Detrimental effects of media coverage (QF)
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H'mm
No cars/buses crushed by an A380, fence still intact no tyre marks on the grass, ATC didn't notice anything and the ILS still worked after the so called short landing.
Don't believe everything you see on You Tube.
Too many holes in the Swiss cheese aligning in QF, time for the QF management to act before something that is actually newsworthy happens.
No cars/buses crushed by an A380, fence still intact no tyre marks on the grass, ATC didn't notice anything and the ILS still worked after the so called short landing.
Don't believe everything you see on You Tube.
Too many holes in the Swiss cheese aligning in QF, time for the QF management to act before something that is actually newsworthy happens.
Too many holes in the Swiss cheese aligning in QF, time for the QF management to act before something that is actually newsworthy happens.
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It's a beat up, nothing more or less.
But it is fuelled by those inside QF (and others in past ages) who go on and on about "it's just a business".....when of course in fact it's plainly not. NO other business straps its customers in little aluminium coffins and sends them into the high night sky, hours from land etc etc etc.....
The bad things do happen and from time to time in clusters. And sometimes with tears and even blood. Sherm years back did an audit of Delta and it would make your eyes water to see the internal management documents detailing the daily "events" in an airline which, with its code-sharing affiliates, had then about 1,000 airframes in the sky each day. Headlines galore if the wrong journalists got hold of the highlights....but to those of us who actually earn a living at it.....simply daily business as usual. NOT desirable and we all seek to learn as much as possible.....but simply daily life.
Our world is different from most business worlds and we are too......"sui generis" if you like....and so we have to accept that every time an ex BCG clown explains that "new" principles prevail....they're wrong and they are digging a very big hole for themselves every time a hydraulic system lets go or there's fumes in the air con system. For us....necessary evils but for them...."shock horror".
As Marilyn Monroe said (paraphrased) as it today pertains to our world...."those who know us better know better". Our own management don't know us....why should journalists?
But it is fuelled by those inside QF (and others in past ages) who go on and on about "it's just a business".....when of course in fact it's plainly not. NO other business straps its customers in little aluminium coffins and sends them into the high night sky, hours from land etc etc etc.....
The bad things do happen and from time to time in clusters. And sometimes with tears and even blood. Sherm years back did an audit of Delta and it would make your eyes water to see the internal management documents detailing the daily "events" in an airline which, with its code-sharing affiliates, had then about 1,000 airframes in the sky each day. Headlines galore if the wrong journalists got hold of the highlights....but to those of us who actually earn a living at it.....simply daily business as usual. NOT desirable and we all seek to learn as much as possible.....but simply daily life.
Our world is different from most business worlds and we are too......"sui generis" if you like....and so we have to accept that every time an ex BCG clown explains that "new" principles prevail....they're wrong and they are digging a very big hole for themselves every time a hydraulic system lets go or there's fumes in the air con system. For us....necessary evils but for them...."shock horror".
As Marilyn Monroe said (paraphrased) as it today pertains to our world...."those who know us better know better". Our own management don't know us....why should journalists?
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I am also sick of the media - they are becoming more and more like the Americans everday. Do you notice the news "headlines" these days include trivial media stories like the diving pigs at the Easter Show? Surely Meanwhile, there was a huge earthquake in Mexico which is actually newsworthy. Oh, and there was that EK A340 which had a very lucky escape last year.......
There is definently some inside information that is being passed onto the media - they also must have sources at the airport who don't work for the airline who help them out.
The biggest thing with the media is they get on thier high horse, interview the "terrified" or "angry" passengers - would they prefer the aircraft continue on? They are getting to the point where it seems like they are having a go at QF for taking the safest option. Planes brake, they need to be fixed. The media seem to make it like QF are the only airline with issues.........
Mind you, any press release from QF in response explaining the issue is always edited (or ignored totally) so QF PR are fighting a losing battle.
The worst part about the media coverage is the average person reads it and thinks QF is unsafe etc. The flight crew in particular do a fabulous job in all these 'incidents' and what they do everyday.
There is definently some inside information that is being passed onto the media - they also must have sources at the airport who don't work for the airline who help them out.
The biggest thing with the media is they get on thier high horse, interview the "terrified" or "angry" passengers - would they prefer the aircraft continue on? They are getting to the point where it seems like they are having a go at QF for taking the safest option. Planes brake, they need to be fixed. The media seem to make it like QF are the only airline with issues.........
Mind you, any press release from QF in response explaining the issue is always edited (or ignored totally) so QF PR are fighting a losing battle.
The worst part about the media coverage is the average person reads it and thinks QF is unsafe etc. The flight crew in particular do a fabulous job in all these 'incidents' and what they do everyday.
Too many holes in the Swiss cheese aligning in QF, time for the QF management to act before something that is actually newsworthy happens.
