dutch rudder

Axe to grind? I think so. You don’t think a reporter’s “vendetta” could skew statistical data? OK. Your blind faith in the media pairs nicely with your agenda… we all know who you are.

Do you think they could have included the severe turbulence unscheduled landing or the “hydraulic failure” (nothing wrong with plane… crew acting cautiously) in their numbers? I know for a fact that they included the recirculation fan unscheduled landing and called it a “serious event,” and failure of a “key component of the pressurization system.”

Given the historical abuse from the Tampa Bay Times, do you really think they maintained “sterile and unbiased” research?

FlyAirJason

And that is just super news, truly it is. it seems the article (and another recent TBT article) offers similar credit.

However, for a one month new hire to disregard the summer from hell as merely a reporter with a hardon is simply "puppy love" to say the least.

FlyAirJason

My identity is no secret, friend. I've openly identified myself here so make no mistake, I hide behind nothing and no agenda.
You'll even find posts of mine wherein I've described enthusiasm for Allegiant, and anyone that knows me knows that I loved my job very much. So, actually, I have zero axes. I'm sorry you think otherwise, but I assure you, I'll lose no sleep over your criticisms.

dutch rudder

Numbers cannot lie? Anyone take statistics in college? Numbers don’t give any information without a correct frame of reference or unit. Times said, “In 2015, Allegiant’s planes were four times as likely to make unexpected landings after midair mechanical problems than other U.S. airlines.” No ****! We operate a fleet comprised of 56% old MD80s. Look at the three airlines that have the highest numbers of unscheduled landings! ALL MD80 OPERATORS. If American operated a fleet comprised of 56% old MD80’s, they would top this list! Graph proved nothing of statistical significance.

The only graph with a somewhat correct unit is the graph comparing MD80 breakdowns by operator. Of course we broke down more! I didn’t need research or a graph to tell me this. We are a LCC that over-utilized our fleet with maintenance designed for an under-utilized fleet… and the dummies that let that happen are gone! 8.2 unscheduled landings per 10,000 flight hours, as compared to Americans 3.4 unscheduled landings, is exactly what I would expect during the “rough summer.” I can tell you that new captains in the left seat for the first time have played a roll in some of these issues. I would like to see a graph comparing the MD80 time of an American captain vs. an Allegiant captain and see if any correlation can be made.

And to put this into perspective, I had roughly 4,000 hours of SIC and PIC at my regional job. In that time, I had 9 unscheduled landings including an engine failure. So, my “statistical analysis” proves this regional had 9 unscheduled landings per 4,000 flight hours, per pilot

dutch rudder

I didn't say that because I thought I made some new discovery about FlyAirJason. I knew you disclosed that info. And to say you have no agenda is clearly false. Your situation promotes an agenda.

In no way am I passing judgment in your issue. I don't have all the facts and will never will. And I do hope it works out in your favor.

FlyAirJason

Thanks for those kind words.

KC135

Fair enough.

ColdChicken

Looking at the bar graph,...and other the airlines involved, couldn't you also say the Delta has nearly 4 times the number that Southwest has?

Not defending Allegiant as they need to improve their 2015 numbers and I think 2016 will turn out much better, but still...fair is fair in the world of math.

BigTime

You are new here and unfortunately know very little about the history of maintenance problems with this airline. You have probably been hearing from a very limited set of pilots, primarily management and training personnel who rarely fly the line and don't really know how bad it is, especially with the MD-80 fleet. We all knew the mainenance was bad and the airline was risking an accident, but we didn't have the numbers to compare to other airlines to see just how bad it was. Now we have those numbers and it's as bad as we suspected.

The negative publicity from the Tampa Bay Times is absolutely deserved and completely true. Reporters don't make 39 engines fail in a year and a half, neither do pilots or the union, contrary to what management has said. The facts don't lie, management does, never forget that.

Frankly, I'm very grateful somebody has taken the time to call out the airline for their poor maintenance practices and has compared the problems to other airlines flying similar equipment. This airline is very lucky they haven't had a crash yet. It sounds like improvements in fleet and maintenance may be coming, but it isn't going to happen overnight, it isn't going to be cheap, and this airline doesn't like to spend money on things that don't bring it profit.

grnclvrs

One thing about that article that has not been addressed and this is in no way denying the article. Allegiant has a lot of unscheduled landings for malfunctions that other operators complete the flight. We've all been on flights where DX or MTC told us to air return to get the airplane fixed at a maintenance base rather than have it grounded on arrival at destination. These events are not broken out of the numbers.