"Maintenanced" Again...?

Zidac

Zidac

Well-Known Member
I use that term loosely, of course. Yes, my cancelled launch could be because my theoretical plane is sitting in a theoretical hangar being serviced for some theoretical issue, but it seems more likely to be the result of flights going overtime and generally being over-capacity. If anyone has a firm reason why these are referred to as "Mx cancellations" then by all means, let me know as I am trying to understand. The explanations I have heard thus far have been rather flimsy.

Either way, has anyone else been having an issue with flights being cancelled due to a lack of available Cessnas during your scheduled launch time? I'm on pace to have 4-5 Mx cancellations this semester and I'm curious as to whether that's normal, unlucky, or an indication that the school is particularly over-capacity this year.
 
Well technically there's always a C172 in maintenance, so theoretically "your plane" could be the one in MX, because the airplane you were originally supposed to have is late. It makes sense, but doesn't. That's all I can think of.
 
FAYEV said:
Well technically there's always a C172 in maintenance, so theoretically "your plane" could be the one in MX, because the airplane you were originally supposed to have is late. It makes sense, but doesn't. That's all I can think of.
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I do understand the idea. However, that only works if the cancellations occur at a rate that does not exceed 1 person per plane in maintenance, per launch period. For example, if 5 people are simultaneously Mx cancelled while only 2 planes are truly in maintenance, that reasoning falls apart.
 
Few issues going on here.

1. Blatant schedule abuse by CFIs (I'm looking at you, instructors who are throwing launches in willy-nilly because your internationals need PDPIC time and you don't care if it takes 2 launches to get a plane).
2. In line with above, stage check force adds over-saturating launch blocks creating an over-scheduled situation.
2. IFR airspace/frequency congestion at GFK causing 222/323/415 lessons to run long.
3. Poor satellite airport/traffic pattern utilization due to a number of reasons (practice area airports closed due to runway conditions, for one).
4. Late dispatched launches causing late returns.

I'm sure the higher-ups will have some insights on it when we have our next Flight Ops meeting next week, but for now you just have to roll with it. The key to 102 is to be flexible and hope that your instructor can be the same.
 
I never had a mx cancel in the Cessna. There must be something else going on this semester. I had one in the Seminole because the very first flight of the day actually had a maintenance issue, and they were a plane short for the rest of the day.

Also, LOL at "PDPIC" time. But that's another topic.
 
thevideographer said:
I had one in the Seminole because the very first flight of the day actually had a maintenance issue, and they were a plane short for the rest of the day.
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Yeah the Seminole fleet is becoming increasingly breakdown-prone. That fleet is in for a semester of abuse if the demand for multi training is to be believed. Maintenance has been advised that if a Seminole goes down, it goes to the front of the line for attention. Thus far, my Seminole students have been pretty lucky with getting airplanes, and I've only had 2 C172 launches canceled due to not being able to get a plane.
 
Zidac said:
I do understand the idea. However, that only works if the cancellations occur at a rate that does not exceed 1 person per plane in maintenance, per launch period. For example, if 5 people are simultaneously Mx cancelled while only 2 planes are truly in maintenance, that reasoning falls apart.
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It's all BS semantics. It's just easier for dispatch to say "MX cancel" rather than, "CFI Cool Aviators and his student Future Jet Pilot are late coming back". Theoretically "MX cancel" also means, "this airplane that you were supposed to fly just lost a wing, so it's in MX, therefore no airplane for you". Because the cancellation process is the same, it's all just lumped together as "MX cancel".
 
thevideographer said:
Are there plans for more Seminoles? It seems like we could use about 3 more.
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Not anytime soon. We can't get our hands on any more Avidyne-equipped Seminoles, and they don't want to operate a mixed-fleet G500/Avidyne fleet. The stance from the administration at this point is that they're waiting until they can begin a transition to an all-G1000 fleet, which for the Seminoles will likely not happen for a few years yet as the newest birds (598 and 599) are less than 2 years old.
 
With this weather, and airplane availability, scheduling has turned straight upside down. I now schedule my launches a week in advance, during the student's launch time, with the expectation that some will weather or mx and we will do a briefing instead. So far, that has helped keep students rolling and my paycheck trickling in. The only exception is 325 where I know there's alot of briefings and sims compared to flights, until the first stage is finished.
 
Schedule abuse for sure. Just go into AIMS and type in any instructor code. I've seen several CFI's schedule flights with the same student for 3 blocks of time on lessons that clearly aren't XCs about 3 or more days a week. I view that is just in case and you're not available at 3 but there is no plane after words so we will put it in for 2:30 and schedule another plane to fix that problem.
 
I never would have finished 323 on time if my instructor hadn't scheduled every available block. We did fly most of them when the weather was good, and when the weather turned bad we had another block ready to go when it improved.
 
Oldschool Pilot said:
Schedule abuse for sure. Just go into AIMS and type in any instructor code. I've seen several CFI's schedule flights with the same student for 3 blocks of time on lessons that clearly aren't XCs about 3 or more days a week. I view that is just in case and you're not available at 3 but there is no plane after words so we will put it in for 2:30 and schedule another plane to fix that problem.
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Don't be so fast to judge.....How do you know what that instructor's plans are? Im just saying, "most" people have valid reasons for scheduling multiple launches.
 
middies10 said:
Don't be so fast to judge.....How do you know what that instructor's plans are? Im just saying, "most" people have valid reasons for scheduling multiple launches.
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Cant you creep on other instructors launches by selecting their identifier in AIMS? Unless it has changes...;)
 
av8or91 said:
Cant you creep on other instructors launches by selecting their identifier in AIMS? Unless it has changes...;)
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Actually, you cannot creep anymore. If you type in a CFI who isn't you (not sure how this works with students) into the instructor ident box, it throws an error out at you instead.
 
gotWXdagain said:
Actually, you cannot creep anymore. If you type in a CFI who isn't you (not sure how this works with students) into the instructor ident box, it throws an error out at you instead.
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What's worse is the open transaction report is gone. Now when they invoice my students under the wrong CFI 4-letter (had it happen 5 times this semester already) we have no way of knowing what to put on the stupid invoice correction...
 
If it's 2 minutes before a launch sequence, and you pull through Bravo ramp in a Skyhawk and ask dispatch if you can shut it down there so one more person on the launch sequence can get an airplane and go on their lesson, one would think it would be wise for dispatch to approve that. They didn't, and we didn't get back onto charlie until two minutes after that launch sequence (still back prior to the end of mine).

Unfortunately, Dispatch's hands are tied on this one, Line has the authority as to where the airplanes are parked. The reason they didn't want us to shut down on Bravo is because if we had a discrepancy, line would have to tow it over to Charlie (to free up space on Bravo when everyone comes back at the end of the night?).
 
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