No season of good will at Aer Arann
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: IMF country
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Enough Is Enough!!!!
10 Points on the opening post. Respect for the examiner!
AA are in my opinion in very troubled water. This past examiner exercise was nothing but some creative accounting. My opinion.....get off this sinking ship. AA is and always will be a gentlemen flying club where you will only succeed if you mastered the art of brown nosing. If you are not in this magic league of big headed men you will struggle.
Somebody mentioned earlier something about the Chief Pilot, MARK ALDER. It is my sincerest opinion that this man is one of the main problems of this airline. As long as he is with AA, the company will be in a downward spiral. This person holds surprisingly a staggering, egocentric, pocket filling 6 positions. He awarded himself the role as: Chief Pilot, Fleet Manager, Manager Flight Operations, TRI, TRE. AND base captain Galway. He is highly incapable in every role he assigned himself. He works from home on his " Home Office Days". God knows what he does there but he sure isn't available to the work force!!
How can a normal thinking person expect to fulfil all these positions? Simple.......he can't. He is by far the most disliked person within the pilot body. He intimidates people with his authority.
Not to long ago the company suggested everybody took a pay cut to keep the airline operating. The chief pilot threatened that he would resign his position if he had to face the same pay cut. Subsequently he got a lower pay cut. And it is common knowledge, not confirmed, that he never took any pay cut at all. Same for most managers.
It is common knowledge that there is no such thing as Captains Discretion in AA. This was painfully made clear fairly recently by the beloved CP. One skipper recently was ticked on the finger for drawing the line in the sand. The CP wasn't happy with this and he made this quite clear in some aggressive phone calls to the crew. Unfortunately this is a common thing in AA. Crews are expected to go into discretion. Ops will schedule very tight 6 sector days where there is absolutely no room for delay. We all know that AA can't do a day without delays!! Yet they still schedule these tight 6 sector days.
I believe Mark Alder gets bonuses in his managerial roles, such as for his on time record, hence the pressure on the crew and his willingness to forfeit safety. People are chronically fatigued, and I am not talking about people who work on days off!! I am talking about the once who do have a back bone.
Regarding the bonuses on pprune, it hasn't been confirmed nor denied by the company. But statistically I expect the big boys in head office to give themselves a nice bonus. I trust them to do what is right for them, fill their pockets. (the Irish way, me me me me). Many people within AA have multiple roles and subsequently find themselves in a position where they face serious conflicts of interest. And 10 out of 10 they have gone for the financial option and not the safe option. If they can fill their pockets they will. It is my opinion that AA is on the brink of collapse. Be it through the money pot drying up or, god forbid, an air incident.
The only way this airline can survive is when they put the right man on the right job. Get rid of this old gentleman's flying club! Get rid of the chief pilot or let him fulfil one role! Get a separate ops manager, fleet captain, base captain.
Can you imagine what the end result will be when you put three talented men, or women, in those roles, instead of one incapable person.
You will have a workforce that is motivated, loyal and willing to run the extra mile. You will end up with a structure where all departments are transparent and open. God knows, you might end up with a profitable safe airline.
As you can probably understand I am not AA biggest fan! I do however have extensive experience with AA and I regret every minute of it. Everything on this post is public knowledge, I simply try to get a discussion going that has been going for some time among the AA staff. I apologise if I have offended you. But I feel that some things need to be made more public than they already are, in the greater interest of those who actually want to see AA survive. I am one of those people. I hope they have a long and successful future. But this will be heavily undermined as long as some people in AA stay in their positions.
The only people who can make this happen is the pilot body. They have to stand together and make a fist and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. And this is where I see the second problem that will undermine AA success. The pilots are known to be un-united! We have had many past events where pilots have shown each other that they rather look after themselves instead of each other. A very real RYR culture!
I just hope the pilots can overcome this and force the company to change their habits and force them to steer it in the right direction!!!
GOOD LUCK
AA are in my opinion in very troubled water. This past examiner exercise was nothing but some creative accounting. My opinion.....get off this sinking ship. AA is and always will be a gentlemen flying club where you will only succeed if you mastered the art of brown nosing. If you are not in this magic league of big headed men you will struggle.
Somebody mentioned earlier something about the Chief Pilot, MARK ALDER. It is my sincerest opinion that this man is one of the main problems of this airline. As long as he is with AA, the company will be in a downward spiral. This person holds surprisingly a staggering, egocentric, pocket filling 6 positions. He awarded himself the role as: Chief Pilot, Fleet Manager, Manager Flight Operations, TRI, TRE. AND base captain Galway. He is highly incapable in every role he assigned himself. He works from home on his " Home Office Days". God knows what he does there but he sure isn't available to the work force!!
