Why not de-plane the Pax ?

[newarksmells]

Yesterday, my brother and his wife were flying back from Vegas to Manchester on MyTravel. He called me today to say that because of a problem with an engine, that after everybody was boarded at 1:45pm and the door was shut, the pilot shut down the engine so work could be performed on it. Fair enough.

His complaint was that once the engine was shut down, this also shut off the air-conditioning. My question is that with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees on the Strip, why were passengers asked to stay on the plane in the searing heat for 90 minutes while the engine was repaired as opposed to just offloading the Pax back into the terminal as the plane was still at the gate.

Apart from this one hiccup, he said that MyTravel was great. It even arrived into Vegas 45 minutes early on the outbound leg.

Newarksmells

[mutt]

Possibly coz they didnt know how long it would take to fix the engine. Strange that they couldnt find a ground air con cart.


Mutt.

[toon]

Unfortunately sometimes the captain has to make decisions that don't seem logical to the untrained, 100% chance he didn't know how long it would take the engineers, maybe 20 mins ?, on an aircraft capable of flying Vegas-man (i.e.,A330) it would take 25 mins to get the pax off and about 40 mins to get them back on and all seated without the usual 'I,ve lost my boarding card' problems.
No one would have thanked him for off loading only for the a/c to be fixed in 10 mins, also crew duty hours must be close on that sector so he may throw the whole program out by off loading pax and putting himself out of hours to operate the flight - 12 hour delay !!
The trouble is when people get on a/c they suddenly turn into closet aviation experts and question every decision.

[Final 3 Greens]

toon
The trouble is when people get on a/c they suddenly turn into closet aviation experts and question every decision. This is completely out of order.

The question is a completely reasonable one.

If anything, it implies a lack of communication from the crew to explain why the pax were being inconvenienced (aka roasted.)

Mutt's comment about a ground unit is spot on too - I've spent time in Vegas and it's bl@@dy hot in August.

[jettesen]

surely the A330 would have its own A/C packs and therefore would have the A/C running in the ground?

[sky330]

surely the A330 would have its own A/C packs and therefore would have the A/C running in the ground?

For all we know, it could as well be a bleed problem, it's not because pilot shutdown engine and engineers working in the cowling that it is engine related. And some bleed problem do not permit use of ground cart as well...

The danger of trying to second guess the crew without ALL the information.

But agree, they should had tried to explain the situation to the pax, whatever it realy was.

[NigelOnDraft]

Also Airbii A/C outlets are very adjacent to the engines, very noisy and produce a lot of VERY hot air (even by Vegas standards). Various engineers / loaders around the globe are sensitive to that, and would "rather work" (which might = work at all) with the packs off. If they are "happy" they work quicker, and for a charter Vegas - MAN I suspect hours were VERY tight.

NoD

[woodpecker]

FTL's.

Let them off, lose one or two and you are into another nightstop by the time you find them!!

[Right Way Up]

If the problem was not on the side of the APU duct they maybe still had one pack operating. If however there was no conditioning, I would struggle to justify keeping the passengers aboard. Apart from health issues for both crew and passengers consider the situation where the problem is not fixed; you will be dealing with 300 very hot under the collar passengers. Having operated into LAS at this time of year I can confirm just how bloody hot it is.

[newarksmells]

Thanks for the responses.

I think a little communication would have helped greatly. Fixing computer systems for a living, I understand how difficult it is sometimes to actually predict a return to running state in terms of minutes / hours etc. and I think that's all the crew had to say to pacify the Pax.

I wan't intending to second-guess anybody, just asking a honest question as the heat is searing in Vegas at this time of year.

Newarksmells

[Wannabe Flyboy]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341871

Could be worse!

[toon]

Final 3 greens, sorry if I came across arsy, didn't mean it to apply to newarksmells or his question, just being general.

Unbelievable that a case in point, yesterday I put the belts on a bit earlier than normal in the descent due to the current British summer here in uk through the normal black bits etc and upon landing into EGCC had two complete morons moaning at the number one because they weren't able to buy their duty free ! oh, they are writing to the M.D etc, no explanation of the fact that you can't have 50kgs of bar carts flying up and down the galley in a thunderstorm would suffice - it just wasn't an issue.

Newarksmells, please understand that these are the sort of morons we deal with everyday, and that is where my comment came from.

regards
:ok: :ok:

[ABird747]

Sorry, I don't believe that last posting.

At BA I was told that we are the only carrier that EVER EVER EVER closes bars early due to turbulence etc...

The gentleman was very insistent and gave me examples of all the airlines he had travelled on and told me how much better they were than us and how he'd never travel with BA again.

Also we're the only carrier that will not let him have his bags on the floor at the exit for take-off and landing (just in case anyone else wants to make up stories)...


;)

[Final 3 Greens]

Toon

Fair enough. I sympathise with the #1 dealing with people who have no sense of fear.

I'm a real coward when there's big convective stuff about - you couldn't persuade me to even slacken the belt :} Maybe a leftover from flying a PA28 through a cell once in the past.

The lack of fear shows just what a good job you guys do.

[geraintw]

I flew from JMK with Astraeus 2 weeks ago. We were stuck on the ground for nearly half an hour in searing heat with no air con because the plane had left LGW with an inoperative APU according to the captain..... most passengers were on the verge of passing out with the heat and the cabin crew offering a thimbleful of water didn't help. Combined with rude cabin crew who called a pax a ******* ******** it wasn't the best flight I have had. I much preferred air2000 when I flew with them in its then guise...

[mutt]

Since when did this turn into the passenger gripe forum :):):)

Do you really think that the CC enjoyed working in that cabin?


Mutt

[geraintw]

I don't know, they spent most of it cooling off by the doors!! :D