Question for the Pinnacle guys

[BobDDuck]

"Nose wheel steering doesn't work."
"We fixed it."
"...yeah, but it doesn't work."

About a year ago I got a plane that had been sidelined for MX earlier in the day. It had been written up as "left engine won't start". Apparently the crew that had it at that point swapped to a spare, MX went to work on it (replaced the air starter) and then put it back into service which is how we got it. Anyhow, I double checked that the squawk was actually signed off as fixed (it said "multiple engine starts. Op checks good") boarded up our people, started the right engine and taxied out. Of course when we go to start the left engine out near the runway it doesn't work.

I call MX and after the Controller spends 5 minutes trying to convince me I am doing something wrong because they "just fixed this problem earlier today" I tell him I'm going back to the gate and they can look at it there.

Of course, when I actually take time to reread what MX did to fix the problem I discover that they "removed and replaced the right engine air starter". Err... the right engine was working just fine.

 

[kellwolf]

DHed down to GLH to pick up a newly painted airplane the other day. Now, these things are flown back on a ferry permit because they need a MX inspection to make sure nothing crucial was covered up/broken off, the RVSM is deferred (no biggie since we never even see FL200 much less FL290) and CAT II is deferred. The service check is normally a week out of date as well, so you need the ferry permit for the open write ups.

Well, they KNEW this airplane was good to go at about 11 am that morning at the latest. It's when it was put on my schedule. The FO knew about it an hour or so before that, and the guys at the paint shop called and requested a crew to fly it out before that. So, we show up around 4 pm-ish. NONE of the MX paperwork has been sent their way. When we show up at the airport, they normally have someone there to drive us over to the hangar. No one was there, so I call MOC. They call the paint guys and they're shocked the company actually sent a crew the same day. So, after prodding, pushing and several phone calls.....we leave about an hour and a half after we were supposed to leave. Simply the Best, I tell ya. The hold up? MX had the plane as "out of service," so dispatch couldn't even release us.

 

[aviategw]

Either that or "Come back with your Flagship."

Did a series of MEM flights last week for the first time. (So far, I think I like it: BBQ is a good thing.)

Respectfully, though, I experienced more than a bit of "We don't like you because you are ASA and not Pinnacle...". This was something I noticed in both actions and attitude. The week before, the Captain told me about 9E rampers refusing to start the a/c, deferred LCV/APU, with a huffer until contract mx was called in. I also heard stories of rampers ignoring ASA planes to work the 9E/others first. In Atlanta, I'm used to the rampers not liking everyone, including the home town ASA. Do they really like the home town folks in MEM more? That would be kinda cool to experience...

 

[minitour]

They never said. We just got a note at the bottom of the release that said we weren't supposed to mention "Pinnacle" or "Delta Connection," just "Delta flight 1234." About a week after it got out, a new one came out saying we could say "Delta Connection," but to refrain from mentioning "Pinnacle Airlines."

I'm a little late to the game here, so you'll have to excuse me for being redundant if I am but....

Isn't that a huge operational control issue?

We had guidance that we had to tell every customer exactly who our certificate holder is. We may be flying a trip for (insert broker) or (insert frax that couldn't cover it so they chartered it out to us), but we had to tell them exactly who we were due to operational control issues.

Wasn't that a concern?

-mini

 

[higney85]

MX in MEM typically does huffer starts (bottle operation) although apparently the rampers are being trained.

 

[SmoothLanderJ]

Did a series of MEM flights last week for the first time. (So far, I think I like it: BBQ is a good thing.)

Respectfully, though, I experienced more than a bit of "We don't like you because you are ASA and not Pinnacle...". This was something I noticed in both actions and attitude. The week before, the Captain told me about 9E rampers refusing to start the a/c, deferred LCV/APU, with a huffer until contract mx was called in. I also heard stories of rampers ignoring ASA planes to work the 9E/others first. In Atlanta, I'm used to the rampers not liking everyone, including the home town ASA. Do they really like the home town folks in MEM more? That would be kinda cool to experience...

Im going to go ahead and say no to this. As far as I can tell, they treat everyone equally....this is just MY opinion. As far as the Mesaba pilots go we know were all one big happy DCI family now so hey.....welcome to MEM and enjoy the BBQ. LOL!

 

[kellwolf]

Respectfully, though, I experienced more than a bit of "We don't like you because you are ASA and not Pinnacle...". This was something I noticed in both actions and attitude. The week before, the Captain told me about 9E rampers refusing to start the a/c, deferred LCV/APU, with a huffer until contract mx was called in. I also heard stories of rampers ignoring ASA planes to work the 9E/others first. In Atlanta, I'm used to the rampers not liking everyone, including the home town ASA. Do they really like the home town folks in MEM more? That would be kinda cool to experience...

If it was any of our pilots giving you that attitude, I apologize. We've got some guys here that think we own the airport because we're based here. They get a little hacked off because ASA is pretty much owning the A concourse, which is where our operations is located. Most of us have to make a hike from B or C to check out on the computer. Honestly, I really couldn't care less. I'm still in the left seat, so I just try to lay low until I can get the frack out of the regional rat race anyway.

As for the rampers....welcome to MEM. I don't know about the whole waiting to park 9E airplanes first. I've never seen it first hand in MEM, but I HAVE seen XJ -900s and Saabs get parked before us in MSP, so it's not unheard of.

The huffer thing is kinda weird. MX has been doing the huffer starts in MEM, but recently it was decided that the rampers would do it. At first, it was a "Here's the huffer, go start the plane" with little to no training. I think someone wised up (or called the FAA), and they're putting rampers through training now. If they insisted on waiting for MX, it was probably a ramp crew that either a) wasn't trained yet or b) wasn't comfortable doing a huffer start due to poor training.

As for the ramper attitude, they generally don't like pilots in general. We like to do things by the book, and I often get the "'tude" from the rampers when I make them stick to the protocols for a non-working headset, even if it means blocking back in and making the flight late.

 

[ctab5060X]

If it was any of our pilots giving you that attitude, I apologize.

Same here. We are all in this together... no need to have attitudes toward another carrier.

As for the rampers....welcome to MEM. I don't know about the whole waiting to park 9E airplanes first. I've never seen it first hand in MEM, but I HAVE seen XJ -900s and Saabs get parked before us in MSP, so it's not unheard of.

As for the ramper attitude, they generally don't like pilots in general. We like to do things by the book, and I often get the "'tude" from the rampers when I make them stick to the protocols for a non-working headset, even if it means blocking back in and making the flight late.

:yeahthat:

If you want a good example of how the rampers treat the flight crews in MEM, tune into ops for a little bit during the push and try and keep track of how many times the same airplane calls for the same service. Nothing on ops... they can only pass on the message, but we had to call for lav service 3 times yesterday with the lav cart parked in front of the airplane. After the third call (and when we were almost ready to go) a ramper slowly walked out and got on the cart. They honestly looked like they were upset they were actually going to have to do some work.