How can a normal thinking person expect to fulfil all these positions? Simple.......he can't. He is by far the most disliked person within the pilot body. He intimidates people with his authority.
Not to long ago the company suggested everybody took a pay cut to keep the airline operating. The chief pilot threatened that he would resign his position if he had to face the same pay cut. Subsequently he got a lower pay cut. And it is common knowledge, not confirmed, that he never took any pay cut at all. Same for most managers.
It is common knowledge that there is no such thing as Captains Discretion in AA. This was painfully made clear fairly recently by the beloved CP. One skipper recently was ticked on the finger for drawing the line in the sand. The CP wasn't happy with this and he made this quite clear in some aggressive phone calls to the crew. Unfortunately this is a common thing in AA. Crews are expected to go into discretion. Ops will schedule very tight 6 sector days where there is absolutely no room for delay. We all know that AA can't do a day without delays!! Yet they still schedule these tight 6 sector days.
I believe Mark Alder gets bonuses in his managerial roles, such as for his on time record, hence the pressure on the crew and his willingness to forfeit safety. People are chronically fatigued, and I am not talking about people who work on days off!! I am talking about the once who do have a back bone.
Regarding the bonuses on pprune, it hasn't been confirmed nor denied by the company. But statistically I expect the big boys in head office to give themselves a nice bonus. I trust them to do what is right for them, fill their pockets. (the Irish way, me me me me). Many people within AA have multiple roles and subsequently find themselves in a position where they face serious conflicts of interest. And 10 out of 10 they have gone for the financial option and not the safe option. If they can fill their pockets they will. It is my opinion that AA is on the brink of collapse. Be it through the money pot drying up or, god forbid, an air incident.
The only way this airline can survive is when they put the right man on the right job. Get rid of this old gentleman's flying club! Get rid of the chief pilot or let him fulfil one role! Get a separate ops manager, fleet captain, base captain.
Can you imagine what the end result will be when you put three talented men, or women, in those roles, instead of one incapable person.
You will have a workforce that is motivated, loyal and willing to run the extra mile. You will end up with a structure where all departments are transparent and open. God knows, you might end up with a profitable safe airline.
As you can probably understand I am not AA biggest fan! I do however have extensive experience with AA and I regret every minute of it. Everything on this post is public knowledge, I simply try to get a discussion going that has been going for some time among the AA staff. I apologise if I have offended you. But I feel that some things need to be made more public than they already are, in the greater interest of those who actually want to see AA survive. I am one of those people. I hope they have a long and successful future. But this will be heavily undermined as long as some people in AA stay in their positions.
The only people who can make this happen is the pilot body. They have to stand together and make a fist and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. And this is where I see the second problem that will undermine AA success. The pilots are known to be un-united! We have had many past events where pilots have shown each other that they rather look after themselves instead of each other. A very real RYR culture!
I just hope the pilots can overcome this and force the company to change their habits and force them to steer it in the right direction!!!
GOOD LUCK
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: eu
Age: 74
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nav Accuracy High, well said. There is not one thing in your post that I disagree with. And now it seems he's re-jigged the base calculator to get his best-est friends back to DUB. To hell with the recently upgraded guys with young families who are now stuck in other bases. There are some good guys in the company but there are a few who will quite happily fly 17 hr duty days and then land back into a CAT C airfield at 0430, and then complain about being tired. Working days off only screws everyone else but enjoy it guys, enjoy the 30 pieces of silver, you disgust me.
Last edited by FRAMEX; 24th Dec 2010 at 12:55. Reason: timing
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Middle of Somewhere..
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Aircraft Technical Issues
Hi all,
Very sorry to see that these issues have come up on PPRUNE but I realise things reach a boiling point and you have to act. Aside from the stories of the duty times, the state of the aircraft technically has me interested. What kind of defects are they flying with besides ADF's inop?? Seems like an ADF is a simple piece of kit to replace so can't understand the mentality here.
I thought they'd have to submit reliability reports to the IAA every so often as part of their reliability monitoring requirements under the CAMO rules.
Having travelled on RE a few times this year, the aircraft really are getting tatty and reflect very poorly on the airline.
Management wise, the one thing that makes me wonder is why Paul Schutz is still in place? He's been associated with failure throughout his entire aviation career ever since he left FR and seems to be doing a bang up job at RE.
