Originally Posted by
REPUBLIC757
I think the FAA should be cracking down on this type of thing. I think back in 2007 there was some sort of class action suit brought against CO for the diversions but it was dropped. Anybody remember that?
It wasn't a lawsuit, it was a complaint lodged by the pilots' union with Senator Frank Lautenberg who then issued a report:
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/fil...memo_FINAL.pdf
The report concluded that CO's TATL 757's were issuing a disproportionate number of fuel emergencies (i.e. their reserves were about to run below the minimum allowed by the FAA) thus allowing them to jump to the head of the landing queue.
The report revealed that CO's own Certificate Management Office inspector had concluded that he had concerns over using this a/c type on these TATL routes.
The report also added that CO put undue pressure on pilots to avoid making fuel stops, calling them "unnecessary" and "costly" and not too subtly implying that there could very well be a correlation between additional fuel stops and decreased bonuses.
Following the report, CO stopped exerting pressure on pilots to forego fuel stops and they have been made since then based on the best judgement of the flight deck crew.