Originally Posted by
yamahas3
Maybe thats true, but some of us work or have worked for airlines where being "FLAT OUT PARANOID" is both justified and the only way to stay employed.
I know that at my last airline there were dozens of instances where management had FDR data and wanted to terminate the pilots involved but thanks to FOQA they were unable to get the identifying info on it. That was the only thing keeping us safe and this bill would eliminate that.
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There only a Few Occasions when flight crews have neem up for severe penalty when downloading the DFDR. Every one I know of in the last 11 years has been where a Major occurrence has occurred and the pilots elected for whatever reason to NOT tell the "entire story" i.e. a 737-322 on a takeoff roll and would not rotate where the pilots didn't state they had been de-iced and failed to reset the Horizontal stab trim from full nose down.. (FDR data got the capt. demoted) An A320 that missed the CAT3 approach into GEG where the pilot never engaged the autothrottle and THREE TIMES and diverted to SEA claiming the Autopilot Cat 3 dual would not engage. (The Airplane Reported him) An A320 that lost the Autopilot on climg out of LAX and the Capt. Diverted back to LAX claiming the Rudder PCU kicked hard Over.. ( the Airbus doesn't
Have a Rudder PCU) There were others whe I don't know the outcome but I know the Pilots too a LOT of heat for these incidents. It is probable that these things might NOT have been a Major problem had the crew "fessed up".But!
Once the airplane is grounded and the NTSB or FAA is involved the situation cannot be abated because it is "assumed" that Maintenence was at fault!
United Flight Safety will pull the FDR first thing to determine the cause.
and the Chips fall where they may. Nobody will fault a pilot for a suspected overspeed because they can be verified as such but when they DON'T report an overspeed?? Whew! Bad news!! It's FAR better to say you Did and let Mantenence do a quick check to See what it's NOT than Not say something that turns out to BE a "big deal".