O'reilly talking about AA flight w/10 hr wait

[Mach8Forest]

O'reilly has never labeled him self as conservative. The pilots are idiots for sitting there for EIGHT hours. I hear that when they finally taxied to the gate the captain was whining on the PA about possibly losing his job for letting the people off for food, water and facilities.

If you are willing to sit yourself, not to mention a plane load of people, on a tarmac for EIGHT hours because you will not exercise some authority against some ground operations jackbone, you should be flying cargo thru the wee hours. After all, cargo does not bitch, eat, piss, sh1t, or have crying babies.

You cant wait for permission from the Chief Pilot or even the CEO when things like this come up. Piss poor guys. No wonder there is a "travelers bill of rights" on the horizon. Some guys just cant think outside the manual. Probably prior training.

Dead on with your post.

 

[Exskydiverdrivr]

8 hrs pay on a ramp is easy money. The captain is at fault here. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are- you DO NOT TREAT PEOPLE THAT WAY!!!!

 

[ils2minimums]

Monday morning heroes...

The captain is at fault here.

There were 14 diverted AA planes on the ramp at a station where AA operates 5 gates with a skeleton crew. The fault lies with many others besides the Captain. The station manager should be fired without delay. The problems at AA begin at the top.

They couldn't get fueled, they couldn't get a gate and they couldn't get anyone on the phone. This one flight that made the news wasn't the only one on the ramp, which adds to an already poor situation. Put yourself in the Captain's position and tell me exactly what you would've done...

 

[HalinTexas]

There were 14 diverted AA planes on the ramp at a station where AA operates 5 gates with a skeleton crew. The fault lies with many others besides the Captain. The station manager should be fired without delay. The problems at AA begin at the top.

They couldn't get fueled, they couldn't get a gate and they couldn't get anyone on the phone. This one flight that made the news wasn't the only one on the ramp, which adds to an already poor situation. Put yourself in the Captain's position and tell me exactly what you would've done...

After food and water are gone, the lavs full, and I've exhausted other options. Pull the airplane up behind as many airplanes parked at their gates as possible, effectively blocking operations. Tell the operations people to get the people off, leave the bags on, and I'll pull the airplane away from the gate! But then again, the captain has no responsibility any more! So, it's the companies problem.

 

[pit717]

i wouldve ordered pizza ........ gave free drinks......and told ops we needed a gate now or im going to begin throwing one passenger out of the forward door every 10 minutes until we get one.......hows that

 

[AAflyer]

i wouldve ordered pizza ........ gave free drinks......and told ops we needed a gate now or im going to begin throwing one passenger out of the forward door every 10 minutes until we get one.......hows that

I hear you, and I had my doubts about the Captains decision, however WHO is going to bring the pizza to the airplane? The Pizza store in the airport, do they have permission to go on the ramp? The agents at our airline who are not answering our calls?


I dealt with this in SAT 2 months back with other airplanes now diverted there due to WX in DFW, heck SWA was stuck on the ramp with us as they were awaiting a creeping release time to LUV. after SCREAMING at an ops frequency who refused to acknowledge us we started back (3 hours later) Out intention was to pull up in front of the gates and see where they were going to put us. We were worried about what may happen to us, but more frustrated with the situation.

Not sure if the yelling or the fact that 1 out 9 aircraft were taxing towards the gates (with no radio comm to ops) that startled them however we got a gate.

It is hard to sit here and judge the captain, it is so easy on a message board to beat our chest and say how we would handle the situation, however I have flown on many airlines with extended delays, and no action from the crew.

I don't think the captain should have waited that long, however I do not know what options he had. It is a failure on the part of the station manager, and our overpaid mangement team that had 4 days off due to the holidays. Just like a marriage, it takes both sides to screw it up.


AAflyer

 

[Mach8Forest]

There were 14 diverted AA planes on the ramp at a station where AA operates 5 gates with a skeleton crew. The fault lies with many others besides the Captain. The station manager should be fired without delay. The problems at AA begin at the top.

They couldn't get fueled, they couldn't get a gate and they couldn't get anyone on the phone. This one flight that made the news wasn't the only one on the ramp, which adds to an already poor situation. Put yourself in the Captain's position and tell me exactly what you would've done...

After exhausting every normal means taxi close to the terminal, Park the brakes, lower the stairs or Get some stairs brought out to the aircraft and off load on the ramp. Walk your passengers to the terminal.
Give me a break about it being managements fault that he sat there for all that time. What a culture you have there and lack of leadership from the cockpit. If you find yourself in a storm or taking on ICE do you sit there for 8 hours and blame Dispatch for getting you into that situation. GROW SOME BALLS you AAHOLES and lead.
Mach8

 

[Crossky]

There were 14 diverted AA planes on the ramp at a station where AA operates 5 gates with a skeleton crew. The fault lies with many others besides the Captain. The station manager should be fired without delay. The problems at AA begin at the top.

They couldn't get fueled, they couldn't get a gate and they couldn't get anyone on the phone. This one flight that made the news wasn't the only one on the ramp, which adds to an already poor situation. Put yourself in the Captain's position and tell me exactly what you would've done...

Couldn't get anyone on the phone at AUS or DFW? Was that an -80, and do AA's -80's have the forward built-in airstairs? If so they didn't even need a jetway, just pull on up. Pop open a door and ramp and gate agents respond, or get in a shouting match with you. Using the tail stairs would be a last resort. Really it wouldn't have taken very long to park at a jetway, unload the peeps, pushback and park on the ramp. Five gates, use three of 'em to unload pax at, you could set free 14 loads of pax in 2.5 hrs max. And still have two gates for flights to the other hubs.

AA's APA, wouldn't the CA be protected by them for his PIC decision making?

 

[ils2minimums]

After exhausting every normal means taxi close to the terminal, Park the brakes, lower the stairs or Get some stairs brought out to the aircraft and off load on the ramp. Walk your passengers to the terminal.
Give me a break about it being managements fault that he sat there for all that time. What a culture you have there and lack of leadership from the cockpit. If you find yourself in a storm or taking on ICE do you sit there for 8 hours and blame Dispatch for getting you into that situation. GROW SOME BALLS you AAHOLES and lead.
Mach8

I expected no less.

 

[AAflyer]

Couldn't get anyone on the phone at AUS or DFW? Was that an -80, and do AA's -80's have the forward built-in airstairs? If so they didn't even need a jetway, just pull on up. Pop open a door and ramp and gate agents respond, or get in a shouting match with you. Using the tail stairs would be a last resort. Really it wouldn't have taken very long to park at a jetway, unload the peeps, pushback and park on the ramp. Five gates, use three of 'em to unload pax at, you could set free 14 loads of pax in 2.5 hrs max. And still have two gates for flights to the other hubs.

AA's APA, wouldn't the CA be protected by them for his PIC decision making?

No forward stairs on the door, only a select few not just here, but most likely any airline that flew the 80 knowhow to crawl in the back and open the stairs from the inside.

What do you do when you have people on a secured ramp not authorized to be there? Will the FAA go after your ticket on that one? What if someone gets hurt deplaning? Who will be held out to hang for that, if AA didn't authorize what he did, do you think they would back him up, this isn't SWA?

I understand what you are saying, however this isn't all about leading, this is about watching your backside. This is not the airline industry of the 80s. These days you have the FAA and your management teaming gunning for you and your job. The rules of engagement of changed since 9/11.

Personally, seeing an open gate I wold have pulled up to that one, even if was not ours. I would rather be charged for using UALs ar CALs gate then worring about 136 passengers walking around a secured ramp.

Just my thoughts,

AAflyer