Text 21764, 79 rader
Skriven 2007-10-14 14:08:01 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: FLYIN 275  71014
========================
 -=> Quoting Michael Loo to Glen Jamieson <=-

 GJ> I heard on the radio in Houston, a series of complaints by air
 GJ> travellers about the parlous state of US airlines these days, with an
 GJ> ever-increasing percentage of flights delayed or cancelled.  It was

 ML> ATC inefficiencies; airport inefficiencies; cutting corners on
 ML> fuel, staffing, capacity; holding planes to accommodate dozens
 ML> of people stuck at the silly security. Lots of things going on.
 
 ML> There are more factors than that conspiring. On my last westbound
 ML> transcon, the pilot came on the horn and said that he was trying
 ML> to make up the time we had wasted sitting in line on the tarmac,
 ML> but they weren't letting him. What he didn't tell us was we'd
 ML> sat for half an hour because the control tower was understaffed,
 ML> and that there was no way we'd make up time, as we'd eaten far
 ML> too much fuel during that time, plus we had a totally full 321,
 ML> an aircraft notorious for chewing up Jet A and that should never
 ML> have been 1. allowed to be certified in the US; 2. filled up to
 ML> seated capacity; and 3. scheduled for a westbound transcon nonstop.

I wonder if the cost of the fuel used by all these jets idling is more
than the wages of an extra Flight Controller?

In July, when leaving Baltimore (where you kindly got me upped to
Economy Plus) to Houston via O'Hare, the UA 737/300 was delayed "due to
congestion at O'Hare", so the pilot shut down the engines to save fuel.
Sometimes pilots will do that, but many seem happy to keep the engines
at ground idle indefinitely, or until they have to leave the queue and
go back for more Jet A1 - which I have seen done at LA.

In Auckland, last month, my early morning flight from there to Dunedin
was delayed because someone had parked a truck behind the 737/300 the
night before, and then in the morning found the battery flat and it
wouldn't start.  Instead of the pilots etc pushing the truck out of the
way they had to find jumper leads to start it from another truck.  That
caused 15 min delay, but the time was made up.
 
 GJ> pilot said it would be better to pay after the flight, "just in case".

 ML> Delivered in the appropriately laconic style, no doubt.

Yes, but cheerfully so.  That Moth pilot was also a qualified aircraft
engineer, so as well as taking paying passengers for joy-flights, he
worked on rebuilding and restoring the old planes, and also test flying
them.  He said he could not imagine having a better job.

Before taking that flight, the coffee shop lady asked me several times
if I required the toilet facilities before taking off.  I presumed that
in the past there may have been some sort of catastrophe of that
nature, perhaps after a customer had boosted his confidence pre-flight
with too much Dutch courage.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: FLYING SQUID SALAD
 Categories: Martin's, Seafood
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
      3 lb Squid cooked cut small
      1 c  Rice wine vinegar
      2 c  Olive oil
      2 c  Carrots julienne
      2 c  Celery  julienne
    1/2 c  Fennel packed loosley
           Lemon juice to taste
      2 tb Chopped garlic
      5 tb Minced shallots
 
  Combine all ingredients in a ss bowl and marinate for at least 12
  hours.
 
MMMMM
 

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