USA Today: Concerns arise over regional airlines

[Ernest T. Bass]

Here we go:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-06-regionalsafety_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Just read the comments. Oh, dear God.

 

[XPOO]

....safer than taking a shower....

I have been trying for five minutes to find the joke in there, and basically, I'm stumped...

 

[V-1]

Pretty good article, with lower than normal factual errors.

Odd that they didn't mention the Comair flight that took off the wrong runway in Lexington. Had the reporter researched that he would have found the NTSB ultimately pinned that accident on the pilot's non-safety-related conversation...90% of which occurred before the flight began.

The subject of that conversation:

Trying to find jobs elsewhere as their personal financial future was in doubt due to Delta's bankruptcy.

Bankrupt Delta had announced just a week before the accident that they would be removing aircraft from Comair because Comair's pilots were earning too much money.

 

[Ernest T. Bass]

I loved the part about the Pinnacle flight being at an "unauthorizd" altitude. I used to work for Pinnacle, and there was nothing in the FOM at the time prohibiting flights at that altitude. Furthermore, they received a clearance from ATC to climb there.

Nothing unauthorized about it. Foolish, maybe, but certainly not unauthorized by any stretch.

 

[time builder]

Just another article written from the view point of the consumer. They want safety, and they want their government to enforce it. Total disregard for the pilot compensation issue.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

One month before the accident, Langford received a written reprimand for the high number of absences he had taken over the previous year, according to NTSB files. He could be fired if he missed work again, the letter said.

I like this one. Come to work fatigued or sick, otherwise, you're fired.

 

[Flybet3]

"It's safer to fly an airplane than it is to take a shower," said Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and CEO of Mesa Air Group, which operates regional airlines. "No fatalities last year. That speaks for itself."

Oh my God. That's the stupidest sh** I've ever heard. How does this guy take a shower? Standing on his fu***g head I assume.

 

[Flybet3]

I have been trying for five minutes to find the joke in there, and basically, I'm stumped...

I got ya covered.

 

[Flybet3]

Just another article written from the view point of the consumer. They want safety, and they want their government to enforce it. Total disregard for the pilot compensation issue.

Money doesnt have little to do with the fact that guys are getting stupid due to fatigue and lack of experience. Pax dont give a crap of what you're making, they only care to get good & safe service.
Hell! Everytime I jumpseat the last thing I want to see is both pilots up front not complaining and crying about how "little" money they make, and how they could make more a as a Burger King manager, mean while they're Vref+30 and 1 dot high on the f****** glide slope.
One thing thing at a time my friend.