Engineer on board
Sep 22, 2019, 10:16 am
#1
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Engineer on board
Discovered something new today that the flights to and from Seychelles have an engineer on board as Seychelles has no 787 capable engineer at the airport. A bit of a throwback to the past but I wonder which other BA flights have the same.
Sep 22, 2019, 10:24 am
#2
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I have only made the inaugural service to SEZ and a later return service, but there was indeed an engineer on both flights. I assumed it was some sort of start-up arrangement.
Sep 22, 2019, 10:38 am
#3
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does seem strange to send a plane to an airport that can't easily handle possible engineering requiremnts so you have to fly one of your own on every flight.
Sep 22, 2019, 11:09 am
#6
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Sometimes airlines send a technician to fix problems with (new) business and first class seats on board. IIRC the technician gets a business class seat, so I would assume that the same if true for the engineer on the SEZ flight.
It seems surprising that BA considers it better to send the engineer on every flight (BTW, are engineers experts in fixing every part of a modern aircraft or do they specialize? Also, what about parts, tools, and other equipment? And can most repairs be completed by only one person?) versus using an aircraft type where there is some local expertise if needed.
It seems surprising that BA considers it better to send the engineer on every flight (BTW, are engineers experts in fixing every part of a modern aircraft or do they specialize? Also, what about parts, tools, and other equipment? And can most repairs be completed by only one person?) versus using an aircraft type where there is some local expertise if needed.
Sep 22, 2019, 11:27 am
#7
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Maybe it is so that they speak 'engineer'. If you had someone not conversant in dealing with engineering problems an airline would probably have to send someone out to diagnose the problem, before sending out the 'correct' engineer to actually fix it.
Sep 22, 2019, 11:43 am
#8
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I can't speak to BA, but the UA Island Hopper carries a mechanic (and some spare parts) on every flight as they don't have even a 737 capable mechanic at most of the airports they land on. He sits in 7C.
Sep 22, 2019, 11:52 am
#10
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Well they had two on board. My first world problem was that the tray would not return to its position in first class. As it was he couldn’t fix it but did manage to fix a seat problem on the other side. Apparently he was there to fix any problem on the aircraft but principally major technical issues.
Sep 22, 2019, 1:07 pm
#12
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Not BA but SA Airlink send an engineer on all flights to HLE (St Helena).
When I flew there last year there was a truck engineer going out to fix a fuel truck at the airport. He was expecting to stay there a week, even though the truck wouldn't have taken a day to fix, because that was when the next flight out was. As it was the outbound was delayed two days because of weather and he only got five days there.
Spike
When I flew there last year there was a truck engineer going out to fix a fuel truck at the airport. He was expecting to stay there a week, even though the truck wouldn't have taken a day to fix, because that was when the next flight out was. As it was the outbound was delayed two days because of weather and he only got five days there.
Spike
Sep 22, 2019, 1:12 pm
#13
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I think they also do this on St Kitts / Antigua. From memory, when the BA 777 took the wrong intersection and took off from the wrong place, it was the BA engineer (seated in CW) who realised and ran forward during T/O roll.
Sep 22, 2019, 2:26 pm
#15
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Are plain clothed undercover air marshalls still all that prevalent? I think a lot of the US airlines still have them around but I guess the point is you wouldn’t know.
Makes you wonder who else is on your flight that isn’t there just for the purposes of getting from A to B
Makes you wonder who else is on your flight that isn’t there just for the purposes of getting from A to B