puff
18th Jun 2003, 12:02
Rumour is that ex QF ex AN and now at QF again TJ is implimenting at QF one of his greatest questionable decisions at AN to the the big Q now. That is a complete centralisation of port crewing. Any ex AN pilots here will tell you that the system was a complete joke at AN and took away a perfectly good system that worked well.
Port crewing officers knew the crew, and kept things at AN anyway running like clockwork, they were all either made redundant or moved elsewhere and replaced by a phone on the desk linked to Melbourne, however this was never answered as central crewing was always understaffed. Various incidents happened basically on a daily basis, and were NEVER rectified right up to the collapse....such as
1. Pilots calling up sick and no extra crew organised, delayed flights as no pilot was there, no one organised to cover the flight.
2. Complete chaos in regards to no organising of connecting crew, more delayed flights.
3. Pilots not advised of changes, IE a 737 crew would turn up to do FLTXX which was changed to a 767 the night before, but there would be no 767 crew and a 737 crew with no aircraft to fly, with a flight to pick up in another port....and just a general lack of knowledge......I remember hearing of a phone call made to central crewing that went along the lines of you have sent an A320 crew to fly a 737, what do you mean he's a pilot isn't he can't he fly anything....
As anyone knows crewing in an airline is a rapidly changing area by the hour, schedules change, delays occur, a well planned perfectly done roster can be thrown into chaos at a moments notice, the local finger on the pulse by port crewing was a great first line of defence against huge delays.....in the AN example at least it was a disaster, and beforehand pilots were told of all the great 'advantages' to them at the time....perhaps might be a case of be careful, lot of people believed he was still on the QF payroll over this decision, maybe he really does believe it works!
Port crewing officers knew the crew, and kept things at AN anyway running like clockwork, they were all either made redundant or moved elsewhere and replaced by a phone on the desk linked to Melbourne, however this was never answered as central crewing was always understaffed. Various incidents happened basically on a daily basis, and were NEVER rectified right up to the collapse....such as
1. Pilots calling up sick and no extra crew organised, delayed flights as no pilot was there, no one organised to cover the flight.
2. Complete chaos in regards to no organising of connecting crew, more delayed flights.
3. Pilots not advised of changes, IE a 737 crew would turn up to do FLTXX which was changed to a 767 the night before, but there would be no 767 crew and a 737 crew with no aircraft to fly, with a flight to pick up in another port....and just a general lack of knowledge......I remember hearing of a phone call made to central crewing that went along the lines of you have sent an A320 crew to fly a 737, what do you mean he's a pilot isn't he can't he fly anything....
As anyone knows crewing in an airline is a rapidly changing area by the hour, schedules change, delays occur, a well planned perfectly done roster can be thrown into chaos at a moments notice, the local finger on the pulse by port crewing was a great first line of defence against huge delays.....in the AN example at least it was a disaster, and beforehand pilots were told of all the great 'advantages' to them at the time....perhaps might be a case of be careful, lot of people believed he was still on the QF payroll over this decision, maybe he really does believe it works!