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A Pinnacle captain with some balls

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250 KIAS

Active member
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Posts
38
FLG4738 has been sitting on the pad at DCA for the last hour and a half because the crew hasn't been able to contact dispatch via ACARS to get their ammended weight, apparently everyone has gone home. The friendly 3rd shift tower controller relayed a message from Pinchnickel telling the crew to contact NWA dispatch. The captain came back and said "the only way to do that is to use my cell phone, and I'm not doing that." Kudos!

BTW, is Pinnacle block or better?
 
And you know this how???

The dispatcher went home huh...The dispatcher can not go "home" until the last flight of the night has blocked in. I doubt anyone went home..
 
250 KIAS said:
FLG4738 has been sitting on the pad at DCA for the last hour and a half because the crew hasn't been able to contact dispatch via ACARS to get their ammended weight, apparently everyone has gone home. The friendly 3rd shift tower controller relayed a message from Pinchnickel telling the crew to contact NWA dispatch. The captain came back and said "the only way to do that is to use my cell phone, and I'm not doing that." Kudos!

BTW, is Pinnacle block or better?

Don't know how accurate this is, but I'm glad if someone is refusing to use their cell phone to call dispatch. Too many Captains at this airline waste their minutes to call the company when they won't answer multiple ACARS messages. The dispatcher hasn't gone home I'm sure. He probably just isn't answering the message. The really sad thing is, it's probably not the dispatcher's fault either. The company throws so many flights at these dispatchers that they just can't keep up. Add into the mix a computer system that frequently goes down and the SOC just can't keep up with everything. Our dispatchers get a bad reputation sometimes because of this stuff when it really isn't their fault. Our dispatchers routinely handle 3 times the number of flights that dispatchers at other regionals handle.

No, Pinnacle is not block or better. We have a trip value system that uses the average of block times for the previous year to determine pay. You have to go more than 15 minutes over the trip value to get extra money. Sounds like this crew might have gotten more than that 15 minutes. :)
 
That's exactly why I only use my cell phone before 7am and after 7pm for those purposes :)


Sounds like another dispatch computer got nuked, as 128 said. Never had to wait that long though.


...not to mention i absolutely hate that 15 minute rule. It's nice doing alot of indy and mke flying this month that is pay by the minute.
 
If you have a problem with using your own cell minutes, just ask the passengers if anyone is willing to let you use theirs. I bet most of them will give you their phones without a problem as long as you get them going to their destination.


Problem solved.
 
You don't have any other means? Can't they get a radio patch or something else? Sounds like they didn't try very hard. I hope they explained to the folks that they were late because he didn't want to use his cell phone.
 
Bandit60 said:
If you have a problem with using your own cell minutes, just ask the passengers if anyone is willing to let you use theirs. I bet most of them will give you their phones without a problem as long as you get them going to their destination.


Problem solved.

Jesus, I hope you are kidding.
 
CLECA said:
You don't have any other means? Can't they get a radio patch or something else? Sounds like they didn't try very hard. I hope they explained to the folks that they were late because he didn't want to use his cell phone.

No, they didn't try very hard. I don't have the Jepp chart in front of me, but I believe Delta/Atlanta Radio has a RCO on the field. I think that probably would have worked well.
 
Bandit60 said:
If you have a problem with using your own cell minutes, just ask the passengers if anyone is willing to let you use theirs. I bet most of them will give you their phones without a problem as long as you get them going to their destination.


Problem solved.

Yea, and then ask the passengers to chip in an extra couple hundred dollars to pay the pilots a decent wage and make up for some of the piss poor contract issues over there.
 
That was stupid of the CA. Aren't we in the business to move people from point A to point B? If you don't like something the company is doing you should take it up with them at an appropriate time. Don't get in a pissing match and punish the people in the back.


If what you posted is correct then that shows a lack of class.
 

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