At DAL, they were rewriting the procedures for the 727 as we were ferrying them to the desert for scrap!

It's all about the appearance of doing something!

 

I am guessing that they would not be...I would not be.

For starters if a salute is "haphazard" or even left-handed (I see that occasionally) that is good enough for me as it is for all of us I am guessing. But NO salute is not good enough. A wave just means "see ya later." A salute means "there is nothing impeding aircraft movement, we the ramp crew no longer are responsible for the safe movement of your aircraft, you are clear to lower flaps, commence taxi and have a great day." In a weird way you can think of the salute as the formal "severing" of the link between the flight and ground crew. The ground crew no longer has "ownership" of the aircraft and any future movement is solely the responsibility of the flight crew.

Am I taking one sentence in the FOM and needlessly taking an entire paragraph to explain it, all in a humorous thread titled "Tool of the Day." Yep.

But...it really isn't that hard, and I have rarely if ever seen a ground crew not do it.

 

TOTD - JFK approach last night. RJ checks in. Controller - "Kennedy altimeter 30.82, turn left heading ABC, descend and maintain XYZ."
RJ TOTD - "30.82?!?!? ATIS said it was 30.83!!"

Silence.

Third voice - "rrreeeeeeaaaaaallly???"

FO and I bust out laughing - "damn lying ATIS!!"

 

Sooooo let me get this straight.... asking for asking for correct altimeter setting is toolish? I guess a crew flying a big jet asking for a correct altimeter setting is OK

 

You ever see an F-teen C-ONE super heavy mega stealth hawk "back in the squadron" wing commander lose his **** and ***** because it was a LEFT handed salute? God is it funny.

Some guys just can't let it go.............

 

What's toolish is tying up the frequency to verify a discrepancy of ten feet.

 

About a year ago, taxiing out in DFW, the controller gave altimeter setting that was about .15 off from ATIS. I asked to verify, and some smart a$$ said something along the lines of "welcome to airline flying". I've never seen altimeter setting move that fast in less than an hour. Nerves of some people....

 

Was that you??

The (young sounding) guy was irritated that the controller gave him an altimeter setting different than the ATIS. Hello, .01 changes happen...

The ATIS was about an hour old and about to be updated. Damn lying ATIS!

 

I'm sure you're OKAY with an airman requesting and obtaining accurate information... or maybe not?

Our company procedure is concise concerning all information obtained being accurate. Now the basic question... What did the crew in question, in your opinion, do that was unsafe for his operation?

 

"Act like you've been here before."

Standard advice to rookies.

The guy checked in with approach. Approach control gave him the current altimeter. It was .01 different from the ATIS that was about 55 minutes old. Hardly earth shaking ("act like you've been here before"). The guy responds in an irritated voice. Deathly silence on the radio during a busy period. Finally broken by "rrrreeaaallly????" It was pretty damn funny. Even people with a poor sense of humor should have been amused.

It was a .01 change. It wasn't the first time in aviation history that the altimeter had changed by .01. Hardly worth being irritated that the ATIS hadn't been updated.

Every company I've worked for, to include the U.S. military, had zero interest in accurate information. We just wing it.