Originally Posted by
georgetg
sad, but that was my first reaction also
There are a lot of moving pieces to the operation and it's really amazing how well it actually works. Well over 90% of the time everything goes as planned.
Generally it's the unexpected things that throw a monkey-wrench into the operation. It's been my experience that when that happens most Delta people pick up the slack and "mask" the problem by making everything work out anyways...
- What's the metric for Panasonic techs deciding that 45 minutes before departure is a good time to set up a ladder in the aisle and pull the ceiling panels to install new IFE boxes?
- What's the metric for the pax who "has to pee" right at departure preventing the "cabin ready for departure" call?
- Is the ramp congestion in the ATL caused by making a 90-degree push or by nobody interested enough to be ready to marshal in the jet as it pulls up to the gate as scheduled?
The data doesn't tell the full story and never will and many data points never even make it into the big pool because we attempt to keep the operation on-track.
Operational Excellence memo wants us to stop "masking" the problems and let the data speak. The problem is a lot of what we do at work is "masking" the operation's inefficiencies...
Where is the cutoff for when to "mask" and when to just go at "normal speed?"
When some of the AA pilots stopped "masking" issues caused by other departments what were the results?
Again, I want Delta to run as well as the "European Train system" (maybe minus the Italian
) but I don't think Flight Ops is the department in need of significant improvement...
Cheers
George
George,
An excellent post!
You're a pretty well-informed guy and I'm guessing you saw the email that circulated last fall from an AA First Officer...
(For those who didn't read it: This First Officer, and the Captain he was flying with, did everything required by their job, but not one iota more. This email detailed how rapidly dysfunctional the operation became when pilots didn't step up and do what's necessary to keep things flowing. It was hugely ugly.)
When I read that email I thought of Delta's own operation and of all the things we do, on a daily basis, to keep the operation flowing relatively smoothly and mostly on time.
I firmly believe Delta management is blissfully unaware of all that we do. We sure as h*ll don't get thanked for it (much less compensated).
As far as this: "Operational Excellence memo wants us to stop "masking" the problems and let the data speak." My response would be: "Really?"
In theory maintenance write-ups should occur with equal frequency on flights from a hub to an out-station as on the return flights. Yet I'd bet a bunch of money (and I'm not a betting man) that the difference is staggering.
Do they really want us to write up discrepancies where they happen and highlight the gaping holes in maintenance coverage?