From the AP - US Airways pilots: We're pressured to cut fuel

US Airways pilots: We're pressured to cut fuel

By JOAN LOWY and CHRIS KAHN – 8 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilots union for US Airways said Wednesday the airline is pressuring pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe in order to save money.

US Airways Captain James Ray, a spokesman for the US Airline Pilots Association, which represents the airline's 5,200 pilots, said eight senior pilots and the union have filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The union also paid for a full-page ad in Wednesday's USA Today addressed to "our valued passengers." The ad accuses the airline of "a program of intimidation to pressure your captain to reduce fuel loads."

Ray said soaring jet fuel prices have sent all the airlines scrambling to find ways to cut the weight of airliners because the heavier the plane, the more fuel the plane burns. US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., has recently removed movie players, redesigned its meal carts and replaced glassware with plastic to cut weight.

Jet fuel has surpassed labor as the airline industry's greatest expense.

But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested "an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel" to attend training sessions, or "check rides," that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.

"We feel they're trying to set an example," Ray said. "Captains shouldn't be intimidated into thinking, 'If I say I need this fuel, they may send me for a check ride.' ... Cutting peanuts off the plane, that's one thing. But cutting a captain's fuel level below his comfort, that's another thing."

US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said the decision to bring in the eight pilots for extra training was not meant to be punitive. "That's totally not true," he said.

During the past few years, the carrier has required its planes to carry enough fuel to pad their flight times by 60 to 90 minutes, Durrant said.

"These eight pilots have routinely been above the 60 to 90 minute range. It just behooves us as a company to talk to these guys, figure out what they're seeing that we're not," Durrant said.

FAA regulations require aircraft to carry enough fuel to reach their destination and an alternate destination, plus 45 minutes worth of fuel, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Also, pilots have the final authority on whether their flight should have extra fuel.

Brown said she is unaware of any specific complaints filed by US Airways pilots or their union, but FAA has been monitoring reports of "minimum fuel loads" at some airports.

"We don't see any evidence right now that there are violations of the regulation," Brown said.

US Airways has studied how much fuel its planes really need to carry, Durrant said. "The heavier an aircraft is, the more fuel it burns, and one of the heaviest portions of an aircraft can be fuel," he said.

US Airways is also buying more fuel efficient aircraft and cutting inefficient routes from its network. Still, an average roundtrip flight costs about $299 worth of fuel per passenger, company officials said.

Associated Press writer Chris Kahn reported from Phoenix.

Why Why Why JetBlueHostage?

When I set out to do this blog, it was in an effort to give people a community to voice their dismay with the Golden Child of Airlines, JetBlue. I had been wrong, many people had been wronged and there was inequity in our compensation compounded by the fact that it was insufficient and didn't cover reimbursements for things like Taxi Cabs or Hotels.

Weeks went by and as I tried to move past it and Jetblue tried to forget about me, or more importantly prayed that YOU would forget about me, it turns out that JetBlue continued to make the same mistakes or would over compensate for their mistakes by pre-emptively canceling flights at any sign of bad weather. I joked with friends that Jet Blue had pre-emptively cancelled all flights from now til June. Emails continued to come in from disgruntled customers.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the blogosphere. Employees. factory workers and aviation "experts" started writing in to me and I was exposed to another part of JetBlue, something a lot more unsettling than an unfriendly and unhelpful gate agent. Questionable business practices were called into question like Routes and Fuel Capacity, cutting corners in factories in South America that build the JetBlue planes and extending Crew Time to dangerous limits.

I decided that instead of aligning myself with a federally regulated Bill Of Rights or a Class Action Lawsuit, that I would work towards finding out the truth of JetBlue operations.

With the help of people who know the inner workings of JetBlue and Aviation, I'll use this blog to put these findings up, good or bad.

We will still be your community to voice your concerns, so keep those emails coming.

And I enjoy the HATE MAIL-Someone once told me, you're not truly successful until you start getting hatemail.
Thanks to you my mom is proud of me!

Enjoy part I and II below on the truth of the A320. Shortly, we'll tell you all about Crew time and Neeleman's crusade to extend the number of hours a pilot is able to fly despite the direct relation of aviation accidents to pilot exhaustion.

We'll also talk soon about JetBlue's newest plane the EMB190.

