QF baggies to do receipt/dispatch
 

Any truth to the rumour that QF baggage handlers will be doing the arrivals and push backs in Canberra? Is it QF mainline or Qantaslink/Cobham or all 3?

No way....Couldn't happen ever.....ever ever ever!!!

This has been the MO at your opposition for some time now.
Enjoy the show. Don't get to stressed though............

Every other airlines been doing it like that for years and as much as I'd prefer an engineer on arrival, I feel their skills are better utilised in the hanger keeping them flying.

It's like having pilots doing check in on pilots wages.

I doubt the people in DXB that are pushing back the A380s are engineers.

That's the management spin also GG. However it only amounts to sacking more engineers once the work is gone. It never, ever results in utilising their skills elsewhere. And our high standards subsequently reduce to on par.

Pushback engineers also save flights from overnighting and RTB's from time to time.

True, but then a business can't have extra guys earning twice as much as a rampie just to save jobs. It's got to be able to have similar costs to competitors and compete in a free market. It can't do that withits hands tied behind its back.

When Ansett went tits up, the boys went why didn't you tell us this? We would have taken cuts and given you whatever efficiency you needed. Management did, but the unions wouldn't believe them....

Luckily as an engineer your skills are transportable and you're not tied to a seniority system.

I agree GG that this is seen as purely a cost issue, especially by the bean counters. What they don't realise is that there are no savings to be made when an engineer is checking the aircraft anyway. And as for the safety aspects.....

A lot of airframe damage that gets picked up on wàlk-arounds can be attributed to unreported incidents caused by aircraft loaders (catering/cargo). They rarely come forward and say that they accidentally dented a nose cowl or scraped a door frame. What happens if a person loading your aircraft causes some minor damage and is too afraid to speak up? An extra layer of safety is now lost.

I would not like to think that a major defect is missed by a baggage handler before dispatch and results in a catastrophic event.
Consider asking these questions.

Q1. Is it acceptable practice to use baggage handlers for dispatch?
A. The economic modelling and lack of catastrophic events post dispatch say it is.

Q2. Will having qualified and experienced engineers dispatch the aircraft at a greater cost be acceptable to ALL stakeholders?
A. No, only those who see safety as a worthwhile investment would agree and managers are under pressure to improve profits. Most passengers will look to the cheaper fares without knowing what's behind the economics.

Q3. Does CASA care?
A. No.

Q4. Who will face the families to answer their questions when the first catastrophic event occurs?
A. An airline rep chosen because he/she is better at spin than the others.

The safety envelope continues to get stretched as long as nothing happens, but there IS a limit and airlines under economic pressure will continue to try to find savings, and particularly in areas that compliance is less of an issue.
It's as if this company is removing as many things as it can that don't prevent operations from continuing on the basis that there hasn't been a tragedy.

Now THAT practice may have to answer to the law of averages.

QF 737's have been met by "baggies" in places like KTA/PHE/ZNE/BME/CKW/GBW/KGI for years.

Do you guys all want your airline to go tits up because it's not getting with the times, and putting these resources in better places?

I don't have an engineer pushing me back, but I'm still here to tell the tale. I bet you any amount of money, that the majority of the guys doing pushback around the world, aren't engineers. Any major problems so far?

In one of the ports we visit, one of the guys doing pushback is a pilot himself. Get some of the best info out of him. And in our major ports, if we really want an engineer, they're just a phone call away and they'll be there.

Aircraft aren't going to start dropping out of the sky because the dude on the headset isn't an engineer.

morno

Agree morno.

If we don't like the look of something we call an engineer. Pilots are the last line of defence and are generally pretty conservative.

I think the point is that the engineers that are so heavily relied upon will be far less accessible when their duties are diminished and they are much fewer in number as a result.

There is clearly no need for an Engineer to meet the aircraft and do the pushback.

As i understand it,the system employed by for example Jetstar,they have Engineers available if the Pilot requests, as GG pointed out.
I believe in Melbourne for example, these Engineers, 3-4 per shift, reside in an office under the concourse.
Obviously there is a cost saving by not having enough engineers to meet and dispatch every flight.
And when there is an issue, the Aircraft is serviced by a fully licensed Engineer, and signed off.
What i dont understand, is why in between calls as required, these highly skilled Engineers, are not out of the office, and on the ramp doing walk rounds when they can subject to work load?
Surely their eyes and skills should be used when available?

Ah Jetstar. And the race to the bottom continues.

May you reap what you sew.

chockchucker, can you tell me what is wrong with what Jetstar does? And no I don't work for Jetstar.

Because morno, Jetstar and others of its ilk aim to operate to the minimum possible standards. Rather than aim for the highest or in fact set the standard as the industry in this country once did.

Nothing against the engineering staff at Jetstar. As this agenda is driven from board level down.

Normal procedure in Europe for years. Why do you need an aircraft engineer to drive a pushback and place chocks, a waste of highly paid resources.

[What i dont understand, is why in between calls as required, these highly skilled Engineers, are not out of the office, and on the ramp doing walk rounds ]


Past experience shows threats of unprotected industrial action spring to mind if something is found. Better not to find it personally, but to be summoned. Your safety is most important to us. What a load of crap. They needed to add, so long as it costs us nothing.

Nothing in this industry today is based on safety.