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Part 135 Part 135 commercial operators
View Poll Results: Have you been asked to bend/break regs
Yes, I still work there(thats the way it is)
13
25.49%
Yes, I quit working there
11
21.57%
No, they never asked me
22
43.14%
I'm not saying anything
5
9.80%
Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll

Have you ever...

Old 10-26-2009, 04:09 PM
  #11  
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I'm not in the 135 world (yet, got the time, but not the job). I worked for a flight school that when something was squaked on an airplane I got the "oh, it'll be fine" talk. And they'd remove stuff from the airplane, and not change the W&B, and leave open holes in the panel, just begging a fed to come up and see the hole. "So, the (insert equipment here) has been removed, you have the current weight and balance."

There was also an issue with a broken flap track where I got from the mechanic, and the owner "everyone else is flying it." Huh, thats funny, my name tag doesn't say "Mr. Everyone Else." It says "Mike." I think we should have a talk with Mr. Else.
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Old 10-27-2009, 11:40 PM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by NoyGonnaDoIt View Post
Nope. He's not insensitive to the predicament. That's why he suggested I mention it in my talk.
It makes my heart shoot rainbows that he feels my pain. Still and all, in the end, all the FAA does is destroy the lives of pilots and slap the offending certificate holder on the wrist and say "no seriously, don't do that!". I fail to see how there's a legit answer to the question I posed in this feelfest.

If they really want the regs to be observed, they need to start putting the certificate holders out of business when a plane takes off illegally. But that wouldn't be fulfilling their "dual responsability", would it? Much easier to throw another starving kid under the bus for having the bad luck to have his number come up and get ramped on the wrong day.

PS. I say this as a guy who has had the good fortune (and a little skill in choosing employers) to work for companies that were owned and run by the good guys and tried very seriously to observe the regs but remain competitive. I had occasion to tour an aircraft of a type I used to fly tonight. It was a freaking mess. At least one system obviously inop and not MEL'd (If memory serves, it's not even MELable), nets present but pretty obviously not used. Duty times being fragrantly disregarded. What chaps my buns is that the company I worked for that flew the plane is out of business because they couldn't compete with the lowball operators. I certainly don't blame the pilots...they're just trying to make a living and hold on to a job in an awful climate. I blame the FAA and their persecution of whatever poor sap gets caught doing what tons of guys do all the time rather than trying to legitimately see to it that the regs are observed in a non-punitive way. Same as it ever was...just another political game. So lets hear it for the lawyers.
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Old 10-28-2009, 12:34 AM
  #13  
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I'd say I get asked twice a week to do something I shouldn't. Sometimes you have to be willing to say "no" and accept any consequences that may come your way. So far, I've called and they've been bluffing. I'm sure some day I'll call and win myself a trip to the welfare office. The last company was absolutely fantastic about following regs. This one? Puh-leez.

-mini
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Old 10-28-2009, 05:03 AM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by Boris Badenov View Post
It makes my heart shoot rainbows that he feels my pain. Still and all, in the end, all the FAA does is destroy the lives of pilots and slap the offending certificate holder on the wrist and say "no seriously, don't do that!". I fail to see how there's a legit answer to the question I posed in this feelfest.
You mean other than "life's not fair," "corporate America gets away with all sort of things," "it's your choice," or "if every pilot in the company stood up, the company couldn't get away with it"?

Other than that kind of stuff there probably isn't a good answer to your question.

When you're facing that certificate action, the company will deny that they did anything wrong. And, in an investigation, other pilots will be too concerned for their own jobs to report anything. I'm not disagreeing that the FAA has had a bit of a history of not taking down the companies, but the pilot who flies out of airworthiness is an easy target; even politics aside, the company no one reports is a bit harder.
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Old 10-28-2009, 05:24 AM
  #15  
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Of course I was perfectly legal each and every time I departed!

I was never asked to do something I didn't want to do. Infact, the only trips I declined was when I had weekend duty(and the phones forwarded to me) that I declined two trips. 1/4sm 1VV fzfg Good enough reason right!
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Old 10-29-2009, 07:39 AM
  #16  
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I have been asked "can you get the airplane back?" and other similar variations, but that was partially because there were some kool aid drinking pilots who absolutely would do whatever they could, legal or not, to get the job done. I've answered "no" without getting a lecture, but I did witness a guy getting lectured because of how many things he was getting fixed at out-stations. In that instance, the guy doing the lecturing was a former kool aid drinking golden boy who became part of management, but I don't necessarily believe that his boss would've given the same lecture.

This is the cockpit version of office politics, with the pilots being the ones carrying most of the legal and all of the mortal burden. This is why I feel naked without union protection, and it's partially because there will always be a pilot who never says "no."
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Old 10-30-2009, 09:00 AM
  #17  
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Originally Posted by tlove482 View Post
I'm sure a good attorney will get you a nice chunk of change though.


Obviously you've never worked at a 135 outfit or you've never talked to an attorney. If it was that easy do you really think any of us would have these problems?
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Old 10-30-2009, 10:18 AM
  #18  
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Originally Posted by MiserDD View Post
Obviously you've never worked at a 135 outfit or you've never talked to an attorney. If it was that easy do you really think any of us would have these problems?
When you really need one, it's generally very disappointing when you find out that lawyers aren't magicians.
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Old 10-30-2009, 03:44 PM
  #19  
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You're absolutely right. Never done either. I guess I'm just optimistic. Kinda like how I keep sitting by the phone waiting for someone to call me to start flying their jet.
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Old 10-30-2009, 05:04 PM
  #20  
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Pacific Wings is famous for trying screw you. So much illegal stuff going on there its ridiculous. I hope the FAA is reading this.
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