Fred at GOC...
 

Rumor is Fred showed up at GOCC the other night shortly after our mass divert fest. Don't have many details...other than he wasn't happy. Anyone else have more info?

Can't answer your question, but I have another one to add. What happened that night? Does sound like a major GOC screwup, for so many diverts ( or bad forecast). Had it been planned correctly, seems that everyone would have had plenty of extra gas to hold, or been launched later. But I wasn't working, so?

Unhappy Line forms at the rear
 

Hey - Fred can take a number and get in line if he is unhappy at FedEx.

"Its just business" but......."Its just ****ing people off".

Bring some love and $ to the table and fix the flippin Contract already.

Fire Cassel and and his group of clowns rotating around the management trough screwing up every aspect of the flying operation. Not sure attempting to save a buck here is to blame. Simulator screw ups, basing decisions seemingly pulled out of a hat with no proper planning, understaffing, training schedule square corners, inability to deliver on the Purple Promise for the reasons above and more.

Sorry - I just had a minute to comment before I get extended in the field again.

+1... and fire some Labor Relations people and idiot lawyers too. Collectively they're dragging the operation down. A smart person should easily see that.

If Fred was at GOC, who was in Toluca? Two of our corporate Challengers were parked there when I left on my way to Memphis, err, I mean St. Louis, to be one of 22 airplanes parked all over the airport ... ramps, taxiways, even on a closed runway. What a fiasco. :rolleyes:






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Well when we launched that night we had no alternate, so I assume most guys were in the same boat. We had some extra gas and got in early and got lucky - the guys behind us on final went around and it was chaos after that.

But yeah, launching the entire inbound fleet with no alternate and no extra gas tends to screw up the system when a thunderstorm parks itself over the field.

I can only imagine that at some point this week there was a meeting with a GOC weather guy at the end of the table doing the carpet dance.

For the storms on Thursday night we had an alternate and a LOT of fuel. You figure at SOME point they might figure out this whole system reliability thing....

FedEx Weather: the BEST weather money can buy! ;-)

He wasn't there when I arrived @ 0415L after a short stay in TUL. When we left GJT there was no mention of thunderstorms in the forecast although they were beginning to form S of MEM. We got a new forecast enroute to COS a mention of them until 0500z. When we left COS the forecast was the same and no alternate but we had a little extra gas. After that FUBAR!


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To me Fedex runs their flight into Memphis like a Las Vegas crap game. Pick any flight and the company runs that flight with minimum fuel overhead. They have already costed the flight out and can predict how much that flight will make the company. If a Captain is not comfortable with that number and adds gas, so be it. I always feel like the company is saying , OK we were going to make x on that flight but now it will be y. However on some nights the company's plays their hand with min fuel across the board and when a storm comes rolling in they lose. BIG TIME. Ever wonder why the MFOH is so low around the October time frame. I always taught that it was due to the fact that the summer thunderstorm season is over and the winter crud as yet to arrive. It was later explained to me by an Airbus instructor that while that may be true it's also the end of the second quarter and the company is padding fuel numbers. Like a casino player you don't have to play every hand or Engage in every roll of the table. If you don't like the fuel number add gas.

As is true with many things in life, you get what you pay for.

In an effort to maximize profit margin-"we've" been running the pilot manning lean. With the resultant service failures because of insufficient manning. (Ran into an old bud Thursday morning who had been stuck in Memphis for the day because J/S flt home had no FO)

It costs $$ to carry fuel, and if there's a wx event we can just waive our magic wand and waive the if it's not there by 9 it's free.
But what a hit to our rep. Customers don't want to hear about a T-storm that shutdown the airport at an inopportune time, all they really care about is did the mail get there. And the 9 AM package getting there at 2 or 3...or the next morning, just isn't what they're paying us for.

FWIW-the next 3 nights into Memphis with the same forecast had Alternate's planned...and an extra hour'sh worth of fuel to boot.
I haven't kept track, but maybe my 70sh percent track record of adding fuel is going to be much lower if there's been a paradigm shift in fuel planning.

T-storms shutdown ops in Memphis Thurs-Friday and yet sort went down 28 mins late

I've had Capt's who have added fuel w/o a single hesitation and I like that. I've also had Capt's whose attitude is "GOC/dispatch says we can make it, so we will make it. And if we don't, it's not on me, it's on them." And I kinda like that one too but the old fighter pilot guy in my noggin' always likes extra gas.

Many people have spent a lifetime building the reputation of FedeEx. Management is squandering that reputation trying to squeeze a dollar. Who's fault that is, I don't know. I just work here and collect my paycheck.

I don't play the game of, "that's the gas they gave me, they have to deal with the consequences". Gas makes my decisions easier.

They may have to deal with the consequences, but I have to suffer the consequences. I have yet to fly a Memphis arrival as published, and I've never regretted landing with too much gas.






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We had a GOC guy on JS and FWS was at GOC after mass divert. We had two alternates and 1 hour of cont. the rest of the week.

