Buzz, I might not have the pictures anymore. Maybe a little reconstructive surgery...

btw I found this one:

 

So how is augmentation effected by these new FTDT rules?

 

Buzz??????? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

If they are not too big, I am OK with them. Some are just gross though. Especially if you can see the incision scar.

 

Anything goes in Frankfurt....right? I remember stealing a Doner Kabob sign and transporting it back to the squadron bar at Travis. That, surprisingly, did not come up at my White House security interview.

 

Good one t!

 

Man, I don't remember that one. I was, however, pre-flighting a C-141 at Travis when the jet next door exploded and burned to the ground. A maintenance guy reset a boost pump CB in an empty fuel tank....which exploded and starting a sequence of explosions for all 10 fuel tanks. 15 minutes later, it was a heap of molten metal.

Pretty amazing really. Maintenance guys were towing heavy jets at 35 mph to get them out of the way. I was halfway to San Francisco when it all stopped.

 

From where? Anything over 8 runs a very serious risk of turning back with the slightest ground delay on the way out or (worse) any delay for the flight back. A major fulcrum to the increase in hours for us is the issue of the new total daily block limitation being a hard time or just a "scheduled" (legal to start legal to finish) time. If the new times are hard times in all cases then that is a huge victory for us in the long run.

Again, if it is a hard time with no waivers, the 2 man ETOPS nonsense deep into Western Europe will be very rare. Likely even more rare than today because what you can safely do with 8 today with the ability to go over 8 (legal to start legal to finish) will have no margin for error and face instant cancellation either outbound or worse inbound on some flights stranding crews and cancelling flights all because some bean counter thought he'd be spiffy and save the cost of one FO.

I was very concerned about upping the block times due to the potential mass reduction of augmented flights. If the block times are really hard times with no flexibility, that no longer looks like a credibile threat for any ops...W.Europe, Aug Caribbean or even one more domestic leg, as anything anywhere near 8 hours of block is just begging for a cancellation if its even a little late and there's no way a company is going to schedule all the way up to 9 hours block if one minute over means the flight cancells or has to gate return and recrew.

 

True, but we also keep statistical trends, and when it looks like there is going to be an IROP they can always add another FO.......(at the last minute)

 

On the way there, maybe, sometimes, under some circumstances. On the way back for 8-9 hour blocks with more than 1 leg...the already risky gets even riskier. I just don't see them doing 8-9 block hour unaugmented days, if (and again, if) the new times are hard and absolute. Just putting the extra FO on it is cheap insurance for operational integrity.