Originally Posted by
JetDoc
Well Rick, I generally respect what you say here but you may have lost me here. As a 26 year A&P and one who worked a gate at SFO for 15 years for legacy UAL I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. NO PILOT, in any way shape or form is, was or have ever been my "
adult supervision". That is a ton of nerve and even more disrespect for the men and woman who provide to you everyday a safe, airworthy aircraft. Honestly.... Come on down off that horse man.....
As far as Mx and ramp...
Adult supervision as in the final quality and reality check. Nothing like knowing you'll be the first person to arrive at the scene of the accident to make you think twice and double check.
Everybody, obviously including pilots, makes mistakes...pilots just often happen to be the last guys who have the opportunity to notice something amiss before they push the "Go Fly" button.
So no disrespect intended, but as PIC I'm not just another cog in the machine, I'm the ultimate decision maker with ultimate responsibility. I do have to trust Mx and ramp for many things which I can't directly observe, but I'll always ask the question if I suspect anything is amiss.
As to gate agents...
Sorry man, but now that you mention it, yeah I really do have to inject adult supervision all the time.
They send me drunk/drugged pax and hope the FA will just "deal with it".
They send me "service animals" who aren't potty trained.
They tell me to close with ten empty seats and non-revs waving frantically in the terminal window.
They board people for SAT who are actually booked to STR...yeah that STR.
Don't know what to tell you there, but I'm reasonably sure that YOU back in the day were better than the common denominator we have now. In many cases management doesn't help with their unrealistic workload and on-time expectations.