The downward slide of....... crew meals.

[slam_clicker]

The downward slide of....... crewmeals.

How are the crewmeals at your carrier? My carrier just hit a new low. A captain recently reported the following:

A captain stated that he requested unscheduled crew meals for his crew late Sunday evening, after food vendors had closed. The crew received three bags of potato chips and three cans of Chef Boyardee. There were no can openers (Thanks for keeping us safe TSA!), so "his resourceful first officer used the cockpit crash axe to force open the cans". There was no way to heat the contents, so they ate it cold.

Our industry has forced massive pay cuts, miserable quality of life (upon us and our loved ones), whipsaws, alter-ego scope evading start-ups, and now this.

I was just wondering if this is the next cross we will collectively be asked to bare. After a long day w/ no breaks and a meal like that....I just might be FATIGUED!

How are things where you throw gear?

 

[mamba20]

Well, all I will say is avoid the roast beef. Our crew meals arent bad considering. . . wow canned food. That would have worked great on a World flight after someone makes a cooking fire in one of the isle ways.

 

[Regional4life]

Crew what? Meals? I don't understand what you are talking about.

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

I just love those 12 or 14 hr duty days with 45 min in ATL and 30 min at the outstation and 5 legs. I don't give it a second thought about delays. I ask the F/O and F/A when they are ready to eat, we go. Period. In ATL we eat in the crew room, not wolfing it down in the plane with the Depture idiot - I mean, departure coordinator - standing right there staring at us waiting for us to say we are ready to board. If they happen to be there as we are exiting to eat, I tell them we will be back shortly. When they start right in with the attitude, not all of them but some, I just stare at them without saying a word until they leave. My crew will NOT go hungry. I had a passenger ask as she boarded why we had to eat at that particular time, 1430. I just smiled and told her we had reported to duty at 0615 from a hotel which had no breakfast available, flown 3 legs already and had had nothing but a granola bar all day. I then asked if she had had breakfast and lunch. All of the pax that heard the conversation said they were glad we had taken time to eat. They started to board 15 min prior to dep and we still were on time.

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

Well, all I will say is avoid the roast beef. Our crew meals arent bad considering. . . wow canned food. That would have worked great on a World flight after someone makes a cooking fire in one of the isle ways.

I belive that was a L-1011 over somewhere in the Middle East. During the Haj.
Landed, could not open the doors because they had not de-pressed and they all just got smoked.

 

[mamba20]

Oh boy, I didnt know what something like that really happened. Smoked meaning. . .please tell me I didnt make a joke of injury or death?

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

True fact.

 

[BlackPilot628]

I just love those 12 or 14 hr duty days with 45 min in ATL and 30 min at the outstation and 5 legs. I don't give it a second thought about delays. I ask the F/O and F/A when they are ready to eat, we go. Period. In ATL we eat in the crew room, not wolfing it down in the plane with the Depture idiot - I mean, departure coordinator - standing right there staring at us waiting for us to say we are ready to board. If they happen to be there as we are exiting to eat, I tell them we will be back shortly. When they start right in with the attitude, not all of them but some, I just stare at them without saying a word until they leave. My crew will NOT go hungry. I had a passenger ask as she boarded why we had to eat at that particular time, 1430. I just smiled and told her we had reported to duty at 0615 from a hotel which had no breakfast available, flown 3 legs already and had had nothing but a granola bar all day. I then asked if she had had breakfast and lunch. All of the pax that heard the conversation said they were glad we had taken time to eat. They started to board 15 min prior to dep and we still were on time.

That is great that you take the time to make sure your crew has eatten. Some Capts do not do that. When I was working at Corpex we did 7 to 9 legs a day with 17 to 20 min turns. We had to make ourselves stop and eat as well.
Good Looking out!

 

[KigAir]

Here's the story:

1980/8/19 - Saudia HZ-AHK (msn 1169)

On August 19, 1980, Saudia HZ-AHK was carrying a total of 301 Muslim pilgrims and crews from on the annual Hadj flights to Mecca, and in this instance, from Karachi with a stopover at Riyadh. Soon after takeoff from Riyadh, bound for Jeddah, fire was discovered in the rear section of the cabin. Mysteriously, the captain did not immediately turn back, and decided to do so when the aircraft was about 79 miles (127km) away from Riyadh although he did not declare an emergency. He reported that there was smoke in the cabin, and finally when the plane was 40 miles (64km) from Riyadh, he reported fire. By the time of approach to land, the fire had melted the control cables for the throttles to the center engines which was then shut down. Still without declaring emergency, instead of evacuating the aircraft immediately after landing, he turned off the runway and started taxiing. Finally coming to a halt on an adjacent taxiway in the opposite direction, the two wing-mounted engines were still kept running, maintaining residual cabin pressure which prevented both the rescue services and cabin crew from opening the doors. The engines were finally shut down six minutes after landing and it took an additional five minutes to open the No2 starboard door. But by the time, there was no sign of life and further entry of air into the cabin allowed the fire to burn through the roof. Subsequent investigation did not reveal the cause as the aircraft was seriously damaged, but the source of the fire appeared to be in the rear cargo hold.

 

[av8tor02]

whatever