Originally Posted by
Lambourne
Doesn't that deferral require it to be usable by the pilot? If it isn't usable then that is a good refusal. It is the blanket statement morons that don't think and just refuse for BS items are the ones I am talking about. Flying without an APU is not an emergency procedure, contrary to popular belief.
It is the same as if you add gas just because your the Captain on each leg. If you don't put any thought into what you are doing then someone else will and they will start taking away your ability to make decisions. Personally from those at CO that I have talked with our refusal policy might be a big change of lifestyle for many UA peelots. Standby for accountability for your actions as a UA Captain in the future.
L
Well, in one sentence you contradict yourself. You say "blanket statement morons" that don't think are the problem, but then you blanket statement that flying without an APU should not be a problem.
Some genius brought me a TED airplane into Reno with no APU a few years back. Temps were over 100. So now I have to make a Bleeds off, unpressurized takeoff with zero air pumping into the cabin of a superheated aluminum tube.
By the time they got the ground air on the airplane, the cabin temps were in the upper 80's... and they never came back down. When they wanted to start the engines, they pulled the jetway air and plugged in the huffer cart. The station manager who was concerned about her possible delay starting the engines came out and pulled the power cord, which sent the IRU's into deep 6 mode. Then she didn't want to plug the air back in because it might further cause a delay. I screamed out the window that they had 30 seconds to get the jetway moving back to the airplane to deplane the people or I was blowing the slides. The temps INDICATED were up in the 90's, probably well over 100 in the cabin. We had reports of people on the verge of passing out in the back. All this could have been avoided by the previous captain (little C) just refusing the airplane. Send it to Minneapolis or something!!
Your attitude of wanting MORE company policing of refusals (and possibly sick leave?) is disturbing in the extreme. Since when has LESS Captains authority been the goal? Sure we have some guys that refuse airplanes for stupid reasons. We also have some guys that intentionally drag their feet. But it seems pretty stupid to me to wish for MORE management involvement in our decision making. It really ****ES me off when I have to explain my safety decisions to someone who is sitting behind a comfy desk 1000 miles away.