Consider what happened on June 16, 2011
One of our most experienced Captains - with over 30 years of experience, thousands of hours of flight time and a degree in Aviation Safety - was in the cockpit, about to embark on a 3,000 mile trans-Atlantic overnight flight.
When pushing back from the gate, the auxiliary power unit (a backup source of electrical power) and the Hot Battery Bus (a critical source of primary electrical power) both failed - in other words, the plane had no electrical power and no radio communications. None.
After opening a window to verbally call down to the ground crew (the Captain’s only option), US Airways maintenance was able to restart the power unit, but offered no explanation as to why it failed or any reasonable assurance that it wouldn’t fail again.
With her years of experience, the Captain knew this was a serious problem, and not one she wanted to encounter again, in the middle of the night, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
This Captain did exactly what she is paid to do: exercise good judgment by stopping the operation and to address the issue with US Airways’ maintenance staff. In the meantime, she had an airplane with nearly 300 passengers who were not only anxious for information, but they were getting increasingly hot. Diagnosing the electrical problems required shutting down the aircraft’s air conditioning and there were problems with a ground-based conditioning unit. While dealing with the maintenance issue, the Captain and her crew also had to monitor the situation in the cabin and make sure the temperature wasn’t unsafe - for passengers of any age or health condition - and balance those concerns against the goals of Customer Service agents who are frequently resistant to deplaning the passengers because of the pressure to be on time.
Perhaps if mechanics had simply started work on the problem when the Captain reported it, the situation would have worked itself out, but US Airways isn’t running that way with our current management. Instead, they embarked on a plan to intimidate the Captain and her crew to try to get them to fly the airplane without fixing it. Not only did mechanics try to convince her to disregard the problem, but her supervisor called her repeatedly and put tremendous pressure on her, specifically asking if she was “refusing to fly.” At US Airways, pilots who refuse direct orders are putting their jobs at risk.
But this Captain stood her ground. She was right and she knew it, and she deserves tremendous credit for placing her career at risk in the name of safety. So, what does US Airways do with a Captain with such strong character and superior skills? In this case, she was met by US Airways Corporate Security and escorted out of the airport! Furthermore, members of her crew were threatened with arrest should they try to interfere.
US Airways has since attempted to spin the reason for calling for security as a customer service issue - they claim that her “continued presence was creating an environment that reflected unfavorably on the Company.” Translated, this Captain’s presence represented the passengers’ only link to the truth about the aircraft’s condition, and the Company likely didn’t want them to get wind of the fact that their plan was to find a crew who would fly the airplane without fixing this known deficiency.
Do you think we have a problem here at US Airways? We are living a death from a thousand cuts, this is just one of those cuts. Our management has lost control
of the employees. Please do your research and consider the consequences of a continued Star Alliance relationship with US Airways.
Sincerely,
Dave Mudge
Captain A320
US Airline Pilots Association Calls for Termination of US Airways Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance Paul Morell
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – May 9, 2011 – After numerous lapses in safety protocols at US Airways recently, the Board of Pilot Representatives of the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA), which represents the airline’s pilots, has unanimously called for the immediate termination of the ranking official in charge of airline safety, Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance Paul Morell.
“Mr. Morell has repeatedly ignored USAPA’s concerns about the safety of our airline and has shown no leadership in remedying potentially catastrophic situations that face our pilots,” said Captain Mike Cleary, president of USAPA. “As such, we have asked the Company’s leadership and the Board of Directors to act quickly and decisively to terminate his employment at US Airways.”
In its communications with the US Airways directors, USAPA cited 17 specific issues to support its opinion that Morell is derelict in his duties to protect the pilots and passengers of US Airways.
“Mr. Morell has ignored or actively dismissed safety recommendations from pilots, despite the fact that the pilots are on the front line and dealing with these issues on a daily basis,” added Captain Cleary. “USAPA has reached out to Mr. Morell time and time again, requesting his input and guidance about how to alleviate the many safety issues that face our pilots. At best, we have received a dismissive or tepid response; at worst, complete silence. Our efforts to engage CEO Doug Parker and the Board of Directors on this issue have also gone unanswered, clearly demonstrating that they do not share
USAPA’s priority of putting safety above all else. Not one of the 17 specific issues we brought to the CEO and Board has been acted upon or even responded to.”
“Additionally US Airways’ management refused to participate in an external evaluation performed by renowned safety expert Dr. Terry von Thaden, who has performed more than 200 similar evaluations and has never, prior to now, had an air carrier refuse to participate in an evaluation,” Captain Cleary continued. “Her results – which indicated safety culture problems throughout US Airways – were dismissed out-of-hand by the Company.”
Dr. Sidney Dekker, also a well-respected safety expert who reviewed the results of the evaluation at USAPA’s request, noted that, “Most worrying is the extent of the dismissal of the safety culture survey and the suggestion that management has the safety problem pretty much under control.”
USAPA Safety Chairman Tom Kubik concurs. “Through the safety work conducted by Dr. von Thaden’s team, our pilots voiced their concern about everything from forced on-time departures to cost-cutting measures that erode the safety of our aircraft – and the Company turned a deaf ear to everything we said,’ said Captain Kubik. “Mr. Morell’s responsibility is to the pilots who work at US Airways and the passengers who fly with us, and he has repeatedly demonstrated that he is no longer able to fulfill this duty.”
In an attempt to remedy these problems and bring additional attention to the safety infractions occurring on his watch, USAPA has called for the immediate termination of Paul Morell. Any other action by the Company will be viewed by USAPA as insufficient and a direct threat to the safety of the pilots and passengers on US Airways.
The diplomatic row some time ago issuing from Russia’s refusal to extradite to Britain former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy, who allegedly murdered fellow Russian Alexander Litvinenko with a dose of polonium-210 in London in November, 2006, leaving a lethal radioactive trail in restaurants, hotels and planes, recalls to mind a letter I received from a reader, a ‘nuclear inspector’ with the European Commission in Luxembourg, who claims his baggage had received ‘dangerous levels’ of X-rays during a connection at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport.
Peter (not his real name) writes: ‘My flight from Marseille to Luxembourg (via Paris CDG) arrived with no baggage, despite a three-hour layover in Paris. When it finally caught up with me, I found that my Nuclear Electronic Dosimeter inside was emitting an alarm tone. When it was electronically read at my office, it transpired that the baggage had received an X-ray does of 0.326 mSv (milli Sievert) - very high when you consider that a person is normally allowed a maximum 2mSv a year! X-ray machines also produce doses of “radio activity.”‘
‘I don’t know what the security people did with my baggage in Paris,’ Peter adds, ‘but it is important to advise other travelers that such high doses of radiation will destroy unexposed film or other sensitive materials and may even cause trouble for electronic circuits, and flash cards, or memory sticks. My bags are never locked so they can be opened and checked by security, who clearly refer to use electronic X-ray systems to the maximum. Airports should do more to control security staff who, in my case, must have left the machine on for an inordinate amount of time.’
A disturbing new angle in surviving the airport experience.