Love,
Gen

JET BLUE AIRWAYS- “Unsafe at Any Altitude or Attitude” Part II

Continuation of Part I.

Please examine the Jet Blue Airways web site, and uncover the stated “range capabilities” for a Jet Blue Airbus A320. Next, examine the “route map” of Jet Blue Airways, and pay keen attention towards the transcontinental flight offerings. Next select any online “search engine” and inquire about the actual aerial mileage between two cities such as New York JFK to Oakland California. Next, refer to the FAA FAR/AIM Guidelines for 2007---all airlines are either Part 121 or Part 135 carriers and must operate within the confines of these rules---and locate the absolute minimum allowable “fuel remaining on board” requirements. If you were to take all these actions, you would realize that Jet Blue operates perilously close to the operational minimums on some routings, and on other routings---you will quickly note that the actual aerial mileage EXCEEDS the range capabilities of the Jet Blue Aircraft flying these routes. Thus, even though Jet Blue Airways sells you a NONSTOP ticket from New York to Oakland, the Jet Blue Airways Aircraft YOU board actually files a flight plan from New York to an intermediary airport that the aircraft can operationally reach. Once above that intermediary airport, the Jet Blue Airways Flight Crew and Dispatcher must make rapid computations to determine whether enough fuel is onboard to reach the advertised/intended NONSTOP destination. If not, you just found yourself on a NONSTOP “slight” from New York to Denver or Salt Lack City opposed to Oakland. No this IS NOT “normal operating procedure”; competing airlines possess aircraft with far greater range then Jet Blue Airways, and Jet Blue Airways selected the Airbus offering (the A320---which is an entirely safe aircraft, offering exceptional performance attributes…just not great range) over competing aircraft on the sole basis of cost…not suitability to the route system Jet Blue Airways intended to service. Several “safety whys” are embedded in the aforementioned instance…on a service level, why doesn't the Jet Blue Airways passenger “Bill of Rights” offer any “relief” to passengers afflicted by the malice of scheduling NONSTOP flights on routings that can't be consistently achieved due to a lack of aircraft range ? Because this is an open and credible forum, please note that on a routing such as Oakland to New York, the range issue is not particularly relevant given the advantages of a West-East “tailwind”---yet those advantages obviously are not to be found when on the New York to Oakland segment the West-East “tailwind” is actually a “headwind”.

The purpose of this first article is to engage visitors, and apprise them of how unsafe Jet Blue Airways actually are. The second article will touch upon the machinations of Jet Blue Airways as they pertain to dictates upon Flight Crews….

Okay….so what in the world does the concept of –“Manifest Destiny”---have to do with safety and Jet Blue Airways? Remember the Pilgrims and your imaginary remote control? Very simply, if you were to hit “Fast Forward”---within 10 years, 50 years, 100 years---a noticeable pattern would begin to reveal itself, and you could basically hit “Pause” and realize the proverbial “rest of the story” … Starting in what is now Massachusetts, you would witness the growth of a “Nation”. First to the North and South, and next towards the West. The “growth” would remain within certain “confines”---it could not penetrate too far south because of the Spaniards, it couldn’t progress too far north because of numerous European interests, and it would finally stop its westward migration at the barrier of the Pacific Ocean…eventually it would consume some peripheral territories (Alaska & Hawaii). Hence, everything has a natural and somewhat obvious progression…even the “weather”, society has learned what conditions---rapidly dropping atmospheric pressure, etc need to be in place for a Tornado to formulate. Mix some flour, eggs, sugar, etc…and if your intent is to bake a cupcake, in a few hours the “manifest destiny” of your ingredients will be achieved. Jet Blue Airways is the reciprocal of the sugary “manifest destiny” of your ingredients. Jet Blue has grown more rapidly then any other airline in the history of Aviation in the United States…unfortunately the ramifications of such rapid growth can be viewed in the ashes of “manifest destiny” scores of post-deregulation airlines. Jet Blue Airways has filled a flight plan that is on a collision course with “manifest destiny”…for the benefit of your personal safety, and that of your loved one’s…every time you book a flight upon Jet Blue Airways; it is very possible that your actual destination won't be Houston, Seattle, or Long Beach…but “manifest destiny”, and unfortunately for you---if it is---Jet Blue Airways has just ended your very existence. Thank you.

