Red Q - Dead in the water?
what should have been said was 'sorry, there's a surplus, so there's no position available...you'll have to come back at the end of your LWOP'
would one of the guys who went to J* be welcomed back by management??? I think not.
would one of the guys who went to J* be welcomed back by management??? I think not.
Nunc est bibendum
Lol. The rumour mill suggests that he offered his services as Fleet manager again to be told 'no thanks, we're happy with the new bloke' (I don't think they added that so are most of the line crew). He asked to be put back into a SCC position (sorry, I can't remember the correct letter... Cat B? ) to be told 'sorry, no vacancies, we have all the trainers we need'. So, back to the line he goes.... so the rumour mill suggests! 
I said it earlier, but it warrants saying again:
Returning to the line from Fleet Manager certainly meets the definition of 'opportunity'. Q-style.
Nothing would surprise me in this outfit.
A senior manager wrote that JG's little Asian sojourn was a great example of the opportunities that would open up for Qantas pilots.
So....leave QF as a fleet manager, piss off to Asia for six weeks, start a type endorsement, get screwed over by management incompetence and come home again, chastened and poorer for the experience. Yep, sounds like a typical QF 'opportunity'.
A senior manager wrote that JG's little Asian sojourn was a great example of the opportunities that would open up for Qantas pilots.
So....leave QF as a fleet manager, piss off to Asia for six weeks, start a type endorsement, get screwed over by management incompetence and come home again, chastened and poorer for the experience. Yep, sounds like a typical QF 'opportunity'.
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Rat eats rat
This is great stuff. Nothing beats watching a rat turn on another rat!
Sensational stuff.
Sensational stuff.
Hope the 767 guys and girls enjoy flying with him! 
At least you'll have plenty to talk about at work!
Wonder if he will he hold off on the engine start during pushback so he can listen to his own voice on the Safety Demo?
At least you'll have plenty to talk about at work!Wonder if he will he hold off on the engine start during pushback so he can listen to his own voice on the Safety Demo?
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Bluster!
I'll bet not ONE of you guys says anything to his face.
He was nothing but helpful to me when he was Fleet Manager. I can only judge him on what he did for me as my manager, and prefer not to get into the classic Qantas "group think" in a bar.
I didn't agree with some of his thoughts, but others were absolutely correct. Problem was, to many, his message was an unpalatable truth.
So let's just shoot the messenger. That'll make us feel better. But it won't help us keep our jobs.
I'll bet not ONE of you guys says anything to his face.
He was nothing but helpful to me when he was Fleet Manager. I can only judge him on what he did for me as my manager, and prefer not to get into the classic Qantas "group think" in a bar.
I didn't agree with some of his thoughts, but others were absolutely correct. Problem was, to many, his message was an unpalatable truth.
So let's just shoot the messenger. That'll make us feel better. But it won't help us keep our jobs.
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I know for an absolute fact, an absolute fact, that many 767 pilots have not judged him on their personal experience, but on assumed notions that he is somehow partly to blame for our predicament. I have flown with some who have never met him. He is a target that many use to vent their frustrations.
That's akin to hating cold water because of the Titanic disaster.
My presumption is that those who have written words here, cloaked behind a veil of secrecy, won't have the guts to say anything to his face. Not whilst sober, anyway.
That's akin to hating cold water because of the Titanic disaster.
My presumption is that those who have written words here, cloaked behind a veil of secrecy, won't have the guts to say anything to his face. Not whilst sober, anyway.
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Gear Pin,You may call it lack 'of guts'. To the intelligent it's called diplomacy. Good luck with your career mate, may I suggest implementing some diplomacy to ensure a long one.
Cheers TH.
Nunc est bibendum
The day of the announcement of RedQ- the afternoon of in fact- I happened to be in the office and saw said Fleet Manager heading off to a meeting. He asked had I heard and when I responded that I didn't understand how starting RedQ addressed the alleged losses of Qantas mainline. The Fleet Manager told me with great authority that it was all about on carriage, putting people onto QF aircraft, etc.
