Wings Level
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2002
- Posts
- 31
Copyright 2002 Nationwide News Pty Limited
The Advertiser
September 6, 2002, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 464 words
HEADLINE: Boss nicknamed pilots 'Slack' and 'Slow'
BYLINE: By Chief Court Reporter MARK STEENE
BODY:
WHYALLA Airlines boss Kym Brougham castigated his pilots for using too much fuel and running late on flights and forced them to work on their days off unloading baggage, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Former Whyalla Airlines pilot Tim Kuch said he and pilot Ben Mackiewicz were hired as casual pilots around the same time in early 1999 and the two of them were played off against each other with the promise of a full-time job.
He said he believed Mr Kym Brougham, who had special nicknames for the two young pilots, treated Mr Mackiewicz much more harshly than himself. Both were often abused in front of passengers, he said.
"I was 'Slack' and Ben was 'Slow'," he said of their nicknames.
Mr Brougham, who ran the airline with his brother Chris, also experimented with lean aircraft fuel mixtures during passenger flights.
A lean fuel mix has been implicated in causing the damage to one of the engines of Flight 904 before it crashed into Spencer Gulf on May 31, 2000, killing all eight on board. Mr Kuch also told the court of ongoing tension between Kym Brougham and Flight 904 pilot Mackiewicz. He also raised concerns of safety procedures.
"Kym admitted to me that he had a personality problem with Ben," he said. "I heard that on two or three occasions."
Mr Kuch, who works for Qantas, said he and the other pilots would be often called by Mr Kym Brougham on their days off and told to come to the airport to assist in loading baggage and processing passengers during aircraft turnarounds. "Any time you weren't flying there was an expectation you would assist," he said.
"If you weren't there, you knew you were going to cop a phone call."
Mr Kuch said Mr Kym Brougham had an ongoing issue with pilots running behind schedule on their flights. But he said it would often be impossible to run on time, considering pilots generally worked alone and had extremely short turn-around times, particularly at regional airports.
"A couple of minutes behind schedule and you'd be severely reprimanded," he said. "I've never experienced the pressure I had at Whyalla to run on time.
Mr Kuch said that about four months before the crash, Mr Kym Brougham was a passenger in the co-pilot's seat during a passenger flight between Whyalla and Adelaide when his boss showed him a new method of running the aircraft lean to save fuel. "He explained he was collecting data to see if it was an efficient way of running the engines," Mr Kuch said.
"If the lean of peak system worked, it was going to be another way of saving fuel."
Mr Kuch said he did not know if Mr Mackiewicz had been trained to use the system. The inquest is continuing.
LOAD-DATE: September 5, 2002 "(Kym Brougham would say) basically, 'obviously you're a slack pilot and you should speed up your actions'."
The Advertiser
September 6, 2002, Friday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 464 words
HEADLINE: Boss nicknamed pilots 'Slack' and 'Slow'
BYLINE: By Chief Court Reporter MARK STEENE
BODY:
WHYALLA Airlines boss Kym Brougham castigated his pilots for using too much fuel and running late on flights and forced them to work on their days off unloading baggage, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Former Whyalla Airlines pilot Tim Kuch said he and pilot Ben Mackiewicz were hired as casual pilots around the same time in early 1999 and the two of them were played off against each other with the promise of a full-time job.
He said he believed Mr Kym Brougham, who had special nicknames for the two young pilots, treated Mr Mackiewicz much more harshly than himself. Both were often abused in front of passengers, he said.
"I was 'Slack' and Ben was 'Slow'," he said of their nicknames.
Mr Brougham, who ran the airline with his brother Chris, also experimented with lean aircraft fuel mixtures during passenger flights.
A lean fuel mix has been implicated in causing the damage to one of the engines of Flight 904 before it crashed into Spencer Gulf on May 31, 2000, killing all eight on board. Mr Kuch also told the court of ongoing tension between Kym Brougham and Flight 904 pilot Mackiewicz. He also raised concerns of safety procedures.
"Kym admitted to me that he had a personality problem with Ben," he said. "I heard that on two or three occasions."
Mr Kuch, who works for Qantas, said he and the other pilots would be often called by Mr Kym Brougham on their days off and told to come to the airport to assist in loading baggage and processing passengers during aircraft turnarounds. "Any time you weren't flying there was an expectation you would assist," he said.
"If you weren't there, you knew you were going to cop a phone call."
Mr Kuch said Mr Kym Brougham had an ongoing issue with pilots running behind schedule on their flights. But he said it would often be impossible to run on time, considering pilots generally worked alone and had extremely short turn-around times, particularly at regional airports.
"A couple of minutes behind schedule and you'd be severely reprimanded," he said. "I've never experienced the pressure I had at Whyalla to run on time.
Mr Kuch said that about four months before the crash, Mr Kym Brougham was a passenger in the co-pilot's seat during a passenger flight between Whyalla and Adelaide when his boss showed him a new method of running the aircraft lean to save fuel. "He explained he was collecting data to see if it was an efficient way of running the engines," Mr Kuch said.
"If the lean of peak system worked, it was going to be another way of saving fuel."
Mr Kuch said he did not know if Mr Mackiewicz had been trained to use the system. The inquest is continuing.
LOAD-DATE: September 5, 2002 "(Kym Brougham would say) basically, 'obviously you're a slack pilot and you should speed up your actions'."
