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Furious Air France Workers Attack Executives Over Job Cuts

Air FranceAbout 100 Air France employees stormed a management and union official meeting on October 5, after the airline announced plans to shed 2,900 jobs in the next 2 years.

The airline, which is struggling to compete with global rivals, announced job cuts after failing to convince its pilots to work longer hours on same salary.

The airline’s human resources manager Xavier Broseta and the head of long-haul flights Pierre Plissonnier had to flee from the angry workers, with their shirts torn off.

Seven people, including a security guard, were injured in the incident.

French President Francois Hollande said, “Social dialogue matters and when it’s interrupted by violence, and disputes take on an unacceptable form, it can have consequences for the image and attractiveness” of the country.”

A criminal investigation has been launched into the incident.

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Bomb Claim Initiates Review


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Timo Jäger

What: Interpol alerted 188 member states to look for disguised bombs after claim of responsibility in UPS Boeing 747-400 freighter en route from Dubai United Arab Emirates to Cologne Germany.
Where: Dubai
When: Sep 3 2010
Who: 2 crew
Why: The crew reported smoke and fire in the cockpit and was returning to Dubai International Airport, failed to land and crashed.

See UPS Boeing Crashes in Dubai

Evidence from examination of the scene and the black boxes does not point to an explosion, however the claim will be investigated, according to the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The “Orange Notice” issued by Interpol on Saturday will be published. The warning came days after several packages were intercepted shipped from Yemin in mid-September, possibly a test run for an Al-Qaeda attack.

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Is the so-called upcoming pilot shortage a scare tactic?

Several factors will be contributing to an upcoming pilot shortage:

  • In the summer of 2013, newly hired pilots will be required to have 1,500 hours of prior flight experience—six times the current minimum
  • Upcoming (2014) Federal Safety Rule fatigue laws decrease flight time
  • Senior pilots hitting mandatory retirement at 65
  • Tight airline budgets, costs cut

So the question is is the so-called upcoming pilot shortage a trumped-up scare tactic by the airlines to get themselves wiggle room in the face of regulations they’ve had years to prepare to comply with?

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CAPTAIN’S INAPPROPRIATE ACTIONS LED TO CRASH OF FLIGHT 3407 IN CLARENCE CENTER, NEW YORK, NTSB SAYS

NTSB PRESS RELEASE

National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2010
SB-10-02

CAPTAIN’S INAPPROPRIATE ACTIONS LED TO CRASH OF FLIGHT 3407 IN CLARENCE CENTER, NEW YORK, NTSB SAYS

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the
captain of Colgan Air flight 3407 inappropriately responded
to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an
aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover.
In a report adopted today in a public Board meeting in
Washington, additional flight crew failures were noted as
causal to the accident.

On February 12, 2009, a Colgan Air, Inc., Bombardier DHC-8-
400, N200WQ, operating as Continental Connection flight
3407, was on an instrument approach to Buffalo-Niagara
International Airport, Buffalo, New York, when it crashed
into a residence in Clarence Center, New York, about 5
nautical miles northeast of the airport. The 2 pilots, 2
flight attendants, and 45 passengers aboard the airplane
were killed, one person on the ground was killed, and the
airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash
fire. The flight was a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
Part 121 scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey.
Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the
time of the accident.

The report states that, when the stick shaker activated to
warn the flight crew of an impending aerodynamic stall, the
captain should have responded correctly to the situation by
pushing forward on the control column. However, the
captain inappropriately pulled aft on the control column and
placed the airplane into an accelerated aerodynamic stall.

Contributing to the cause of the accident were the
Crewmembers’ failure to recognize the position of the
low-speed cue on their flight displays, which indicated that
the stick shaker was about to activate, and their failure to
adhere to sterile cockpit procedures. Other contributing
factors were the captain’s failure to effectively manage the
flight and Colgan Air’s inadequate procedures for airspeed
selection and management during approaches in icing
conditions.

As a result of this accident investigation, the Safety Board
issued recommendations to the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) regarding strategies to prevent flight
crew monitoring failures, pilot professionalism, fatigue,
remedial training, pilot records, stall training, and
airspeed selection procedures. Additional recommendations
address FAA’s oversight and use of safety alerts for
operators to transmit safety-critical information, flight
operational quality assurance (FOQA) programs, use of
personal portable electronic devices on the flight deck, and
weather information provided to pilots.

At today’s meeting, the Board announced that two issues that
had been encountered in the Colgan Air investigation would
be studied at greater length in proceedings later this year.
The Board will hold a public forum this Spring exploring
pilot and air traffic control high standards. This
accident was one in a series of incidents investigated by
the Board in recent years – including a mid-air collision
over the Hudson River that raised questions of air traffic
control vigilance, and the Northwest Airlines incident last
year where the airliner overflew its destination airport in
Minneapolis because the pilots were distracted by non-flying
activities – that have involved air transportation
professionals deviating from expected levels of performance.
In addition, this Fall the Board will hold a public forum
on code sharing, the practice of airlines marketing their
services to the public while using other companies to
actually perform the transportation. For example, this
accident occurred on a Continental Connection flight,
although the transportation was provided by Colgan Air.

A summary of the findings of the Board’s report are
available on the NTSB’s website at:
http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2010/AAR1001.htm
-30-

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4000 Pilots Under the Eye After Fake Pilots Fly for Air India
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4000 Pilots Under the Eye After Fake Pilots Fly for Air India


Four pilot impersonators, including Air India Captain JK Verma and Indigo’s Parminder Kaur discussed in the video below, were caught flying without proper licenses which has led to a countrywide pilot probe, seeking more fake pilots and shady flight schools. It has been discovered that bogus certificates were used to endow pilots with licenses. Sham pilots were found to be flying for Air India. Pilot Arjun Giare was caught cheating on in US pilots and his US license cancelled, but is currently flying for Air India. Discrepancies were found in certificates from a school in Delhi, the Chinmaya Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Vasant Vihar. Some flying schools appear to be sanctioning fake pilots; it is not known if this school is one of them.

The falsified documents have forced the India’s aviation authorities to examine 4000 pilot licenses for irregularities. Although the director general of civil aviation, Baharat Bhushan said that fake licenses are few, how can he know this is true before the investigation? There is a documented history of corruption, including 57 pilots who were being prosecuted for drunkenness on duty.

With no disrespect for the decedents who are not here to defend themselves, for the sake of those passengers who lost their lives, this is just a question that requires examination:

What about the licenses of Captain Zlatko Glušica, and first officer H.S. Ahluwalia—the pilots in the Air India Express Flight 812 crash in May of 2010—were they legitimate? Plato said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” We can not be children and avoid the truth. We can not be afraid of knowing. For the sake of those who are now lost, and in the interest of justice, we need to shine the light of truth into that May 2010 cockpit, and in fact all cockpits where a pretender may be placing lives at risk..

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NTSB Safety Recommendations

National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that The
Air Care Alliance:

Require voluntary pilot organizations to verify pilot
currency before every flight. (A-10-102)

Require that voluntary pilot organizations inform
passengers, at the time of inquiry about a flight, that the
charitable medical flight would not be conducted under the
same standards that apply to a commercial flight (such as
under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 or Part 135).
(A-10-103)

In conjunction with your affiliate organizations and other
charitable medical transport organizations, develop,
disseminate, and require all voluntary pilot organizations
to implement written safety guidance, best practices, and
training material for volunteer pilots who operate
charitable patient transport flights under 14 Code of
Federal Regulations Part 91. The information should address,
at a minimum, aeronautical decision-making; proper preflight
planning; pilot qualification, training, and currency; and
self-induced pressure. (A-10-104)

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