Grounded: Hundreds of Northwest Flights Canceled (No-show pilots)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Hundreds of passengers experienced disruptions in their travel plans this weekend when Northwest Airlines canceled more than 200 flights.

During a summer season already filled with record delays and cancellations, the nation's fifth-largest carrier cited pilot absenteeism for the problems.

"It's kind of sad for us who are caught in the middle," said airline passenger Jordan Tompkins, "because we have no control over that, and their decisions are affecting a lot of people."

The pilots have said they were not playing hooky. They said their contract with Northwest limits their flying time to 90 hours per month and during this year's busy travel season their time sheets are maxed-out.

"I think the employer has to come to the party and recognize the hard work and stuff that the pilots doing," said airline passenger Kathy Favazza.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Travel/story?id=3425531&page=1

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If I was flying Northwest I'd probably be fuming - but blame the damn management of Northwest and other airlines who keep cutting their employee pay and benefits while rewarding themselves.

[muntrv]

1. Especially after coming out of chapter 11and giving the CEO a fat bonus.

[Nickster]

2. Good for those pilots. Someone has to take a damned stand.

[napi21]

3. The pilots keep saying NW simply doesn't employ enough pilots

to fly a full schedule. I happen to believe that! I gotta tell you, I always fly Delta, but if I had to opt for another airline, NW sure wouldn't be my choice!!!!

[thunder rising]

4. 1080 a year flying ... is a lot of flying. (90 hrs/ month)

Maybe they should outsource or onshore some of those "other than American" pilots.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. NW knows the 90 hour rule - why didn't they prepare for this?

Blame management for this blunder.

[Crayson]

11. 90 hours per month?...

... Sounds like an easy job.
I work 45 hours per week.

So tell me, what do they do the other two weeks of the month?
Or where's the catch?

[MissB]

12. I'm thinking perhaps overworked pilots are a bad thing.

I'm probably a bit biased as a close family member is a pilot.

There are rules for pilots as to how many hours they can fly - if they're doing cross country flights, they may not be able to turn around and fly the next morning.

Pilot fatigue = bad thing.

[guitar man]

13. the other two weeks

there are times when they may be sitting in a flight simulator getting bricks thrown at them in the form of system failures, in flight fires, engine failures, rotten weather procedures and all manner of update training to keep them as up to speed as possible to keep us safe sitting back there in the passenger cabin.

Just because they aren't hauling passengers doesn't necessarily mean they aren't working.

[neverforget]

14. Flying an airliner is not an easy job.

[youngdem]

18. Do you REALLY want a pilot in the air more than four hours a day?

REALLY?

Don't you think that these hourly limits are there for a reason? Do you really think the airline lobby would let the rules be set lower than possible? Of course not.

And just because they aren't in the air doesn't mean they aren't working.

[Scooter24]

19. That is only actual flying time...

That doesn't include the hours preparing before the flight nor the time after landing. A 4-hour flight could easily be a 7-8 hour day for a pilot if you include all the planning and checks they have to do.

[Hawkowl]

25. 8 hour day?!? HAHAHA!

I just got back from work a few hours ago. I clocked 8 hours of flying time and a 12 hour duty day. Then I hopped a flight to where I live (another 2.5 hour flight as a passenger) because my domicile has been downsized and I had to transfer.

We rarely work something as short as an 8 hour day.

[October]

23. Try it

Seriously.

I'm not being flip.

Passengers are all fatigued after flying. And, it's no different for pilots. Oh, except for the fact that they're the ones in control of the 600MPH aluminum tube.

I'm just saying...try being perfect for 90 hours a month while being scrutinized to within an inch of your life. Recorded, finger printed, patted down, peeing in cups, etc. Doctors don't have to be perfect, nor do lawyers -- pilots can't do anything less than perfect. They can't blow a tire on landing without being pulled and questioned. They can't ding a wing or roll one wheel on the grass without the FAA getting involved, having a drug test and having to get the union to fight to get your pay back, etc.

Perfection is the norm.

Then, it's into a simulator every 6 months where they test your every move and throw disasters your way and airplane failures of all sorts.

It's so NOT easy. And it's all recorded to be used against you.

Oh, and if you're the Captain and the First Officer messes up -- it's the Captain's fault.

Just saying... :)

[Hawkowl]

24. MISTAKEN

That is 90 hours in an AIRPLANE WITH THE DOOR CLOSED per month. That is the time that we are actually paid. That doesn't include every hour that we are at work. We actually are at work 60-90 hours every week. How about you? Federal regulations limit us to 30 hours per week; 100 hours per calender month and 1000 hours per year. Nothing more. When you reach your limit you're done. We also are gone from home 14-20 days every month. Harassed by TSA and disrespected by passengers and management, you will be lucky if there are any airline pilots at all in five years.

[TomClash]

6. A horrible airline nt

[pitohui]

7. it was even worse in june

their loyalty program is second to none, but hell yeah you better have a sense of humor and a slow fuse to fly northwest

they are supposed to be calling more pilots off furlough to fill in the holes, but a lot of the laid off pilots have found alternative employment and who can blame them?

[Synnical]

8. Ground those planes!

If the pilots won't fly, I don't want to be on that plane.

[terip64]

9. NWA has NO customer service. I can't imagine how they treat employees. n/t

[Beausoir]

10. I flew them last week. Not one time did any NWA employee say "Hello", "Thank-you". Nothing.

We walked on the planes and instantly became invisible.

I got to my seat and there was a smashed blue-berry muffin imbedded in the seat fabric.

NWA=flying outhouse.

[pitohui]

15. yeah but they got a helluva turn around, don't they?

someone told me another airline could turn around a 747 in 14 minutes, which i don't believe of that airline, but i believe it of northwest, they often have great turnaround because the cleaners don't, you know, actually clean

kidding, guys, kidding!

[damntexdem]

16. It's the best thing to do with a Northwest flight:

cancel it!

[yellowcanine]

17. I nearly missed a connection in Detroit because my flight out of Grand Rapids took off 45 minutes

late because the flight crew was late getting to the airport - on account of the fact that they got in too late the night before and had to sleep (it was a 5 am flight). Now you would think a well managed airline wouldn't be scheduling a flight crew to be going out at 5 am when they had a late flight in the day before. But then NW is not a well managed airline.

[Turn CO Blue]

20. self delete

[sarcasmo]

21. This is why the folks who fly this airline regularly call it

Northworst.

[LuckyLib]

22. Misleading subject -- pilots can't show if they don't exist. NWA laid off

hundreds of pilots over the last two years and were told last year that the available numbers would not be there for the number of flights in high-travel summer months of 07. It's happened, and the flying public can thank a completely "bankrupt" management, whose CEO received a $26 million bonus while the employees all took pay cuts. Now they're trying to hire pilots like mad. Don't blame employees -- they hate the company even more than the flying public does!

[Hawkowl]

26. Management is lying

Look. Federal regulations limit airline pilots flying time to 30 hours per week; 100 hours per month and 1000 hours per year. These limitations are written in stone and can not be exceeded at all. Flight time is typically calcuated when the airplane door is closed and the parking brake is released.

NWA simply has laid off too many pilots. But it gets better. For the first time ever, pilots who have been laid off simply aren't coming back and existing pilots are quitting to take up a different line of work. There are roughly 50-60K airline pilots in the U.S. and suddenly, we aren't making very many new ones. There were only about 750 new commercial pilots last year. In a few years we will be lucky to find any pilots at all. You get what you pay for.

[lebkuchen]

27. After the mechanics' strike, I changed airline.