SWA letters to

[The Prussian]

The economy is in the tank. Lots of airline industry folks are very concerned about how they are going to get through this winter. Angst and depression abound. WN is the easy target to unload on...simple as that.

 

[waveflyer]

A few months back I had a "first". SWA asked center for something direct....for ME! "Hey center, why don't you give Continental a short cut so we can get one?" And the controller did it for them! Told me to go direct AEX, straight into the wx. I politely declined. Of course that made me the f-in legacy guy who pads his paycheck.

Haha- that's a good story. No- you did the right thing- obviously there's all types at every carrier. Stereotypes aren't 50% valid

 

[Quimby]

Glass House ? (huh) I just posted the letters of others from another web site that were quoted as being sent to Congress and the DOT.

Your comment about Glass Houses means that you agree that WN has some issues like NW Has. Good for you.

The topics of discussion are not aimed at you personally, why take it that way?

The airline industry as a whole has been going through many changes, most of which are controlled by the dollar and executives looking for bonuses to enhance their earnings at the expense of safety. We are the stop gap, period. Safety must come first for ourselves, our crew and most importantly, our passengers who pay our salary.

As professionals we are charged with the ultimate responsibility of the safety of the flight.

There are no options. Whatever decisions we make as PIC or SIC are final. Some of us play it close, weather for financial gain or other reasons, but the final responsibility remains with the crew.

There are turds at every airline and we all know that. Don't be a turd.

You know what your intent was. No carrier is perfect.

If you're gonna throw barbs, you might want to look in the mirror, Captain.

You're the one that took the time to start this thread.

 

[AFcitrus]

Sometimes in order to go the extra mile for the company, you end up going the extra 850 feet!

Thanks... I am now cleaning Bud Light off my computer screen! I can't decide if that is more funny or profound. Is your name Jack Handy (aka Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy)? Either way it was a clean kill to this thread.

 

[Tejas-Jet]

"Gentlemen, knowing SWA’s corporate culture of their cozy relationship with and their history of currying favor with Controllers"............... "the history of parties and gifts indicates that SWA may have bought"

Thanks for the reminder....I've got to wrote my check for the donation for a Flat Screen TV for the Controllers breakroom at BOS. They sure loved that Texas style B-B-Q we had for them last week...

 

[redflyer65]

I'm sure the parents of that little boy would appreciate your cavalier attitude over the killing of their child.

It wasn't cavalier. I was stating a fact.

 

[GoodTimes]

Someone please tell the author of those letters that the FAA is, indeed, listening. I had two feds doing linechecks over this last four day trip......and they both fell asleep! By the way, SWA does things safer and better than the legacy I spent four years at.

 

[tathagatha]

To a man, those SWA pilots who went off the end of a long runway(just not SAC long) were USAF trained.

 

[Cobra17]

There are turds at every airline and we all know that.

Turds and Flamers. Hopefully you and the Genital will get to share a cockpit soon. That's a flight I want my family on.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Anyone who does not like WN or their safety record is vested with in inalienable right to not fly them, don't jumpseat on them. Personally I think they offer the best value barr none, with an exceptional safety record that exceeds every major airline in the US without exception. The difference between WN and the other majors is that everywhere else safety is used as a rallying cry to be used as extortion during contract negotiations - how many times do we hear that pilots in negotiations need to "fly safe" and that write ups should happen at outstations - or taxi at a slow walk to simply cause delays and disruption. You never see this crap at WN, safety is not a tool to pressure management.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Someone please tell the author of those letters that the FAA is, indeed, listening. I had two feds doing linechecks over this last four day trip......and they both fell asleep! By the way, SWA does things safer and better than the legacy I spent four years at.

Yeah, I bet they do, I mean, who needs auto brakes, auto throttles, and that pesky HUD just keeps getting in the way of seeing the gas station at the end of they runway!

 

[GoodTimes]

From someone who's lived it. Just calling it like It is, Scope.

 

[RedRum]

Think for a minute

To a man, those SWA pilots who went off the end of a long runway(just not SAC long) were USAF trained.

For the record,

I am not a SWA pilot, I am not USAF or a military-trained pilot.

This thread is way out of hand. I know the FO from the MDW incident. He was not trained by the USAF. If you don't have your facts straight, don't say anything. It really doesn't matter where he was trained. SWA found him to be a qualified pilot and he had an unfortunate event occur that will stay with him the rest of his life.

This entire thread is completely useless.

For those of you that find pleasure in criticizing other pilots or their lack of good fortune, you are doing nothing to contribute to our profession. Stop and think for a minute how awful it would feel to be responsible for killing a young boy who just happpened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Think about that.

We have all been "lucky" at some point in our careers. (It's better to be lucky than good sometimes.) But for the most part, we learn from our mistakes. Accusing other airlines and their pilots of purposely operating unsafely is wrong. We all push the envelope sometimes, but never purposely cross that line.

 

[cole]

The FAA knew about the parts (that have nothing to do with safety) two years ago, and just decided to do something about it it this past week. Sounds like it really isn't a big deal if the FAA knew about it 2 YEARS AGO!!!

 

[jetflier]

Hey,Raol Duke,

You Said "safety is not a tool to pressure management". If that's your opinion then what's your recommended tool to pressure management?

Isn't WN in contract negotiations now?

 

[Zdriver]

Yeah doing favors for controllers, like asking for direct anything to shave off a net 20 seconds or so. I heard a gaggle of SW bubbas suggesting directs and then whining about the vectoring going into Hobby yesterday because of weather west of Houston. It gets old, you'll get there when you freaking get there.

not to be an ass.. but.. well the economies of scale.. 20 sec * 3300 flights a day = 66,000 seconds aka 1100 minutes or 18 hours 15 minutes at day at ~4400llbs/hr = ~80,700llbs or 11,500 gallons a day or about 4 1/4 million gallons a year.. which depending on fuel prices is worth about $10 million dollers for my company....

all this just from taking a few seconds to ask for a shortcut.... ummm.. hell yea!!!!

 

[fly2002]

actually.....per passenger seat mile flown the safest airline is/was Northwest. I think that's actually over it's 79 year history. Just statistics.

 

[runwayjockey]

Yeah, I bet they do, I mean, who needs auto brakes, auto throttles, and that pesky HUD just keeps getting in the way of seeing the gas station at the end of they runway!

Kharma can be a real bitch!

 

[canyonblue]

Additionally, I am a veteran of US Naval Service.

I stopped reading at that point. uke:

 

[Scope out RJ's]

Kharma can be a real bitch!

It sure has been for the pompous ass biotches at southwest!