Ryanair: Secrets from the Cockpit
 

This will be aired on Channel 4 dispatches program on 12th August at 20:00 London time where serving Ryanair pilots reveal their worries over Ryanair's fuel policy and pilot working conditions.

Dispatches - Channel 4

I fly with quite a few ex-RYR and the stories they tell me of intimidation to fly no-matter-what are truly shocking.

I think you'll find everyone likes a bash at Ryanair. I have no idea what the conditions are like, but I know a lot of pilots there. None of them say it's as bad as what you are lead to believe on pprune and TV.

I suppose that the truth lies somewhere between the extremes depicted in posts #2 and #3. It hope that it will be an interesting watch.

I'm booked with them tomorrow morning; when I get back I'll watch the "terrifying" stories. Having flown with them many times, I find that they provide a good, reliable service, provided you ignore the constant sales pitch. Several of my ex-colleagues fly with them and they tell me the operations side is very professional.

Here's an independent view of life in the boardroom and crewroom at Ryanair: In the crewroom at Ryanair | Learmount

I positioned recently with a Ryanair flight.
A thunderstorm was rolling in over the airport, really violent one, lightning all over the place.

But Ryanair decided to continue the fueling, AND board passengers.
I stayed outside until the fueling was terminated, in the pouring rain.


There was in my company a Captain, ex. FR who claimed to have introduced the fuel policy in FR.

We have one fuel policy: Bloody put enough to land at destination and feel comfortable. A diversion always is more expensive than a couple of hundred kilos more fuel.

Fuel is completely Crew discretion.

The bullying of FR towards is employees, passengers , airports and authorities is simply an insult to the profession.
Bullying ALWAYS results in compromised safety. And this is something FR is NOT able to deny.

Herod,
You sit where you want but as a professional pilot for more than 20yrs I hope if its on a Ryanair a/c I never have to sit in front of you.Just my opinion, I may even be wrong but I will stick to my guns on this one.

Today's Financial Times
 

Ryanair pilots raise safety concerns

©AFP
A survey of Ryanair pilots has found concerns about the low-cost carrier’s safety culture, and support for an inquiry by regulators.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline by revenue, declined to comment on the survey on Sunday, but said it had an “unblemished 29-year safety record”.

The survey was commissioned by the Ryanair Pilot Group, which is seeking to have the airline’s pilots represented by trade unions in negotiations on pay and working conditions.

It contacted more than 1,000 captains and first officers at Ryanair – more than one-third of the total number of pilots at the company.

The survey was prompted by a warning in April by Ray Conway, Ryanair’s chief pilot and a senior manager, that any pilot signing a petition – organised by the Ryanair Pilot Group and calling on regulators to evaluate whether the company’s employment model had an impact on the safety of flight operations – would be liable for dismissal.

Of those participating in the survey, 89 per cent said that, following this memorandum from Mr Conway, they did not consider that Ryanair had an open and transparent safety culture.

Mr Conway said in his memo that any pilot who had legitimate safety concerns should raise them through Ryanair’s confidential safety reporting channel or with the Irish Aviation Authority.

The survey found that 67 per cent did not feel comfortable raising safety issues through Ryanair’s internal reporting system.

It also found 94 per cent believed regulators should conduct an inquiry into the impact of Ryanair’s employment practices on safety.

Evert van Zwol, chairman of the Ryanair Pilot Group’s interim council, said it had a “strong suspicion” that the airline’s employment practices may be affecting flight safety, but had no proof, which explained why an inquiry was warranted by regulators.

He added a majority of Ryanair’s pilots were not employed directly but instead hired through agencies, and expressed concerns about their terms and conditions, saying many have so-called zero-hours contracts where there are no guaranteed working hours.

“The results of the survey are reason for very great concern and call for immediate action [by] all involved parties, to get working on a solution and lowering these [survey] percentages sharply down,” said Mr van Zwol.

Ryanair said it would not comment on the Ryanair Pilot Group or its survey, which is due to be outlined in a Channel 4 “Dispatches” programme on Monday. It also would not comment on whether any of its pilots were on zero-hours contracts.

Ryanair’s 2013 annual report said safety is the company’s “primary priority”, starting with the hiring and training of its pilots, flight attendants and maintenance staff.

Employees earn productivity-based incentive payments, including some for pilots based on their number of flying hours.

But the annual report said Ryanair pilots are subject to limits of 900 flying hours each financial year, as determined by Irish regulators.

It added the average number of flying hours by pilots in 2013 was approximately 798 – a 5 per cent decline compared to 2012.

Here's the Daily Mail to stir things up

Ryanair pilots 'bullied into silence over safety': Two-thirds say they are not comfortable raising fears with bosses | Mail Online

Performance
 

Since they had their HS748,I cannot remember a single fatality with Ryanair,they must be doing something good!And re gripes etc,oversupply dictates the terms,it happens in every walk of life.
Long live Ryanair,they changed the whole aviation landscape in Europe for the better.

Statistically Ryanair are safer than BA.

Despite that, I would not put my mother-in-law's dog on Ryanair, for many reasons.

Dispatches on Ryanair
 

Channel 4, Monday evening 12 Aug at 8pm.
From the trailer, it is going to have a go at safety on the flight deck, particularly fuel policy, with anonymous interviews.
Their last go at Ryanair provoked a noisy defence as I recall.
Should be an interesting evening.....

A similar thread has only just been moved to Spectator's Balcony.

I await this with interest, the media has a long reputation for misinterpreting technical subjects so I don't expect too much.

If they are going to focus on the safety issues surrounding the Madrid incidents I think that it is not Ryanair they should be looking at.

However I will keep an open mind until I have seen the program.

Does not compute.

- MIL, I assume, a prime candidate?:)

A reputation spread by people who only read the Daily Mail and watch chewing-gum TV to learn about technical subjects, to be fair.

Timothy Quinn
 

The employment model for Ryanair staff is one of insecurity and is not conducive to family life as Ryanair can change a persons base from one end of Europe to another at the drop of a hat.

If having a workforce that is living in fear of having their world turned upsidedown in an instant is changing the European aviation landscape for the better then I think we must be living at different ends of the moral scale.

I have to say that I favour the more balanced veiw of the girls from Facinating Aida.