rsh913

Far from wanting to feed a troll but here goes...

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...e-too-far.html

Yaatri

I haven;t read the link you provided, yet, but I think it has. Through there are legitimate issues wit AI, bashing of AI even in areas where AI is clearly better than legacy European and U.S. carriers is bizarre. AI is not clearly the best nor, one of the best airlines. Comparing it with the best, when bashing it, clearly shows a bias.

Another reason for bashing AI has been provided by AI's plans to join AI. Since *A is the biggest alliance, its members are more numerous. In my opinion the India based *alliance members are unable to look at the issue from a wider perspective of the alliance , but are looking at it only from their own narrow perspective. Their frustration and disappointment at the impending membership of AI, transfers their anger to AI. Bashing of AI is more prevalent on India related forums and by Indians than by others.

PVDtoDEL

very interesting read.

I personally disagree with a lot that was said on that thread, especially considering many of the people posting were guilty of the AI bashing themselves

Keyser

i agree completely....

Yaatri

Well, I read the article.
Given that controversy itself arises out of an unsubstantiated incident,
Given that it's an IBB for professional pilots, it's reasonable to conclude that most pf the posters are professional pilots or are a least pilots,
Given that even among pilots, blocking the sun with newspapers is not universally reprehensible practice,
Given that the original article itself was anecdotal rather than investigative reporting, although it pretends to be sort of investigative and authoritative account of the state of Air India,
Given that the the title begins with "State Owned", the phrase and the state described by the phrase is looked down upon in large segments of the U.S., never mind the fact that BA, Air France, KLM, were all state owned, Singapore Airlines, is still state owned,
it's quite reasonable to conclude, it is bashing.

Heather Timmons was a Banking Editor at Business Week, not an publication without repute, before joining NYT as Banking correspondent. While NYT has many excellent reporters, not all its reporters are shining examples of masters of the field they write about. An economic reporter of NYT wrote a series of articles about how irresponsible borrowing and lending contributed to the financial crisis--the subject of the story was himself.

Heather Timmons seems to be a business/economic correspondent of NYT. HEr artciles always seem to fall in "the low hanging fruit category", full of anecdotes, opinions and unsubstantiated incidents. She probably wrote an article on the caste system in India There is a style of reporters who lack depth on India, such as "State Controlled.....", or "The Hindu Nationalist Party....". These phrases, while not without an element of truth, are cliches to me.

Not everything associated with NYT is impeccable. It's among the better American news papers.

llauland

Dear All,

I have been living in India for the past three years, I fly all of the airlines and have logged over 29,000 Frequent Flyer Miles on Air India alone.

Not that this is a huge feat, as i am sure that there are more frequent flyers than myself........however, I received Heather Timmons article from a colleague in China.

Twelve days later, after landing in Pune, I was walking across the tarmack and glanced at the Air India flight that had just landed before me.

There, in the windows was the newspaper taped in the windows just as noted by Bob Haygooni in the opening paragraph of the Timmons article.

I have posted the pictures on my blog so if you want to see the evidence for yourself, I have the pictures.

I run a medium sized company and have decided to ban travel on Air India as a result of what I have seen.

You be the judge for yourself.........I am not bashing the Airline.....nor should anyone bash Timmons for bringing this to the general publics attention.

My blog site: http://lloyd-pres-lindia.blogspot.com

rsh913

Lloyd: It is common practice in hot climates to cover windows while on ground and that precisely what the AI pilots have done. I've seen that happen in florida and the american south west as well. I dont believe that the papers are taped to the windows as if they were the pilot would not be able to taxi. The NYT article talks about newspapers covering the window while in flight not while taxing. I'm afraid your pic is just a red herring.

llauland

Ever think that they could have been flying with papers taped in the windows and just removed the ones that were in the front to allow them to taxi? This too is a possibility. One must consider this as well..........while you are entitled to your opinion, so am I........I think they were left in the side windows so they wouldnt have to tape the sides up again........this is my thought.

GUWonder

People whom used to avoid AI for decades on flights between the US and India have been more recently choosing AI (and repeatedly at that) because it is on par or significantly better in the air than what is on offer from US and European carriers.

I'm not sure such people are going to be abandoning AI again on such flights as the US-India non-stops, at least not absent some major blood-spilling incidents.

UA Fan

How do pilots of other airlines deal with the light issue in the cockpit.

rsh913

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9800; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.1+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.246 Mobile Safari/534.1+)

Yes we're entitled to our opinions but PNQ is an indian airforce owned airport and photography is strictly prohibited. You're posting your pics at that airport on a blog which has your pic on it as well. Let's hope you're not called up for doing that.

Yaatri

Geez. A picture of a plane on the ground? It's a side window, and the plane is still on the ground. Pilots blocking the sun out is a very common practice around the world. Anyone who makes thinks that a picture like this says anything about safety ought to be bashed. What do you think this picture proves? All it says is that a part of the window of the plane was blocked with newspapers. They might have used tape, but it doesn't show any tape. How do you jump from here to the conclusion that the entire windshield is blocked during flight? If the part of the window, in the direction of the sun is blocked, even inflight, it makes no difference, as you can;t see anything against the sun. It's your business if you want to ban travel on AI by your employees, but it's good to remember that common sense, when used, can put things in perspective.
Timmons and journalists like her, should be bashed for their sloppy reporting. There are things wrong with AI, but this is not one of them.

I have read other stories by Timmons. More often than not, she doesn't know what she is talking about.
They are nothing more than, well, interesting. She goes after the low hanging fruit. She does not demonstrate understanding of the issue she is reporting on, and this is a good example of that.

Yaatri

Good heavens!!
Ever thought that the pilots of your favourite airline block the entire windshield, set their alarm and go to sleep. Just before landing, the alarm wakes them up so that they can unblock the windshield.

It's only your word that they were taped. How do you know they were not glued? Maybe AI orders its planes with the windshield painted to look like newspapers. Did it ever occur to you that the above might also be possibilities? Are they absurd? Yes, indeed. So is your contention.

If I were you, I would be more worried about my business than something inconsequential like this.
Yes you are entitled to your opinion. But the entitlement does not make your opinion worth considering.

Yaatri

I have looked into this. Many pilots around the world do this. If you are blocking the part of the window, in the direction of the sun, you are not compromising anything, is the opinion of many. Some opine that it should not be done.

djjaguar64

His opinion is worth considering because someone like you responded to his opinion.
Maybe AI orders its planes with the windshield painted to look like newspapers.
OK if this airline is doing that then there is something really wrong with it!!