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We had a chat round the tarmac office today regarding this exact issue and consensus based on each individual issue was that the A380 blowing tyres mmm maybe the anti-skid system being U/S (and on MEL) had something to do with it but with none of us being the chosen few no more info was forthcoming, 747 engine issues well if you outsource you run the risk of the product not being as good as it once was, cracked windscreen/delam, man if I had a dollar for every one in the world I'd be a gazillionaire.
Qf refused to give ALL its workers little or no respect, pushed a 3% per annum increase over more years than I can remember, ran down their conditions of employment until they could take no more. All the while doing the opposite for it's executive group massive pay increases, conditions beyond the pale even late last year increasing exec travel privileges that reduced ALL other staffs to a point its hardly worth traveling anymore. Its the joke about the rowing crew soon they'll be sacking the rower for being unproductive.
Qf refused to give ALL its workers little or no respect, pushed a 3% per annum increase over more years than I can remember, ran down their conditions of employment until they could take no more. All the while doing the opposite for it's executive group massive pay increases, conditions beyond the pale even late last year increasing exec travel privileges that reduced ALL other staffs to a point its hardly worth traveling anymore. Its the joke about the rowing crew soon they'll be sacking the rower for being unproductive.
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...they also must have sources at the airport who don't work for the airline who help them out.
It's only a small step from being under-appreciated to sending information to the media, either for aspirational reasons (to fix the problem) or just to be a prick and make life tough for the despised managment drones. On a few occasions the federal government has learned this the hard way.
Hypothetical question with no pre-conceived assumptions...How many of these 'stories' are coming from within Qantas itself? Say It Ain't So
I don't wish to pick on QANTAS PR specifically but they seem to be the most prolific at this.
If the PR team took on a couple of well presented, co-operative LAMEs (possibly a big ask
) that could answer stupid media questions with matter-of-fact knowledge and courtesy, they would probably dowse a lot of this crap before it hit the headlines. Whenever questioned about anything even remotely non routine, Qantas seems to have an oversupply of PR poppets and a lack of simple, plausible explanations. We industry types all understand the issues behind minor incidents and delays, but the average person (even if they are intelligent and well educated) usually has a basic lack of knowledge about what keeps aircraft in the air and is also a bit scared of flying. The modern media exists to either terrify, arouse or disgust you (facts are so 1960s
) so they are happy to play on the public's lack of knowledge and paranoia.
Last edited by Worrals in the wilds; 6th Apr 2010 at 12:20.
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Plane Talking by Ben Sandilands
April 6, 2010 – 6:55 pm, by Ben Sandilands
Qantas is in all sorts of ‘strife’ today , a turn back at Bangkok, another cracked windscreen in Melbourne, and mechanical delays to a flight from LA to Brisbane, all involving 747s.
The Bangkok incident involved lengthy delays to yesterday’s QF1 Boeing 747-400 to London which returned to Bangkok after an engine surge early this morning. Its 335 passengers are now in a hotel awaiting a replacement 747. And as the airline has been quick to admit, the jet that broke down was last serviced in Australia. Only recently.
As if routine breakdowns weren’t enough, the Fairfax press is reporting a case of a loony trying to bring down a Qantas jet with mind power, and being silly enough to share his obsession with everyone nearby, causing him to finish the flight in hand and leg cuffs.
All up the media spent the day engaged in the biggest Qantas safety frenzy of the year, so far.
And its all a shallow media sham. None of these incidents matter two cents, but a culpable, lazy media is chasing after problems where Qantas has dealt in the safest possible manner with typical operational breakdowns, yet ignored the really serious issues affecting both the carrier and the integrity of air safety administration in Australia.
But those stories are hard to get.
Take the case of the damaged windscreen in a 737 that continued to fly because a so called professional engineer, breaking with his striking colleagues, ignored the intent and purpose of an airworthiness directive that requires immediate replacement of the damaged pane.
As reported in Plane Talking the crux of this incident is that:
…what Qantas saw as a situation that was tolerable on the night of February 7 was deemed intolerable on February 8 and the windscreen panel was replaced before the jet continued in service, even though it was a mere 65 minutes block time from its base in Melbourne.
That’s a story about a screw up that could have killed around 176 people in a full Qantas 737-800.
Or the incredible case of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, which not only couldn’t produce documentation related to a dangerous missed approach to Melbourne Airport in 2007, but failed to report it fully to the ATSB until forced to do so by a report in Crikey and Aviation Business.
This prima facie criminal failing on the part of Jetstar was followed by NO ENFORCEMENT ACTION by the ATSB.
There is something rotten in the public administration of air safety in Australia, and the government, the opposition, and the general media are complicit in ignoring the situation.
These are the real Qantas group stories.
