(Trinidadian Guardian)
A Caribbean Airlines pilot would never have shouted at passengers. This
was the response to a passenger in a letter to the editor of T&T
Guardian published on Thursday, who claimed that the pilot of Flight
BW501 to T&T from New York on December 20 had yelled at them. After
passengers complained about delays, the pilot asked how they would like
it if he took the plane up, then got tired and “crashed into the
Atlantic.”
The flight had been
scheduled to leave the previous day, December 19. In her letter,
Laura-Mae Britton said passengers were asked to disembark and board the
flight twice after promises that the problem would be fixed. She said
the second time passengers boarded, they were told they were waiting
because some passengers were missing. It was only after the pilot
announced that the plane would not be able to fly that night, Britton
said, that passengers had become irate.
“In response the pilot
again came on the speakers, yelled at us and basically said that we were
being petty and irate,” wrote Britton. She said he then went on a
“miniature tirade” about being awake at 5 am and leaving his wife and
children at home. But CAL communications manager Clint Williams said you
would never have heard such a thing from a CAL pilot. In a telephone
interview yesterday, Williams said the pilot of that flight was not a
CAL employee.
“It was a pilot operating
a flight from a lease company,” Williams said. He said CAL normally
leased flights from the company, OMNI Air International, during busy
periods, and they had a longstanding relationship. Williams said CAL had
requested an in-depth report from OMNI Air International and would
evaluate what it said. Until then, he said: “It would be improper to
comment further.”
He said the airline was
aware of the situation and had been alerted to the comment via social
media. Williams said the airline knew the aircraft had a mechanical
problem and an indicator meant the aircraft could not fly without being
checked. “It turned into a creeping delay, where the crew expected that
the problem would be fixed in a certain amount of time and it wasn’t.
That resulted in the crew running out of flying hours.”
Williams said all aircrew
flew under strict rules on how long they could man an aircraft. “There
are mandatory rest periods and the crew’s hours would have run out.” He
said the further delay in the flight was caused when the company tried
to arrange an alternative aircraft and crew. “They eventually got three
other aircraft and we got the passengers here.”
Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com
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