I know all of you have been working on your Noticing Skills, therefore, I will now give you a Pop Quiz. I know this is hard but do your best.
What’s strange about this paragraph from the WSJ on January 31, 2016?...
“United Continental holdings, Inc. is taking the unusual step of calling back all 12,000 of its pilots for an extra training day over the next three months, an aggressive response to a spate of serious safety incidents more than a year ago and to prepare for looming changes facing the industry.”
I can see that all too many of you did not see anything strange. For those of you that did see the strange, I am proud to be your leader & your inspiration as you advance in your quest to become Really Picky.
There are three points that should have caught your eye...
- Aggressive Response
- Serious Safety Incidents
- More Than a Year Ago
If they were being Aggressive about the Serious, why has it taken More Than a Year to address the Serious?
Later in the article my concerns expressed above were reinforced by how United reacted on February 25, 2015...
“United considered them serious enough to send a dramatic two-page safety bulletin to its pilots early last year.”
Did the Dramatic Bulletin Dramatically say something to this effect?...
“This is kind of situation United will not put up with & we will be taking action to remedy these violations. However, it is Basketball Season & shortly the College National Championship Games will be upon us, which will be followed by the NBA Playoffs & then, before you know it, it will be NFL Football Season. We will get seriously concerned about this right after the Super Bowl next year. Until then, be very careful.”
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: I don’t mean to be picky…Or do I? but I have done a bit of flying back in the old days & I must quibble about something I saw in the link “to a spate of serious safety incidents” above. In it, one of the Safety Violations against United Pilots was, “Another flight cited in the document landed with less than the mandatory-minimum fuel reserves”. Now I ask you, what were they supposed to do, keep circling the airport until the fuel reserves got back up above Mandatory-Minimum?
It’s not easy being me.
