Airport.

[WTF]

1 hour ago, asitis said:

Isle of Man (Ronaldsway) Airport

Expressions of Interest are invited for the development of hangars and ancillary aviation premises. Specific proposals for the site on the plan should be submitted in writing to lesley.gallagher@gov.im

 

This is wonderful in its irony. The site outlined, which I think is at the far side of the airport, I have known of a least six wealthy individuals who have tried to develop that site going back probably 15years and recently. On each and every occasion they have been thwarted by a civil servant (who I won't name), who has taken 6 months to come back to them and at least one of them has sat in his office and after 18 months told him to get stuffed as nothing was happening. It would be wonderful if no one was interested now as it would be payback for those civil servants who are neither civil nor servants !

mr Christopher ?

[Major Rushen]

1 hour ago, IOM said:

It’s difficult because there are not many alternatives. I think the island needs a balance between EasyJet and a smaller operator but there are not many options . London could be served well by British Airways City Flyer operating an overnight stop with a London City route. It’s early days for Flybe as a business but maybe they will become a more reliable operator who could play a role in the future . Whoever flies to the island the airport director should be working closely with to ensure they deliver the agreed schedule and the fare paying customers should also be making appropriate representation to the airline when they fail to deliver the service . Over the long term holding companies to account can often improve things . 

Overnight stop would need 2 sets of crew as the evening arrival time means that the inbound crew could not operate the morning departure. Cost prohibitive.

[Numbnuts]

2 hours ago, Major Rushen said:

Overnight stop would need 2 sets of crew as the evening arrival time means that the inbound crew could not operate the morning departure. Cost prohibitive.

Serious question. Why is that ? Whats the rest time needed before a ongoing flight please ? 

[ellanvannin2010]

38 minutes ago, Numbnuts said:

Serious question. Why is that ? Whats the rest time needed before a ongoing flight please ? 

11 hours I think but @madmanxpilot would confirm as it may change depending on hours worked

[madmanxpilot]

2 hours ago, ellanvannin2010 said:

11 hours I think but @madmanxpilot would confirm as it may change depending on hours worked

The minimum rest period for a pilot is 12 hours, or the length of the previous duty if greater.

However, if the pilot is out of base and staying in a hotel, this can be reduced to a minimum of 10 hours. I had the figure of 11 hours in my head, however, I think the reduction from 11 to 10 took place following a major overhaul of the whole issue of flight time limitations and fatigue management a few years back. I can remember there being a big fuss about it, and the other elements contained within the review, as many pilots considered it a plan to get more work out of them!

There is another 'solution' and that is if the crew work a split duty. I've not looked at this for a while, but basically, you operate a single flight from A to B, have a few hours in a hotel, and then operate the flight back. I used to do this when operating a flight from Birmingham to Milan - we used to report for duty at 6pm in BHX, depart for MXP at 7pm, arrive there at 9pm, go straight to the hotel for and get picked up at 5.30am for the flight home which departed at 7am. That 'could' work here, but it is quite an inefficient way of utilising crew resources.

It is all very prescribed, and if anyone wants to have a more detailed look at it you'll find it all in this document:

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1826EASAFTLRegulationsCombinedDocumentGuidance(E5 JULY 2019).pdf

Page 63 for rest periods, and page 58 for split duties.

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by madmanxpilot

[Nellie]

Deleted

Edited July 15, 2022 by Nellie

[Capt_Mainwaring]

@madmanxpilotis there not a fatigue risk on split duty? Always worth remembering the legacy of flight 3407 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgan_Air_Flight_3407&ved=2ahUKEwjW682Jhvz4AhUQiFwKHeKCBgMQFnoECA4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw17HkPLn-RlPH4L-OmVl0CT

[madmanxpilot]

5 hours ago, Capt_Mainwaring said:

@madmanxpilotis there not a fatigue risk on split duty? Always worth remembering the legacy of flight 3407 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgan_Air_Flight_3407&ved=2ahUKEwjW682Jhvz4AhUQiFwKHeKCBgMQFnoECA4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw17HkPLn-RlPH4L-OmVl0CT

I remember that incident well as I was flying that type of aircraft at the time.

It was a watershed moment for a number of reasons. It created a shortage of airline pilots in the US as the number of hours required for a commercial licence increased dramatically following the NTSB's report. It also drove a focus on fatigue management and reporting, which was replicated on this side of the pond too, and resulted in those changes I alluded to in my previous post.

The Captain of that particular aircraft had convinced himself that the best way to exit a stall was to pull back, rather than push forward on the control column. He had seen videos on the effects of disturbed airflow generated by a stall making 'T' tailed aircraft more difficult to recover as the elevator was less effective. His training record was less than exemplary too.

Back to the F word.....in today's world, pilots are required to be more vigilant regarding their fatigue levels, and how it affects their ability to operate.They undergo annual refresher training on the topic - although it made me laugh once when a couple of fellas struggled to stay awake during one session I was at because they'd had a few beers the night before - oh the irony!. Most, if not all, airlines now have fatigue management policies with dedicated staff to manage the process. Pilots must not report for duty if they are fatigued to the point where it affects their performance, nor must they continue to operate if they become significantly fatigued. There is a 'just culture' regarding fatigue reporting, and it is encouraged.