All the best and safe flying,
P2C.
Very sorry to see that these issues have come up on PPRUNE but I realise things reach a boiling point and you have to act. Aside from the stories of the duty times, the state of the aircraft technically has me interested. What kind of defects are they flying with besides ADF's inop?? Seems like an ADF is a simple piece of kit to replace so can't understand the mentality here.
I thought they'd have to submit reliability reports to the IAA every so often as part of their reliability monitoring requirements under the CAMO rules.Having travelled on RE a few times this year, the aircraft really are getting tatty and reflect very poorly on the airline.
Management wise, the one thing that makes me wonder is why Paul Schutz is still in place? He's been associated with failure throughout his entire aviation career ever since he left FR and seems to be doing a bang up job at RE.
All the best and safe flying,
P2C.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: IMF country
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Quote:
Can you imagine what the end result will be when you put three talented men, or women, in those roles, instead of one...?
Three salaries......
Dear ASFKAP,
Three salaries is a very cheap price to pay for a loss making airline. It is peanuts if it helps the future and sustainability of the airline. Either way, the discussion to justify three more salaries is a lot easier than the discussion how you can justify one man needlessly fill his pockets and in the process does a horribly bad job!?!?
If this continues nobody will have a salary...........
Happy Xmas.
Can you imagine what the end result will be when you put three talented men, or women, in those roles, instead of one...?
Three salaries......
Dear ASFKAP,
Three salaries is a very cheap price to pay for a loss making airline. It is peanuts if it helps the future and sustainability of the airline. Either way, the discussion to justify three more salaries is a lot easier than the discussion how you can justify one man needlessly fill his pockets and in the process does a horribly bad job!?!?
If this continues nobody will have a salary...........
Happy Xmas.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: nepal
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
DATE:10/09/10
SOURCE:Air Transport Intelligence news
Aer Arann chief: Carrier's business strategy is solid
By Victoria Moores
"Aer Arann chief Paul Schutz is aiming to maintain the carrier's fleet and headcount, insisting it needs financial rather than operational restructuring during its spell in creditor protection."
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: NZ
Age: 59
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sounds like a gang of very dangerous Cowboys.I doubt the IAA are getting any reliability reports or any other kind of reports, I'd say lots of things being swept under a big carpet somewhere.
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: 45 yards from a tropical beach
Posts: 1,103
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Having had a quick shufti at this thread, I checked the Aer Aerann website. They are advertising Galway to London for 82 quid return. 40 years ago, a similar flight, Belfast - London would have cost 30 quid. (I know; I did it regularly.) Now adjust that for inflation, and the cost should be at least 150 quid, probably a lot more.
Therein lies the problem. Airline staff, especially pilots, through their abysmally low salaries, are subsidising the travelling public.
Therein lies the problem. Airline staff, especially pilots, through their abysmally low salaries, are subsidising the travelling public.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Somewhere Sunny
Age: 52
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
True.
I have it on first hand experience that the aircraft have been dispatched with no TCAS and no GPWS.
Having the ADF inoperative is a joke because if memory serves me correctly all missed approaches on the regionals are based off of NDBs and all easterly runways usually only have an NDB approach which forces crews to take tailwinds into CAT C airports after a busy fatiguing schedule.
It is alos true about REH having the number 1 pack or bleed inoperative for quite a period of time recently. Galway has been as cold as minus 12 on the ground. When the crews arrive for their days work, there is effectively no heating at all on the flight deck. This will make for miserable working conditions as well as dare I say it, adding to crew stress and certainly taking minds off the job. Adding to that, the aircraft is restricted to FL170 which increases fuel burns, block times (due to the reduced TAS) and forces crew to potentially fly in icing and turbulance layers adding to fatigue. If a commander was to dare refuse an aircraft based on the above he would be ridiculed.
The thing that gets me is that crew are forced to drive cars in the recent horrendous weather all over the country, operate and then drive home. It is ridiculous to expect crews to do this. All this stems from crew shortage and management greed. Safety is not a priority or the schedules would not be as they are. You can not roster people onto duties that are legal by 30 minutes, over 6 sectors with 20 and 25 minute turn arounds in winter and say you have safety and the crews best interests at heart.
I honestly can not believe that the examiner allowed the current management team to remain in place and at the same time screwing a lot of people over and eliminating or greatly reducing debt. Apparently three years of loss was blamed on the Icelandic volcano which again if memory serves me correctly, lasted for a few months over only one summer.
