SFO used to publish the safety policy, local guys were great in this regard since the MX base is here. It's hard to find, and you may not be able to get to it any more unless someone asks or puts forth a local resolution to get it republished. Last one I saw was pre-merger.

Maybe prohibited wasn't the right word, but if you think about it, what kind of questions would the NTSB accident board ask at the hearing? I think there is your answer.

Was it a ferry flight to a hangar? Read the deferrals carefully. Did you have FA's? Those logistics are different and would make it impossible. There are deferrals that are pax pro. Like a tired engine not being able to make max thrust, but can still do a ferry flight to an engine change. Blown slide or out of date?

 

As a grasshopper I was assigned to DH to TPA and test hop a 57 that had some recent slat work done. We walked in and Johnny Ops said "Maintenance says that you guys are going to go fly it, and if good come back, but if its bad, just go to MIA". This seemed reasonable to me as I had done this type of thing countless times as a commuter geek.

But BIG C Captain overheard this and interjected "No (Golly) Way" or words to that effect. He then implored me to dig out the FOM while he dialed SAMC. Little did I know but at the time, there were pages of info dedicated to flights other than scheduled ops. Repo Flights, Ferry Flights, Maintenance Test Flights, Verification Flights etc etc, each with specific verbiage over what exactly could be done and by whom.

As a result of that day, I will always find out exactly what type of flight is being authorized and exactly what can, and cannot be done. The FOM is very specific and so will be the release, or permit, or whatever they issue. While these types of flights may seem benign, one can easily put their ticket on the line by performing anything other than what is specified and allowed. In our case, they wanted us to retract and extend the flaps repeatedly. This was action was specifically prohibited under the auspices of our release, as was diverting to MIA if the work performed did not resolve the issue.



Don't end up like these guys.

 

Just wanted to revive this thread with a reposition flight after a charter question. I see a -400 is repositioning to SFO after dropping off a college football team. Would this scenario still prohibit myself as a United pilot from riding along to SFO after they dump the team off?

 

In theory, no problem. But......

As previously mentioned the the Charter department operates as their own silo.

It will take a proactive CA to make it work.

 

thsts my concern! I'm thinking to reach out to the teams charter dept now to see if they'd even humor it.

 

Never hurts to ask.

Personally, I'm not happy this is even a thing and hopefully they'll say "yes" and it will be the end of it. If they say "no", immediately follow up with your jumpseat coordinator.

FWIW, the charter briefing should be in Content Locker with contact info.

 

The charter briefing will explicitly state that it's not allowed, I have tried twice to get someone on and was denied both times by the NOC. Both times the reason was stated that the airplane was not operating from normal gates and it was a TSA thing.

 

Yup! That's the answer I got. They are parking the -400 at the executive ramp and supposedly there is no security screening there. I believe I've done a charter from this terminal in the past and they most certainly did have a screening area for the college team we had picked up.

 

That may have been a private firm that is hired to screen the team only.