Jazz fleet grounded

snag · Post by **snag** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:55 pm

Ok guys, I know most of you are pilots, but IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME. The bigger problem is in the ground logistics.

Ok, so the RJ pilot pulls out a whiz wheel and draws drift lines on his map for his flight from Toronto to Calgary. Say that by some lucky event he makes his pre-scheduled slot time for gate and airspace. There's still a major problem to be had.

Count how many people have to be on all those flights out of a busy base like YVR, YYC, YYZ etc. on a given day. It's in the thousands. There's no way to keep a paper copy of everyone's name, booking number, destination etc. etc. etc....How fast can you hand write boarding passes, while manually assigning seats and taking into consideration through passengers, connections. Now cancel some of the connections due to the delays and re-do all the work. Repeat the process for all the baggage and cargo.

Maybe you geniuses could have saved it on your cessna 152, 15 mile crosscountry, and felt all high and mighty about it. Maybe you still handwrite all your correspondence, and mistake the cd drive for a cup-holder. But computers are now the only things that make national, and multi-national business possible, and airlines are no exception. Without them, there is no choice but to stop operations.

My 2 cents. (oh yeah...and add all the stuff KAG just mentioned)

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:36 pm

Hi snag

I know that it is about more than just the pilots. We all work in a highly complex structure of regulations, weather, airports, slot times, ground handling etc. Thats the reason for all the people required to get even one aircraft off the ground. I'm not saying we don't need dispatchers, quite the opposite in fact. What I am saying is that there should be contingencies in place so as not to totally shut down operations, costing the company money and creating mega grief for our customers. I'm sure flight crew and Ops could put thier heads together and get the wheels in motion without all the bells and whistles.

We have enough reasons for ops to grind to a halt. It would be nice to eliminate one.

BTW, what's a drift line?

KAG · Post by **KAG** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:07 pm

...there was a backup, it failed too...

Dust Devil · Post by **Dust Devil** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:55 pm

I'm pretty sure westjet wouldn't have been grounded. They know that if the planes don't fly then money doesn't come in. They would have found a solution.

FOX-UNIFORM · Post by **FOX-UNIFORM** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:27 pm

WOW... I THINK SOMEONE WORKS FOR WESTJET!!!!!!

Dust Devil · Post by **Dust Devil** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:30 pm

KIAS · Post by **KIAS** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:52 pm

Yeah, and if they wanted too, Wesjet could also find the secret to cold-fusion and time travel.

abc xyz · Post by **abc xyz** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:56 pm

Dust Devil wrote:I'm pretty sure westjet wouldn't have been grounded. They know that if the planes don't fly then money doesn't come in. They would have found a solution.

like hacking into AC's flt planning systems by chance??? they are old pros

Dust Devil · Post by **Dust Devil** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:01 pm

abc xyz wrote:
Dust Devil wrote:I'm pretty sure westjet wouldn't have been grounded. They know that if the planes don't fly then money doesn't come in. They would have found a solution.
like hacking into AC's flt planning systems by chance??? they are old pros

Whatever gets the job done. In the end the customer didn't give a shit that they did that. Although I will say that I did get good customer service from AC today when I cancelled a flight. other than being on hold for 30 min the rep I spoke with was very polite.

Dash-Ate · Post by **Dash-Ate** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:27 pm

abc xyz wrote:
Dust Devil wrote:I'm pretty sure westjet wouldn't have been grounded. They know that if the planes don't fly then money doesn't come in. They would have found a solution.
like hacking into AC's flt planning systems by chance??? they are old pros

0WNED!!

ajet32 · Post by **ajet32** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:59 pm

If and I say If you have a provision in the Company Operations Manual and an approval for pilot self dispatch you could operate. If you do not then TC would violate you so fast your head wouldn't stop spinning and CP's and Ops Mgr types would be looking for new work. Westjet has to follow the same CARS as Jazz ,So it won't help if there isn't approval to opersate. Dispatch and operational control are what its all about no matter how cool you are or what you may tell you customers. That is just the way it is folks.

bcflyer · Post by **bcflyer** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:50 pm

There is no provision for pilot self dispatch at Jazz.

WJflyer · Post by **WJflyer** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:10 am

Just arrived at my final destination, a little worst for wear, thanks to Air Canada. I think I arrived in one piece, I think *checks*.

sweetgal · Post by **sweetgal** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:17 am

ground crew has a backup system as far as I know. I worked as a ground passenger service agent for Air Transat not too long ago at Mirabel airport. And guess what? We hand wrote boarding passes and assigned seats with little stickers. No computers at Mirabel airport since they were shutting down. When I worked for Jetsgo (very briefly) at Dorval airport we were on computers but were also taught in our training the manual check in procedures in case computer failed. We always had that ready. So the real problem was I think with flight following and all that stuff.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:51 am

It was a switch that failed requiring a hardware replacement and a complete reconfiguration.

whiteguy · Post by **whiteguy** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:54 am

Dust Devil wrote:I'm pretty sure westjet wouldn't have been grounded. They know that if the planes don't fly then money doesn't come in. They would have found a solution.

Actually WS was grounded once before because their computer system crashed not to long ago.

Rebel · Post by **Rebel** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:58 pm

Jazz CEO comments on computer system outage experienced this week. Earlier this week, Air Canada Jazz experienced a computer system outage which caused a number of cancellations and delays to its flights. In a message to message to Jazz employees, Joe Randell, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated the following:

“The computer system outage we experienced this week had a significant impact on our operation and on our administrative functions. The problem was caused by a CORE Network Switch failure, including the redundant failover capabilities of this platform. Unfortunately, this required both replacement hardware and a full restorative re-configuration of the switching platform. A thorough review of this incident is underway and measures will be taken to ensure a similar incident does not happen in the future. I know you share my regret for the inconvenience this incident caused our customers. I was very impressed with many of our employees who demonstrated grace under pressure, and who persevered through our challenges until they were overcome. There are too many people to mention, but special thanks must go to our operational staff and Information Systems for going above and beyond. We are fortunate to have such a great team. Following a disruption of this magnitude, it i! s important for us to regain our customers’ trust in our ability to provide them safe, reliable, professional and friendly service. I know I can rely on our people to help us achieve this.”

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:56 pm

" Ok, so the RJ pilot pulls out a whiz wheel and draws drift lines on his map "

I never could figure out why anyone would draw drift lines on a map.

I never had to and I'm not lost.

Jazz fleet grounded

Jazz Grounded