Bird strike, crew delay flight

Shirley Sammut

Oct 15th 2008, 17:10

Dear Mr Enriquez may i assure you that cabin crew are primarily safety officers & serving coffee comes second to whatever may affect the safety of a flight. Pilots are primarily responsible for the plane but ask anyone who has survived a crash WHO got them out of the plane!!! Incidentally, it shows that you haven't flown out of the country for years since duty free sales on board were abolished when Malta joined the EU.

Mr Gauci, do you even realise that Air Malta flights originate from Malta??? The Sofia flight is combined with Istanbul & duty starts at 23.25 on Sunday night - so when the cabin crew landed in Sofia early Mon morning they had been on duty all night & had already worked 2 sectors - I'm sure they didn't delay it just for the fun of it.

Flight duty limitations are imposed by the EU & vary according to day or night - if these time limits are exceeded & safety is compromised, where do you think fingers will point??? By the way, who says that the pilots, who have the same limitations, didn't refuse too???

l Galea

Oct 14th 2008, 21:28

Ronnie Gauci
Times stipulated in regulations have been drafted after years of experience and studies.

They are there to make sure that the crew are at all times fully alert, since after a certain time you will become slower in your reaction time.

It is true that the autopilot is used during the flight, but the crew have to be fully alert all the time to take any necessary action without any hesitation and in the minimum amount of time.

This also applies and more so when the aircraft is taking off or landing and whether it was a short or long flight doesn't make any difference to the required safety and reaction times.

You have to remember that you are flying where you have to have split second reaction and not simply driving on the road, even though you still need fast reaction times so much so that driving time limits are also applicable.

There should be no compromise with safety at all costs.

Noel Enriquez

Oct 14th 2008, 18:20

My I just remind you that it's the Cabin crew involved here not the Flight crew, the Flight crew do the flying, and the autopilot is operated by the flight crew. The cabin crew serve coffee and sell duty-free items!! The Flight crew did not refuse to fly.

Ronnie Gauci

Oct 14th 2008, 17:35

I slightly agree with Mr Galea but usually this reasoning is done if the exceeded flight time is prior to a long flight and then everybody knows that nowadays apart from 50% of take off and landing the auto-pilot does all the flying.

Safety first always but one has to be reasonably practicable, they were going to fly Sofia-Malta not New York-Sydney.

l Galea

Oct 14th 2008, 15:23

@Ronnie Gauci
What would you say if God forbid an accident had happened and it turned out that the regulations were not observed not to keep the passengers waiting?

Regulations are there to be observed, especially when you have an aircraft in flight.

Ronnie Gauci

Oct 14th 2008, 14:12

Air Malta should deduct the expenses from their salaries. For a 60 minute flight one cannot strand 123 passengers in a foreign country also considering the burden put on their company in such difficult times.

l Galea

Oct 14th 2008, 09:34

Air Malta, SAFETY FIRST AND FOREMOST.

Regulations are there to be observed.