Marooned

OK Ed, let's start by getting one thing straight... they are not 'missions' they are 'sectors' and for one who has never flown outside of the US it is rich to get lectured on the effects of LR & ULR by the likes of you let alone how little the extended pick up times would have affected us the 'flight crews'.

Now to business: You couldn't deliver the payrise when you said you would and NOW it seems that there is some cunning plan afoot to restrict flight pay to stick hours ie: no flight pay while in the bunk???

And what about the trainers pay review? Are you still looking into that too?

And the budget? Please, it doesn't stop EK buying planes at $150m each and who do you need to stop them from gathering sand? Crewing 101: pilots!!! The ones that are resigning and the ones not turning up.... Who cares if 'we' adversely effect the profit share? EK is not and never has been a co-operative.

Ed, EK is buggered: 50+ trainers short let alone the training requirement to get 150+ pilots on the line to fly your 'missions'... Is it getting through?!?

So do us a favour Ed and forget about the amature jingoistic pep talks about 'missions' and how much you 'care' and 'things will be implimented which we might like', which are quite frankly patronising and becoming insulting, and put up something credible to stop the debacle we know as Flt Ops contributing the myth that everythings all right!!!

We are all being downed by your 'friendly fire' which in laymans term is just BS.

Credibility? None seen.

cc TCAS

atiuta

Anyone else got an opinion they would like to share with us today?

EGGW

I heard 4 TRE's on the Boeing resigned last week, or thereabouts. Most, and i am not quoting were pissed off at the lack of progress of long range Ed's promises. Just at the time when they need more, the mismanagement continues. CC was amongst them. (ex head of training 777)

EGGW

critical winge

Did Ed fly the A10 on his "MISSIONS". Those guys are proven to open fire on the friendlies.

Check 'Six'

They're cheap skates! Always have been. But the market will very soon, start dictating what needs to be done.

They are in for a big surprise when they announce the trainers pay. They will once again try and BS there way through that as well. At a time when they can ill afford to lose more trainers, which they will.

Wiley

Muttley says:At last… a topic we can all get passionate about.

I can only agree that the Dubai sangas are a total waste of… (I hesitate to say) ‘food’ – and even if they were wholesome, (which they aren’t! – what culinary mastermind came up with a chicken AND beef mix – in the same ****ing sandwich????), they are then carefully, individually ruined as each and every sandwich is individually wrapped in plastic wrap, turning it into a soggy, inedible glug.

Unlike the abominations out of Dubai, the sandwiches out of London, Paris and Rome start out as fresh, beautifully crusty French bread that, when it’s prepared and packed, might have been very appetizing. But then, (I’m told because one captain complained about the lack of hygiene in having all sandwiches in one tray together), they too are individually tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Result? - two individually wrapped, soggy, inedible gluggy masses.

EK management could save themselves a fortune by conducting a quick survey among crews to ask one question: how many of those awful bloody sandwiches go straight into the big yellow plastic bag every day? My guess would be 80% to 90% of them.

There’s another fortune to be saved in not using all that sog-inducing plastic wrap or having to pay the caterers who must spend hours each day individually wrapping (and ruining) them.

(Some will say to themselves: “Why’s he complaining about this here on a public forum? Why not write a report to the company?” I’ve tried that, more than once – and it got me about as far as this rant will here.)

donpizmeov

Is it true that you are only rationed for 1/2 a sanga, and are to share the banana if you have to spend time in the bunk?
Have flown with a fella who takes these sangas home with him for his dinner. I kid you not!!! I made extra sure not to mention the war whilst he was eating.

Keep Digesting

Don

kingoftheslipstream

the sandwishes I was proffered the other night... had a sticker on 'em which indicated they were to be consumed by a date which had passed whilst we were in the first couple thousand feet of our climb... so they couldn't be susequently eaten!... so much for the mission munchies!:
I wonder if Mr Ed remembers from his USAF Academy days in C. Springs that a military marches on its stomach... it is simple military doctrine that if you keep a fella fed, he'll die for his cause... it's that simple and that complicated.
As to other matters at hand, well... the pay rise thing is just a stallin' tactic. It's too little too late. The usual EK sleight of hand will be pulled and it will amount to naught in concrete terms...
Working to 65? I don't know wether to laugh or cry... I mean I just flew with a guy in his 40s who was barely alive! I was on my turn for controlled rest, and when I awoke from a short ZZzzz session (all briefed properly), the other guy was sound asleep... with his face in his knees... How the hell are we gonna make to 65?
Keep your wits about you gents, don't let the bastards get you down. Stop flying on days off - it's only goin' to hurt us all in the end. There will be a hull loss, and the sneaky slimey ways of rostering altering duty periods to make it look legal after the fact will come to light, and TCAS and LRE will lose nothing, it's us who'll be hung out to dry with the FOM stick... I mean it gents, it's a comin' and it's gonna hurt. Ya can't fool mother nature...
k-

ruserious

Common guy's what makes you think they care if the sandwiches are edible??
As with everything in EK, its all about cost. They have chosen the sandwiches, based on the absolute minimum cost, while still being able to claim they supply a preflight snack.
Bit like our safety and training departments, its all about minimum cost.

