VS 3 turnback
 

Any idea why the VS 3 turned back to LHR yesterday?

The Pilots had just finished a discussion rating the top three Cabin Crew so the FO asked about a bit of line training chat as it was his 4th sector? There was a silence, the Capt said he wasn't a line trainer and back to LHR they went.

There is a rumour floating around that it was a rostering error. I won’t repeat the rumour as I’ve heard it third hand and it might be wrong.

ATB

LD

Slightly more than a rostering error heading out over the Atlantic before you realise the FOs on his 4th sector ad the Capt isn't a trainer.

I would normally have a chat in crew room with any pilot I had not met before to gauge their character and experience. Do they not talk to each other at VA or are they too worried about people being "I am what I am", no questions asked.

Not the first time this has happened. I would’ve carried on and then demand extra pay!
I expect the return leg would be delayed a day though.

Next time you see an EK captain with a small star added to his four-bar epaulets and his coat sleeves ask him if he knows how that star became a necessary feature. Entertaining story.

Pls entertain us then...! What happened?

Maybe decades ago, some guy working airport security, or a military passenger, who had the right combination of stripes was taken for a crew member and once the captain discovered he did not have an FO, he decided to go on with it and an airplane mechanic with a rank that happened to have the right stripes became the FO of a long haul flight ?

Pure guess here

:D:D:D:D:D Fantastic!!!!!

Thank you.

Call Ops. Explain the situation and tell them either a field-promotion to Line Trainer (extra pay I presume) or you are returning. Oh to be a fly on the wall as the cat is let loose.

Surely there is not that much of a difference safety wise between returning or carrying on at that stage. Probably returning involves a higher workload if anything. Why not get authorisation, continue and sort it out at destination?

Agreed with regard to the outbound sector but I guess the problem is if there isn't a spare :ooh: trainer at destination how do you repatriate the trainee?

If this really occurred it's obviously a major Oooops but I can sort of see how it happened, especially if the trainee was half way competent during the departure phase.

As I recall things once upon a time, not at VA but at a Big Airline with no 'crew room', Long Haul ops, minimum time report ..... you rocked up on time, found the AN Other on your roster and got on with the job - there wasn't much time for 20 social questions until airborne beyond "where did you come in from?" and "do you need landing"?

I guess over the years we all made the assumption (yes I know....) that if scheduling had put you together as a crew all was legit...I think questions only got asked if somebody had been called out at short notice, most especially if OMLs etc might be in play.

Helpfully the crew list at my airline has an N next to a crew member who is in training or new to the line.

Just curious.
What would a Training Capt. have done, except instruct, that a Capt could not do?

Be allowed to permit an unqualified pilot to occupy a crew seat on a commercial flight.

How random…

That raises concerns with more NAAs than necessary, right? I think your home one is bad enough.

Something similar happened a few years ago in BA Connect. FO half way through line training and Capt wasn't a trainer. They made the phone call after arriving at destination and the Captain asked for a field promotion to get home but it was declined.