O'Leary v Evan Cullen on RTE1
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Have to agree with Pigsfly, saw the programme and as an ex-employee of EI had some backround knowledge of the topic so wasnt looking at it with a complete lack of the basics.
As MOL often does he comes across very well as the hard pressed, oppressed by the miltant natsy unions manager trying to do his best with a disgruntled ungrateful overpaid underworked pilots group.
The facts are very different and I think Evan Cullen missed many opportunities to hammer him not least to kill off the 18 hrs per week claim. That may be the average permitted over a year but if this is the case why do FR pilots regularly run out of hours before a year is up. Similarly why didnt EC mention the progressive nature of fatigue that builds working in a pressured environment.
I am far from a supporter of FR and their practices but on balance think MOL won the battle for the hearts and minds of Joe Public. My opinion - not fact..!!
As MOL often does he comes across very well as the hard pressed, oppressed by the miltant natsy unions manager trying to do his best with a disgruntled ungrateful overpaid underworked pilots group.
The facts are very different and I think Evan Cullen missed many opportunities to hammer him not least to kill off the 18 hrs per week claim. That may be the average permitted over a year but if this is the case why do FR pilots regularly run out of hours before a year is up. Similarly why didnt EC mention the progressive nature of fatigue that builds working in a pressured environment.
I am far from a supporter of FR and their practices but on balance think MOL won the battle for the hearts and minds of Joe Public. My opinion - not fact..!!
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I didn't see it myself, but have talked to many who did, most outside aviation. Without question, in the minds of the public, Ryanair won. Now, granted all thought MOL's performance was disgusting, thuggish and cheap, particularly the personsalised digs at EC and also his refusal to do anything but shout over everyone else, however the one thing that stuck in everyones minds is "18 hours per week." He didn't win because he put forward any sort of coherent or logical argumenst (how could he, there aren't any) but simply because his salient claim of the 18 hours per week went totally unchallenged. It's such neat soundbite and encapsulates everything MOL would like the public to believe about pilots.
I completely agree with EC's general thoughts on FR, but perhaps this was not the right platform to try to articulate them. Easy pickings were to be had by rubbishing MOL's lies, so looks like an opportunity lost. And it pains me to say this, as I think EC is doing a great job with REPA etc.
Anyone with any knowledge of pilots lives knows that fatigue is endemic, how the hell can it be so difficult to get the point across to the public??
Apparently David Learmont put up a good show and the one positive that came out of all this (apart from the fact that MOL came across as a total thug) is that those I have talked to are very curious as to what the IAA are up to (or not as the case is) to be slated so by him.
However, I fear that realistically nothing will come of this and once more the holes in the cheese are a little more lined up than they need to be. It's not until MOL finally succeeds in breaking an airframe (and how close we've been too many times in the last year or 2) that anyone will care.
Finally, from the Irish Times today:
"In a statement, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it carried out "extensive and detailed surveillance on all Irish airlines".
Grand so lads, no need to worry then, those thorough and impartial individuals at the Ryanair Aviation Authority have it sorted.
I completely agree with EC's general thoughts on FR, but perhaps this was not the right platform to try to articulate them. Easy pickings were to be had by rubbishing MOL's lies, so looks like an opportunity lost. And it pains me to say this, as I think EC is doing a great job with REPA etc.
Anyone with any knowledge of pilots lives knows that fatigue is endemic, how the hell can it be so difficult to get the point across to the public??
Apparently David Learmont put up a good show and the one positive that came out of all this (apart from the fact that MOL came across as a total thug) is that those I have talked to are very curious as to what the IAA are up to (or not as the case is) to be slated so by him.
However, I fear that realistically nothing will come of this and once more the holes in the cheese are a little more lined up than they need to be. It's not until MOL finally succeeds in breaking an airframe (and how close we've been too many times in the last year or 2) that anyone will care.
Finally, from the Irish Times today:
"In a statement, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it carried out "extensive and detailed surveillance on all Irish airlines".
Grand so lads, no need to worry then, those thorough and impartial individuals at the Ryanair Aviation Authority have it sorted.
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One point that was mentioned briefly in the VT before the interview was the fact that Ryanair pilots are reaching the 900 hours limit in less than 12 months. So when they are flying they must be doing more than 18 hours. Mr Cullen didn't seem to reiterate this point.
