Jump to content

mnewbery

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,287

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Posts posted by mnewbery

    Two national flag carriers on the brink of collapse

    in UK/Europe General Discussion

    Posted

    Thomas Cook in particular came into question over its late and poorly executed digital transformation. It wasn't the package holidays they were selling as much as the desire by the client to move away from bricks-and-mortar trade to a web presence. This meant a lot fewer travel agents (who knew the package holidays well) and a lot more "men in grey cardigans". I doubt TC senior management were capable of the change in thinking required to survive.

     

    On the other hand ... [one airline with a frequent flyer program] Is in its fifth year of a project to deliver discretionary pricing on airfares. That means two people can go to the booking website and if [airline] figures out who one person is, the price will be adjusted to take advantage of their known preferences. The other person will get a different airfare. The longer they browse the more likely the airfares are to be adjusted up.

     

    I'm not 100% certain all of the features are turned on yet but it was designed to be very powerful and dynamic. The yield management component used by AA and United is just one feature. They adjust fares in real time as people make enquiries about city pairs ... For example once the teams in the Super Bowl are known.

     

    Budget airlines just don't have the money for these sorts of things, or access to the more profitable city pairs. In th case of TC, they never made a return on the cost of their back end system transformation 

     

     

    Bing carbie

    in Engines and Props

    Posted

    I've got a motorcycle that wears out main jets by flogging the chrome off the needle in one spot. I'm on my third set now. They are cheap and easy to replace.

     

    the symptoms I see is a marginally increased consumption but it runs like a goat at mid throttle and runs super rough at carpark speeds

     

     

    Business Community calls to lift restrictions on Sydney Airport

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    This link below from 2018, apparently some residents prefer to sleep at night:

     

    http://www.noaircraftnoise.org.au/index.asp?pagename=Sydney+Airport+Curfew

     

    Our submission against these changes were to:

    1. NO “private and business charters”  as the right of Sydney residents to a decent night’s sleep outweighs the privilege of allowing commercial flights through the curfew, and

    2. phase out the shoulder period of international arrivals from 5 to 6 am operating over Botany Bay, this was only introduced in 1988 after a promise (later broken) not to build a third runway, and

    3. stop the ground running and testing of engines during the curfew period.

     

     

     

    Its interesting to note that the review of the restriction and curfew was supposed to happen this year and so far, it hasn't. 

     

    The (glorified residents action group) noted that while the new planes are quieter, they are still quite noisy. Having been subjected to a 777 flying over my head most mornings, with its wheels and things dangling down I think that is a fair statement. That is to say a two aisle plane that is landing still makes a lot of noise. 

     

    I don't mind the noise and I'm quite used to it. Having grown up under the flight path of Boeing 727s, Fokker Friendships, DC-9s and a bunch of other JT-8 equipped thingies I can say you can keep the kerosene soot. That stuff is nasty. 

     

    But really, since the last review what has changed?

     

     

    Rpc With Nav endo to Rpl With Nav

    in Student Pilot & Further Learning

    Posted

    Definitely talk to a GA instructor on this. I am not one.

     

    In my opinion, an RPL with a navigation endorsement is basically a PPL with an initial medical exam.

     

    The flight crew radio licence carries over and that would be about it.

     

    While it will be easy to do all the navigating, the RPL pilot still needs to show how to use everything in the cockpit which may include a VOR/NAV receiver, ADF and transponder. Then there is ADIZ procedures, CTA and CTR which an RPC typically won't cover.

     

    The RPL needs to do the English language proficiency exam which is $190 worth of time you won't get back

     

     

    Federal Government to develop Regional Aviation Policy

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    The biggest mistake in regional Aviation policy was Malcolm Fraser's decision to hand Commonwealth owned aerodromes to local councils

     

    ...not even close to the biggest. The contracts were well written but not well enforced. 

     

    Federal airports corporation arranged management of individual aerodromes under multiple ALOP deeds of contract. Then FAC disappeared. So who was left to monitor that the contracts were adhered to? 

     

    Archerfield and Essendon are prime examples. Camden and Bankstown I know nothing about but I'm guessing some of the shenanigans are against many clauses of the original deeds.

     

    Have a read of this document as just one example

     

    https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/234158/sub081-airports.pdf

     

     

    Rex to look overseas for pilots trainers and maintainers

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    http://www.australianflying.com.au/the-last-minute-hitch/the-last-minute-hitch-15-november-2019

     

    Are we seeing the first burning signs of aviation's very own climate change? Regional Express this week announced they had been given permission to import pilots, instructors and engineers ... and this is an airline that has its own academy! Surely if you want more pilots, you simply expand your academy and make more places open to students? Well, no, the problem isn't a lack of students. Students get nowhere without instructors, and that is where the real shortage lies. New regulations introduced with Part 61 and the impact of FEE-HELP positions at schools have had a beaver-dam affect on the flow of new instructors into the industry. Before the government-funded short-cut to airlines was introduced, new CPLs got themselves an instructor's rating (IR) and spent time teaching in schools, building hours whilst they waited on their chance to impress the airline recruiters. That's not the way it happens any more; those CPLs are going straight to the airlines without passing through the GA stream first. 

    Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/the-last-minute-hitch/the-last-minute-hitch-15-november-2019

     

     

     

    Rex to look overseas for pilots trainers and maintainers

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    Where would a new CPL with low hrs even get a job flying a small twin etc....

     

    Local instructors where I am are either semi-retired or flat out busy. One works weekends only but he is a long haul pilot so he could be away for long periods.

     

    When the un-flyable weather comes, a log-jam of people trying to catch up on missed lessons is what follows. I wanted to do casual lessons recently and it was a three week wait. It could have been a lot longer. Christmas is coming up so instructors will most likely go on holidays for a bit. Plus it's very hot and very bumpy over Christmas typically.

     

    This isn't a criticism, it's an opportunity. The work is there but not advertised and pilots who hope to do the work in an expectation of moving up to bigger hardware typically need to bring a lot more to the job than they will ever get paid for. The company owners know an hour in a new pilots log book is worth a lot more to the pilot than they will pay the pilot and act accordingly. It doesn't stink, it's the free market in operation (till the market doesn't operate)

     

    There are plenty of places where you can fly a light twin or something like a C206. It's just that none of them are within a day's drive of decent coffee (plus a bunch of other unattractive stuff about those jobs)

     

    Most of the C208s used for skydiving on the east coast are owned by the same company. 

     

    I think someone is chucking meat bombs out of a Bandierante somewhere near Canberra.

     

    Crop dusting pilots are all getting old and crusty but the work is seasonal.

     

    Glider towing might suit.

     

    Over on PPRUNE there are many examples of people moaning about loading up on debt then getting paid less than a living wage for commercial flying. At the same time there are loads more chucking poo at the moaners for comparing their remuneration to that of a roadside worker.

     

    So be it. Rex aren't the only show in town. I just wish airline owners stopped acting like they were all a monopoly. AIPA went head to head with QANTAS which resulted in a company lockout. Virgin said "Hey cool, come work with us if you are that unhappy. We pay a LOT less than QANTAS and our pilots aren't complaining"

     

    Is this where it's heading?

     

     

    Rex to look overseas for pilots trainers and maintainers

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    http://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/rex-to-search-overseas-for-pilots-and-instructors

     

    ...sounds like nobody learned from what QANTAS went through in August 2008. Skills shortage Visa laws and lists haven't changed since then.

     

    Before @fly_tornado chimes in about having mates in the right places, this is John Sharp we are talking about. You don't get more well connected than that

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...