Originally Posted by
4th Level
Nice drive-by post.
Care to elaborate?
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No? Then I will.
The crew correctly stated that because they were in an ETOPS equipped -800, they were in fact permitted in to WATRS airspace. That is how our ops specs read, even if there was an incorrect equipment suffix tagged to that flight.
Yeah, I'll elaborate.
Stating to ATC that "we got ETOPs" while enroute to anywhere in the Caribbean (Central or S. America for that matter) from the east coast makes the crew look like they don't know what they're doing...therefore scary.
ETOPs certification is largely a maintenance inspection procedure and less so a assurance of any required equipment to operate in a non-radar environment. To state to a controller that "we got ETOPs" shows the crews lack of understanding. I can't think of a single instance when a crew would voluntarily need to tell a controller that.