MERGED: Alligator Airways Grounded
 

Can anyone shine some light on Alligator Airways ceasing flying operations until the weekend?

It would appear that your information is correct.

Did an Alligator fly below assigned altitude like the Tiger did the other week!? :E

FMC.

According to my sources the chief pilot is ill and won't be back at work until the end of the week. As the company doesn't have anyone else approved as CP they grounded the company. Gator and CASA are rushing to get someone approved ASAP to resume operations.

Bit short sighted to not have a standby person approved in advance.

Not too surprising when the CP and senior pilots all resign. Still a lot of underlying culture issues, which all, including those inside the company, agree will ultimately lead to a fatality (or agree that's what it'll take before CASA does anything).

CASA will not approve a second person as Chief Pilot "in advance".

Seems odd to ground the company whilst the CP is sick?

Perhaps that should be "sick of being there" instead? :hmm:

There is a lot more to it than the CP being sick. The fact that the CP is sick is nothing to do with it...

Alligator have given CASA more than enough rope for CASA to wind it several times around their neck and choke the life out of the place.... The only surprise is that they haven't done it sooner! I will also guarantee nothing will change with the new CP.
As previously mentioned...That place is an accident going somewhere to happen.... it's only a matter of time before a fatality does happen!

According to a source cp had his approval revoked

CASA won't approve someone as CP in advance, but will do a CP interview and check with the person, so when the time comes, all you gotta do is ask them to issue the approval.

The CP resigned 3 weeks ago. His approval was not revoked as he informed CASA he wanted nothing more to do with the company.

The place is a ticking time bomb, its not a matter of if something happens its when will it happen. There has been 3 engine failures over the last 2 months and repeated breakdowns with the most recent being a twin loosing all it's oil from its starboard engine in-flight!!!!

The company is currently in the middle of an audit so hopefully CASA wake up and do something.....

NWF has hit the nail on the head. Am surprised it has taken this long for casa to do something.
RK and his attitude towards pilots and maintenance over the past 3years has gradually gotten a lot worse.
the fact casa approved such a young and relatively inexperienced pilot as the cp only compounded matters.

I'd love to know how many of these were reported to the ATSB & CASA.... if past form is anything to go on none of them would have been! How many of the pilots who had the engine failures in the last 2 months were fired like last time? "Im telling you... I do class A maintenance so it's not my fault. Its because pilots don't know how to fly ma planes"

Tiger Airways has nothing on this mob.... Alligator poses FAR more of a threat to safety than Tiger ever have. Short of a change of ownership (fat chance of that happening) Alligator will never improve.

"I'm telling you.... I will own Skywest by next year and all their planes will have Captain Croc painted on the side"

I'd give a carton of beer and a kilo of prawns to know what Craig and Gail are thinking... but I wouldn't give back the (admitedly short) time I spent working for them, not for anything. :ok:

Funny you should ask that question Horatio.... my Mrs and I were just having the same discussion!

You'd have to make sure the carton was VB stubbies though... no cans. Good old RAS might get deeply offended.

The place is a far cry now from the days Craig owned it. We all bitched about things but man, we had a great time! Hangar parties, carton fines for spieling on CTAF, carton fines for wearing pluggers in the hangar :), carton fines for not returning aircraft in a servicable state, UPPER cartons for not returning the aircraft at all :E:E (that one was used at least once while I was there)..... locking the apprentice engineer in a prop box and the nose locker of WOY....

Yep, that was when Gator was a good place to work!

dont forget the the all day waste at bellburn in 40deg temp.
im still using those pink pens.

Sack him!
 

" Im telling you, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care,
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, You're fired!, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, Where's Shane??? I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, Im gonna own Skywest by 2010, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, Pork rashes, wheres my pork rashes?? I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, Has anyone seen my Franklin??????

SEE YA LATER ALLIGATOR!!!!

HAHA Capt C... that is hilarious.

I'm telling you, just fly my plane. Do it now..... and take Waterbaby.

Sounds like the culture is a far cry from when I were there.

Working under Craig we had a ball.

I couldn't get my head around running the cans at 80% power with a 300 hour pilot at the helm. The TIO-540 is a great engine and will make its TBO if you look after it and run it at 65%. Running it in the tropics at 80% to get an extra bungles a day in tha thermal turbulence is madness in my opinion.

I suppose RK knows something that lycoming and Gippsland don't know hey?

Perhaps CASA need to do what they did to Ordair, only approve resumption of operations if the owner has nothing to do with the management of the place.

What I've never been able to figure out is what's so great about the Bungles that there's enough punters to have even one flight per day to look at them, let alone several operators doing several flights per day. :sad:

Before you ask, Yep I've seen them, I didn't have to pay to seen them and if I did would have asked for my money back.

However the trip up the Ord River and seeing the bats fly just on sunset at Kunnas is another thing, worth every cent.

CC LMFAO

The only way that they should be permitted to get back in the air is IF the current owner is removed from the equation. He would have to be the most arrogant person I have come across in GA. The contempt he shows for his CP, pilots and the rules/regs is disgusting. Stand up to him by refusing to bend the rules and you are dismissed on the spot...where is the support from the CP ???? hahahahaha

About time MB grew a set!

