Globaliser

He's not a bus driver.

Realism please.

HighLife

Henkybaby used to make comparisons between pilots and bus drivers on this forum and I always thought they were laughable [pretty much the only thing he ever wrote which I took issue with - well, maybe aside from kid-trip-up-gate for those of you with good memories].

Here, I would add that on top of the human life element (in the sense that a small incident on a B744 could potentially become a major tragedy in terms of loss of life) there is also the sheer financial responsibility a pilot carries. The pilots are responsible for tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of pounds worth of company property, and keeping from losing that must surely be part of a pilot's professional preoccupations?

Now, back to the bus driver... hmmmmmm.

rapidex

Retiring home for a few months is forced upon him until such time as the enquiry is completed.It is not optional.

LondonElite

Are you serious? Bus driver = 747 left seat senior captain at BA?

simonrp84

It's poxball, he's contrary for the sake of it.
I feel sorry for the flight crew, it's embarrassing enough to have something go wrong at work without armchair-experts on the internet assessing what you did. From the conversations I've had it sounds like this was an accident waiting to happen.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

people do need to put it in context. No one is saying flying a plane is the same as driving a bus... but driving a plane on the ground is the same as a bus or a car... you are under obligation, no matter what the road conditions, to NOT crash your vehicle.

If you are pre-occupied, or can't see, or the conditions are such that you can't safely proceed, you often have an option to stop.

A pilot may be running through all sorts of check-lists and communicating where necessary, but just as you can't text and drive, you ideally shouldn't be so distracted as to not know your surroundings. So in that context - I'd have to agree with the basic premise that bus driver and plane driver are pretty similar... on the ground.

There may be extenuating circumstances at JNB, and just like car drivers, accidents can happen. But there is no reason for everyone to have to remain silent just because it is an airline pilot involved. People judge all professionals, from lawyers and judges, to doctors and surgeons, to financial advisors and politicians... and quite often when the critic is not formally trained in that area.

It's just part of life.

If conversations are out there that JNB was 'waiting to happen' - that suggests there may have been an opportunity knowledge sharing.

Poxball

Thanks. That explains things very well as a company policy rather than a woe is me.

I know 3 wide body captains.

One has an attitude that he is there to transport people from A to B, collect his pay cheque and go home.

The opposite has a Demi god syndrome about the whole thing and will tell anyone that he's a captain (including waitresses bringing the bread basket).

The last is somewhere in the middle with a good attitude outside work but we all laugh how he changes when the stripes go on.

As the first one has said, it really is driving a bus with more power and a third dimension.

[2 by the way have always left their phones on and the third is a bit coy!]

SpeedBird17Victor

urrrm, we're aware it's been announced that it'll be WFU and scrapped there, right?

Didn't know, reading these back and forth discussions bored me so I just had to skip on through....

Tobias-UK

Has it? Would you be kind enough to provide a link, please?

T8191

The PPRuNe thread has some pretty authoritative statements, prior to and including this one ... http://www.pprune.org/8321609-post578.html

simonrp84

Words seldom heard in the same sentence any more!

gw76

It hasnt been officially announced that it will be scrapped, although to the relatively untrained eye, that would seem to be the way its going. I would believe more on here than PPrune spotters digest

Tobias-UK

Thanks for that Mr T, I presume nothing official from BA as yet? No surprise, I'm sure they'll want it to go quietly given the circumstances.

Final 3 Greens

You just need to know who to pay attention to; if you do, those people are industry experts.

Final 3 Greens

No law against it, but I'd believe the experts on PPrune on subjects like this, but you have to know who they are. There are quite a number of high hour captains, airline managers, very experienced engineers and even one aircraft designer.

Having first joined PPrune in 1999, I have a fair idea who is who, but accept it is not so easy for everyone.