When I asked Lyell Strambi the same question the next day he said the two issues are unrelated in a basic sense*. They saw the opportunity to do this SE Asian thing and at the same time they needed to shrink long haul in order to stop it losing money.
*He did go on later to say that they weren't going to keep throwing money at mainline when they could throw money at RedQ so the two were related but certainly not in the way that the then 767 Fleet Manager made them out to be.
The then 767 Fleet Manager would have been better off responding to my question with 'buggered if I know, I guess I'll find out at the briefing I'm going to' instead of going with BS that was obviously wrong even to me.
Would you like to know about the unanswered emails- to the extent that I no longer bothered? The number of 'attaboy's I asked him to forward on to F/Os for a job well done but weren't- to the extent that I no longer bothered? I'm quite happy to judge a man on his demonstrated performance and I've run into very few colleagues on the 767 who do anything other than that.
When I asked Lyell Strambi the same question the next day he said the two issues are unrelated in a basic sense*. They saw the opportunity to do this SE Asian thing and at the same time they needed to shrink long haul in order to stop it losing money.
*He did go on later to say that they weren't going to keep throwing money at mainline when they could throw money at RedQ so the two were related but certainly not in the way that the then 767 Fleet Manager made them out to be.
The then 767 Fleet Manager would have been better off responding to my question with 'buggered if I know, I guess I'll find out at the briefing I'm going to' instead of going with BS that was obviously wrong even to me.
Would you like to know about the unanswered emails- to the extent that I no longer bothered? The number of 'attaboy's I asked him to forward on to F/Os for a job well done but weren't- to the extent that I no longer bothered? I'm quite happy to judge a man on his demonstrated performance and I've run into very few colleagues on the 767 who do anything other than that.
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Regardless of all the internal politics my fear is this Red Q or whatever is going to fail miserably, especially by the standards of the QF's group couple of forays into Asia. Jetstar Pacific is an unmitigated disaster and Jetstar Asia has only managed to be marginally better than that! As far as i am concerned the A320 proposal is an initial proposal and a joke,(Preminum cabins and A320 do not co-exist, except maybe an hour or 2 flight time), it is more a base for the future 787's, and for connections to Europe well then it may have some success, and it has questionable success for intra Asian travel, yes maybe for some people travelling between SIN and other ports but thats about it, but as you know you go to Chinatown for the best deals on stuff and the vast majority of people these days go for the cheap option! As for connecting australian cities to Asia forget it! China Southern has quite a few direct flights to Oz at the moment (45 Weekly direct flights) and planning to make it 150 direct flights in 2 years. No one wants to have 2 stops to Asia they want direct! So in conclusion I sense yet another unmitigated disaster coming on! Yet another drain on the balance sheet while Rome burns with lack of funds to the core business. I understand peoples concerns about their own job but I reckon we should be far more concerned about the entire direction of this mob, there is no sense in it at this stage! Due to the strong Aussie dollar that is my 4 cents worth!
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Oh, I see what my problem is! I'm not sending emails to the Fleet Manager!! Annoying him with crap!
In my 17 years in Qantas, I haven't had a reason to send even one email to the fleet manager; what on earth are you writing to him about??!! Crew meals, late transport, etc? What a burden, and a waste of resources.
And as for "'attaboys", how about showing some leadership and doing it yourself??!! If you're the Captain and a respected leader of men, it'll mean more coming from you, anyway. Surely.
It seems that those who continually write emails to management seem to have an inflated opinion of their own importance. I reckon if they stop responding, humbly take the hint. You've diluted the important message with all the rubbish ones, so they really don't think your issues are that important at all.
So let's all make ourselves feel empowered by venting on them for ignoring incessant emails, and not giving F/O's a cuddle for doing a the job they're paid to do. We might even intimidate management into kowtowing and giving us the 787!!!!
