Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

I got caught up in the last IROP and was/am completely disgusted with Delta's performance vis-a-vis aircrews. The support structure failed and failed miserably. What does Delta say? They blame the snow.

That's BS! It's been snowing since before Wilbur and Orville were born. It WILL snow in ATL. If a snowstorm is going to shut the whole operation down, perhaps the OCC/crew tracking/etc should be located where they have a clue how to deal with snow, so people can get to work.

Wait a sec... didn't NWA have an OCC (or something similar)? When a few inches of snow fell, did their airline come to a grinding halt? Maybe they were onto something....

How do you think it would work if called in and said "I'm having an IROP at home and can't do anything"? I'll bet it would get me a free trip to the Chief Pilot.

Rant Over (but disgust remains).

WP, I'm not going to defend the indefensible because I've been intimately involved in the last two cluster shtucks of IROPs and stranded both times...but I will say this. I don't think DAL is "blaming the snow." Did you read Jim Graham's letter that came out prior to the last IROP? He certainly understands that we have serious problems and is seeking to fix them. Did you respond to your CPO's request for specific details and incidents? I did. That's the only way this is going to get fixed. Document your experiences and fire them up the chain. *****ing and moaning on APC ain't gonna get it done.

80ktsClamp

01-17-2011 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acl65pilot (Post 931436)

I heard they did run out, but never had that confirmed.

I do not know what other pads we could use. They have to be approved and have the correct draining and storage for the runoff. I know AMR deices at the gate on Ramp one, but have never gone over to ask how they can do that and why we can't.

I remember the press when they found the deice fluid in the water supply. It changed the way we deice our jets in ATL. It effectively created a situation where we could not run half of the operation. Add the DOT-3 rule and any time we get snow or any other precip that requires a deice, the operation is going to get thinned out because of it.

Yes, we need to find a way to do better. Not arguing that. Just giving the background to why we have those pads on Ramp six.

I had friends that cancelled because we ran out of fluid. Pretty sad when we run that limited of a deice operation and still can't plan well enough to have enough fluid for what plans we planned on flying.

The drainage thing is certainly not a simple fix, as it would require ramp/taxiway reconstruction and reshaping... one would think with all the contstruction they've been doing that some planning might have gone into that. But probably not since we're entering into global warming and snow might be a thing of the past. :D

johnso29

01-17-2011 11:57 AM

iPhone App is available.

Try the new Airline Pilot Forums App for the iPhone. It's free. :)

A app for Android is being created too, just not ready yet.

hammer189

01-17-2011 12:04 PM

Quote:

We could overstaff all the crew tracking, scheduling, ramp, agents, etc. in Atlanta to cover stuff during an IROP and it wouldn't matter one bit because nobody will come to work when it snows. So then you have the overhead of staffing for an IROP and nobody will show up during an IROP.

Not true! Crew skeds,tracking etc were staying in hotels and walking back and fourth for 3 days to get to work. They company preplanned for the IROP and having people at work, but you are right about the technology. It sucks. We need a way to interact with the company that doesn't involve talking to a live person on the phone. :rolleyes:

FmrFreightDog

01-17-2011 12:17 PM

I'm using it right now. I'm really impressed. It will be so much easier to feed the addiction now! I showed it to my wife and she kind of shook her head and walked out mumbling something :)

Did you write this?

johnso29

01-17-2011 12:20 PM

Oh heck no! I'm lucky I can use my iPhone. :p

I just saw the announcement from the IT guys & am trying to spread the word. :)

dragon

01-17-2011 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammer189 (Post 931514)

The other problem seems to be they are only one deep. Take a tour of FO at the campus and you'll quickly realize there are a number of jobs with only one person. If that person gets hit by a MARTA bus/train or ramper we're hosed!

For that matter, what happens in the event of a tornado or other disaster that affects the ATL operation, we're hosed! We're so dependent upon ATL that there are some serious ramifications to any problems there.

In the rumor department, we're supposed to be moving other aircraft to ATL. So the fleets that weren't screwed on the last snow will now get to feel the pain.

Didn't some smart financial planner recommend diversification? Couldn't we, shouldn't we apply that to our ops?

Elvis90

01-17-2011 12:52 PM

Just loaded the APC App, works great, thanks for spreading the word.

sailingfun

01-17-2011 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon (Post 931523)

A snow event like we just had is probably a once in every 25 year happening. I have worked here 25 years and can't remember one even close to it. How much money and effort do you expend on such a situation. The interesting thing is that from a passenger standpoint they seem for a change to have handled it reasonably well. I am involved in another business dealing with travel and I hear all the Delta horror stories. This time I am hearing mostly positive feedback. Its a nice change from the Delta norm.

acl65pilot

01-17-2011 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FmrFreightDog (Post 931520)

The owners of this site (and PPrune wrote it with the supporting V Board technology. They were waiting for apple to approve it before they announced it. Glad they got it done, and on the time frame they predicted.

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