The Crew of JetBlueHostage.com

JET BLUE AIRWAYS- “Unsafe at Any Altitude or Attitude” Part II

Continuation of Part I.

Please examine the Jet Blue Airways web site, and uncover the stated “range capabilities” for a Jet Blue Airbus A320. Next, examine the “route map” of Jet Blue Airways, and pay keen attention towards the transcontinental flight offerings. Next select any online “search engine” and inquire about the actual aerial mileage between two cities such as New York JFK to Oakland California. Next, refer to the FAA FAR/AIM Guidelines for 2007---all airlines are either Part 121 or Part 135 carriers and must operate within the confines of these rules---and locate the absolute minimum allowable “fuel remaining on board” requirements. If you were to take all these actions, you would realize that Jet Blue operates perilously close to the operational minimums on some routings, and on other routings---you will quickly note that the actual aerial mileage EXCEEDS the range capabilities of the Jet Blue Aircraft flying these routes. Thus, even though Jet Blue Airways sells you a NONSTOP ticket from New York to Oakland, the Jet Blue Airways Aircraft YOU board actually files a flight plan from New York to an intermediary airport that the aircraft can operationally reach. Once above that intermediary airport, the Jet Blue Airways Flight Crew and Dispatcher must make rapid computations to determine whether enough fuel is onboard to reach the advertised/intended NONSTOP destination. If not, you just found yourself on a NONSTOP “slight” from New York to Denver or Salt Lack City opposed to Oakland. No this IS NOT “normal operating procedure”; competing airlines possess aircraft with far greater range then Jet Blue Airways, and Jet Blue Airways selected the Airbus offering (the A320---which is an entirely safe aircraft, offering exceptional performance attributes…just not great range) over competing aircraft on the sole basis of cost…not suitability to the route system Jet Blue Airways intended to service. Several “safety whys” are embedded in the aforementioned instance…on a service level, why doesn't the Jet Blue Airways passenger “Bill of Rights” offer any “relief” to passengers afflicted by the malice of scheduling NONSTOP flights on routings that can't be consistently achieved due to a lack of aircraft range ? Because this is an open and credible forum, please note that on a routing such as Oakland to New York, the range issue is not particularly relevant given the advantages of a West-East “tailwind”---yet those advantages obviously are not to be found when on the New York to Oakland segment the West-East “tailwind” is actually a “headwind”.

The purpose of this first article is to engage visitors, and apprise them of how unsafe Jet Blue Airways actually are. The second article will touch upon the machinations of Jet Blue Airways as they pertain to dictates upon Flight Crews….

Okay….so what in the world does the concept of –“Manifest Destiny”---have to do with safety and Jet Blue Airways? Remember the Pilgrims and your imaginary remote control? Very simply, if you were to hit “Fast Forward”---within 10 years, 50 years, 100 years---a noticeable pattern would begin to reveal itself, and you could basically hit “Pause” and realize the proverbial “rest of the story” … Starting in what is now Massachusetts, you would witness the growth of a “Nation”. First to the North and South, and next towards the West. The “growth” would remain within certain “confines”---it could not penetrate too far south because of the Spaniards, it couldn’t progress too far north because of numerous European interests, and it would finally stop its westward migration at the barrier of the Pacific Ocean…eventually it would consume some peripheral territories (Alaska & Hawaii). Hence, everything has a natural and somewhat obvious progression…even the “weather”, society has learned what conditions---rapidly dropping atmospheric pressure, etc need to be in place for a Tornado to formulate. Mix some flour, eggs, sugar, etc…and if your intent is to bake a cupcake, in a few hours the “manifest destiny” of your ingredients will be achieved. Jet Blue Airways is the reciprocal of the sugary “manifest destiny” of your ingredients. Jet Blue has grown more rapidly then any other airline in the history of Aviation in the United States…unfortunately the ramifications of such rapid growth can be viewed in the ashes of “manifest destiny” scores of post-deregulation airlines. Jet Blue Airways has filled a flight plan that is on a collision course with “manifest destiny”…for the benefit of your personal safety, and that of your loved one’s…every time you book a flight upon Jet Blue Airways; it is very possible that your actual destination won't be Houston, Seattle, or Long Beach…but “manifest destiny”, and unfortunately for you---if it is---Jet Blue Airways has just ended your very existence. Thank you.

