture of what is happening.Or so I would've thought. Rather than, as in the above mentioned example, have somebody with no clue who simply takes the headset off and runs away!
As it is comforting to know a competent flight crew are on hand to cope when things don't go to plan during flight.
Your arses strapped inside these things day in day out. Just saying.
And remember, the term "sustainability", be it in regard to aviation safety standards above the absolute minimum, or other things in life, is just a measure of what we are prepared to pay for.
Funny how the PM and GG's RAAF BBJ aircraft still get a preflight carried out by engineers at every Maint port (complete with a terminating check at the end of every day's flying. Where as Qantas now follow Boeings absolute minimum requirements with regards to the frequency of these checks) and are dispatched by a qantas or NGS engineer. Why do the politicians deserve a higher standard of safety than the general public???
Last edited by chockchucker; 4th Apr 2015 at 12:43.