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Old 02-06-2022, 03:37 PM
  #421  
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Originally Posted by wjcandee View Post
Interesting situation at WGN today (2/6/22).

One MD11 is flying a revenue mission. The rest are on the ground at SHV or RSW (their maintenance locations), except for 2 that are apparently not-flyable, one at ICN and one at ANC (after #3 engine failure in climb), and one that is in heavy-check at TPE. So all the flyable MD11s but one have returned to either SHV or RSW.

Something up? An AD? Something to do with the FAA? To have 11/12ths of the MD11 fleet (not counting 435KD and 804SN, which have been grounded for years) not operating is certainly an attention-getter, particularly in this high-revenue international cargo environment. I saw where National's chief said the other day that he could fill 10 more 747s than he has.
Maybe Jim N found another sucker to buy his latest airline for $440 million but they didn’t want the MDs?
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Old 02-06-2022, 07:17 PM
  #422  
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Originally Posted by Birdsmash View Post
Maybe Jim N found another sucker to buy his latest airline for $440 million but they didn’t want the MDs?
Maybe, but it looks like he picked up a contract increase from Kerry Logistics to 4x weekly HKG-HSV, plus 3x weekly HKG-Mexico. He's gonna need more than 3 flyable aircraft to accomplish that.

I also thought maybe something to do in prep for CRAF activation or business. WGN and National have been doing a number of Ukaine-and-vicinity CAMBER flights of late; if that thing blows, maybe there's a bunch of stuff that will need to go over ricky-tick. Basically still scratching my head.
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Old 02-06-2022, 08:39 PM
  #423  
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Five or six of them parked at RSW today, nobody around them . This was in the afternoon so who knows
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Old 02-07-2022, 05:35 PM
  #424  
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OK for those of you either just curious or genuinely worried about the RSW activity: this is a planned stop and all the aircraft are scheduled to be back on line within a couple of days.
The Lunar New Year in Asia made it possible to bring these birds home for some needed maintenance and upgrades. So for those sounding the panic alarm, relax 😌
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Old 02-08-2022, 12:38 AM
  #425  
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N411SN: Diverted to Anchorage August 27th. Made it to Shreveport on October 15. Hasn't moved since.
N412JN: Was at Ft. Meyers for five days. Back in circulation.
N415JN: Parked at Shreveport Jan 28.
N435KD: Parked. Ancient history.
N512JN: Parked at Shreveport two days ago.
N513SN: Parked in Taipei, heavy check, since Jan 03
N542KD: Parked in Incheon since Jan 31
N543JN: Landed Huntsville, yesterday
N545JN: Diversion to Anchorage Jan 13. Hasn't moved since. Engine out.
N581JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers three days ago.
N781SN: coasting out, Anchorage to Incheon, right now.
N799JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers Feb 03.
N804SN: Might fly one day.

One flying, two others operational.
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Old 02-08-2022, 10:06 AM
  #426  
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Originally Posted by JohnBurke View Post
N411SN: Diverted to Anchorage August 27th. Made it to Shreveport on October 15. Hasn't moved since.
N412JN: Was at Ft. Meyers for five days. Back in circulation.
N415JN: Parked at Shreveport Jan 28.
N435KD: Parked. Ancient history.
N512JN: Parked at Shreveport two days ago.
N513SN: Parked in Taipei, heavy check, since Jan 03
N542KD: Parked in Incheon since Jan 31
N543JN: Landed Huntsville, yesterday
N545JN: Diversion to Anchorage Jan 13. Hasn't moved since. Engine out.
N581JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers three days ago.
N781SN: coasting out, Anchorage to Incheon, right now.
N799JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers Feb 03.
N804SN: Might fly one day.

One flying, two others operational.
Great list. N546JN has also been in SHV for over a month. And N783SN is now arriving back from conformity/whatever in TPE.

When I look at their fleet, I consider permanently-parked N435KD and N804SN (which looked real pretty when it came from LH, but hasn't moved in 3 years since it arrived in SHV).

