Well, now I’m on the way back to New York from Venice. Time
to catch up on the ‘log’ for Belfast. The trip was flown for Aer
Lingus. As a result, our MD-11 was painted up Aer Lingus colors and
we used Aer Lingus flight attendants. The route was flights 111 and
112 from JFK to Shannon to Belfast and back. We’ve done this work
for Aer Lingus for several years now during the summer. Rumor has
it this might be the last year for it.
The trip is supposed to go every day but Tuesday. I had just gotten back from my Brussels trip and hadn’t completed IOE because of one of the legs canceling. So they called me right back out after having only been home for 2 days to go on this trip. The way over to Belfast I finished IOE. They just kept me on that trip for several round trips. The first layover was supposed to be 3 days long in Belfast. However, the first night we were there we were called to operate an extra trip on Tuesday (when the airplane normally sits in Shannon for 24 hours) because one of the Aer Lingus Airbus 330’s had some mechanical problem. In order to get us to Shannon, they chartered a twin engine Piper Chieftan.
The Antonov 124 has been in the news lately. That’s the type of airplane used to get the Navy plane that was stuck in China back to the U.S. Apparently they do heavy maintenance on them in Shannon. There were one or two of them there each time we went through.
When I got back to New York I switched crews and did another trip, this time with a scheduled short (24 hour) Belfast layover. I had a conversation with the Captain about the Comair strike which was going on at the time and he mentioned that he would be more than happy to take any Comair pilots on the jumpseat, even though they are on strike. So I had the idea that I should bring Reggie with me on the next round trip which had a 3 day layover in Belfast. It took a little work on Reggie’s part to get to JFK because the Delta pilots and American pilots would not honor the Comair pilots with their jumpseats. Fortunately the Northwest pilots were decent enough to extend the courtesy (a good thing since we, even I personally, had taken many a Northwest pilot when they were on strike), and Reggie made it to JFK in time to leave. My personal thanks go out to the Northwest and Mesaba crews who took him that day.
This brings me to a rant.
--- Begin rant ---
Since I have my own web page, I get to say whatever I want here and you have to put up with it. If you don’t like it, just enjoy the pictures… Also, I should say, the opinions I may express from time to time are my own. While my ideas may represent those of some others too chicken to come out and say what they really think, they are certainly not universal, and are not necessarily reflective of my employers (past or present) or colleagues (past or present).
Here’s what I want to say: Shame on ALPA and shame on the Delta pilots. I’ll say shame on the American pilots as well (and any other group that wouldn’t take striking Comair pilots), though being independent gains them at least a modest excuse by virtue of the fact they’re not ALPA pilots.
So very much shame on ALPA and the Delta pilots. Being a former Comair pilot and former ALPA member I’m appalled that ALPA would publicly proclaim their support for the Comair pilots and their supposed ‘strength’ and ‘unity’ and then proceed to allow the backstabbing that occurred during the Comair strike. The Delta pilots, under ALPA representation, negotiated fiercely during their last contract to gain contractual control over the jumpseat and then turned around and used that against the Comair pilots. What unity is that? Shame on the Delta MEC for not insisting that Delta pilots honor the Comair strike by taking their pilots to where they need or want to go. Shame on ALPA for allowing it to happen when ALPA is the very union representing Comair.
I support the professional courtesy of jumpseating. As an individual I have always done whatever possible to promote good will towards jumpseating pilots. When I was at Comair, I can recall many a time when it took 10 or 15 minutes to collect forms and hellos from all of the jumpseaters just on a single flight (many of them Delta pilots). As a group, the Comair pilots fought for the right to carry multiple jumpseaters on our aircraft as an official policy and extended that to Delta pilots in spite of the fact that courtesy was not reciprocated. Even though I’m no longer at Comair, it feels like a slap in the face to me personally to hear what happened to the Comair pilots during their strike.
So Kudos to Northwest, Continental, USAirways and each of their respective connection carriers who openly took Comair pilots on the jumpseat during their strike. Kudos to the ASA pilots for standing up to their management and extending their jumpseat to the Comair pilots in spite of seemingly overwhelming opposition. Too bad Delta’s finest couldn’t live up to those examples…
--- End of rant ---
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. We went on back to Belfast. Reggie snapped the picture of me in the back and snapped one of me taking off from Shannon on his own camera. If I ever get a copy from him I’ll post it somewhere.
The Crown Liquor Saloon is reportedly the oldest pub in Northern Ireland.
It’s across the street from the Hotel Europa, reportedly the most bombed
hotel in all of Europe. The political tension that has surrounded
Northern Ireland has mostly subsided. There was only one ‘interesting’
event while we were there which I think was less political and more a result
of youth and alcohol having more to do with each other than they should
have. More on that in a bit.
