Near Miss- Communications Problems?
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Near Miss- Communications Problems?
The following article comes from one of the regular columnists who writes for the “Aberdeen Press & Journal” newspaper. Rather alarmist. Rather scary if true. Is anyone able to confirm or rubbish the article?
There is also a wry look at how two airlines have different reactions to customer complaints!
Quote:
There is a rather alarming story floating around in UK civil aviation of an aircraft at London Stansted belonging to a budget airline. It was involved in a near miss while it was still on the ground.
Pilots tell me that had an impact occurred it would have been no mere graze. The near miss happened at such a speed that an explosion and an all-consuming fireball would have been the result if the captain of the other aircraft hadn't taken evasive action.
The offending aircraft was hurrying down a shortcut to its stand, but the principal problem, according to my source, was that the captain was a Serb, the co pilot was Nigerian, and neither could understand the other's thickly accented English.
If they couldn't understand each other, how did they cope with that curiously distorted English from air-traffic control?
Given all this, would any passenger in his right mind consider entrusting himself to the care of such a pair on the flight deck, even if the ticket did cost just £9.99?
You would think good English would be a fairly basic requirement in British civil aviation, but it seems that some budget airlines trawl for pilots wherever they can get them and hang the possible consequences.
The pressures of working for a chop-chop budget airline, and the proliferation of flight crew whose first language is not English is already a matter of formal concern at the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA). You might argue that of course BALPA would want to protect its corner and you'd be right, but air safety is a matter for all of us, and overworked aircraft with overworked (and unintelligible) flight crew are not the brightest combination in transportation history.
Budget airlines have done a brilliant job in shattering the complacency of the big carriers, but most of the fares of flag carriers are now trimmed close enough to those of the upstarts to warrant paying the extra, flying with a national airline, enjoying the service and knowing that you wont have a delay caused by a thrashed aircraft's technical problem almost every time you fly.
It was instructive, by the way, to note airlines' reactions to the tally of customer complaints issued this week by the Air Transport Users Council (AUC).
British Airways, which attracted a complaint for every 342,000 passengers carried (a total of 117 complaints), apologised, said it was 117 complaints too many, and assured the AUC that it would be doing its best to see that the figure was reduced by next year.
Ryanair, which is said to fling complaint letters in the bucket, attracted a complaint for every 143,000 passengers carried (a total of 77 complaints) and said: "So? It was only 77”
There is also a wry look at how two airlines have different reactions to customer complaints!
Quote:
There is a rather alarming story floating around in UK civil aviation of an aircraft at London Stansted belonging to a budget airline. It was involved in a near miss while it was still on the ground.
Pilots tell me that had an impact occurred it would have been no mere graze. The near miss happened at such a speed that an explosion and an all-consuming fireball would have been the result if the captain of the other aircraft hadn't taken evasive action.
The offending aircraft was hurrying down a shortcut to its stand, but the principal problem, according to my source, was that the captain was a Serb, the co pilot was Nigerian, and neither could understand the other's thickly accented English.
If they couldn't understand each other, how did they cope with that curiously distorted English from air-traffic control?
Given all this, would any passenger in his right mind consider entrusting himself to the care of such a pair on the flight deck, even if the ticket did cost just £9.99?
You would think good English would be a fairly basic requirement in British civil aviation, but it seems that some budget airlines trawl for pilots wherever they can get them and hang the possible consequences.
The pressures of working for a chop-chop budget airline, and the proliferation of flight crew whose first language is not English is already a matter of formal concern at the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA). You might argue that of course BALPA would want to protect its corner and you'd be right, but air safety is a matter for all of us, and overworked aircraft with overworked (and unintelligible) flight crew are not the brightest combination in transportation history.
Budget airlines have done a brilliant job in shattering the complacency of the big carriers, but most of the fares of flag carriers are now trimmed close enough to those of the upstarts to warrant paying the extra, flying with a national airline, enjoying the service and knowing that you wont have a delay caused by a thrashed aircraft's technical problem almost every time you fly.
It was instructive, by the way, to note airlines' reactions to the tally of customer complaints issued this week by the Air Transport Users Council (AUC).
British Airways, which attracted a complaint for every 342,000 passengers carried (a total of 117 complaints), apologised, said it was 117 complaints too many, and assured the AUC that it would be doing its best to see that the figure was reduced by next year.
Ryanair, which is said to fling complaint letters in the bucket, attracted a complaint for every 143,000 passengers carried (a total of 77 complaints) and said: "So? It was only 77”
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 350
Likes: 0
From: _
If there are any of our journalist friends reading this, please feel free to pass this on to the viewing, listening and reading public at large (Aberdeen P & J permission permitting). It's about time that the £9.99 shell suit brigade knew what they're getting.
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 474
Likes: 0
From: Ayrshire, Scotland
As one of the "shell suit" brigade who just loves flying for £9.99 or even less I wonder if this Tosh story is just that.
Having read and heard all sorts of scare stories and rumours over 30 plus years in ATC I would wait for the outcome of any official inquiry.
Interesting that the low cost carriers regularly get slagged here but they don't statistically appear to be as bad as some of the high cost carriers.
Having read and heard all sorts of scare stories and rumours over 30 plus years in ATC I would wait for the outcome of any official inquiry.
Interesting that the low cost carriers regularly get slagged here but they don't statistically appear to be as bad as some of the high cost carriers.
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 8,571
Likes: 3
From: Arizona USA
Wonder if the so called dialogue has originated from someone rejected from employment?
Wouldn't be the first time...
OTOH, might be "somewhat" factual...the facts can be bent and twisted many different ways to suit various agendas.
Wouldn't be the first time...
OTOH, might be "somewhat" factual...the facts can be bent and twisted many different ways to suit various agendas.
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: united kingdom
Fact of the matter is, if any of the report IS true, and i would stress IF, it demands investigation. And publicity.
No matter how much you love flying for a tenner, its never worth a risk to your life. If thats all you value your existance, i do hope your not a proffesional pilot.
No matter how much you love flying for a tenner, its never worth a risk to your life. If thats all you value your existance, i do hope your not a proffesional pilot.
