Gulfstream Down in the South of France?

[johnsonrod]

More pictures of the former GIV in question I believe:

http://www.ujet.com/fleet/N823GA/viewer/frame.html


Looked nice for an older GIV...

 

[C-150ETOPS]

May I suggest a few of you bitchy, whiny old ladies back your arses down before the facts of this tragedy are known.

We all chose this line of work and the risks involved even in this day and age. Before the remains of the crew probably reached room temperature, the mierda starts getting tossed.

Here's what I do know. There are a few posters that probably nailed the UJ description from first or second hand experience.

The slam on the Captain basically makes me puke. From what I understand, this guy was very successful. Why he was flying for these guys, I don't have a clue. I do know the claims that "he had training problems" should be taken with a grain of salt. I've been in the next sim and briefing room with guys having problems, and I don't have a clue to the real issue. I've also been in the same briefing room where a CA was described as having "an attitude problem"(he didn't) and it degenerated to two guys almost 'stepping outside'. put yourself in one possible situation. The B-Fund is at an all time high, your making 5 times your widebody CA pay with other businesses, and you run across a not uncommon AA knucklehead sim instructor or sim CKA and you decide, 'F-it, I've had enough' and retire. Of course you had a 'training problem'.

While I don't remember flying with him by his name in the past, I do remember flying with a very successful builder of very expensive FL homes (as he was)and would have remembered if he was a 'head case'. From looking at past bidding, we both ran in the same circles for years (me as FO) and I don't remember his name as being one of the few "problem children" that every FO knows about. As for 'it's a different world' in P135 or 91, yes I know, that's my pre-121 background and don't get me started.

Here's a 'training problem': For year i did recurrents and was told by the DFW training 'geniuses' that if we get an engine failure on TO, declare an emergency and ask for runway heading to 3000'. For over a decade, I was a 'problem child' because I flew Latin America and told these clowns they can't teach the muscle memory for guys flying 'down south' because many of these airports will get you killed wiith that technique. "Shut up and color" was the basic response to me as the FO. Guess what? Now they are teaching that it's not that smart to use a blanket straight ahead technique like that, and everybody should use their wisdom to keep the line swine alive. I sheet you not, they actually think they invented this crap. I remember another genius telling me how XYZ approach and technique into Quito was the "best way to run things down there". I asked the ace CKA when was the last time he was at UIO, becoming rather indignant at the uppity FO, he replies, " a couples of years ago.....and how many times for you?"


7 times that month at least, 30-50 times in the last year. He of course went on to something else to bamboozle me with.


Just perspective fellas. This guy may have screwed up to our worst expectations, a little respect and restraint will do us all good.

Stay safe.

 

[PilotKitch]

May I suggest a few of you bitchy, whiny old ladies back your arses down before the facts of this tragedy are known.


Stay safe.

Amen, lots of rock throwing for people living in glass houses!

Our thoughts should be with the families of the deceased and being able to learn something from this incident to make us all better as professionals.

Whether Ujets upper managenment wants to hire a retired airline captain with 30 years experience over a 1200 flight instructor because he let the CEO park his boat at his slip is irrelevant. Sometimes bad things happen and we should wait until we have all the facts before we pass judgment on anyone!!

Soap box departed....

 

[Hobbes]

Yeah, no need to drag the crews through the mud, but the company does seem to have an issue, not so? 3 fatal accidents in 12 years? (Learjets in 2000 and 2001.)

Also, someone made a comment about the airplane not supposed to be flying (mx?)...so if you know more about that then speak up. As professionals we all need to know about real causes of accidents so we can do our best to avoid them.

From the small video clip I saw attached to one of the online news articles, it LOOKED like the plane went off the side of the runway, not the end....can anyone comment that knows about that?

 

[X-rated]

We had just driven down from Monaco to LFTH because we couldn't get parking in Nice either, and were just arriving at the Hyeres airport to check on our plane when the Gulfstream went in at LFMQ 12 miles to the East. The next morning we repositioned to Nice to pick up our pax, and the handler said he had spoken to the crew just prior to their departure. With the exception of ATC, he may have been the last person they spoke to. Maybe it was our similar situation or proximity, but this one hit our crew like a sledge hammer. The fact that so many people lose their humanity just because they sit behind a keyboard is deeply disturbing. Thanks to the last few posters for the correct perspective.

RIP

 

[semperfido]

Yeah, we've been sitting in Monaco for the last week. First thing our pax wanted to know was our take on the accident. All we could really say was they were probably tired from the trip over. Maybe, it will give them pause.

 

[AA717driver]

C-150--Good post.

"If you haven't busted a recurrent checkride at AA, you're not a REAL AA pilot..."

TC

 

[X-rated]

Yeah, we've been sitting in Monaco for the last week. First thing our pax wanted to know was our take on the accident. All we could really say was they were probably tired from the trip over. Maybe, it will give them pause.

I'm sure we must have seen you at the Marriott? We were there for 15 days and checked out the day of the crash. I also thought the same thing about them possibly being tired and forced to repo. When is Nice airport going to realize airplanes aren't going to spontaneously combust if they're not parked on a white line? There's tons of room there if they would just buy a tug a stack airplanes like almost every other busy airport. The mandatory repo is a definitely safety concern.

 

[semperfido]

I'm sure we must have seen you at the Marriott? We were there for 15 days and checked out the day of the crash. I also thought the same thing about them possibly being tired and forced to repo. When is Nice airport going to realize airplanes aren't going to spontaneously combust if they're not parked on a white line? There's tons of room there if they would just buy a tug a stack airplanes like almost every other busy airport. The mandatory repo is a definitely safety concern.

Who knew? We were there, just chillin. Glad to move on.

 

[C-150ETOPS]

C-150--Good post.

"If you haven't busted a recurrent checkride at AA, you're not a REAL AA pilot..."

TC

Last whiz bang copped an attitude because I questioned WTF we were doing flying an approach, expecting to land after doing the BC at SNA, in a 767-300ER.

My luck of the draw getting one of the frustrated private pilot sim instructors thought he was a Check Airman.

The place really sucks at times. When we merged with TWA, my suggestion was to replace the entire DFW training complex with TWA training guys. They ran a truly wordwide airline under trying circumstances. We still have training clowns that act if AA was a domestic airline with one LGW route.