It is business as usual in Aer Arann with money being wasted hand over fist to satisfy an inept management and commercial department.
I have it on first hand experience that the aircraft have been dispatched with no TCAS and no GPWS.
Having the ADF inoperative is a joke because if memory serves me correctly all missed approaches on the regionals are based off of NDBs and all easterly runways usually only have an NDB approach which forces crews to take tailwinds into CAT C airports after a busy fatiguing schedule.
It is alos true about REH having the number 1 pack or bleed inoperative for quite a period of time recently. Galway has been as cold as minus 12 on the ground. When the crews arrive for their days work, there is effectively no heating at all on the flight deck. This will make for miserable working conditions as well as dare I say it, adding to crew stress and certainly taking minds off the job. Adding to that, the aircraft is restricted to FL170 which increases fuel burns, block times (due to the reduced TAS) and forces crew to potentially fly in icing and turbulance layers adding to fatigue. If a commander was to dare refuse an aircraft based on the above he would be ridiculed.
The thing that gets me is that crew are forced to drive cars in the recent horrendous weather all over the country, operate and then drive home. It is ridiculous to expect crews to do this. All this stems from crew shortage and management greed. Safety is not a priority or the schedules would not be as they are. You can not roster people onto duties that are legal by 30 minutes, over 6 sectors with 20 and 25 minute turn arounds in winter and say you have safety and the crews best interests at heart.
I honestly can not believe that the examiner allowed the current management team to remain in place and at the same time screwing a lot of people over and eliminating or greatly reducing debt. Apparently three years of loss was blamed on the Icelandic volcano which again if memory serves me correctly, lasted for a few months over only one summer.
It is business as usual in Aer Arann with money being wasted hand over fist to satisfy an inept management and commercial department.
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: eu
Age: 74
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Dont know Neptunus Rex........
From speaking to my buddy in AA, the unserviceabilities are going beyond a joke. The ADF problem was sorted out by swapping it out an into a different airplane every 10 days thereby never actually fixing the problem just moving it on.
Its not engineerings fault they can only work with what they have, but someone is very obviously not doing/hiding paperwork from the authorities.
I have very little faith in the IAA, but I reckon the CAA would love to hear about how aircraft are being operated into London TMA.
Someone needs to be a whistleblower before something serious happens.....
From speaking to my buddy in AA, the unserviceabilities are going beyond a joke. The ADF problem was sorted out by swapping it out an into a different airplane every 10 days thereby never actually fixing the problem just moving it on.
Its not engineerings fault they can only work with what they have, but someone is very obviously not doing/hiding paperwork from the authorities.
I have very little faith in the IAA, but I reckon the CAA would love to hear about how aircraft are being operated into London TMA.
Someone needs to be a whistleblower before something serious happens.....
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Middle of Somewhere..
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That's really unbelievable behaviour from their engineering / CAMO organisation from a professional stand point. They shouldn't allow the continued operation of aircraft to the MEL and the maintenance post holder should view it as part of his responsibility to keep the fleet in decent shape. Yes, it's necessary now and again to release to the MEL for a few days but it shouldn't be a way of life. The defects sound like they could rectified with a simple LRU swap in most instances. It seems like avionics / systems aren't top of the fleet at all. Thankfully the PWC 100's are generally a reliable engine otherwise all hell would break lose.
Something in that organisation needs a shake up to get the fleet into decent shape again.
Something in that organisation needs a shake up to get the fleet into decent shape again.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Ireland
Age: 49
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I spoke to a Dublin based AA guy today and he agreed with most of what was said, It seems every base suffers in it's own way. The Dublin crews complained of excessive duties and were awarded with airport standbys. In order to make up the shortfall in other bases they are forced to drive to Waterford Cork and Shannon on a daily basis.
The crews went along with they were asked and were seen as quite dosile but the day the Head of training branded the crews complacent and careless as a result of a rise in level busts the cracks in the loyalty began to appear.
Unity is still the flighdecks major problem as many will not join IALPA , a crazy choice given the situation they find themselves in.
The crews went along with they were asked and were seen as quite dosile but the day the Head of training branded the crews complacent and careless as a result of a rise in level busts the cracks in the loyalty began to appear.
Unity is still the flighdecks major problem as many will not join IALPA , a crazy choice given the situation they find themselves in.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Somewhere Sunny
Age: 52
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That is one of the other problems my good friend in Aer Arann tells me. Standbys.