Not a fan of MOL but overall I have to say that Mr Cullen didn't come across well and didn't articulate any of his points in simple terms.
We all know what MOL said "18 hours for 100K" but what was the key point from Mr Cullen ?.
Not a fan of MOL but overall I have to say that Mr Cullen didn't come across well and didn't articulate any of his points in simple terms.
We all know what MOL said "18 hours for 100K" but what was the key point from Mr Cullen ?.
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Bearcat - i as you would expect beg to differ.From where i am looking and those i have talked with today have said that as well as mol making a knob out of himself with his personal attacks,he and the programme have now highlighted the facts that there are practices widespread in ryanair that have to be addressed.should they not be ,the warning is stark.In the words of evan cullen "an accident is the final indicator of problems,not the first".
mol was also wrong about southwest,they did kill somone in a crash.ran through an airport fence and killed some kid in a car.
mol was also wrong about southwest,they did kill somone in a crash.ran through an airport fence and killed some kid in a car.
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ASFKAP, thanks for the link. Well worth watching for those that haven't seen it.
The report prior to MOL's antics should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares to listen. The issue has now been put out there in public, in probably the most comphrehensive manner yet seen in Ireland. This can only be a good thing. Contrary to MOL's ranting, the report was balanced and could in no way be viewed as mere scare-mongering.
The report prior to MOL's antics should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares to listen. The issue has now been put out there in public, in probably the most comphrehensive manner yet seen in Ireland. This can only be a good thing. Contrary to MOL's ranting, the report was balanced and could in no way be viewed as mere scare-mongering.
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Surely the very fact that no Ryanair pilot could be interviewed without mafia-like informer protection, bears witness to the culture of bullying and intimidation endemic in their operation.
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Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
My goodness, what a dazzling fiesta of futility. Once again, IALPA and the short hairless pygmy they’ve elevated to be its windbag-in-chief have distinguished themselves by the sort of radiant inadequacy I only ever used to dream about in the turgid corridors of pilot unionism. How bleakly reassuring it is to observe with one’s own eyes that personal enmity is still being regurgitated by a pilots union president as being industrially relevant. Not only was Evan Cullen completely out of his depth in the debate on RTE’s Prime Time with our Chief Executive, but by every objectively measurable means, body language, demeanour, tone of voice, ill-fitting off-the-rack suit (and a shirt clearly two sizes too small), the Dwarf’s patently obvious lack of any intellectual merit was almost embarrassing. If not for the balefully humorous spectacle that always comes from such IALPA burlesque, his appearance was a total flop.
I think its long since past time for an injection of some truth when it comes to so-called fatigue. I can’t speak for other airlines, since I work as a Ryanair Captain, but in my case, a roster of 5 days on followed by a glorious 4 days off is, to my understanding, one of the best in the industry. Combine that with the small mountain of money I’m given each month for doing what I love and I’m a happy camper, but then so too are the vast majority of my colleagues, a fact not lost on the IALPA comedy hour, I can assure you, but more on that later. The only time IALPA has ever previously mentioned the subject of fatigue in Ryanair was over the completely bogus L.O’C beat up where a pilot, so embittered and non cooperative thanks entirely to IALPA’s perfidious sedition among the Dublin pilots, decided to refuse a reasonably allocated flight at the completion of a relatively short duty period. Everyone familiar with the case knows it for what it is, union grandstanding and totally false. L.O’C wasn’t fatigued in the least, and only decided he was after he found out he was in hot water, and then only after consultation with the Dwarf who seems to delight in using all and every opportunity to hurl nuisance and bogus claims of every imaginable industrial evil in the direction of our Chief Executive. Personal enmity masquerading as reasoned debate, in other words…..again.
The current manifestation of this phenomenon is the misbehaviour of the dozen or so members of the seriously pissed off pilot club in Dublin, those grey-haired millionaire prima donnas who, like so many drowning men clinging to the side of a leaky little rowboat called REPA, have been so comprehensively rebuked by the vast majority of the content and satisfied Ryanair pilot corps that they’ve been reduced to plastering REPA stickers all over our nice new ’06 registered crew vans and even nicer brand new 737-800’s. One presumes that defacing company property with stickers repeating the mantra of the damned three times yields some sort of spiritual satisfaction. God knows it amounts to little else.
