BA Direct Entry Pilot.

[RexBanner]

Originally Posted by student88

So much bitter BA bashing - yet still a better option than most of whats available in the UK.

Don’t recall easyJet ever spying on their staff tbf

[bex88]

Barcli, I deleted my post because I was getting involved in something I don’t need too. I am pretty fed up right now and I only seem to be adding negative fuel to the fire. I need to be a little more balanced......well at least until Dec 11th when I will no doubt be up in arms over my first JSS roster.

I hope that makes sense. I am not as miserable in person as I appear on here.

Student88, with my new balanced view unless you are still in the honeymoon period or are on long haul I doubt you can back up your statement. EZY, RYR......better in pay and rostering. (For my status at least)

[Riskybis]

Depends what you are looking for ......
cant wait for my 1.5% pay rise . Which will no doubt be reduced to 0.5% !!!! Takes the pi&&

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by student88

So much bitter BA bashing - yet still a better option than most of whats available in the UK.

..But I think it’s best people planning on joining BA are at least aware of some aspects of the company culture before hand, rather than realising, once the honeymoon period has worn off and the filtering has stopped, that sometimes things are done in an interesting manner, perhaps not replicated elsewhere.

A few examples:
After months (years?) of investigation nobody seems to be able to solve the problem of “lost”/abandoned cargo dollies being dumped behind stands, frequently causing pushback delays out of T5, No-one seems to be able to solve the crew car parking problems or provide a robust bus service back to the car park late at night...all of which adds hassle to the working day, especially for those on short haul.

OTOH it seems time, effort and no doubt money must be spent chasing down individuals to see if they might have only spent 7 hours and 59 minutes in a hotel room that they as private individuals have booked and paid for and have used whilst off duty.

It’s a funny old company sometimes....

[clvf88]

Originally Posted by wiggy

no-one can solve the crew car parking problems

Out of curiosity, am I right to infer there is a lack of spaces? If so, are there any contigencies available?

[RexBanner]

Lack of spaces and thousands of pounds worth of damage to the cars that do miraculously find a space due to leaking corrosive materials..

It’s all good though as Alex and Willie don’t have to park there.

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by clvf88

Out of curiosity, am I right to infer there is a lack of spaces? If so, are there any contigencies available?

There’s a lack of space, has been for years but it seems to be an unsolvable problem..there are various contingencies, such as parking at a large BA staff car park over at Hatton Cross and get a bus to/from T5 - not easy if you are returning to LHR late at night, get permission to use one of the T5 Hotel Car parks, or use one of the public (pay) car parks and then claim the cash back from the company. Bear in mind of course there’s the requirement not to spend too long getting to work........

The car park corrosion issue that Rex mentions is another long standing (> 10 year at least) problem.

[clvf88]

Rex / Wiggy - excellent

[Barcli]

Originally Posted by clvf88

Rex / Wiggy - excellent

+ bex88 ( also quite correct)

[student88]

Originally Posted by RexBanner

Lack of spaces and thousands of pounds worth of damage to the cars that do miraculously find a space due to leaking corrosive materials..

Vinegar is quite expensive these days huh?

Lime scale, you make it sound like a nuclear power station is leaking. Why do people continue to park on level 4 when they know the risk? It's almost like they're go out of their way to find something else to get off at BA with. You see the guys on Yammer fizzing away, its quite funny. I refuse to park on level 4, or anywhere within the multi storey - outside or on the roof. If I can't find a space, I go to the Sofitel - if I'm late, I'm late - not my fault. (I'm pretty sure the lack of spaces is being exacerbated by the fact that they're fixing said roof).

Cargo dollies stopping us from pushing back? Oh well, not my problem either - I won't be flying faster to make up for the lost time. Focus your energy on the things you can change, for everything else just sit there and leave it to someone else to fix. Do you think other airlines are pitch perfect?

[MikeAlpha320]

Originally Posted by student88

So much bitter BA bashing - yet still a better option than most of whats available in the UK.

Have you been at 'most' then? Not sure what is bitter about painting of our personal picture of BA. Here lies the problem with pay negotiations e.t.c- the idea that BA is superior. When in actual fact, there are far better options (Short Haul- productivity/pay) elsewhere.

[wiggy]

student88

I agree with a lot of that though I'd be darned careful about the Vinegar solution..I have it on good authority that's not the best solution .....

As a dyed in the wool long hauler I'm personally quite willing to sit back and let the grown ups unravel any mess they have made but I suspect for those on shorthaul it is perhaps not quite so easy to be sanguine about delays when ultimately they pay by reduced time between sectors/ reduced rest so I don't blame them for getting wound up..

And yes, I'm sure no other airline is perfect, but do you know of any other airline that has started to audit "commuting" in your own time in quite the (seemingly increasingly intrusive) way that BA do?

[RexBanner]

And therein lies the rub. What BA are doing is not only gross invasion of privacy it also reinforces their attitude of pilots as people who cannot be trusted. If you’re in any doubt about this go have a look at the RIM entry for Nice. What is basically (for any other airline) a VOR with a visual turn onto final is turned into the biggest mountain out of a molehill you could ever find towards what is essentially a pretty straightforward place to get in and out of. Just look out the window and fly the thing. No wait, BA don’t trust you to do that so they write paragraph after paragraph of procedure simply to encourage you to leave the autopilot in. Talk about deskilling and over-complication.

