Inability to solve problems

[Screaming_Emu]

I really wish we were able to use common sense to solve problems in this industry.

Right now I'm sitting in a plane in SAT. We were supposed to leave here around 7, but upon reaching the airplane we found that the drawers in which the flight attendants store the drinks were flat out missing from the airplane.

We figure it wont be a big deal so we go about getting everything set up and boarded. We call dispatch to see how they want us to compensate for weight and balance since they're gone...but because they're tied into the BOW, we're stuck here.

Our ETD is now 2:30 while we wait for them to fly some new bins out from Atlanta. My idea was that because there is a placard saying 50lbs max in each compartment, take the 50 lb ballast bags they have and put one in each compartment....but that would be illegal. Yet from a practical standpoint would solve any weight and balance issue as it would be like having a full container in each one.

I'm sure that some of the passengers think the actual cause of the delay is because we dont have any Coke.

[kellwolf]

Sadly, they're correct in what they're doing. If the FAA got wind that you just used common sense to solve the problem and go, they'd have kittens.

We're currently trying to get some security equipment installed on our aircraft that weighs in the OUNCES range. Guess what? Can't be installed until it's all updated in the BOW w&bs.

[MQAAord]

Oh man.

Reminds me of the time at Eagle when something was wrong with the fuel level indicators. It was impossible to know exactly how full the tanks were. (Something on our ATR had gone screwy on the way to DSM.)

Dispatch, MTX and other assorted parties talked it out for a few hours and then finally decided that since it was impossible to know an exact level by the usual methods, the only thing they could do was fill the tanks to their max limits verified visually. So they topped off the tanks. 10,000 lbs of fuel later we headed back to ORD.........

Or the many times that something (anything really, just pick something) would break on us at an outstation. It would require a call to MTX, a call to dispatch. We'd be told the parts and the mechanics would be flown out on the next flight. Of course the next flight would have already left by this time, so they'd have to wait for the NEXT one. When that flight finally arrived, invariably the wrong part had been loaded. So it would be sent on the next flight. It usually missed that next flight (again) so if we were lucky it would arrive in the evening sometime. Maybe it would get fixed that night, as long as it really was the right part after all. This scenario happened so many times at Eagle.......

[Matt13C]

Random question but how does a person from say the front of coach walking to the lavatory in the back effect the flight characteristics? Why is that not an issue but a few missing drawers is?