And while I appreciate Wingedeagle11's admonition not to worry, the fact is that a lot of the fleet is already regularly at SHV for long stretches or broken in-situ. I hoped that their reliability would improve when I saw them starting to get the really-heavy stuff done at Evergreen in TPE, but here we are. The same night nearly a month ago that 545's #3 engine blew on climb, another MD11 did an air return to Chicago with, IIRC, a flight control (or avionics) issue. (I seem to recall something about raw data only, but that might have been a different incident.) Rolled the trucks for both. One has to at least raise an eyebrow at 2 emergency landings on the same day out of a flyable fleet of MD11s that then stood at 12.

I guess this makes one a non-complacent pilot, but...

So I'm happy these very-in-demand aircraft are getting some TLC, but it's not like they're not already being worked on all the time, and it's not like they operate at a particularly-high tempo in the first place. I hope they get it together because I always hear what nice people their crews, trainers, etc. are.

Last edited by wjcandee; 02-08-2022 at 10:17 AM.
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Old 02-09-2022, 05:53 AM
  #427  
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Originally Posted by JohnBurke View Post
N411SN: Diverted to Anchorage August 27th. Made it to Shreveport on October 15. Hasn't moved since.
N412JN: Was at Ft. Meyers for five days. Back in circulation.
N415JN: Parked at Shreveport Jan 28.
N435KD: Parked. Ancient history.
N512JN: Parked at Shreveport two days ago.
N513SN: Parked in Taipei, heavy check, since Jan 03
N542KD: Parked in Incheon since Jan 31
N543JN: Landed Huntsville, yesterday
N545JN: Diversion to Anchorage Jan 13. Hasn't moved since. Engine out.
N581JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers three days ago.
N781SN: coasting out, Anchorage to Incheon, right now.
N799JN: Parked at Ft. Meyers Feb 03.
N804SN: Might fly one day.

One flying, two others operational.
Great effort to summarize John Burke. FYI, two birds already left RSW with five more to follow within the next couple of days, but I am sure you are more than capable
to do a daily summary as proven above. Hope this does not cause any heartburn 😎.
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Old 02-09-2022, 10:39 AM
  #428  
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Originally Posted by Wingdeagle11 View Post
Great effort to summarize John Burke. FYI, two birds already left RSW with five more to follow within the next couple of days, but I am sure you are more than capable
to do a daily summary as proven above. Hope this does not cause any heartburn 😎.
What's your point, brightspark?

It doesn't take a lot of effort on any given day to see how many of WGA's airplanes are out of service, not making revenue, parked, or just flat-out busted.

More interesting would be a discussion of just how WGA maintains their aircraft. Wanna talk about shipping unairworthy engines, with falsified paperwork, to another country to hang on a wing, making large quantities of bearing metal...and threatening mechanics with their jobs, to sign it off and put it back in service? Wanna talk about getting them to flush it, run it again (not kosher, if you know anything whatsoever about maintenance), finding more metal, then rinsing and repeating over and over, same threats, same orders to put back in service, and when mechanics refuse, finally sending mechanics from the States with orders to sign it off (who also refuse)?

Wanna have that conversation where the curtain gets pulled back? You wanna?
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Old 02-09-2022, 10:18 PM
  #429  
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Originally Posted by JohnBurke View Post
What's your point, brightspark?

It doesn't take a lot of effort on any given day to see how many of WGA's airplanes are out of service, not making revenue, parked, or just flat-out busted.

More interesting would be a discussion of just how WGA maintains their aircraft. Wanna talk about shipping unairworthy engines, with falsified paperwork, to another country to hang on a wing, making large quantities of bearing metal...and threatening mechanics with their jobs, to sign it off and put it back in service? Wanna talk about getting them to flush it, run it again (not kosher, if you know anything whatsoever about maintenance), finding more metal, then rinsing and repeating over and over, same threats, same orders to put back in service, and when mechanics refuse, finally sending mechanics from the States with orders to sign it off (who also refuse)?

Wanna have that conversation where the curtain gets pulled back? You wanna?
Did it happen to you? Or is this just rumors that you heard from someone that knows a guy that heard from the person that was there when all this happened? Haven't you mentioned previously that you do not, and have not, worked at WGA?
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Old 02-10-2022, 02:33 AM
  #430  
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It would be uncomfortable to cheerlead for, and defend such deplorable maintenance practices, knowing that they're true.

Aircraft are mechanical: they break. They get fixed. Pilots write up, the company fixes, the airplane returns to service. Nothing new under the sun. Except when an operator elects to use the MEL as a toolbox, instead of a bandaid to move the airplane. When an operator fails to fix things for years; when an operator has a sea of MEL stickers, when an operator can have a three engine airplane close to flaming out over the pacific with three check airmen struggling to figure out why pumps and systems aren't functioning or responding, with outboard tanks unable to accept fuel, pumps failing on the only engine that requires pumps, and too much time remaining to hawaii, on a checkride; when pilot after pilot can report high engine vibration until the indicator magically goes to 0.0...and then the engine fails on a subsequent flight...the tip of the iceberg is seen. When it becomes a familiar sight, when pilots refer to it as "the Western Global Way," it's not a rare occurrence. I t's company culture. Then it doesn't matter who one is; it's unacceptable. Perhaps it drives away so many that captains flying with captains becomes the norm, because too few are left and retention is too difficult, especially in the face of moving goalposts, empty promises, and the constant threat to one's career and certificate, and perhaps one's life due to the shoddy maintenance. That's not normal. That's not part of what one should expect, certainly not one should be forced to accept.

Were those things brought to light, along with many, many others, and were the operator to ignore them and continue business as normal, one might expect what one sees; continued frequent rolling delays due to maintenance, far more MEL deferrals and carry-overs than one ought to see, continued air turnbacks and diversions, and aircraft that limp home to the sham of a "repair station" that Shreveport continues to pretend to be, where they languish, are robbed of parts and emerge with more faults than they entered. One might expect to continue to see aircraft released at Shreveport with two flight plans; one back to base, and one to destination, with crews expected to pick up the clearance for a return, then change it to destination if the airplane actually works.

It's not acceptable for a mechanic, not recognizing an electrical connector, to simply cut it out with dikes and replace it with a butt splice. It's not okay to run an airplane back and forth to Hawaii with a broken brake line support bracket, rubbing on the wheel, with no writeup or maintenance beyond wrapping the line with tape, until it finally blows in hawaii, or to have an airplane show up for a military trip with what the onboard mechanic refers to as a "loose" leading edge device...because the turnbuckle wasn't safetied and has backed off...straight out of Shreveport.

Who am I? Among other things, a mechanic with a low tolerance for bad maintenance. Also a pilot with a low tolerance for bull****. It's one thing to remain silent and not own up to the warts. It's another things to suggest that these things don't exist. Blind enthusiasm vs. bald-faced lies.

WGA liked to brag that they owned all the Lufthansa airplanes, and all of Lufthansa's engines, leasing them back to Lufthansa. Lies. They bragged about their repair station (it's not), about their engine shop, yet perpetually put unairworthy equipment back on the line. How does one boroscope an engine that's been shut down in flight due to a severe compressor stall, and find bent blades, missing pieces, long cracks, manage to put that airplane back in service with an. FCU change, following a singular engine run, and pronounce it clean and good to go? Or airplanes experiencing consistent overtemps on takeoff, are simply moved from operations in Colombia to operations stateside, because even though there's no margin left in that engine, it's blessed and okay thanks to operation at a lower pressure altitude for takeoff? Lots of worms in the cans. Rah, rah, rah. Cheerlead away, Deny if you will...but such denial is a lie, and many there are who know it.

Some of them collect documentation.
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