wingers

Yeah ..Apophis or Dave E..another one of your misguided rants

chemical alli

so yet another jha add in the australian with the potential for A380 training. the question that candidates need to ask is if this potential licence training evaporates then what ? dont know if i would leave a secure job albeit underpayed to pin my hopes on potential training under a an awa

Romulus

The first question is valid adn applicants SHOULD ask that question.

The second point regarding the use of an awa is, as per your usual standard, fundamentally incorrect.

Romulus

Hey VBA Engineer!

Given your insider knowledge how about you tell everyone our turnaround time for the last winglet installation we did??

You know, the one when we didn't also have a twin lightning strike to deal with as an urgent repair at the same time?

Romulus

Hello?

Gone missing VBA?

4.5 days instead of the allotted 6 did I hear you say?

Heh, I'll back our guys against all comers.

chemical alli

looks like q just put out A380 staff eoi,guess its down to two horses now jha and q itself, hope romulus is prepared to loose some south pacific peso,s. looks as if both will have to train before the bird arrives and wait the bid outcome. goodluck to all who apply internally.

Romulus

Spots are locked away for B1, B2 & Type.....

UnderneathTheRadar

First up - I have no connection with JHAS or anyone who works there. I do, however, have experience of working very closely with John Holland in other engineering disciplines.

There seems to be a small number of a/c engineers on this site who:
a) bitch and moan at the way Qantas treats them (justifiably if you ask me); but
b) have it in for JHAS/Romulus

I can't comment on the relative wages & conditions of either employer but I can say that the John Holland (and their owners Leightons Holdings) are principally engineers and maintainers and not operators. As such, they tend to understand the value of their human capital in these fields as they realise this expertise is hard won and not to be given away lightly. This would appear to be in stark contrast to Qantas' attitude to anyone not in senior management.

I realise it's easy for me to sit on the sidelines and say this but I honestly believe that an organisation looking to expand and develop it's expertise - with a proven track record of recognising the performances of it's employees has got to be worth giving the benefit of the doubt to. JHAS will have the corporate backing to persue this A380 bid as far as it needs to go and the whole shooting match will not disintegrate if they don't win - from an outsiders view they have to be rank longshots to win - they'll pick themselves up and try again knowing full well that the capacity crunch is on and the contracts will flow.

Sure, any new organisation is going to struggle and trip from time to time but so do the incumbents. Point being, if I were qualified and looking for a job with JHAS, Forstaff or Qantas there's only 1 choice I'd make. Plus you have to give Romulus credit for his openess (although he's let himself down today by getting sucked in!) on where things stand - you won't see that anywhere else.

Like I said, no vested interest in this topic whatsoever - I'm just impressed with the Holland's corporate culture with respect to employees and technical skills and would hope to help you LAME/AMEs to recognise the differences to some of the other employers out there.

Ready to be shot down in flames.......

UTR.

Romulus

I suspect that a leads to b although I've yet to feel anyone has it in for me/us at any serious level.


Only example I can think of is that new internet trend of the moment: Facebook.

Pretty much every employer bans it as a waste of time, threat to secrity etc.

Our rules are a bit different. Provided you don't spend too much time on there and you don't get email directed to your JHG email account direct from Facebook then it's open access (subject to normal rules of acceptable behaviour etc).

Same goes for pprune.

That's a difference. Maybe not much in itself but as an approach to people it speaks volumes.

chemical alli

hey romulus youve sold me ,if i can use face book i am applying immediately.

to not point bones but the reason why q lames are against jha is the factwe have had to tender for (our) being q aircraft, now this might be the new way of business and yes i agree things have to change and be more flexible.but when it comes to a department that once prided itself on turn times and can do attitude ,that has only been driven into the ground by inept management. then now you can understand the morale issues

Romulus

Yep, I can completely understand where you're coming from.

Long Bay Mauler

So Romulus,any time frame on when you guys start your A380 classroom training?

Romulus

Yes, but not that I'm going to post.

B1 and B2 first however.

VBA Engineer

Romulus,

That was my point exactly, how can you expect to maintain an a380 when you can't get a narrow body out on time.

Finding a couple of lightning strike hits is not uncommon when you have an aircraft in the shed, it is a pissy repair. God help us if you ever find cracks or corrosion in primary structure or maybe even an engine or gear change.

With regard to the 4 1/2 day turnaround for the winglet mod, keep in mind that the Kiwi's have been reliably performing the heavy checks in 3 days which includes ferry flights to and from Christchurch. They added an extra day to include the winglet mod.

Yep, 4 days to do the complete heavy check and the full winglet mod (including those ferry flights).

So please, don't listen to all of that self praise happening around you at JHAS when you finally got the winglet mod alone down to 4 1/2 days.

NAS1801

A heavy check in 4 days???? What kind of heavy check?

Romulus

So let me get this right - you're questioning OUR capability because we have a planned event (i.e. winglet mods) and then when an unscheduled event like a lightning strike crops up at the same time you think it's a problem when we say we can do it provided we get some LAME support? i.e. we can provide hangar space, composite repair capability, full back shop support, the works. Yet apparently it's our problem. How interesting.

I suppose your solution would be to simply tell the custoemr to bugger off. WHat we did was indicate a solution that was achievable to minimise disruption to the schedule.

Of course, I'm sure you're also aware that some incorrect consumables/expendables were also supplied (at the last minute). Our guys made the call that we should not use these items, we should get the correct items. And the company backed that call.

What would you prefer us to do VBA? Override a correct LAME call to do the right thing.

Tsk, tsk.

Perhaps you'd prefer us to act in the manner everybody else (rightly) complains about on this forum.


Agreed. And as we're ramping up the workforce our guys were committed to something else. Perhaps you need to examine why we were asked to do the job in the first place.

Well, we have replaced several major floor beams for Qantas.

Which is all fine and dandy if you have an established AIRLINE around you to provide enough work to keep people fully employed. I'd argue that with proper scheduling then the winglets would have no impact on the delivery of the aircraft in conjunction with the heavy check. But then, maybe that's just me.


Methinks you're sounding jealous.

My job is to look and evaluate and if necessary recommend change, and from what I see I'd take the guys we have now over the Kiwis. Not that they're bad, in fact they're damn good, it's just that our guys are better.

IMHO of course.

shazza26

Romolus what do u do at JHG? R u an Engineer?

Romulus

For what it's worth I'm in corporate doing strategy and M&A type stuff.

Romulus

Done some checking.

Are you SURE these winglet mods took place in NZ?

I can't find any reference to it at all, so barring some evidence to teh contrary I'm going to have to file you away under a less than polite term for someone who isn't quite accurate when it comes to the truth.

2 of the letters from your screen name may apply in this situation.

VBA Engineer

The winglet mods began in 2004.

When fuel prices soared 12 months ago the remainder of the fleet were approved for the mod, this is the small portion you have been involved with.

No BS here.



Now, can we get back on topic?

How do you propose to compete for A380 work without having a national presence and a reasonable LAME pool? Are you looking at Line support or just Base Maintenance?