Were you as certain of the strength of the non existent “unity unity unity” your little stickers claim to represent, Evan, you would abandon your clearly misguided aspirations toward a television career and start charging your membership the going rate for pilot union association, and at one percent of annual salary as I think the going rate is, you know as well as I do that if you did, your pointless, trouble making, Aer Lingus funded, jerk-off jamboree called REPA would vanish quicker than rats off the Lusitania.
I think its long since past time for an injection of some truth when it comes to so-called fatigue. I can’t speak for other airlines, since I work as a Ryanair Captain, but in my case, a roster of 5 days on followed by a glorious 4 days off is, to my understanding, one of the best in the industry. Combine that with the small mountain of money I’m given each month for doing what I love and I’m a happy camper, but then so too are the vast majority of my colleagues, a fact not lost on the IALPA comedy hour, I can assure you, but more on that later. The only time IALPA has ever previously mentioned the subject of fatigue in Ryanair was over the completely bogus L.O’C beat up where a pilot, so embittered and non cooperative thanks entirely to IALPA’s perfidious sedition among the Dublin pilots, decided to refuse a reasonably allocated flight at the completion of a relatively short duty period. Everyone familiar with the case knows it for what it is, union grandstanding and totally false. L.O’C wasn’t fatigued in the least, and only decided he was after he found out he was in hot water, and then only after consultation with the Dwarf who seems to delight in using all and every opportunity to hurl nuisance and bogus claims of every imaginable industrial evil in the direction of our Chief Executive. Personal enmity masquerading as reasoned debate, in other words…..again.
The current manifestation of this phenomenon is the misbehaviour of the dozen or so members of the seriously pissed off pilot club in Dublin, those grey-haired millionaire prima donnas who, like so many drowning men clinging to the side of a leaky little rowboat called REPA, have been so comprehensively rebuked by the vast majority of the content and satisfied Ryanair pilot corps that they’ve been reduced to plastering REPA stickers all over our nice new ’06 registered crew vans and even nicer brand new 737-800’s. One presumes that defacing company property with stickers repeating the mantra of the damned three times yields some sort of spiritual satisfaction. God knows it amounts to little else.
Were you as certain of the strength of the non existent “unity unity unity” your little stickers claim to represent, Evan, you would abandon your clearly misguided aspirations toward a television career and start charging your membership the going rate for pilot union association, and at one percent of annual salary as I think the going rate is, you know as well as I do that if you did, your pointless, trouble making, Aer Lingus funded, jerk-off jamboree called REPA would vanish quicker than rats off the Lusitania.
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Nice work Leo, the Christmas edition of your thesaurus must have appeared already. Anyhow, now you've had your fun, establishing how witty and eloquent you are, so let's get down to the real business of the very real matter of pilot fatigue. No matter how hard I try to see any mention of it in your post, I fail to do so though. Perhaps it's coming next? I mean, I would hate to think that all that effort you spent in composing your post would be entirely wasted by it being completely and utterly irrelevant and, dare I say as usual, ignoring the nub of the issue, which is, yet again, something very serious which doesn't agree with the party line.
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Metrosexual
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I think that you are really deluding yourselves if you think that punters actually give a ****e how much any pilot works.
After all, the planes basically fly themselves, innit???:
After all, the planes basically fly themselves, innit???:
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Jeez - no denying leo's cage is well rattled!
Very brave of MOL to make all those 'safest' claims. I wont enjoy the constant replay of those words, whilst watching pictures of a Harp in a deep hole.
I still remember Air NZ's 'Nobody does it better' campaign...
Very brave of MOL to make all those 'safest' claims. I wont enjoy the constant replay of those words, whilst watching pictures of a Harp in a deep hole.
I still remember Air NZ's 'Nobody does it better' campaign...
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I was impressed with O'Leary's stance against the extra security regime, but his manner of shouting down, browbeating and bullying during this interview brands him a total w@nker. Yes, why didn't they pin him down on the 'actual' hours worked? - I've found the same myself when trying to argue reason against a bully's invective, you can't get the words in.
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LeoHairything mentioned EC's body language. The only body language I noticed was when MOL looked like a rabbit caught in a headlight AND THEN SUCKED HIS FINGER! I think he was thinking "I want my mummy"
But yes, I agree about the failure to take him to task over the 18 hours a week lie.
But yes, I agree about the failure to take him to task over the 18 hours a week lie.