When were you last in? The AT Squadrons do not have an 'abundance' of manpower. Yes, we have more bodies than you have, but then I expect you can get spares, and won't desperately smash 2 other jets up to get a serviceable item creating another 2 headaches that will be solved by smashing yet another jet up to find spares because it is the weekend and our spares system just does not work then (or if it is dark) Our aircraft are old and knackered and need a lot of attention, I would love to see your 40 blokes run 216 for a year and produce the output we do, with the resources we have.
If you genuinely handle more movements in a week than 216 does in a year (bearing in mind I know how many movements 216 do in a year) then you must be a very busy boy, and obviously posted this on your iPhone while sprinting from an engine change to a see in, because otherwise you would not have had time to sit in front of a computer.
I wasn’t trying to imply you’ve got it easy Weebl. I know the problems you guys face, particularly with spares as I’ve experienced it first hand. I’m simply stating that the two operations (military and civil) are completely different and the pace of life and working practices vary greatly. The overriding factor in the civil world is cost and operators will always strive to do the most with the least. For example, we don’t have a separate little office full of GE equivalents dedicated solely to fly with the aircraft, it wouldn’t make financial sense. If you need somebody to do a flying spanner job on a particular flight then a licensed guy is simply pulled of shift. Likewise we don't have guys in charge of trade desks dishing out work. Having a pool of mechanics to allocate tasks to would be a luxury. Pilots are also qualified to carry out pre-flight inspections (B/F’s), refuels and engine oil replenishments downroute. If things go wrong then an Engineer is flown out to recover the aircraft as and when required. Often these guys will have already worked most of their shift but they will pull out all of the stops to get the aircraft back to main base.
What is a typical 12 hour shift like on 216 these days? How many movements, AOG's etc? How long do you get for a turnround between flights? I'm genuinely interested and admit I may be out of touch but I didn't leave that long ago. We also operate older aircraft that are more maintenance dependent than some of the more modern types in the fleet. Believe it or not, some of these are 25 years old and are approaching 90,000 flying hours. We also have spares issues and cannibalisation is not an uncommon practice. Part of the reason why the TriStar’s are so knackered is the fact that they have never been utilised as Lockheed intended. If the were operated as such then they would have been scrapped years ago. The highest time C2 only had 45,000 odd hours on it when I left in 2005, not a lot of flying for a machine of 1979 vintage. No aeroplane likes sitting around on the ground for days on end . A modern A320 is testament to that, turn it off and you get all sorts of problems. Incidentally, Delta airlines successfully operated the L1011 for 28 years and it gave relatively trouble free service. The only reason they got shot of it was due to its inability to compete with the more modern fuel efficient aircraft. Granted they had the spares but then again so could the RAF if they just brought up all the remaining parts and stored them at Brize. There was nothing more frustrating to be told by the stackers that you had a 4 day lead time on a component because it had to go to panel in the IPT where some clown would do his best to source the cheapest possible item from the desert.
As for being a busy boy, you bet ya. Turning up at the start of a dayshift shift and hitting the ground running is a daily occurrence. Rushing around with your arse on fire from aircraft to aircraft because you are one of only a handful of certifiers on shift trying to wade through tech log after tech log full of snags on 1 hour turnrounds whilst supervising the refuels and doing the pre-flight inspections. Oh, and you've got minutes to prioritise, come up with solutions and make crucial airworthiness decisions before you release the aircraft. If you've made a decision to hold the passengers from boarding you better be able to justify it, delays equal missed departure slots. Airlines do not like delays, they cost money. As for nights, well there is nothing like walking in at 1900 to an AOG aircraft that was due to take 360 punters on their family holidays to Greece 6 hours ago because the spares haven't arrived. Now the pressure is on you to get it serviceable before the crew go out of hours and the airline have to cough up thousands of pounds to put the passengers up in hotels overnight. Once you've fixed that then there are a couple of turnrounds to take care of and a few daily checks on night stoppers to complete before your main aeroplane drops in at midnight. A nice old "A" check and for good measure there is a starter to change and borescope inspection on the number 2 engine. That's ok though, the shift leader is going to give me a load of men. Wrong, "you can have one mechanic and I'll try and get another to you when I can" he replies. Not to worry, it's on a 0500 departure so we've got plenty of time, good job I've only got a couple of hours worth of paperwork to sign off before I issue the CRS to release the aircraft. You finally sit down for a proper cup of tea and put your feet up for 30 minutes to unwind before the end of shift and you get called out to a B767 (because you are the only licensed guy on shift approved on type, the other two are on leave) that's just pushed back and now blocking the centre line – he cannot start his right engine. If I’m lucky, I might just get chance to play with my iPhone on the drive home or unwind in front of my computer for an hour at 2 am to post on E-Goat after getting back from a 19 hour day recovering a U/S aircraft downroute.
Whose engines will it have? RR Trent 700 by any chance?
The best and preferred engine choice on the A330 - Trent 772B.
DT_Xtremez_30:
