Originally Posted by
Hotel Pen
Disco where do you work, Value-Giant? Its not always as simple as "if its broke, just write it up." If you worked at G4 you would know that. Many times things have been written up multiple times and then signed off; to the point where the crew knows an item is INOP but MX has just signed it off so the logbook is clean...
What does one do then? Allegiant crews have to deal with situations like this everyday, no?
I'm an Allegiant pilot...
About 3 years ago at my former airline (one of the better regionals) I had an early morning flight into IAD. The whole east coast was socked in with horrible weather. We did a Cat 2 right down to mins and barely made it in. Luckily for me scheduling took me off my trip and sent me to the hotel. The hotel was still serving breakfast when I arrived, so I dropped my bags in my room and came back downstairs. As I'm sitting there eating breakfast and another crew from my company are checking out their release on their phones next to me. The captain turns to his FO and says "whoa man, did you see all of these MEL's?" He continues telling his FO that the Autopilot and yaw damper, one pack, the radar altimeter and a few other things were MEL'd too. So asked them "where are you going?" "Houston", they responded. The weather in Houston was about as bad as IAD. They had a takeoff alternate and their alternate for Houston was less than spectacular. I looked at the captain and asked "you aren't really going to accept that plane are you?" He gave me a sheepish look and said "do you think we should refuse it?" My response was something to the effect of "hellll yes!" I couldn't believe they were considering an almost 3 hour flight with bad weather everywhere and multiple MEL's that would compound any problem that may arise.
Pilot pushing is not a new phenomenon in the airline world. I bet every pilot at every airline has a story like mine from either first hand knowledge or from someone they know. This is where good Aeronautical Decision Making and asserting your authority as captain or even FO comes into play. Every airline is guilty of cutting corners when they get caught in a pinch. Delays, short staffing, broken airplanes timed out crews and on and on..... Scheduling and MX are always trying to pull a fast one. They aren't the ones who have to worry about getting killed. It's our professional duty to step in and stop some lunkhead MX department or scheduler from pushing us into doing something we know is unsafe. Man up and do the right thing. If they want to fire you for that, then you probably don't want to work for that place anyway. Better yet, sue them and report them to the FAA and media.
I have no illusions that Allegiant isn't trying to cut corners where they can. I have yet to see a logbook or release that has made me question the safety of the aircraft. Then again, I was hired into the Airbus. Maybe that has something to do with it. I'm no G4 cheerleader. Heck, I have my apps out just like 90% of the guys here. I'm sure as hell not going to risk my life or certificates for Allegiant or anyone else. I will speak up as soon as I feel the need to. Even as a lowly FO, if I'm not happy with something, I'm not going.