No, I think saving the company a few bucks by the way we operate the aircraft is a good thing. However, lets be realistic about this. So I do a SE taxi here and there, shut down a motor after exiting the runway, take it easy on the brakes at all times, restrict APU usage to only when its required, I save em a few bucks every flight. This is good for all of us in some way, no argument there, but...........

What about the numerous times that the CG is loaded so far forward that you burn 10% more fuel getting to your destination? (where they completely unload the airplane BTW)

Then when I go to sit hot I get launched to ABQ because the Diesel 8 is "hard down and not going anywhere." So we launch out of ONT and when we get to cruising altitude, I see a UPS 8 pass over us opposite direction. Hummm....... wassup with that? Since my input is neither requested nor required by UPS, I continue on to ABQ, land, do my SE taxi to the ramp and dont start the APU because I want to save the company money. Guess what. No Diesel 8 there, and the gtw manager comes up and says "what are you guys doing here?"

This is not an uncommon occurrance.

Now for another. So I'm on the 727 on rsv in SDF one fine saturday, get a call to get to the airport ASAP because a Lear Jet is coming in to take us to PDX so that we can get the jet thats parked there and bring it into SDF as its abosolutely positively needed for a revenue flgiht that night, or else there will be *gasp* "service failures."

No problem, but knowing what goes on over the weekends in PDX, the Capt goes back to contigency and says "hey boys, you know they do some pretty substantial maintenence over the weekend in PDX, is the airplane we are going to take actually ready to go fly?"

Then one of Jerry's Kids in contigency quipps, "Captain, we know what we are doing and your input is neither requested, nor required, you do your job and I'l do mine." The Captain leaves, we all go to PDX on a chartered corporate jet.

What do you think happend next? We pull up to the ramp in PDX, see our 727 with flaps laying on the ground, engine cowls opened up and the mechanic says this airplane isnt going anywhere until monday night. Big surprise there.

Again, I could write a 1000 page book about just these types of events that happend to me over the last 13 years.

I'm all for saving the company a few bucks when I can. However when you see stuff like I mentioned on a regular basis, you cant help but think that the company needs to take a good look at the way they make decisions and handle communications if they want to save some real money. All the single engine taxis and not firing up the APU will not even make a dent in the cost of the decision making antics of UPS.

Stepping over a $20 dollar bill to pick up a penny is bad business......UPS makes money in spite of themselves. In fact they make so much, that they dont see the need to run a more efficient operation by questioning the way they operate. Talk to some of the management pilots and they can tell you horror stories. Its too bad because over the years there have been some very talented and intelligent management pilots in high positions in the airline. But, just like you and me, their input is neither requested, nor required. This is what you get when truck drivers call the shots at an airline.

And another thing. How 'bout a little somethin' for the effort, you know? The Lama, The Dalai Lama himself, twelfth son of the Lama told me that on my death bed I will receive total consciousness, so I got that going for me, which is nice, but a little incentive in the paycheck geared to fuel and mtc savings will bring everyone on board when it comes to saving the company money.

Then again, this is UPS, aint gonna happen......

soapbox concluded.

VB,
Well stated. I could write my 1000 pages from years of wasted fuel on hots and we could sell it as a series on poor logistical management to some grad school <g>.
Bottom line, communication really kicks their best notions at saving money. Some improvements since they got the flying supervisors and management in contingency though. That alone saved $$$. Suspect they are ridiculed by the true contingency experts though.
Also, we have LIDO. Best we can fly. I still save fuel when I can by all the standard tricks. But I know it is drops compared to the buckets continually wasted by poor planning, communication, etc.
BTW, it was nice passing you on the ABQ gig <bg>

viktorbravo - are you threatening me?

I’m a newbie and apparently I’m still thinking that I can make a difference, I’m sure you guys will prove me wrong in the future. In the meantime, I always believed in the “kill them with kindness" saying – I’ll keep doing my best and if anything at least I’ll feel better about trying. One day, someone might decide to actually listen to our inputs. They probably won’t but that’s not unique to our company – I’ve seen it at many other places.

My choices are to say "screw them it won’t matter anyways" – which will turn me into a legacy airline pilot and I refuse to go there, or keep trying hoping that one day my effort will be noticed and someone will say, you know maybe we need to listen to our guys more often…

I’m sure it’ll never happen BUT at least I’ll feel better knowing that I did everything I could.

VB aka Cornholio,

So whats the answer...just bury our heads in the sand because "normal ops" have happened in the past ?

As a bottom feeder on the sen. list, I am worried about job security.

I guess, I'll just sit back and depend on management to save us...HAAAAhaHAhaha.

Back to sniffing glue, with my TP for bunghole.

FF

if they wanted our opinions, they would have asked.

Realistically, theres not really much you can do about it. If the company wants to make some real strides toward better operating efficiency they need to look a little further that simply not starting the APU or taxiing on one engine. Yes, things have gotten better over the years wrt to decision making and wasteful ready, shoot, aim antics. The flight supervisors have been pointing out glaring wastefulness in the system for years, but it took a very long time for the powers that be to start making any changes at all. I'm sure the old timers remember the sweep flights

The good news for us is that the package business is very profitable and resilient, and will most likely continue to be that way. We may not see much growth in the near term but UPS is not bleeding cash by any stretch of the imagination. The musical chairs of realignment/displacements is nothing new either. In fact, I cant remember a long period of time where there was not some realignment/displacement in the works.

In my short tenure here I have never really seen a boom or bust cycle at UPS, its usually some small to moderate growth, followed by a period of stagnation with some musical chairs of shuffling seats around, then some more small to moderate growth, etc. Slow and steady.

Folks hired around 1990 probably saw the worst of the stagnation so far, as many of them were in the FE seat 4+ years during that time period.

One final thought is that since being publicly traded the down turns in UPS stock are fuel by not meeting analysts predictions. However at the same time of the falling stock price, the company remains very solid and strong. I really cant think of a much better place to hang you hat for a flying career. Flying rubber dog turds out of Hong Kong (and now China) has some obvious advantages for your career. Sure, UPS has its problems, all companies do, but when you take a look around UPS has done pretty well over the years.

BTW,
It's just not UPS. Many "airline" managements blatantly disregard the opinions/observations/recommendations of front line pilots to their own detriment. But UPS makes enough money to survive the mistakes. The PAX carriers do not. I can only hope boxes continue to pay the way LONG into the future.

Interesting story. What was your FOD in ICT and what was your projected FOD in SDF after your weather deviations? If you want to give me the date I can pull the info up myself.

I hope UPS managers are listening, VB, you just nailed it on so many points I can't even begin to say "yup happened to me too".

Which is why our incentive for doing backbreaking maneuvers for the company is so dog-gone low. I help everywhere I can, as you do, but when the big picture before us has as many cost overrun holes as a giant piece of Swiss cheese, it makes me question whether or not management even cares/notices our small gestures.

Likes you said, we make money despite millions being wasted. I love that business model, but how long will this last with oil priced @ 4x what it was in 1994?