In my 17 years in Qantas, I haven't had a reason to send even one email to the fleet manager; what on earth are you writing to him about??!! Crew meals, late transport, etc? What a burden, and a waste of resources.
And as for "'attaboys", how about showing some leadership and doing it yourself??!! If you're the Captain and a respected leader of men, it'll mean more coming from you, anyway. Surely.
It seems that those who continually write emails to management seem to have an inflated opinion of their own importance. I reckon if they stop responding, humbly take the hint. You've diluted the important message with all the rubbish ones, so they really don't think your issues are that important at all.
So let's all make ourselves feel empowered by venting on them for ignoring incessant emails, and not giving F/O's a cuddle for doing a the job they're paid to do. We might even intimidate management into kowtowing and giving us the 787!!!!
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As for connecting australian cities to Asia forget it! China Southern has quite a few direct flights to Oz at the moment (45 Weekly direct flights) and planning to make it 150 direct flights in 2 years.
As the Board have spent most of 2011 waging a succesful PR war to convince the public that they're no longer safe or Australian, for the average punter the reason to fly Qantas rather than China Southern is...?
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I wonder which ace was flying the 767 yesterday that blew a pneumatic line in the leading edge and destroyed the slat on the right wing 
Rome is burning, ter be sure ter be sure!
Rome is burning, ter be sure ter be sure!
And while we're at it. Has anybody else bothered to read the HOFO blogs recently? (There haven't been many.)
I did and was amazed at how our beloved HOFO thinks we are even remotely interested in his thanking of managerial Captains who volunteered to be Duty Captain over the Christmas/New Year period and those returning from duties which rightly or wrongly are considered a threat to many current pilots, whilst paying little regard to those pilots who were actually away and to issues that could be considered more relevant to line pilots.
Sure, thank the Duty Captains for their assistance but do it in a more appropriate forum because we really aren't interested in gratuitous compliments.
I did and was amazed at how our beloved HOFO thinks we are even remotely interested in his thanking of managerial Captains who volunteered to be Duty Captain over the Christmas/New Year period and those returning from duties which rightly or wrongly are considered a threat to many current pilots, whilst paying little regard to those pilots who were actually away and to issues that could be considered more relevant to line pilots.
Sure, thank the Duty Captains for their assistance but do it in a more appropriate forum because we really aren't interested in gratuitous compliments.
Nunc est bibendum
Ah Gear Pin, that's twice now you've made assumptions about things upon which you know nothing about. Simple things like potential efficiencies, hazards, issues with intams and notams, and a request for the Fleet Manager to acknowledge an F/Os efforts beyond what I've already acknowledged obviously escape you. The concept of an F/O having a nice letter from the FM on file for when a potential stuff up occurs sometime later in their career obviously does as well.
Given you've vented about people slagging others anonymously, make sure you say all this stuff you've posted here to my face when next we meet. Better yet, PM me your mobile number and we'll meet up for a beer.
Given you've vented about people slagging others anonymously, make sure you say all this stuff you've posted here to my face when next we meet. Better yet, PM me your mobile number and we'll meet up for a beer.
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'Qantas the worlds most experienced airline.'
It is all starting to fit together.
The reason why Qantas has not ordered 777's and the reason Jetstar Pacific is still part of the Group portfolio is to gain even more 'experience' in dealing with Loss of Face prior to dominating the Asian arena with the Red Q experiment.
To be sure, they will be experts in Asia when the time comes.
It is all starting to fit together.
The reason why Qantas has not ordered 777's and the reason Jetstar Pacific is still part of the Group portfolio is to gain even more 'experience' in dealing with Loss of Face prior to dominating the Asian arena with the Red Q experiment.
To be sure, they will be experts in Asia when the time comes.
In my 17 years in Qantas, I haven't had a reason to send even one email to the fleet manager; what on earth are you writing to him about??!! Crew meals, late transport, etc? What a burden, and a waste of resources.