Spoken like a company man for the second time? Man up. The last sentece is just BS.
Absolutely not the case; very far from it. I accept my meaning did not come across correctly. I have operated for airlines where rosters were at max, but the Plogs were surprisingly I'm agreement. I have no knowledge of what the sector times were in the roster. Were they realistic or BS. Your comments are made with some inside knowledge, perhaps; mine are not. I am fully in support of this captain, and have done the same thing myself a few times; thankfully with no come-back. My strong comment is that even if the Plogs allow a duty to be completed just on the number it is daft to do so as there is squiggle room.
I once had a early morning 3 sector day that was rostered on the limit. We all thought, ugh, but from experience we expected to shave 10-15mins of the total. However, on checking in me found they had reduced the normal turn-round from 45mins to 30mins at both airfields. This started the blood to boil, but at that time of the morning the only guy on duty was the solo Ops guy. So we went into discretion and the CP got an ear full on return. The thing is he agreed at the BS. Trouble was it was an end of season 1 off trip, but we stamped on it so hard to would never happen again.
What happened to Capt. Simkins is an absolute disgrace. The internal workings of his company were also piss poor. The one common denominator I found in many airlines was the
lack of quality man management and the attitude that crews are ambassadors of the company and need treating with more respect & honesty, and given more support from on high. It was early in my career that I learnt the sad tale that The Chief Pilot is not Chief of the Pilots and someone who will fight your corner. More often they were Headmasters with a big stick. That's the problem; there is no-one to say to rostering; "they are my boys and you look after them. Use them but do not abuse them. If you do then I'll be down here with fire & brimstone."
I only had one CP like that and we all loved him, respected him and trusted him. As a result we did go the extra bit when he asked. Only one, in 35 years and 9 different outfits.
So guys, we are all on the same side.
On a lighter note I'm reminded of an old Chinese gem.
"dog runs in front of car gets tyred: dog runs behind car get exhausted: pilots works to EASA max gets fatigued."
Last edited by RAT 5; 14th Dec 2016 at 12:07.