Mesaba OPS quote from RST debacle

[xjhawk]

It was a pure lack of common sense, and an overabundance of fear and red tape. Clearly XJ ops dropped the ball. And that is a shame. However, as PIC, you have to be able to think outside the box. Obviously, nobody wanted to get fired for making a bad decision in this bad situation, but let's use our brains here people. I pray that I'll never be in this situation, but I'll definitely use this as a learning experience for when times don't quite go as planned.

MM

Its great seeing a positive spin on this entire thing but I must say I think its funny that an Entire Operation can be screwed up at an airline and yet another airlines outstation can be to blame. Some quote an "unwritten rule" to help other diverted airlines I must say that is funny. Most of our station people have not been around long enough to know old time unwritten rules! I am happy XJ's leadership are holding the line in defending our people. Give me a break. I hope If I ever screw up or more correctly get put in a screwed up situation like the Captain did I have someone elses station to blame! what a world we live in!

 

[Baronman]

Its great seeing a positive spin on this entire thing but I must say I think its funny that an Entire Operation can be screwed up at an airline and yet another airlines outstation can be to blame. Some quote an "unwritten rule" to help other diverted airlines I must say that is funny. Most of our station people have not been around long enough to know old time unwritten rules! I am happy XJ's leadership are holding the line in defending our people. Give me a break. I hope If I ever screw up or more correctly get put in a screwed up situation like the Captain did I have someone elses station to blame! what a world we live in!

Wrong...Nobody is saying the aircraft diverted because of some "unwritten rule," and the crew would rely upon this to get serviced in RSW.

But if dispatch coordinates with the station ahead of time and then the plane actually shows up, why wouldn't the crew think they could get service? So now the station does not provide service, they provide bad information regarding airport security as a reason why they can't provide help.

The thing that stood out is Mesaba first acted like they were sooo willing to help....Yet the phone records show otherwise.

 

[GRAAB HIRBOUBI]

Wrong...Nobody is saying the aircraft diverted because of some "unwritten rule," and the crew would rely upon this to get serviced in RSW.

But if dispatch coordinates with the station ahead of time and then the plane actually shows up, why wouldn't the crew think they could get service? So now the station does not provide service, they provide bad information regarding airport security as a reason why they can't provide help.

The thing that stood out is Mesaba first acted like they were sooo willing to help....Yet the phone records show otherwise.

I would really like to know where this proof of Dispatch contacting the station. I fly around our system and even when they know I am coming I can't get an answer on the radio. I doubt there were more than 2 or 3 people working the station even with the Mainline diversions.

How is it everybody thinks we could work on another companies aircraft without a contract, ground operations manuals, ground ops training for the EMB145. When Pinnacle uses our gates, our people must service them per their manual, not ours.

Maybe in the times of before Deregulation the was some "Unwritten Rules". But in the days of money and competition - there is no such thing.

I have very little good to say about our ground handling. When I upgraded to Captain, I have seen our people walk away from 9E flights. This is terrible and everything said is mostly true. But I don't see how XJT has a leg to stand on when they divert to a station they don't serve. If they were on fire and this happened, that would be different.

XJT presumes help and with no trained coordination blames us for 6 hour delay. Heck Continental Xpress could have driven from MSP in 45 minutes. With Airport Management escort through the SIDA areas the plane could have been out of RST in less than 3 hours. But yep its all our fault...

 

[CptMurf]

Wrong...Nobody is saying the aircraft diverted because of some "unwritten rule," and the crew would rely upon this to get serviced in RSW.

But if dispatch coordinates with the station ahead of time and then the plane actually shows up, why wouldn't the crew think they could get service? So now the station does not provide service, they provide bad information regarding airport security as a reason why they can't provide help.

The thing that stood out is Mesaba first acted like they were sooo willing to help....Yet the phone records show otherwise.

Wrong... When they called the station it was just a gas and go request. Not a babysit our pax and crew all night request.

Crew wanted to divert to Farmington, which does not even have a commercially served airport. Good planning there.

The timeline shows the crew/dispatch kept trying to get the flight back underway to MSP. What is not mentioned is that the station tried to get the passengers onto the bus that they got for the NWA passengers (there was room), but XJT did not want to give up on the flight yet, refused, and it was only after that they started whining they needed a bus.

I'm not saying the station could not have done more, but XJT dropped the ball here.

 

[big shacks]

XJT dropped the ball here.

Especially The CAPT!

 

[Whydoitry]

Do you guys argue with NTSB reports as well? An investigation was done by an unbiased third party. The results are what they are and the bulk of the blame, in this instance, falls on Mesaba. Until we read the final report and view all the evidence there is no way that any of us can say we know better than the investigators.

 

[GRAAB HIRBOUBI]

Do you guys argue with NTSB reports as well? An investigation was done by an unbiased third party. The results are what they are and the bulk of the blame, in this instance, falls on Mesaba. Until we read the final report and view all the evidence there is no way that any of us can say we know better than the investigators.

Darn Right I would Argue! FAA, NTSB, DOT, IRS are not infallible.
I admit to not knowing all the facts but for the DOT guy to come out and say that Mesaba is to blame...thats just plain horse...t.
I don't know if an incident like this falls under the NTSB. FAA/DOT yes.

Like I said before, I really wish we were in the news for fighting TSA/FAA fines for helping XJT but that wasn't the case. I admit as a new Captain I am not sure how I would handle it. I have been thinking a lot about it though.

 

[Whydoitry]

Why is it horse******************** for the DOT to investigate and make a conclusion based on EVIDENCE? Everyone involved was interviewed, recordings were listened to, an objective assessment was made.

 

[Seaknight1]

Why is it horse******************** for the DOT to investigate and make a conclusion based on EVIDENCE? Everyone involved was interviewed, recordings were listened to, an objective assessment was made.

Because everyone involved was part of the chain of events that led up to this. To come out and blatently blame one party is wrong. This was just like an aircraft mishap; there was a chain of events that led to the unintended outcome. Basically it was a big crap sandwich and everyone had a hand in making it. The DOT coming out and blaming Mesaba, is like making only one of the makers of this big crap sandwich, eat it.

 

[cybourg10]

I would really like to know where this proof of Dispatch contacting the station. I fly around our system and even when they know I am coming I can't get an answer on the radio. I doubt there were more than 2 or 3 people working the station even with the Mainline diversions.

How is it everybody thinks we could work on another companies aircraft without a contract, ground operations manuals, ground ops training for the EMB145. When Pinnacle uses our gates, our people must service them per their manual, not ours.

Maybe in the times of before Deregulation the was some "Unwritten Rules". But in the days of money and competition - there is no such thing.

I have very little good to say about our ground handling. When I upgraded to Captain, I have seen our people walk away from 9E flights. This is terrible and everything said is mostly true. But I don't see how XJT has a leg to stand on when they divert to a station they don't serve. If they were on fire and this happened, that would be different.

XJT presumes help and with no trained coordination blames us for 6 hour delay. Heck Continental Xpress could have driven from MSP in 45 minutes. With Airport Management escort through the SIDA areas the plane could have been out of RST in less than 3 hours. But yep its all our fault...

It was Mesaba's fault, the DOT did an intense examination into this and that is what they determined. Why are you so upset about this? It has nothing to do with you and and Mesaba pilot, the ops station did not handle this well at all.

The captain did try to get buses by the way.............time to let this one go and learn what we can all do to avoid this next time.