Footnote: Qantas can’t even report its international traffic figures for Jetstar accurately to the ASX, instead pumping them up the Jetstar NZ domestic figures. Will the ASX act? Crikey filed a complaint with the ASX last Thursday.
This report appeared earlier in the day in the Crikey subscriber email bulletin.
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Qantas is in all sorts of ‘strife’ today , a turn back at Bangkok, another cracked windscreen in Melbourne, and mechanical delays to a flight from LA to Brisbane, all involving 747s.
The Bangkok incident involved lengthy delays to yesterday’s QF1 Boeing 747-400 to London which returned to Bangkok after an engine surge early this morning. Its 335 passengers are now in a hotel awaiting a replacement 747. And as the airline has been quick to admit, the jet that broke down was last serviced in Australia. Only recently.
As if routine breakdowns weren’t enough, the Fairfax press is reporting a case of a loony trying to bring down a Qantas jet with mind power, and being silly enough to share his obsession with everyone nearby, causing him to finish the flight in hand and leg cuffs.
All up the media spent the day engaged in the biggest Qantas safety frenzy of the year, so far.
And its all a shallow media sham. None of these incidents matter two cents, but a culpable, lazy media is chasing after problems where Qantas has dealt in the safest possible manner with typical operational breakdowns, yet ignored the really serious issues affecting both the carrier and the integrity of air safety administration in Australia.
But those stories are hard to get.
Take the case of the damaged windscreen in a 737 that continued to fly because a so called professional engineer, breaking with his striking colleagues, ignored the intent and purpose of an airworthiness directive that requires immediate replacement of the damaged pane.
As reported in Plane Talking the crux of this incident is that:
…what Qantas saw as a situation that was tolerable on the night of February 7 was deemed intolerable on February 8 and the windscreen panel was replaced before the jet continued in service, even though it was a mere 65 minutes block time from its base in Melbourne.
That’s a story about a screw up that could have killed around 176 people in a full Qantas 737-800.
Or the incredible case of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, which not only couldn’t produce documentation related to a dangerous missed approach to Melbourne Airport in 2007, but failed to report it fully to the ATSB until forced to do so by a report in Crikey and Aviation Business.
This prima facie criminal failing on the part of Jetstar was followed by NO ENFORCEMENT ACTION by the ATSB.
There is something rotten in the public administration of air safety in Australia, and the government, the opposition, and the general media are complicit in ignoring the situation.
These are the real Qantas group stories.
Footnote: Qantas can’t even report its international traffic figures for Jetstar accurately to the ASX, instead pumping them up the Jetstar NZ domestic figures. Will the ASX act? Crikey filed a complaint with the ASX last Thursday.
This report appeared earlier in the day in the Crikey subscriber email bulletin.
Comments (0) | Permalink
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The fleet quality is not what it use to be, plain and simple. If anyone has their doubts, crack open an engine cowl and have a good look around. Alot of guys who post here probably seem a little disheartened or negative, but only because they were passionate about something they were proud of.
I am sure that this will upset alot of people, but what is happening is happening for a reason, and is now out of our hands. Just sit back and watch it all unfold.
I am sure that this will upset alot of people, but what is happening is happening for a reason, and is now out of our hands. Just sit back and watch it all unfold.
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ROH, I had the exact same thought re: Airnorth. I was reading a few of the major papers in the days after that event and the only one that mentioned anything of substance was the NT News/Times (forgotten which, probably both) and for obvious reasons. A bit of online coverage from news.com.au but really, compared to Lockhart River, nada.
Oh wait, it was only 2 pilots on a training flight, not a later flight with 33 POB, nevermind then.... training issues don't affect the safety of fare-paying pax, do they??
Oh wait, it was only 2 pilots on a training flight, not a later flight with 33 POB, nevermind then.... training issues don't affect the safety of fare-paying pax, do they??
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The biggest press scandal this century uncovered. Hush money paid to the largest press outlets to safeguard what was almost Australia's worst air disaster. It has been confirmed Australia's largest two media companies were rewarded extensively to not do their job. No reports by any mass media coverage existed following an Emirates A340 near crash as it departed from Melbourne in March 2009. The pilots have been sacked after ironically saving hundreds of lives which they a short time earlier almost killed. Richard Travers of the ACCC reports hefty fines to be enforced and new laws concerning the freedom of information to be addressed. He said "the Editors are sometimes in a difficult position as to what they print. But in cases like these its clear cut." It has been suggested prison time may be served for those found guilty.
Source: thewest.com.au
Emergency Landing At Jandakot.
"A light aircraft carrying two people has been forced to perform an emergency landing at Jandakot airport after it suffered problems with its landing gear.
"The pilot reported problems ...managed to land safely just before midday.
It is not clear whether the plane landed on its belly or if the problems with its landing gear were rectified prior to landing.
