FBOs dont clean windshields anymore?

[satpak77]

Is it just me or in the last year or two have FBO line guys stopped cleaning windshields?

Time and time again we top off with XXX gallons of Jet-A and taxing out I see the windshield is still dirty.

Back in the day, when I walked uphill in the snow to school, both ways, as a line boy, we ALWAYS got the windshield and any trash the crew needed to throw out

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

The pilots are too poor to tip now, and the owners are too cheap. To top it off, the line guys make minimum wage, often with no benifits. Whats the incentive for them?

 

[2000flyer]

I, for one, wouldn't want an FBO to touch my windshield. I don't know what they run on a 172, but at over $30,000 per window on a Citation, even more on a Falcon (7 windows in front), I don't want anyone out there with whatever rag they had in their pockets trying to get the bugs off. I'll do my own whether its in our hangar or on the road.

2000Flyer

 

[avbug]

A lot of FBO's never did do that service. Ones that did would often try to do it with paper towels, which can kill a windshield. When they did do it, they would usually try to wipe it down without pouring clean water over it first, also a wonderful way to gouge and ruin a good windscreen.

Most pilots don't understand proper care of plexiglass or even a glass windscreen for that matter, either. Many pilots will use the wrong cleansing agent, fail to wash down the windshield with their bare hand and straight water first, and will often use circular motions on the windscreen, rather than back and forth movements with a soft cloth, in the direction of airflow (after having properly prewashed with water and a bare hand first).

I don't want anybody at the FBO touching anything I bring in there, right down to a 172.

For those who have never had to spend a hundred hours micromeshing a windscreen to correct it for pilot and lineboy induced defects, you might not understand, but most mechanics would. Add to that the owners perspective of forty grand or more for a windshield half or pane section due to scratches, abrasion, NESA damage, or repairs to hump seals or other polysulfide seals, etc...letting jimmy on the line handle it for a five dollar tip just isn't worth it.

 

[DX Rick]

The flight school I used to work for, the fat basturd was so cheap he wouldn't pay for the window cleaner. He would have the instructors clean the windscreens when it would rain out. His excuse was "There isn't a company that makes a good enough product to go on our windows"

Ah, and rain is SO much better.

 

[VampyreGTX]

I worked at an FBO and I rarely if ever cleaned windows. It's not because of no tips, or making minimum wage, but because as stated most pilots didn't want us cleaning their windows. When I was asked, I always used water and a freshly clean cloth.

 

[SCT]

We have a department policy of never letting any non-employee touch the windows.

 

[smellthejeta]

My previous employer (large chain on the east coast) forbade us to touch anything other than lav doors, fuel doors, and overwing caps. The reason given: liability. *They* know how much these things cost and don't want little Jimmy dinging up a $30,000 windshield. If we were asked, we told to tell them, "Here's a rag, do it yourself." My current employer (also a well known chain) does not have such restrictions.

 

[Thedude]

Not to metion that most people (including pilots) don't know how to properly clean a windscreen to begin with.

 

[Jmmccutc]

A lot of FBO's never did do that service.

i've never had one FBO offer to do that, and having worked at a few FBO's i've never had anyone ask me to clean the screen...

 

[wildbill]

One uneducated line person plus one bottle of windex on a zinc coated windshield equals $40,000.00 or more per side. They say when it shatters it makes a wild sound. Thanks I will continue to was my own.

 

[FracCapt]

Many years ago I worked line service...and only once was asked to clean a windshield. I did it, following the instructions given me by the Captain, and using a rag he supplied...and only water. At that point, if he hadn't told me otherwise, I would not have known not to use just any 'ole clean rag or paper towels.

I ask every so often for somebody to clean the windshields when I'm on the road....in the fractional world, we don't get to home base(or a MX base) very often, and fly quite a bit in between. They need to be cleaned sometimes. Usually I will ask if they have a pressure sprayer(just set it as low as possible) with plain 'ole water in it. Sometimes they call for a mechanic, and they clean it...or at least tell the line guys what to use. I won't let 'em do it with just any old rag they have in their pocket.

 

[satpak77]

yeah well we used to ask "Sir, would you like your windshield cleaned" and let the PIC tell us how, what, etc to do with the window

now nobody even asks. And it goes beyond windows, to "do you need vacuuming" (sp) or "any trash" etc

 

[FracCapt]

now nobody even asks. And it goes beyond windows, to "do you need vacuuming" (sp) or "any trash" etc

Ok...I admit...rarely does anybody ask if we need a vacuum...but I'd venture to say that 80% of the time or more we're asked if we have any trash, baggage that needs to be unloaded, need a lav service, fuel load, etc., as soon as we open the door. I always feel a bit guilty when the weather is sh!tty and the guy is standing at the door for more than a minute or so after we block in. I usually have the FO get up and open the door as soon as the engines are shutdown....and I stay and run the checklist....or vice versa.

 

[FN FAL]

I, for one, wouldn't want an FBO to touch my windshield. I don't know what they run on a 172, but at over $30,000 per window on a Citation, even more on a Falcon (7 windows in front), I don't want anyone out there with whatever rag they had in their pockets trying to get the bugs off. I'll do my own whether its in our hangar or on the road.

2000Flyer

I hear ya...not to get off the subject of CLEANING windshields...but it's even more funner when you bring your buddy for a ride in your personal aircraft (cessna 320 skyknight), and even though your buddy owns four Cessna singles on leaseback to the FBO, he throws his hand held GPS between the glare shield and the windshield making a permanant scratches...even though you are hauling him, his mom and dad and his friends for a "yacht club" outing for gas money.

Its even funner the next weekend when you're flying his 182 on leasback to a skydiving club and he pulls the dipstick and makes a flaming anal funky chicken dance about the oil not being within one quart of the "top".

But anyway, I degress.