Qantas-link line-check

[pakeha-boy]

Had a bit of a surprise yesterday,....last leg of a 4 day trip from KLAS-KPHX....Get a jumpseat request from a Qantas link,Dash-8 Captain,he had all the paper work from the FAA.The reason being they have merger issues in OZ and they had recieved permission to observe flights.

I introduced myself ,and told him there was no bloody way I was going to let an Aussie sit in the jumpseat!!!!...joking of course,we immediatly started abusing each others cricket and rugby teams....I knew I was going to get along well with this bloke ,the F/O was taken back a little but soon figured out we were just giving each other a little bit of stick .

Seems,they had 3-4 Q-link boys in the country,doing these observation flights and from the feedback were enjoying themselves.The flight being only an hour long,didnt leave a lot of time for talk but we managed to dicuss a few issues and not surprisingly....there doesnt seem to be a lot of difference in the current attitudes and climate,s of Airlines in Oz and here...

Enjoyed having him in the cockpit and wish all the boys at the "link" airlines all the best,seems you also have some tough times ahead...PB

[fl610]

Thanks yah sheep botherer......and yer still can't play cricket:E

[Captain Stoobing]

I assume you fly the DHC-8-400????

I also assume this is along the cross qualification lines between the 300-400.

Did the guy say if he was a QLD or NSW Qantaslink driver??

[hoss]

It would have been a NSW one getting ready for the Gold Coast base;) .

[TROJAN764]

Hoss,
You will find yourself in the naughty corner if you give away too many secrets before the company announces them formally!

[pakeha-boy]

Capt Stoobing...........mate ,thats what surprised me...I fly the A-320...the f/o and I were trying to find the correlation between this flying and the Dash-200 he was flying.....asked him if he was familiar with the A-320,his reply was that he was......from the info I gathered..there are several link operations combining and their concerns were the merging of A/C checklists and ops specs.....and how the crews were adapting to them....we are currently going through this process as we merged/acquired USAirways,so there is a merging of operations.


His biggest complaint was that the 400,s were given to "some other" operations and that his outfit would not be getting any of them.It seemed they were more interested in how we were dealing with the transistion as the FAA has approved "internet training" for our study guides.Its been one cluster after another for us and we relayed our concerns about this,so it seems they were gathering info to stay clear of the pitfalls we were having.

Spent many years flying the Dash,so it that respect there really is no difference in the way in which the crews interact.....there are checklists,complex sytems etc etc....so if your going to observe a crew in action there really is very little difference,the concept is the same.

The Capt in queston also I might add didnt seem bitter about what was going on in his turf,it was quite the opposite.The feeling I got was that he and his mates were very pro-active in what was happening(make your own distinction)....but certainly wasnt pissing and moaning...small world..I flew for east/west...he used to be a crew scheduler....hope that clears up a few things..PB

[hoss]

Thanks pakeha-boy it all makes sense now:) . I hope he had his days off in Las Vegas.