With way too many incidents, we’re hearing from pilots. Interestingly, immunity is provided once every five years, including for at-fault safety violations, with this reporting FAA system little known to the public.
With way too many incidents, we’re hearing from pilots. Interestingly, immunity is provided once every five years, including for at-fault safety violations, with this reporting FAA system little known to the public.
The airline industry has seen an explosion in post covid travel and as result a lot of new pilots in the right seat. Also a lot of very experienced pilots transitioning to new,(to them) types of equipment and new routes they were not previously senior enough to hold. Pilots new to a destination or aircraft type do make mistakes more than those with more experience. These types of mistakes are nothing new to the industry, not sure if it’s more frequent or more frequently reported. Very complex issue and the finger pointing at this generation of pilots is not the answer.
Your “widebody pilot” is wrong. It absolutely could have been windshear that caused it. We won’t know until we see the actual report.
I apparently got ahead of this question, whether the Pilots are to blame, when yesterday I commented my Extreme Doubts that they are, however, that they always are given the blame by the FAA and NTSB. I shall say it again, this Is Not Pilot Error! Look Elsewhere.
They sent them back to Pilot school, I would say it’s their fault and you’re covering for them
Out of 80+ controllers who work there, only 10 have less than 5 years experience, with over 50 of them having more than 10 years experience, and over 20 having 15+ years experience. So that was a false statement that it is a relatively junior FAA base. It is actually highly sought after and difficult to get into.
The short staffing part, however, is 100% accurate in general for the FAA, most facilities are severely understaffed because of limited hiring and antiquated hiring practices. The top Overtime earners are in the 800+ hours per year territory, think about that for a second. In a general working year there are about 2048 regular work hours. Source : FAA Air Traffic Controller
Thanks for the steady stream of Hawaiian articles!
I’m a captain on a large aircraft and frequently operate out of Honolulu. There is an error in the way it was described that “..if the control tower told the airliner landing on 4R to hold short” then it would be the pilot’s fault.
Proper FAA procedures Requires pilots to get permission Before crossing any active runway. The tower would not have had to say anything to the arriving flight. They would have had to have the situational awareness to not cross an active runway without permission. That said, it is a very short taxi from 4R to cross 4L on that taxiway. For that reason, I never save time by trying to make that taxiway and always elect to roll to the end of 4R. High workload and loss of situational awareness is likely the cause.
“High workload”? Other than the usual and customary preflight preparation and taxiing workload, what additional work could there have been in that cockpit?
Air traffic controllers, pilots and cabin crew are all highly skilled individuals who work in a high-risk industry. If we want them to be well-trained, experienced and dedicated they should be paid well. But the public demands cut-rate air fares, lots of free snacks and booze, the “right” to drag their mini suitcases on board for free and cram them into the overhead compartments, and big wide seats to accommodate their entitled derrieres. Cheap flights or safe flights? Pick one because we can’t have both.
I’m a retired USN and commercial airline pilot with over 28K hours of flight time as well as many years instructing on Boeing jets. My last base (for >10 years) was HNL flying the Pacific/CONUS as Captain on the B-747.
I saw a disappointing trend over my last 10-15 years in hiring lesser qualified pilot applicants than would have been accepted when I was first hired. Not much has happened in the interim to improve the situation — in fact it’s gotten worse. Same goes for FAA personnel.
Why?? A simple answer is money and a lack of qualified applicants. It’s always about the money when it comes to commercial aviation and while many new-hire pilots/FAA folks used to be former military that’s not so today and the results are noticeable.
Thanks, Beat, you are doing a fabulous job keeping us informed. As a very frequent HNL flyer, I’d rather be in the know about these things.
A late friend of mine was a very experienced United 747 captain out of SFO, another place that gets these thunderstorms and weather systems featuring high winds. He describes the psychological stress he endured during a such a storm siutation when he decided that winds were too high to risk taking off. He kept his Narita bound widebody on the ground, while other colleauges were continuing to take off and land. As a captain, he said, “I felt it was my responsibility to err on the side of caution, but it was agonizing to see the other planes taking off right next to us.”
Hi Alex.
Thanks! We’re appreciate the input on this and dozens of other articles.
Aloha.
I got my flight training at the Hawaii Country Club of the Air 1978. I flew out of KOA flight school, but made many flights into HNL as a student, and then licensed pilot. HNL is complicated airspace with a mix of light planes, heavies, including foreign aircrews, and military. Over years gates, parking areas, tiedowns, and maintenance facilities have relocated, and taxiways repurposed.
Over decades I have witnessed greater reliance on automated systems, particularly among civil carriers. The old guys I learned with, many WWII and Korea vets, have flown west, and a new population of commercial pilots have taken their seats. Those old guys Liked flying, and kept hands on the stick and eyes out the windows.
Well this is what happens when you force people to retire that have years of experience without a plan. Now you hire just about anyone. I live near the United training academy and they only fly when it’s sunny and no wind and fly in a big circle I watch them on flightaware. I guess these will be the replacements. Good luck with that let me know how that works out. Next thing you know we’ll be hiring oil contractors as programmers. It’s easy 🙂
Liam, a terrible thought but here it goes anyway. Those Southern States mainlanders that taught the 9/11 terrorists might still be around, get them to teach new students. It was amazing, in the wrong way, how they were able to fly around in heavy air traffic and not collide in mid air. Someone taught them well. Too bad! No disrespect to those who died.