What you guys MAY be seeing is your version of what we at UPS have dubbed "The Davis Doctrine" (our recently departed CEO who is still on the BOD despite several huge failures).

Up until this bean counter showed up, UPS was all about service at pretty much any cost. The stories of launching a Lear to guarantee service for ONE next day letter were true. The "chrome dome" orbiting of DC-8s over various cities were true. Flying DC-8s at optimum altitudes at barber pole from the west coast to maximize the sort were everyday events. Having extra gas was common. The massively fat reserve coverage to cover contingencies was common. A "service failure" of any kind was akin to drawing cartoons of Mohammed.

Pffffft....not anymore.

Since we got a bean counting outsider in charge who would be better suited to running a third rate car insurance company you see on late night TV:

Service failures are not only acceptable, they are part of the business plan. Lie to customers about refunds and let business go.

Run the airplanes...literally...into the ground with pencil whipping maintenance, poor payload control and dangerous schedules.

Run your people...literally...into the ground adding more work for the same pay. Create massive grievances and let them rot. Harass everyone into fearing their jobs.

This is what you get when your "leaders" come from the outside, have no loyalty to the core product and frankly have no moral compass.

Pray Fred isn't replaced with "that guy"...or you may become us.

Also, lack of gas makes the decision making process even easier. You arrive at your destination, or even approaching the area, and you find out you are going to be delayed, held, etc, and you are on min fuel already, then there really isn't much to think about. You are off to the alternate. If there isn't even enough fuel for one turn in holding, there are not many choices you have at that point.

It's not rocket science, it's just probability and statistics, with a bit of luck thrown in. Which is good if you are happy being a second or third rate box hauler, and don't really care what your customers think if the box doesn't get delivered on time. However, if you try to sell yourself as a premier carrier, with premium service, and charge accordingly, then as part of the cost of doing business, then you need to spend the extra money to do it right, every time, to the highest level of probability of success, that is possible. That might include carrying a bit of extra fuel, just in case. I wonder how much was saved with fuel sense over the year, and then blown out the tailpipe with planes getting diverted, extra fuel burned, and packages delivered late, and getting refunded. Let's not forget customers getting ticked off, and leaving for other carriers. What price are you willing to put on good will? Or what cost are you willing to associate with the loss of that good will? It seems that many companies don't care much about good will these days. But they should.

Btw, I did notice the usual "atta boy" email for all the good work, professionalism, and performing at such a high level during the event. No contract yet for you. No real recognition, or respect, for the work that is done day in and day out, but here's your email. Now back to work.

When we went to flag ops I had a standards guy crowing to me about how much money it would save. I asked him if they calculated the increased divert rate and he reluctantly said no.

When we first went to flag on the 777 I flew an HKG-MEM, rereleased, with no alternate. This is in summertime. I pointed out to the captain that we were relying on weather that would be 18 hours old when we got there. We quit doing that after an Asia 777 flight diverted to Dallas.

I sure hope the story that started this thread is true. But I'm pretty pessimistic that even Fred won't stop our trajectory. The sad but undeniable truth is - Valujet made scads of money. Right up until the crash. Nobody's ever SEEN the margins they were earning, and the stock went through the roof. Again.... Right up until the crash.....

I'm usually the latter, but won't hesitate to be the former if I see something the dispatcher didn't see, etc.

Irregardless of who replaces Fred, the fact that UPS does have a bean counter mentality now will force FedEx to follow suit or bear the wrath of Wall St.

Irregardless? Is that a word? Is it's meaning different from regardless?


:confused:

Urban Dictionary: irregardless:eek:

Careful MM, you consistently place question marks at the end of declarative sentences. I never know if you're asking a question or making a statement...well, I do, but it sure is a whole bunch of ?????????????:D

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Corey uses too many big words. Perhaps for job security?

Flammable vs. Inflammable.:eek:

How did you release with no alternate for even the first leg of the redispatch? That leg had to be over 6 hours, so you would have been required to have an alternate. If the second leg was over 6 hours that one too would have needed an alternate. Or are you saying you did not have an alternate for MEM, but maybe had one for the first part of the flight? The chart in chapter 3 of the FOM is fairly easy to follow and it always leaves the decision to the dispatcher/Captain if one of them feels that an alternate might be appropriate. And yes I have asked for an Alternate and been given one on a redispatch flight. :roll eyes:

While we're at it, and just for $hit$ and grins, irregardless, or regardless of how you feel, "it's" is not what you want to use. Instead, use "its", which is corrector.:)

What company?

Flinstone Chewable Vitamins.

Not yours...

Let me guess ... drunk & on Reserve again?


:eek:

Yes, we had an alternate for the first segment. Thanks for totally missing my point.

FedEx has a Global Operations Control Center (GOCC)
UPS has Global Operations Center(GOC)

feel free to draw your own conclusions about the lack of control