You and your FO are driving to the airport...

M

minitour

New Member
He's driving. You're in the back seat. He gets in a pretty bad car wreck due to his own driving, almost flips the car, scares the out of you, doesn't damage the car aside from a few blown tires and rattled nerves and everyone's okay. Lucky, but okay.

You let dispatch know that you're going to be a while and explain the situation. They ask if they should send another crew to cover the trip (after asking if everyone's okay). It's your show time right now, but you've got 2 hours before you REALLY have to be in the air to meet your pax at the first stop.

...Do you tell them.

A) Absolutely send another crew and another plane. I'm going back to the hotel.
B) Give me 10 minutes to see how we feel.
C) No. We'll be late, but we'll make it.
D) Something else.

Discuss.

-mini
 
Tell them to send an other FO, b/c the one you have me with is on the ground with my foot on his neck, saying something about how he can't breath. As for the situation, here is a very sad story. Friend of mine hit pretty good in an accident, felt fine, but like 6 hours later after going home had an seizure. This happens more and more as people try to tough it out. I remember when I was 16 got my first head trama, doctor says, just a small concussion, all he says is go home and don't sleep for like 8 to 10 hours. If you do someone needs to wake you up. Move forward, I was in collage, playing sports, same thing happens, I was in a CT with in 2 hours. In the hospital for 2 days. It might be lawyers but it might be knowledge. You were on company time, they have other crews, use them. Your PAX will understand.
 
A

There is no way I'm going to operate an airplane after being in a car accident. Plus, there's a reason the company keeps pilots on reserve, and if they're junior, they would want to fly anyway.
 
You are both likely suffering from some form of shock, trauma, anxiety or whatever. I think getting a replacement crew would give you both time to recover from any known or unknown issues resulting from the accident. And if you did decide to accept the assignment, you really couldn't count on the other guy to keep an eye on you since he may be as screwed up as you are.
 
minitour said:
He's driving. You're in the back seat. He gets in a pretty bad car wreck due to his own driving, almost flips the car, scares the out of you, doesn't damage the car aside from a few blown tires and rattled nerves and everyone's okay. Lucky, but okay.

You let dispatch know that you're going to be a while and explain the situation. They ask if they should send another crew to cover the trip (after asking if everyone's okay). It's your show time right now, but you've got 2 hours before you REALLY have to be in the air to meet your pax at the first stop.

...Do you tell them.

A) Absolutely send another crew and another plane. I'm going back to the hotel.
B) Give me 10 minutes to see how we feel.
C) No. We'll be late, but we'll make it.
D) Something else.

Discuss.

-mini
Click to expand...


Let the other crew fly. Go to the hotel, or better yet, go to the hospital. I'm no doctor, but I know from picking the brains of medical types that after sudden jolts and impact forces there can be events that don't develop immediately. Even if sudden hard impact isn't a factor, sudden peak levels of stress can also cause serious problems.

I'm not really sure how bad your accident was, but if it was bad enough to question going, don't go. If you weren't sure you should go, get looked at.
 
SFLAX said:
Tell them to send an other FO, b/c the one you have me with is on the ground with my foot on his neck, saying something about how he can't breath.
Click to expand...
LOL. Good answer. Good tip about head trauma too. Head injuries literally turn people into walking deadmen.

Not sure about other people's airlines, companies and what have you, but if a head injury, no matter how minor, is known, go to the hospital and have it checked out.
 
I absolutely do NOT let Captains ride in my car. If there's ever a time that we're stuck and have to rent a car, I'll rent my own out of my pocket. I just don't have much use for them.
 
SteveC said:
Seriously, sitting in the back? What's the deal, does he smell bad or something?

:D
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hahahaha

No, I was in a hotel. He was at home (a/c was at his home "base" ... not that we have those), so he picked me up was driving, wife in front pax seat and me in the back.

