Typhoon Kalmaegi
 

We, at "The CPG" would like to thank everyone who participated in Typhoon Kalmaegi.

We would especially like to thank the pilots for their professionalism.

We know for decades We, at "The CPG" have been rapidly eroding your conditions of service and reducing your package at every opportunity. As with the latest pay package and more productivity concessions coming your way, we are aghast by the professionalism of the pilots.

In the current typhoon conditions, we were concerned we would have more diversions with turbulence associated with lower visibility and challenging approaches. We would have thought the pilots would have given up more rapidly on challenging approaches and diverted sooner in the approach phase. Thank you for going that extra mile.

In our FOP meeting, a FOP manager brought up the definition of “Windshear” from the pilots Quick Reference Handbook with 5 items defining windshear. We asked the Lawyers present if any of these were exceeded during a Typhoon (shown in the FDAP recording) and no “go around” was performed, where do we stand legally if something were to happen? The Lawyer responded with no hesitation that the Captain involved would be fully responsible as in the Mandarin Airlines MD-11 accident and will be terminated after the final investigation. The CPG nor the HKIA Managers will bear no responsible for the continued operation during a typhoon, that solely rests with the Captain.

We thank all the Captains for taking that responsibility on behest of “The CPG”.

With the very few diversions, this displays to "The CPG" the pay and conditions of service being provided are above with what most pilots expect their pay and conditions should be. We are amazingly surprised and this reveals to "The CPG" we have more cutting to do before we hit the rock bottom pilot threshold on tolerance.

I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to my bonus. Keep up the great work.

To My Bonus
The Management

Unimaginative and tedious....

...But he has a point.

Why humor him?? Just like Crew Control if you ignore them the problem goes away! At least for a while anyway!

Dispatchers at the big Middle East airline, flight planned aircraft with 10 tons extra because of the above. Plus an alternate 2 hours away.

And you didn't take 10T extra???

"Dispatchers at the big Middle East airline, flight planned aircraft with 10 tons extra because of the above. Plus an alternate 2 hours away."

Well is that 10T for a 380, or a 777?

...and 2 hours away. Where exactly was that then? We arrived Monday, and although VHHH was rubbish, RCKH was perfectly suitable, and that only a hour away. Of course we had more than min div when we arrived (about 10T as I recall). :ok:

Are you fools taking him as actually being management?
I thought it was a great post. I think his intention is to make you have a think about it next time you're battling windshear. Will you be supported if something goes wrong?

The Management is one of the smarter more intellectual posters!

Keep it up.

Will is absolutely correct. "The Management" post is a clever insight into exactly what our so-called Managers think of us. We should be diverting all over the place 'due windshear on approach' and causing chaos on an unprecedented scale instead of which.........

It was for a 777 Dartman.

YM

He does indeed have a very good point.

You will be hung out to dry if you press on for whatever reason and have a mishap. This is becoming the norm everywhere...the risk is yours and yours alone. The benefit of a successful roll of the dice goes to someone else.

Whilst we all have had a sphincter test at one time or another, it is not something to be taken lightly or under commercial pressure.

I think that is the point being made.

PS: If you have a mishap in Japan...you are immediately detained by the police...that's right...the police.

Agreed.

Airlines are big businesses like any other. Their one and only focus is to make money while trying to absolve themselves of any risk or responsibility.

Just as Lehman and Co hedged the risky side of their business to other parties, airlines hedge the inherent risk of flying by hiding themselves behind a wall of manuals written by lawyers and in such a way that any mishap can only be rooted to a mistake of the crew.

In truth, the only reason they only care about an accident is because of the bad publicity and resulting decrease in revenue. They couldn't care less about the bodycount.
Ask a freighter pilot who carries 20 metric tons of Lithium batteries across the pacific in the winter whether he thinks he's expandable...

YM

I have been expandable for too many years according to Mrs HFX but like the crews of the two 400FX that have been done in by Lithium batteries (Asiana and UPS) I cannot but agree.

When I jumped on this merry-go-around we were item 1 on the checklist for management. Today we are regarded as a commodity.

We were protected by the company in case of minor infractions or complaints from PX. Today we are open season for everyone.

Fine..but do not expect me to carry anything but +10

Some years ago now an MD11 suffered an overspeed event on descent into Nagoya. Tragically, a cabin attendant suffered fatal injuries during the pitch change. The captain was indicted and I understand that Nagoya Prefecture police went for a custodial sentence. His association and IFALPA went to bat for him and he was eventually acquitted.

And that was one of their own; he was Japanese. Any non-union pilot who thinks an incident 'couldn't happen to them', or that or she could fight a company's, passenger's or state's army of lawyers on their own, especially in a foreign country, after an incident is 'certifiable'.