I am not a pilot, but even I know that once the flight is at the desired flgiht level there is very little to do besides monitor ATC, the captain could have slept while the 1st officer watched over the auto pilot and the radio.
Even still they could have brought in someone from another city or flgiht to fly the plane, I am sure it would work out cheaper then paying for all the hotels and meals for the passengers.
It just seems completly wrong that AC would allow one employee to disrupt lives of 180+ people.
Does anyone know, if the captian has to get approval from AC management before canceling the flight? or he can do it on his own authority?
Originally Posted by
Ace Cdn
If the flight arrived and the flight crew is too fatigued to continue then it is a safety issue. If he felt he wasn't able to operate safely then that is their decision to make. A plane has to fly with two pilots so the first officer taking over the whole thing is not an option. Also since Las Vegas is not an AC crew base they don't have extra pilots available there.
As for the catering - the aircraft do not have fridges on board and leaving the existing catering on for the next morning in a hot airplane is an inviation for food poisoning. As the plane was double catered in Toronto that is why the buy on board options were not available on the return. I will say that someone did drop the ball as they should have arranged for some sort of
catering the night before to be delivered before the departure time of the flight the next morning.
It is obvious some errors were made and things didn't go smoothly. It would be interesting to see how they respond.