Most duties especially out of Galway are sheduled with a standby before the duty if on a late or after the duty if on a mid or early duty. Some of these are rostered up to 2300 after commencing work at around 1200 - 1300 and flying 4 sectors, this obviously makes for miserable working conditions with your so called free time not being your own. It also allows the crewing department to completely change your working day with just one hours notice, again allowing nobody to really plan anything.
There was indeed a recent memo circulated about an unacceptable number of level busts. Apparently it cited all manner of reasons but drew the conclusion that it was crew complacancy that caused these. Fatigue was never once mentioned as a factor or potential factor but rather it is not the system at fault but the individual pilots, again, this shows the utter contempt that management demonstrate towards the pilot body and further demonstrates how out of touch they are with them. I am sorry but you are not as sharp if operating on day 5 after completing up to 30 sectors in bad weather with defective aircraft.
There are always the select few that do ruin it for the rest, the short sightedness having them work days off, working beyond max FDP to keep the show on the road. All this just adds to operating with less than the required crew and we all know where that can lead.
Apparently the head ops man not too long ago when the lack of crew was highlighted to him simply stated that they are not short of crew because flights had not yet been cancelled. Again, showing how completely out of touch these people are with flight operations. None of them bar the chief pilot have any worthy operational experience so can not even begin to understand how taxing flying a regional turbo prop on the atlantic coast is.
I just wish the guys and gals there could vote with their feet but alas the pay to fly brigade sabotaging other airlines has seen an end to that.
Most duties especially out of Galway are sheduled with a standby before the duty if on a late or after the duty if on a mid or early duty. Some of these are rostered up to 2300 after commencing work at around 1200 - 1300 and flying 4 sectors, this obviously makes for miserable working conditions with your so called free time not being your own. It also allows the crewing department to completely change your working day with just one hours notice, again allowing nobody to really plan anything.
There was indeed a recent memo circulated about an unacceptable number of level busts. Apparently it cited all manner of reasons but drew the conclusion that it was crew complacancy that caused these. Fatigue was never once mentioned as a factor or potential factor but rather it is not the system at fault but the individual pilots, again, this shows the utter contempt that management demonstrate towards the pilot body and further demonstrates how out of touch they are with them. I am sorry but you are not as sharp if operating on day 5 after completing up to 30 sectors in bad weather with defective aircraft.
There are always the select few that do ruin it for the rest, the short sightedness having them work days off, working beyond max FDP to keep the show on the road. All this just adds to operating with less than the required crew and we all know where that can lead.
Apparently the head ops man not too long ago when the lack of crew was highlighted to him simply stated that they are not short of crew because flights had not yet been cancelled. Again, showing how completely out of touch these people are with flight operations. None of them bar the chief pilot have any worthy operational experience so can not even begin to understand how taxing flying a regional turbo prop on the atlantic coast is.
I just wish the guys and gals there could vote with their feet but alas the pay to fly brigade sabotaging other airlines has seen an end to that.
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Middle of Somewhere..
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas to all. Yes, I noted all of the posters were newbies so who knows what the background is. None the less, sounds like there is room for improvement in the way the airline's being managed. I come from an engineering background and honestly wouldn't feel comfortable dispatching aircraft with such reportedly long lists of defects. On top of that, it'd be great to see some strategic direction emerge for the airline.
I've got my fingers crossed for Aer Arann. They're absolutely needed in Ireland and are a decent employer........we need more of them in Ireland these days.
I've got my fingers crossed for Aer Arann. They're absolutely needed in Ireland and are a decent employer........we need more of them in Ireland these days.
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aberdeen
Posts: 247
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
And good will to you Sir.
Seems outlandish but the ones getting paid may be having a better time of it than the ones doing the paying.
If l read it in the tech log l would take faults as gospel, otherwise ........
If l read it in the tech log l would take faults as gospel, otherwise ........
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Middle of Somewhere..
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just re the tech logs. I'm sure they're legally dispatching etc. but the operators I work with wouln't be at all happy to continually keep aircraft in service with long defect lists without having an action plan. In all likelihood, the crews would start to questions them and then eventually refuse to take the aircraft if they didn't see the defects rectified. That's the just the experience I've had.
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Middle of Somewhere..
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Fair point Overun and agree with you, not right to air the dirty laundy on this forum.
All the best and have a Happy Christmas, New Years and fingers crossed for a great 2011.
All the best and have a Happy Christmas, New Years and fingers crossed for a great 2011.