In other words, we heard there was a drama, we'll put a sensational headline on it, get the readers to have a look at the article, aaaannnnnd, we don't know what the outcome was. AWESOME JOURNALISTIC WORK RONAN O'CONNELL, YOU TRULY ARE A PROFESSIONAL!!!
Emergency Landing At Jandakot.
"A light aircraft carrying two people has been forced to perform an emergency landing at Jandakot airport after it suffered problems with its landing gear.
"The pilot reported problems ...managed to land safely just before midday.
It is not clear whether the plane landed on its belly or if the problems with its landing gear were rectified prior to landing.
In other words, we heard there was a drama, we'll put a sensational headline on it, get the readers to have a look at the article, aaaannnnnd, we don't know what the outcome was. AWESOME JOURNALISTIC WORK RONAN O'CONNELL, YOU TRULY ARE A PROFESSIONAL!!!
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IMHO news has become the new form of entertainment. Quick, sharp, emotive stories to be dished out by every journo trying to get a name for themselves in the world of media hype to sell advertising space. Thanks to us for tuning in, reading or listening has driven the sensationalist crap that is now entertainewsment. Ask yourself how much news do we really need to know. How much or what will change our daily lives? Perhaps for most that there lives or so boring and mundane that they need this sort of drivel. Luckily I have my head in the clouds and not up some editors arse!
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news,
Are you saying media companies in Australia were paid off by EK to not report the Melbourne incident, which IIRC was the week's headline story for all media outlets from The Channel Nine News to the Balonne Beacon, complete with load sheet analysis, groovy pictures of the busted ILS and 'We Thought We Were Going To Die' interviews from several expert pax?
Is that what you're saying? No worries if you are, but what's your evidence, even if it's unsubstantiated, hearsay or otherwise inadmissable? In the words of the great private aviator John Tavolta, Tell Me More.
Australia has at least one hundred media companies* without considering unorthadox sources such as PPRuNe and crikey.com, so that's an awful lot of bribes and control, even for a wealthy company like Emirates
.
* B&T : Major Media Companies, and I realize Just For Adults Pty Ltd may have had other things on their minds...
Are you saying media companies in Australia were paid off by EK to not report the Melbourne incident, which IIRC was the week's headline story for all media outlets from The Channel Nine News to the Balonne Beacon, complete with load sheet analysis, groovy pictures of the busted ILS and 'We Thought We Were Going To Die' interviews from several expert pax?
Is that what you're saying? No worries if you are, but what's your evidence, even if it's unsubstantiated, hearsay or otherwise inadmissable? In the words of the great private aviator John Tavolta, Tell Me More
. Australia has at least one hundred media companies* without considering unorthadox sources such as PPRuNe and crikey.com, so that's an awful lot of bribes and control, even for a wealthy company like Emirates
. * B&T : Major Media Companies, and I realize Just For Adults Pty Ltd may have had other things on their minds...
Last edited by Worrals in the wilds; 7th Apr 2010 at 12:32.
Latest news
Flight from Hell
Melbourne passengers told of their terrific horror aboard a Canberra bound ****s flight which was told in no uncertain terms to return to Melbourne yesterday due to running out of Everybody Loves Raymond episodes.
Some passengers were devastated that the 247 passengers were told few details of the kerfuffle.
They said the plane 'Turned on it's side and flopped like a fish out of water' before turning around.
As a precaution, fire trucks were on standby when the Airbus Dash-4 Caribou landed.
Passenger Bruce Goatman last night was still recovering from the ordeal.
'The hostess shoved me out of the plane. I landed right on the concrete', the passenger said.
Melbourne passengers told of their terrific horror aboard a Canberra bound ****s flight which was told in no uncertain terms to return to Melbourne yesterday due to running out of Everybody Loves Raymond episodes.
Some passengers were devastated that the 247 passengers were told few details of the kerfuffle.
They said the plane 'Turned on it's side and flopped like a fish out of water' before turning around.
As a precaution, fire trucks were on standby when the Airbus Dash-4 Caribou landed.
Passenger Bruce Goatman last night was still recovering from the ordeal.
'The hostess shoved me out of the plane. I landed right on the concrete', the passenger said.
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How much of this crap is being fueled by the Engineers Union who are hot after a pay increase. I don't have a problem with this, these blokes spend many a unpleasant night hanging off a airframe or engine, often in lousy WX ,adding to that, their long periods of study to stay current with types they service. But the reality is continue to damage the brand is going to cause long term effects, and the "nervous nellies" are going to look elsewhere for their trip to Thailand or wherever. They have no idea that this stuff going thru the press is everyday stuff that happens in Aviation all over the world and means little in the large scale of things. So lighten up fellas, keep the press out of such mundane items, and keep plugging away for your increase, but use a little discretion in what you feed to the journos.