Hey Joker I would rather be in a landing jet struck by lightning than sitting on the tarmac struck by lightning!

Joker,

It is the safety of the ramp workers that is the issue, not the aircraft occupants. In the aircraft you are effectively in a Faraday cage; on the ramp with a headset lead or other equipment you may be a lighting rod.

More in "The West"
Thomas still not clarifying who's lighting rule it is: Unions or Qantas...

Nimrods and lightning rods
 

It's not up to that f:mad:d to clarify anything.
Unions don't impose 'lightning rules'. The process that is adopted with the 3 warning phases (I prefer to call them risk phases) came about through consultation between the aviation industry and the BOM in the 90's and agreed upon in principle. Hence the standard km/mile measurement. Mr Thomas can't clarify anything specific because he is not fully in the aviation loop, which is a good thing. There are some technical aspects of the industry that is better understood by and within the indsutry itself, and regardless of what Thomas writes he is and will only ever be an armchair critic, and a f:mad:d to boot.

At the end of the day the 'lightning' process or standard has been adopted by the aviation industry and agreed upon for the sole benefit of safety. If Mr Thomas is trying to draw a bow between lightning related delays and unions then he is an even bigger f:mad:d than I thought.
I am pretty fired up about this. Operational staff or matter of factly the airlines do not have to justify their actions or decisions to the media or any other arena of scrutiny, especially when a decision is based upon safety. Delays were encountered for a number of reasons in Perth, with safety being one of those reasons, these are the facts, that is all that needs explaining, the rest is history.
This thread along with the actual operational and technical knowledge is a good enough way to explain the facts publicly. More accurate and factual than Messr Thomas biased scribblings and uneducated gossip supplied shisen.

Joker89 - Are you f:mad:g serious. For your benefit, and I cannot believe you are so stupid, ask yourself this 'why are you safer inside a car than outside a car during a thunderstorm ?' If you can work that out, then apply the same principle to an aircraft. If after all that pondering the penny drops and you work out the answer please phone G Thomas and try to explain that to him, and explain it to the dopey ass selfish public too stupid to understand even the most basic safety facts. Why are all these nuptys complaining anyway, I bet they are the first to run for cover at home, at the beach or on the golf course when bolts start dropping from the sky??
F:mad:ing Nimrods.

My point was, the storm cells are far enough away in order to make a safe approach but to close for the ground handlers. Im not saying they should work when lightning is around. Having been struck by lighting when flying i can't say it was a fun experience. Heard a story once of a lightning strike setting off the fire bottles and causing a flame out.

Edit, calm down catus. Lightning brought down a chopper in the north sea. Pilots make loads of decisions regarding weather avoidance. I was trying to make a comparison to people's level of risk they are willing to accept. I've flown through weather when others have turned around. Am I right because I survived or were they making a better decision. Just food for thought.

CJ, unfortunately, the public doesn't tread Prune. It's pretty poor form that GT, having made thinly veiled accusations on the blame game yesterday has refused to clarify who's policy it is to not work during TS.

GT is back at it on the radio with his ramblings again this morning and unfortunately I think the general public will believe him. He even had the hide to insinuate it may have been industrially related.

However, after being amongst it on the taxiways and Tarmac on Tuesday his view is very naive and sheltered (pardon the pun).

Lucky he's only a commentator...... or attitudes like his will only increase the risk of injury and or fatalities.

I've never seen people scramble so quickly when a lightning bolt struck near the Tarmac while it was open at about 3:00pm.

To be fair, one of my work colleagues was on a flight that was stuck on the ground, away from a gate, for 2 hours or so and he said that they saw numerous ground strikes in the vicinity of the airfield and the aircraft whilst waiting - spectacular and scary, were his words. So, they weren't ansty about sitting on their bums at all.

Apparently the virgin staff were threatened with dismissal if they refused to work outside.

If true then it is nice to see Virgin's take on 'just culture'. But of course CASA wont be looking at that.

I was talking to WAC's "safety one" (safety officer leader) he explained that whilst WAC considered the airport closed due to the lightning - they have no jurisdiction as to what aerocare etc do ie. continue working. He said it is entirely up to the companies own procedures.:ugh:

To all not in the West - and to Geoffrey Thomas who obviously doesnt have a cubical near a window - it really was an unusually violent storm that hung over the city for ages. Perth recorded all its December rain in a couple of hours.

SAFETY BEFORE SCHEDULE - Qantas's own line - not any unions.

Lightning took out the terminals PA system and even the runway lights for around 30mins, even when there was a break in the storms we left the aircraft, and as we were going down the stairs the aircraft on the bay beside us was struck. There was massive amounts of strikes around the airport. Yes a nightmare for sure but I wouldnt have wanted to be ramp staff working outside during the event.

I spoke to GT yesterday morning and explained that the TS policy is a Qantas policy not an award condition. He said he would correct the article and hasn't, is it true he was blaming us on radio today?

I think you mean AEROCARE staff.

ALAEA and GT dance a waltz !!
 

Steve, no offense but have you caught some 'cloud cuckoo land' from Joyce?
Thomas is a biased nupty. I told you to stop dialing 1800f:mad:wit, see what happens? You wasted your time phoning him as your version and 'straightening out of the facts' is not what he wishes to hear, it is too simple and wouldn't sell stories....embellished bulls#it sells stories.

I have said it before, journalists (excluding Phelan and Sandilands) are parasites. Bulls#it is the host that they feed off.

What a load of tripe! And you would know judging by your location???!!! hahahahaha:ok:

Steve, 882 6PR at around 9:15 to 9:20 on the 8/12.

Not so much blaming, but would not rule it out. From memory I think his reference was "grey", when talking about who was to blame.

Yep, blame it on Bryan Grey and Compass. There were none of these problems before that.

Apparently still a lot of bags to be reunited with their owners.

Well I hope GT is happy with himself.

The industry he loves (since going over a DC3 as a kid) is full of people who think this self proclaimed 'expert' is a tosspot.

I for one have boycotted the Australian Aviation magazine as long as this clown writes (rambles) for them.

I suggest any other self respecting industry person do the same.