Originally Posted by
oldmako
Probe,
The hard decisions are being made by Captains who are paid to make them. You seem to insinuate that some Captains are buffoons and need to be disciplined, or worse, for taking their responsibility seriously when they refuse an airplane. I find your finger pointing a tad unseemly.
Do you know the facts under which such "buffoonery" occurred? Unless you work in the Flight Office I don't expect that you do. And neither do I. I've only seen a Captain refuse a plane one time which I would have taken. And after he explained his reasoning, I agreed with him.
I've had to make my opinion very clear on an occasion when I would not accompany a Captain on a flight should he decide to sign for the jet. I guess that was buffoonery on my part and I should be disciplined.
I don't second-guess Captains decisions publically and I would appreciate it if they didn't second guess mine on this forum, if I were a Captain.
Individuals are what they are. Managements job is to minimize the opportunities for refusals by keeping the parts required to keep the planes MEL free.
Extremely well said. I am not a "buffoon". I take my job and responsibility very seriously.
Having said that, there are situations that I will not put my crew and passengers into. Every deferral brings its own unique set of circumstances and chain of decisions.
For instance; I will NEVER take an aircraft into Latin America or Mexico without an APU. The loss of an engine generator is only ONE of many factors in this decision. For example, I can guarantee you that if you need to divert from your planned destination there will be MANY places you could end up with no GPU and no start carts (huffers). I have experienced this and was pleased that I did have an operating APU.
My bottom line is safety. It is involved in almost every decision I make when I put on the uniform. Your customers PAY for and expect the highest level of safety you can provide. I am not someone who will deliver some subjective lower level of safety simply because a MEL says I can go without something.
Since this discussion is currently on refusals, I will throw out one more time when I wont take an aircraft - inop TCAS. TCAS has saved my and my passengers lives on numerous occasions. Simply not safe to go without it in my opinion.
Pest