Originally Posted by
Elevation
Since the crash we've announced no causal factors, announced no changes to operations or training other than an uptick in new-hire failure rates. In fact we have congratulated ourselves several times. An employee survey was sent out shortly after the accident. Since then the only thing we've seen was a hearty "good job!" to those in charge. Moreover successive layers of oversight and safety are being eroded across both organizations by developing what I believe are targeted conflicts of interest. Call me a cynic, but I've seen this play out before in two previous lives.
Folks with a background in stan-eval, safety, management, etc. will see all the hallmarks of an organization maneuvering to cover itself rather an an organization maneuvering to correct fatal faults.
People read these forums. So here's what we need:
Admit fault at all levels of command and in all departments. We all failed and people are dead. There's no dodging this.
1.) Admit multi-level failure of our flight ops, training and safety departments. People are dead. We failed. Pay the families.
2.) Announce an organizational recovery plan. Move incentives away from defense to improvement.
3.) Tie career progression to measured improvements. The specific metrics can be worked out by bigger brains than mine, but we need hard data to support this rather than subjective evaluations. We've proven that our judgement is lacking.
Until we're on the mend we're in decline.
Spot on.
Just had a conversation with a friend of mine in the training department. (We are on the SAI side of the fence). He said that he thought there was going to be a big change in things in 2020, he was thinking positive. I think so too, but I see it as negative.
What I see is that the Atlas operating certificate is going to be yanked by the Feds. What you are saying is exactly the same pattern that I saw at another airline that lost their operating certificate after a fatal accident - also a cargo airline. That airline's management behavior was EXACTLY as what you have outlined about Atlas.
With everything that is going on in the industry safety wise, there is a good possibility that Atlas will be the sacrificial goat, being that the overall economic impact of their shutdown will be minimal compared to that of a major passenger airline.
Takes about a year, before the FAA takes definitive action. Give it a little time.
Atlas management sees themselves as being impervious, their actions are hubristic. Right now they don't see the jeopardy, it might be right around the corner.