-mini
 
I had a similar situation happen to me last year that I should have handled differently. Driving to the airport on a Sunday morning to airline out to one of our maintenance bases, I hit a big old deer on the interstate going 75. It hopped over the divider and I never even had a chance to slow for it. I was okay (the deer was pieces and mush), but the car wasn't drivable and had to be towed. I call crew scheduling (FIRST MISTAKE) to let them know I wouldn't be making my airline because I was still a good hour away from the airport, and the first thing the scheduler (of course I got one of the few not-so-good ones) says is not "are you okay" but, "well what time do you think you can get there? We really need you for this maintenance flight before you time out tonight because the captain is airlining home tomorrow morning and there's a possibility that a second maintenance flight will be needed early in the morning." :whatever:

Uhhhhh, ok... well let's see genius, I just wrecked the hell out of my car, I'm stranded an hour away from EWR and a good 40 minutes from home, sitting in a packed Denny's (it was Father's Day) next door to the place they towed it to, in semi-uniform with my bags, people are looking at me like I just arrived from another galaxy, I have no means of getting anywhere useful and the nearest rental car was probably AT Newark. I'm a little shaken but not bad, more just tired and pissed off (had only had the car three weeks), but I'm a git-er-done kind of guy and had no way to get home anyways, so I tell scheduling to go ahead and put me on the next flight leaving in a few hours and I'll find a way to get there (SECOND MISTAKE).

Without thinking to get a control number for reimbursement first, I call up the sedan service we use in the NYC area to come get me (THIRD MISTAKE). $300 ride (yes, three hundred)... awesome, figure the company will be cool about paying for it since I'm busting my ass to get down there and help them out (eventually they reimbursed some but not all). Get to the airport, flight is delayed for a couple hours after we board, don't get to GSO until late at night and had timed out hours ago. Obviously the maintenance flight wasn't going to happen and I needed extra rest. They extend the captain's next day to fit in the maintenance flights in late morning which means he won't get home until really late at night. I catch up with him in the hotel lobby, and I'm apologizing for his go-home day getting all screwed up because of me being late. He looks at me and says, "dude, don't even think about worrying about it. Why are you even here? I would've told them to piss off and gone home for a day or two." :D

So... don't do what I did. It really isn't worth the stress and distraction. If this ever happens again, instead of calling crew scheduling, I'll call the on-duty ACP. Had I done that from the start, they would have just taken me off the trip no questions asked and sent another F/O. I let myself get lured by crew scheduling into getting it done. I'll then get my ass home, have a beer, and chill out. The next day I'll take care of the insurance, rental car, and repair arrangements (which I ended up doing all while on the road that week), and the day after that, if everything is squared away, I'll go to work. Lesson learned. :)
 
minitour said:
He's driving. You're in the back seat. He gets in a pretty bad car wreck due to his own driving, almost flips the car, scares the out of you, doesn't damage the car aside from a few blown tires and rattled nerves and everyone's okay. Lucky, but okay.

You let dispatch know that you're going to be a while and explain the situation. They ask if they should send another crew to cover the trip (after asking if everyone's okay). It's your show time right now, but you've got 2 hours before you REALLY have to be in the air to meet your pax at the first stop.

...Do you tell them.

A) Absolutely send another crew and another plane. I'm going back to the hotel.
B) Give me 10 minutes to see how we feel.
C) No. We'll be late, but we'll make it.
D) Something else.

Discuss.

-mini
Click to expand...

You're really talking about that hard landing after the long descent from 12,000 ft with the turtle poking his head out, aren't you? :D
 
It's very interesting this thread was started a couple weeks ago.

Today I had an incident of my own driving to work in my rental car on my way to TEB. We were scheduled to bring our customer back home today at 12:30, so I left my aunt and uncle's house in CT early to get a head start on the morning. Unfortunately an illegal immigrant and his lawn cutting co-workers lost control of their car on the two lane state road we were on (in opposite directions) and plowed into my vehicle. He had no DL, no insurance....just his mexican passport.

Both side curtain airbags on my side went off which, along with my seatbelt, certainly saved me from a great deal more injury than the sore neck I have now.

Until today I've never been in a wreck before. Today has made me a firm believer that the most dangerous part of my day is the drive to and from work.

Drive safely guys and gals.
 
WoW---so sorry to hear what happened to you today. Glad you weren't more seriously injured.
 
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