Now it is time for CASA to start getting serious about making aviation in the kimberlies a safer place. All they would have to do is seek out some of the ex CPs and pilots that have worked there in the last 3 years. Some of the stories they could tell...

Love it

Spot on Hugh.... I wonder if they will.

NWF........tell him he's dreamin.

As if CASA would ever think to do that. Lets hope they take the time to read this forum and take notes. Suspect there is a long list of ex Gator people that would like to tell their story.

Love how 100hourlys only require an oil change as well, I'm telling u just fly it "but Rk...." I don't care just f$ckn do it or your fired!

Down in Halls Creek the other day and noticed the Alligator boys doing scenic's, I take it they have their CP issues sorted out then....

couldn't agree more!!!!
 

Ahh the memories..... every time i hear the phrase "I'm telling you" i still hear that :mad: Rhodesians voice :yuk: also the hilarious impressions, which still appear on occasions when sharing war stories with fellow ex pilots over a quiet brew or 7, with the stories that come from that place, we could (and do) go on for hours!

But seriously I am still astounded at the level of malpractice and negligence that has continued there completely unchecked. It was bad when I left, but it seems to be even worse now.
Now my opinion may be slightly biased, as I am a member of the illustrious "sacked by RK for no apparent reason whatsoever" group (as I'm sure many of my fellow pruner's are) But the man is egotistical, idiotic and down right dangerous to pilots and punters alike, his association with any aviation in Australia cannot end soon enough in my books. My only hope is that ending doesn't involve someone getting hurt.
On a lighter note, I had a great time during my stint at gator, and I put that down to a great bunch of fellow pilots and a good CP. It is sad to think that it could be a fantastic place to work and cut your teeth in this game, if only it was run by the right people

TG

So, are they back in the air yet?

Yup. With one of them following me onto 12 and another two rolling with 5-10 kts behind them on 30 as we're turning downwind.

And all of us departing in the same direction.....:rolleyes:

Correct they don't want to wear the tires out taxing to 12 so the sop's are to use the opposite runway to everyone else and plus they save that little extra fuel for the flight to Wyndham.

I hear the CP is now only limited to FIXED gear aircraft :D

Bahahahahahaha ..... CP limited to fixed gear aircraft !!!!! More people would find this funny if they have met the CP and had a had a conversation with him

Fixed gear only???? HAHAHA that is funny.

I don't know the new guy.... wish I did. I could do with a laugh today!!!

Lucky they didn't get rid of good old IXE. Unless that Islander is actually flying it will be the saviour of the premium twin side of the operation :}

RK will be crying that "No-one can flaa maa Aztec". Or his PA31 ... because "I'm telling you, they are the BEST planes".

Watch out Gator pilots..... you'll see an edict come out that the Seneca, Aztec and Chieftain are still to be flown..... but only with the GEAR DOWN! That way they'll be in compliance with the limitations CASA has imposed on them.:}:}

"I'm telling you..... "they will all faa faane with the gear down. It will just add 15 minutes to a Kalumburu trip. Go and flaa maa Aztec with the gear down. Do it now! I will pull the Circuit Breaker for you and sign it off as fixed undercarriage" (or maybe mini-me will)

What did Matt do? Land gear up in the Chieftain or something?

I 'spose CASA can't really point the bone. After Craig refurbished a C206 Amphib (after it had done a gear down landing on water and flipped) CASA decided to do the first test flight. Of course they landed it with the wheels down on Lake Argyle too :}

Craig was pretty pissed!

After that, there was no more Amphibious aircraft in the fleet, only float planes. :D

P.S I heard Rob wants to put floats on a fleet of ex Rhodesian airforce Aztecs and do RPT to Kalumburu. Reckons he'll bankrupt Skywest within a year. Any truth to this one? :D

Y the aztuk over the other a/c he's got ???

Hahaha. Good times. Hangar parties, bellburns and hitting town. However, never been happier to leave a place than Kununurra!

Im telling you, the aztec is the best plane ever.

I hear a jobs are on the chopping board at the moment; not being allowed to fly half the fleet must be taking its toll; that or the GA8TR 207 vanity plates on RK's new car cost too much. :mad:

Go down to Albany and have a look at the scrape marks on the runway from 6 weeks ago, then go have a look in West Stars hangar at the 210 with its guts scraped out. The thing didnt even get to do 100 hours after coming in from the states before it was gutsed.
That and maybe the 310 he gutsed a few years ago and CASA probably decided welded gear only is the best option for this bloke :E

Actually it's because when CASA did the CP check flight, there was no servicable retractable aeroplanes available. The most complex aeroplane available was an Airvan :D

Didn't know about GS's little belly flops, I'll have to give him a call and give him some stick!

Having him appointed is a very positive thing. He will be able to stand up to the owner and mentor the 200 hour new hires.

I suspect compliance with flight and duty times will now become mandatory rather than pencil whipping exercises :=

GG are u saying that MB as a chief pilot is a positive thing ? Or the new chief pilot for gator cause the rumor was or is that he is leaving