[Riskybis]

Originally Posted by RexBanner

And therein lies the rub. What BA are doing is not only gross invasion of privacy it also reinforces their attitude of pilots as people who cannot be trusted. If you’re in any doubt about this go have a look at the RIM entry for Nice. What is basically (for any other airline) a VOR with a visual turn onto final is turned into the biggest mountain out of a molehill you could ever find towards what is essentially a pretty straightforward place to get in and out of. Just look out the window and fly the thing. No wait, BA don’t trust you to do that so they write paragraph after paragraph of procedure simply to encourage you to leave the autopilot in. Talk about deskilling and over-complication.

reminds me of BA SH , briefing LH 3 times in a day . Also doing Landing Performance Calcs for the longest runway in the country for an A319

[cessnapete]

Originally Posted by Riskybis

reminds me of BA SH , briefing LH 3 times in a day . Also doing Landing Performance Calcs for the longest runway in the country for an A319

in LH a while back most crews used common sense and airmanship re Briefings. On a multi sector LH Trip, first sector comprehensive Brief, then on subsequent days preface said was “ Standard Brief ”” and with only salient points of present location mentioned if required. Otherwise your other crewmen might fall asleep with boredom!!
Re the present Nice ‘overkill’ approach brief. Used to see the same thing on Carnarsie 13L/R into JFK. Handling pilot battling with FLC, Hdg selections towards the final turn, with the A/P engaged. . Much easier after the VOR, look out the widow,foiiow the strobes, disconnect the automatics and fly the thing (B744) Although, I believe now BA SOPs do not authorise any ‘hand flying’ down route without A/T engaged.
EK nearly had a disaster there recently A 380, nobody looking outside lateral profile on A/P, forgot about vertical bit. ATC emergency call to go around when dangerously low.

[Callsign Kilo]

And therein lies the rub. What BA are doing is not only gross invasion of privacy it also reinforces their attitude of pilots as people who cannot be trusted. If you’re in any doubt about this go have a look at the RIM entry for Nice. What is basically (for any other airline) a VOR with a visual turn onto final is turned into the biggest mountain out of a molehill you could ever find towards what is essentially a pretty straightforward place to get in and out of. Just look out the window and fly the thing. No wait, BA don’t trust you to do that so they write paragraph after paragraph of procedure simply to encourage you to leave the autopilot in. Talk about deskilling and over-complication

Most airlines do this. Generally a reaction to someone f***ing up somewhere. Two airlines that I have flown for do exactly the same thing. I know of one major ME carrier that is equally as culpable. Aviation is continually dumbed down & this creates its own problems which are sometimes all too evident on the line. BA is no different in this department.

Anyway, thread drift I feel. The overall opinion that I get with regards to joining BA now as a DEP is ‘buyer beware.’ Although the numbers were less than a handful, a few guys have made it back or have joined my outfit after brief spells at BA (both SH & LH fleets). Something, that once upon a time, was completely unheard of. You didn’t leave BA once you were in! When I heard of this, it made me a little disappointed if I’m truly honest.

[wiggy]

It’s a big company, just about any policy on anything at BA gets referred to the lawyers, and not just the big issues...

Re automation: If an aircraft goes off the end because of a handling stuff up such as being a bit fast on the approach the lawyers are concerned that somebody in Flight Ops will get dragged up in court to explain why the company didn’t make the use of Mr Boeing or Alphonse Airbus’s autothrottle/autothrust mandatory.

Similar with commuting...The theory goes that “legal” has hinted that BA itself might be held to blame if an individual uses BA facilitated staff travel to get to work and then is found by the authorities to have breached some aspect of the EASA regs when it comes to fatigue.. So Flight Ops looked hard at those who indulged in “extreme” commuting. However having got such a process in place it appears somebody now feels they now have no choice but to continue drilling down into the data and look in detail at the travel arrangements of absolutely anyone who arrives by way of staff travel into LHR/LGW at any point prior to report (I suspect they don’t feel there a similar need yet to look at those who drive or travel in by other airlines because BA don’t directly facilitate such travel...and as yet BA don’t have access to that data.)

Ultimately and has rightly been said you do get the impression that often the company think pilots are not to be trusted. I am sure those who say that there are worse outfits are correct but as I mentioned earlier BA can be a funny old outfit and it is completely process driven...Now in my experience most of us I think successfully work around or through that aspect of the operation, especially when away from Mission Control, but I’d agree with the comment that it is certainly “buyer beware”...

[Tay Cough]

Although, I believe now BA SOPs do not authorise any ‘hand flying’ down route without A/T engaged.

This doesn’t apply on the 744.

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by Tay Cough

This doesn’t apply on the 744.

That (manual thrust in manual flight on the 744at BA) is of course true TC but isn’t that simply down to the potentially destabilising effect of the pitch/power couple, rather than some largesse on the part of the lawyers or a belief in the office that only the 744 has truely superior pilots....

[WonderBus]

A quick health warning for the pprune/yammer regulars, maybe start looking at the glass half full:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/...o-be-negative/