Regarding split duties being a particular risk regarding fatigue, I'm not so sure they are really. Unlike the Colgan incident, proper rest facilities will be provided, it is all controlled and regimented. I used to quite like doing the split duties - you had a full day at home, went to work for a couple of hours, had about seven hours kip in a hotel room before going back to the airport in the morning to fly the return leg - I used to be back at the house by 10am. You are actually probably only getting an hour or so less time in bed than on a normal night.

I'm not advocating that split duties are the way to go, as I said they are not very efficient, and should one crew member not get enough rest, as with standard night stops, then the schedule would be at risk due to absence.

I am very much of the opinion that the Island's aviation needs will be best served by having an operator with a significant base here, with staff on standby to cover absences and engineers on hand (with a well stocked spares locker) to fix the aircraft if they should become unserviceable.

Edited July 16, 2022 by madmanxpilot

[asitis]

MMP is correct regarding having someone based here ....

Ad Nauseam I'll relate the Flybe story, irrespective of Flybe's later fate, we had four Flybe aircraft based here and most if not all of the crews lived here. The chances therefore of rested crew and successful red eye flights were good. Flybe had a new CEO whose mantra was if there were not 4 aircraft 'based' somewhere it was not a base at all, merely somewhere down the line. Governments lust for Easy Jet overrode any common sense, both in airport expenditure and expansion figures justifying said expansion, they even hired a failed director to sell the project to the public. Anyway, the introduction of Easy jet to the Gatwick route meant that Flybe pulled an aircraft away from here and thus we were no longer a base, and eventually aircraft did not overnight here. In treasury terms this reduced tax take greatly as flight crew and most of the engineers had to move away either contractually or permanently. Easy Jet were seen as the saviour of the world, something that those of us involved in aviation knew could never be the case, unless we had the 2.5 to 3 million passengers a year spouted by Reynolds et al. Without going into detail the Lo Cost airline model mainly relates to numbers and airport shopping, not really suited to a small regional airport with lots of destinations, which of course we had !

The point at which we could and should have done something about this was at the demise of Flybe, guys who know a lot more about this than me, opined that we could lease three dash aircraft (crews and all) and operate our three most popular routes with some degree of certainty, the patient transfer costs went a long way to underwrite this proposal I recall. Anyway, we are where we are, maintenance have all but gone, a few flight crew are still here working for Loganair and some smaller operators at the airport, and we scrabble about trying to 'bribe' operators to provide us with a reliable service. ATC staffing has suffered a similar fate with that being deemed a low priority and a cost saving measure by the said failed airport director.

I believe that our ability to think outside the box in respect of being a small island airport has been badly affected by Manx 2, and that turning out to be an operation with serious shortcomings. We have certainly embraced Easy Jet but never has air travel from here been so poor, irrespective of other worldwide events !

[snowman]

On 7/12/2022 at 5:14 PM, snowman said:

Root cause for many of the current issues is lack of staff

 

[Nellie]

The Airport is probably the best 'case study' for Alf Cannan, on the lack of 'checks and balances' in IOMG.

The inexplicable appointment of one individual, with a serial record of failure, and a bombastic leadership style, who was able to to stay in post for almost 15 years, slowly destroying the route network, relationships, operational resilience, while squandering upwards of £100m.

A whole sequence of CEO's, Ministers and political members all failed to grasp what was going on, or if they did, they chose to turn a blind eye.

We need much better governance and oversight than this, especially where keys areas of the economy, connectivity or infrastructure are involved.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Nellie

[Holte End]

Probably they should have put skippy the bush kangaroo in charge  at the Airport.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/air-passengers-reasonable-expectations-not-being-met-says-manx-taxpayers-alliance/

[NoTailT]

33 minutes ago, Holte End said:

Probably they should have put skippy the bush kangaroo in charge  at the Airport.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/air-passengers-reasonable-expectations-not-being-met-says-manx-taxpayers-alliance/

Very unusual for said individual to latch on to topics on the public agenda.

[Sheldon]

8 minutes ago, NoTailT said:

Very unusual for said individual to latch on to topics on the public agenda.

"There's a 'disconnect' between the expectations of air passengers and what the airlines and the airport are currently providing. That's the view of the founder of the Manx Taxpayers' Alliance."

Well, no shit, Sherlock. 

[Max Power]

1 hour ago, Nellie said:

The Airport is probably the best 'case study' for Alf Cannan, on the lack of 'checks and balances' in IOMG.

The inexplicable appointment of one individual, with a serial record of failure, and a bombastic leadership style, who was able to to stay in post for almost 15 years, slowly destroying the route network, relationships, operational resilience, while squandering upwards of £100m.

A whole sequence of CEO's, Ministers and political members all failed to grasp what was going on, or if they did, they chose to turn a blind eye.

We need much better governance and oversight than this, especially where keys areas of the economy, connectivity or infrastructure are involved.

 

 

100%, sort this out first as a practice run, the rest should then follow easily!