The Crew of JetBlueHostage.com

JET BLUE AIRWAYS- “Unsafe at Any Altitude or Attitude” Part I

(Submitted by and written by David F.)

The First Article in a Continuing Series on Why JetBlue Airways is Unsafe to Fly

Imagine possessing a spectator’s vantage point, for whence the “Pilgrims” arrived upon a “rock” situated in Plymouth Massachusetts, and established a “settlement” the 16th Day of the Month of December in the Year 1620.

The undiluted clarity of your “spectator” perch is augmented by one absolute fact, and one absolute facet of imagination. The “fact” is that all of the events your about to witness for the next 386 + years are entirely real. The “imaginary” element is that you possess a “remote control” and can Fast Forward, Rewind, and Pause what you're upon the threshold of viewing.

The American History 101-“esque” introduction to a discourse upon the safety of flying upon Jet Blue Airways, is remarkably simplistic, and can be summed up in a single conceptual phrase; “Manifest Destiny”. Bearing witness to the “process” of nearly any entity or action--- a Country--- a Human Life-- the History of a Corporation---Baking a batch of cupcakes, will result in a single absolute….“Manifest Destiny”.

At this moment you ought to be, very understandably, weary of the purpose of this specific writing. You may possibly be questioning if any salient conclusion resides as “reward” for reading onward? How could American History, safety aboard a Jet Blue aircraft, baking a cupcake, and the concept of “manifest destiny” possibly be intertwined? Your questioning is valid. Yet, in a moment a very simple answer shall be forthcoming, and it is an important answer, and you have found yourself upon a very important blog/web site for the sanctity of preserving your “well being”, and the overall sense of “public trust”.

Prior to revealing, the “simple answer”, please allow for a very succinct “history” for the www.JetBlueHostage.com blog/web site. “JetBlueHostage” is the result of a very difficult day, February 14, 2007, for both Jet Blue Airways and its passengers alike. On that day Jet Blue Airways experienced operational difficulties, due to weather, that caused “unanticipated” hardships for itself, passengers, and it’s much vaunted “brand” reputation. Passenger’s boarded Jet Blue aircraft at JFK International Airport in New York, the aircraft left their respective gates, and approximately ten hours later the aircraft returned to the gates from which they had departed. The “exception” which made this extremely mundane process remarkable, was a single “curiosity”, the Jet Blue Airways aircraft hadn’t reached any specific or intended destination prior to resuming position at a the Jet Blue Airways JFK terminal. Instead, these JetBlue Airways aircraft had, in approximately the window of time it would take to fly nonstop from JFK-Sao Paulo Brazil, traveled all of 4 or 5 miles whilst taxing wholly upon the JFK airport tarmac, never actually taking flight. So what!

No passengers were grievously injured; no Jet Blue Airways aircraft---aside from a few sewage “issues”--- were damaged, and the imprecise science of determining what the “weather is and would be” was the root cause. Again, so what!!! How, aside from personal property (baggage) not being promptly returned, was this event---presently termed a “massacre” by those within the Corporate Headquarters of Jet Blue Airways---any different from a massive “rain delay” at the ballpark? In fact, a compelling argument can be substantiated that the Jet Blue Airways passengers on 3.14.07 were exposed to conditions far less rigorous then those “unfortunates” attending a rainy baseball game. The Jet Blue passengers were---offered free beverages every few hours, occupied leather reclining seats, had access to a personal television, and the ratio of bathrooms to people was far superior to what is encountered in the confines of a baseball Stadium (provided a passenger was aboard an aircraft where the rest room facilities were properly functioning)---whereas those exposed to a “rain delay” at a baseball game---would have to pay for all refreshments, have the soggy field as a source of entertainment, and are probably sitting upon hardened plastic. Again so what!!!

The answer to “so what” is that, JetBlueHostage.com was conceived out of a “massacre” like experience, in an effort to create a forum for those who were exposed. The actual result of JetBlueHostage.com has been the realization that Jet Blue Airways is a very unsafe means of transport, which threatens the safety of both the “collective good” and “public trust”. Your “well being”, the “well being” of your family, and the “well being” of your friends and associates is at peril whence exposed to Jet Blue Airways. Thus, several articles posted upon JetBlueHostage.com will now attempt to engage the “Management” of Jet Blue Airways in a question regarding personal safety. Here is the first…

(Part II continued on next Blog...)