Wiley

Many would agree with you, ruserious. If you're right, I'm suggesting they could save themselves a few sheckels by not having to pay the caterers to wrap the the sangers AND at least half of the *** miles of Gladwrap they must go through every day turning the sangers into incipient penicillan traps. (hint, hint)

Hey beancounters - we want something that will save you money.

donpizmeov

Hey beancounters - we want something that will save you money.

and an aquaduct. And one of those fury things that hang off the rear view mirror. And how about some more of those oven mitts to keep Maxab happy. You can also rid us of this flight pay scam, and increase the basic salary instead.

Don

CAYNINE

But don't ya just love the tucker for the flight deck out of Germany.....!!

They just need some bacon or roast pork....yum!

MTOW

Yup, great sambos out of Deutchland. I had a fantastic 'chicken' sambo out of Hamburg a week or two ago that had a very thick LUMP of meat in it like no chicken I've ever eaten before. I think you'd spell that particular chook's 'cluck' o-i-n-k - but 100% halal of course.

Have to agree with Wiley on the plastic wrapping. Pain in the proverbial.

Gillegan

I was at the meeting and what I remember was being told that a payrise (no amount given) had been approved, to be effective from January and that we could expect an additional payrise in May to get the package up to where it needed to be. He did not give a date for the announcement so I too thought that the moaning was a bit premature. Unfortunately much of the cynicism displayed here seems to have been warranted. I have no idea on what basis he said that it had been approved but suffice to say, only the second part of the announcement was delivered on.

Apparently the package for trainers is on TC's desk. I have no idea what has been asked for but at least some of the managers have said that one problem has been an insufficient differential from what guys on the line are actually taking home vs. what the trainers take home. I guess we'll see what happens with that but morale is pretty low among the trainers right now.

What really irks me about all this is that despite insufficient numbers of pilots and trainers and the fact that we are already overworked, the company seems to think that they will be able to cover the shortfall through increased productivity.

Guys (and gals) need to understand that this company will NEVER put the brakes on for you. While it doesn't ALWAYS happen, they will on occasion roster you into the ground. They do however allow you to put on the brakes. (At least in my experience) If you are truly fatigued, call in fatigued and go down to the clinic. It's in the FOM and I think that they would have a hard time removing it. Suggestions by some managers and PPRUNE luminaries that the source of the problem is too much partying is simplistic at best and insulting in the extreme. I would challenge any member of the "Fatigue Committee" to fly a full reserve month and then let us know whether fatigue is a problem. Are there even any active pilots on that committee?

I wouldn't be too hard on Ed. He is the first manager that we've had in a long time that has even acknowledged some of these problems. I'm sure that he thought that he had approval for the above. That things turned out as they have is just a function of the dysfunction that we call EK Flight Ops. I just wonder if he continues to try to bring some logic to our department, how long he's actually going to last. Remember that the last 2 heads of flight operations were ceremoniously escorted off the property by EK security.
(I know, in the second case, not a moment too soon.)

porkandbrew

Mr. Long range Eddy is definitely not a manager to put any hope in.
I have first hand experience from this gun-slinger-talk-before-you-think-and- know type manager. Absolutely aggressive. On top of that I personally know three more victims.
On top of that his experience level is totally inadequate. He has no clue what it is like to fly to the type of destinations we operate into.
He is an A320 puddle jumper.
He is a desk jockey who boasts of taking care of his alcoholic Northwest colleague, yet I did not see him stand up for J.D. in any way.
Gillegan, You are wrong. Watch out for this poor excuse of a man.

Pork, usually not this upset...

chinawladi

Don't take it out on the little mudfish in his tiny auqarium. The real sharks are swimming in the polluted gulf waters.

Andu

Let's get back to the soggy sandwiches, They're a far more entertaining subject than the other yada yada yada...

And yes, I thought that chicken in Hamburg was abit 'sus' too.

flareflyer

Just to increase the amount of smoke.................
does anybody know anything about some 67 transition upgredes on the boeing?

Maybe it is a new joke of tcas & co.....................

Scooter Rassmussin

Its a real mess , accelerated guys 777 that havnt even joined EK yet will get commands quicker than the 3 to 4 year Airbus f/os , many more pilots to leave this year. Will be interesting.
Looks Like ANA in japan are offering f/o jobs at around 10k us a month , better than an ek captain and a better chance of upgrade for even more cash...........

max AB

Thanks Don, yes oven mitts for every one, they should be called the pilot retention mitts, why would you leave? The sandwiches are not for everyday consumption, I think most people have confused their purpose. As we are on "missions" they must be survival rations. Should have a label on them "If starving, tear plastic"