Heck...I had a whole Boy Scout Troop up in the tower at KMDW one Saturday. Late 90’s. I let my oldest son taxi a MX reposition flight across the field one day too. Took it from the gate to the hangar. Only after seeing folks in the terminal staring at a kid kneeling in the copilots seat waving at them did it dawn on me it might not be such a great idea. 🤷 Lol. Never heard a word. I’m retired and he’s a Captain himself now...so I think we pulled it off. Lol
Working diligently to enlarge my group size.
Another United out of SFO lands with fewer parts: https://abc7news.com/united-flight-m...egon/14529741/
It night not all be United's fault. Most of the recent ones also involve SFO in some way. Maybe, california causes plane cancer, as well as human cancer.
(in reference to everything having a prop. 65 warning on it now.)
MAYBE... they need to put prop. 65 warnings on the OUTSIDE of the planes, and this will all stop?
Should still be allowed. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been up in a tower, but it’s not uncommon for instructors to take their students on tower tours, or for local pilots to go visit.Originally Posted by Lon
These were all Boeing planes IIRC, pure coincidence their whistleblower just offed himself too.
Not sure if this belongs here or the Airplane thread...
UALs Principal Operations Inspector (The head FAA guy that oversees their operation) pulled their authority to self-conduct new type ratings in-house, prohibited them from starting new routes, and effectively shut down their growth for the foreseeable future. There’s a bunch of other aggressive oversight that’s going to happen as well.
This is beyond huge and I have not seen it ANYWHERE in the news. The .feds step in all the time with shady operations dropping the hammer on them for safety, but NEVER at this level in the industry has this happened. What this means is that all the airplanes in cue for UAL will sit idle. Any new check ride that occurs at UAL will be done by the .feds. This will create a backlog that will hit them like a tsunami.
Again, for those folks here that fly for a living, you KNOW how unprecedented this is. Yet...crickets.
There’s two sides of me in this. First, I’m glad SOMEONE had the FUCKING BALLS to step up on this before there was a mass casualty event. The DEI crap in this business has driven this and has gone far enough. The flip side scares me. I see this being turned into yet another power grab by the feds. It may not start like that, but it WILL evolve into it. You watch. This is how this business works.
It’s going to be very interesting to see the ramifications of this as it ripples thru both UAL and the industry as a whole.
*edit to add*
Come to find out one of the UAL PR/Safety people (how this is connected is beyond me) was a former political reporter at CNN. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
Last edited by entropy; 03-23-2024 at 09:15 AM.
Working diligently to enlarge my group size.
Blah Blah Blah…….
What does any of that matter when half of your pilot new hires are women or minorities?
Not that every airline out there isn’t competing hard to be the most woke, but United might be#1. Funny thing is that after “flying” for them for 11 years, I’ve never seen a more caustic airline culture…. “Diversity” means nothing when you treat everyone like shit.
Last edited by Suvorov; 03-23-2024 at 09:55 AM.
This echos the comments of my 25+yr MX buddy there.
I’m glad I hold no airline stocks nor any UAL stock. Monday morning will not be pretty.
Build back better.
Working diligently to enlarge my group size.
One thing that I'd been wondering with all of this was how much of it was Boeing and how much of it was United Ops/Engineering/Management. That certainly gives a little insight.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."
Disclaimer: I have previously worked in the firearms industry as an engineer. Thoughts and opinions expressed here are mine alone and not those of my prior employers.
Max stuff Boeing. Good question on the rest.
Not to bring this up yet AGAIN....BUT....
Keep in mind when .gov came out with vax mandates for the airlines, the first to jump all in was UAL. I have discussed this with upper levels of their flight ops management team casually. Their take was that UAL took the most Covid relief funds. That basically kept them alive financially. So when .gov told them to step out in front...that’s exactly what they did. With a sledgehammer.
Food for thought.
I wonder if their POI did an end run around the DOT with this. Perhaps with some congressional backing of his 6 by certain members of congress. If so, that would explain the silence. It would explain it dropping late on a Friday too. If so, that guy needs a wheelbarrow for his balls. ...and a bodyguard.
Working diligently to enlarge my group size.
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