Finally the end of a Central Alberta charter company. The poorly funded and managed charter operation finally shuts the doors.
Based on experience, stay away from central Alberta! There is no oportunity. Lots of money, but no oportunity.
Best of luck to all in the industry!!!
Regards,
Signature Airways
Moderators: lilfssister, North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, I WAS Birddog
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puckeredhoop
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puckeredhoop
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Bag run
I heard they were doing a great job filling in on Alta-Flights poor dispatch rate out of Calgary.
All the best to those who made that happen for the last year and a half.
Best of luck in the future...............................
All the best to those who made that happen for the last year and a half.
Best of luck in the future...............................
Are you talking about Parkland Air who used to be Signature out of Red Deer. If so that's too bad. You don't happen to know why or exactly when they shut down do you. I only ask because I know one of their pilots and but I haven't heard from that person in a while and they didn't say anything about any trouble last time I did talk to them. As well best of luck to all who were there.
Heartland
Heartland
Parkland/Signature was doing some work for Altaflights on the bagrun, but had some OC problems with transport about 2 weeks ago. I heard that Carson air and Integra are taking over the majority of the bagrun on Mon. and that layoff notices are on the way for some AltaFlights people. I'm not starting an anti Altaflights thread again! I feel bad 'cause there are some pretty kewl people there, I hope they make out okay.
Everyone keeps blaming or slagging the air carrier for problems on the bag runs. I did those bag runs from 1991 to 2002 for a company that is now out of business and I can tell you it is not the air carrier that is the problem. Itis the banks and the companies that contract to the banks, such as the clearing houses and the courier companies that the air carriers contract to. The banks are very demanding and the companies who contract to them set unrealistic goals and severe nonperformance penalties to attract the business. And now every courier company except the large American (white and blue or the big brown trucks or now the yellow) try to do it as cheaply as possible and shit flows downhill. The air carriers are at the bottom of the hill. If you work for the large, and I hate to say it but, American or European, small package freighters, they know how to do it and do it profitably. Work for them and it is first class all the way. Safety is not a byline, it is a manditory way of life. Just ask any freighters that contract to these large companies. They run an airline the way an airline should be run.
Everyone says, hand over heart, swear to the Allmighty, that safety comes first. Well, after 45 years in this business, I am here to say that safety does not come first, It comes a distant second or third. Profitability comes first. A safe airline is a profitable airline. a profitable airline is a safe airline. Safety is expensive. Safety is nice if you can afford it. The penalties for unsafe operations are not very severe. So you kill a couple of pilots, not a big deal. You can work around it.
The cost of dealing with a severe accident is less than the cost of preventing the accident in the first place.
Just look at the big blue tails or the brown tails or the yellow tails. They are huge companies with $billions of $assets and have deep pockets. The cost of litigation can be enormous so they prevent accidents. I sat there and watched a worker almost get fired on the job because he did not toot the horn of his truck before backing up. It was a safety requirement and you do it or you work someplace else. It is very simple. First came the profits and then came the safety.
Look at Fedex equiping their whole fleet with HUD to enhance low visibility operations. That is cheaper than pranging an airplane. Safety through technology. Costs $billions$ but it works.
Everyone says, hand over heart, swear to the Allmighty, that safety comes first. Well, after 45 years in this business, I am here to say that safety does not come first, It comes a distant second or third. Profitability comes first. A safe airline is a profitable airline. a profitable airline is a safe airline. Safety is expensive. Safety is nice if you can afford it. The penalties for unsafe operations are not very severe. So you kill a couple of pilots, not a big deal. You can work around it.
The cost of dealing with a severe accident is less than the cost of preventing the accident in the first place.
Just look at the big blue tails or the brown tails or the yellow tails. They are huge companies with $billions of $assets and have deep pockets. The cost of litigation can be enormous so they prevent accidents. I sat there and watched a worker almost get fired on the job because he did not toot the horn of his truck before backing up. It was a safety requirement and you do it or you work someplace else. It is very simple. First came the profits and then came the safety.
