duty of the captain
 

Hi
I was just wondering if any of the proffessional pilots could inform me on the duties of the pilots once an aircraft has been diverted. I was also wanting to find out how customer service can also impact on the captains desicions.

Thanx any information would be useful

Sharpey

I am not really sure what you are asking, and I doubt this is a CRM issue. The duties are the same where ever an aircraft flies to. Customer service will undoubtably be one of the Captains considerations as it will the rest of the crews, however safety will always be paramount and there may well be many other factors that take precedence in a given situation. Once on the ground the arrangements regarding the passengers will be normally be sorted out between the operations department and the normal or nominated handling company.

Like Bealzebub, I'm also a little unsure of what you are asking.

It's my understanding that after completion of the shut-down checklist, the captain remains responsible for the security of the aircraft until handed over to another crew or the ground engineers.

If the diversion has been carried out to a port where arrangements exist with another company, security and passenger handling arrangements then become the responsibility of the handling company.

If, on the other hand, no handling agent is available, security remains the captain's responsibility until he or she is relieved. Whilst, in the airline scenario, passenger accomodation needs etc. are not the Captain's responsibility, professionalism usually rules, and he or she does everything possible to facilitate their needs.

Regards,

Old Smokey

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the captain keeps responsibility until the doors are opened. Depending on where you are in the world, and what type of aircraft you fly, customers can have varying amounts of influence.

Phil

Scenario: Bad weather at destination -> diversion

These are a couple of factors that influence our decision:

- The diversion airport must be in range (remaining fuel minus a little extra..)
- The airport must be approved for the Aircraft type (fire fighting etc..)
- The instrument approach procedures have to be good enough for prevailing weather conditions
- Pilots must be qualified for the instrument approach
...etc

Now come operational matters

- is the airport able to handle your type of aircraft (stairs, highloader, refueling..)
- Are there enough hotelrooms
- Will the passengers be aloud to leave the airplane (example flight to India, divert to Pakistan or Israel and Jordan etc)
- Is there even a handling agent of your company


IF (!!) we have the possibility to combine these factors with costumer service, ergo divert to munich instead of stuttgart because half the passengers had a connection flight from frankfurt to munich anyway, great!


And most important there is our stomach: even if we just FEEL, that a diversion to stuttgart is safer, then costumer service has to step back.

Rgds

PS: As you can imagine, a diversion combined with a technical or medical incident/emergency, costumer service will not be considered at all.

Is that because the food is better in Stuttgart?:O

TP

No, no... Food and beer qualitiy allready are considered under "primary operational factors" (sorry, forgot this point in my first post).
But the factor "how close is the next Biergarten" usualy has a higher priority ... ;)