Look at Fedex equiping their whole fleet with HUD to enhance low visibility operations. That is cheaper than pranging an airplane. Safety through technology. Costs $billions$ but it works.
The average pilot, despite the somewhat swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring.
These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
so oldtimer, where exactly does the problem exist ? I'm just a bit confused by your post, is it the banks who we all know would sell their first born for profit or is it the air carriers who operate on the fringes of safety/legality and consistently "get away with it" until they actually do wack someone and then do the cover-up's to appease the regulatory types ?
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Cat Driver
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Alame, I believe Oldtimer explained it to reflect on the fact that the operators bid in a real cut throat business, the bottom line is safety is not even in the equasion.
I also flew bag runs in the mid seventies, it was a gong show and the most demanding risky flying I ever did. I finally just quit as I wanted to live...you wouldn't believe the crap airplanes we were expected to fly overloaded in severe weather and icing conditions...fu.ck I had a double engine failure one night IFR over Brandon, that was the straw that broke the camels back for me and I quit.... Only a fu.kin miracle saved me from dying..there was a hole in the overcast right over the Brandon airport and I augered down from twelve thousand through it on one engine, the other one quit at around a thousand feet and I just curved down in a left turn onto the runway....they of course had to tow the thing to the hangar...
Cat
I also flew bag runs in the mid seventies, it was a gong show and the most demanding risky flying I ever did. I finally just quit as I wanted to live...you wouldn't believe the crap airplanes we were expected to fly overloaded in severe weather and icing conditions...fu.ck I had a double engine failure one night IFR over Brandon, that was the straw that broke the camels back for me and I quit.... Only a fu.kin miracle saved me from dying..there was a hole in the overcast right over the Brandon airport and I augered down from twelve thousand through it on one engine, the other one quit at around a thousand feet and I just curved down in a left turn onto the runway....they of course had to tow the thing to the hangar...
Cat
The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
This is a problem all throughout the transportation industry. To keep iron moving, companies need work and sometimes one has to do desperate things to keep working. This problem is rampant throughout the trucking industry. When I started doing the bag run with the Gulfstream, our company just barely outbid a good operator and money was good so we went 3 years without a lost day due to mechanical problems. That was because there was money to support the operation. But then others wanted the work so they chopped the prices and eveyone tightened up their belt (read can't afford to fix the airplanes) In this last go-around, Alta Flites bid the job so low, North American Airlines just gave up and closed the doors. At least nobody got physically hurt. Alta thought,---- well they thought wrong and are loosing their shirt. Exactly the same thing happens in the construction industry. Companies were bidding the jobs at under our companies cost. It was called wearing out iron. Safety is the first cost to be cut. Who is to blame? everyone. It is called the free enterprise system. I will bet you do the same thing every day. If someone will sell you a burger for $1.00 cheaper than the competition, where will you buy your next burger. Even if that someone has to cut employee wages to be able to sell you the burger at a cheaper price, will you still buy it? Everybody else does.
The average pilot, despite the somewhat swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring.
These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
I am flying a bag run now and haven't had an easier job.
Airplanes in great shape, every little problem gets fixed by the next morning. Well equipped for IFR, good de-ice equipment, strike finder. Only thing I don't have that I'd like is a radar.
Overloaded? I take full fuel almost everyday and am yet to be near MGTOW, let alone over it.
Fly, sleep, eat, watch TV, fly sleep, eat, watch TV, and on and on.....
Gravy......
Airplanes in great shape, every little problem gets fixed by the next morning. Well equipped for IFR, good de-ice equipment, strike finder. Only thing I don't have that I'd like is a radar.
Overloaded? I take full fuel almost everyday and am yet to be near MGTOW, let alone over it.
Fly, sleep, eat, watch TV, fly sleep, eat, watch TV, and on and on.....
Gravy......
"The South will boogie again."
