Fa Report Nwa Ac5804

Fly

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Mar 7, 2003
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Subject: FA report NWA AC5804

The following about a HNL flight was written by a NWA flight attendant:


Aircraft nose number 5804


Let me start by saying the only reason I post this here is because you won't hear about it anywhere else and it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that we crew members know and understand what's going on in this new and strange environment we're working in.

Saturday night, 20AUG05... my crew shows up at the gate in HNL only to be told by gate personnel that the aircraft we'll be flying in tonight just had an emergency landing. It was on its way from Seattle to Maui and lost so much oil in the right engine it had to divert and land in HNL.

As we walked onto the jet bridge we could see six or seven replacement mechanics walking around the right engine looking rather clueless. There was also a woman with a purse standing next to them and we would find out later that she worked for the FAA.

It looked as though we weren't going anywhere and to be honest, we didn't want to go anywhere on a broken airplane supposedly fixed by a bunch of rookies who may or may not have worked on a 757 engine before. But sure enough, NWA made the decision to fly it... giving us what they called a "one-hour release" meaning, we were told, that the plane could be flown for one hour to see how it would perform.

So the boarding began and after an hour and a half of paperwork signing we left the gate... all of us feeling a little compromised.

A little more than an hour out over the Pacific ocean... the lead was called up to the cockpit and told we had a problem. The right engine was leaking oil again and there was a good chance we'd have to turn around and go back to HNL. We were told to stay tuned.....

Halfway through the flight, the lead is called back up to the cockpit and told that the engine was still leaking oil but we had reached the 'point of no return' and would continue to SFO.

Needless to say, it was a very long night... and while the passengers slept completely unaware, we were left sitting in the back galley wondering to ourselves if the oil leak would get any worse or how a 757 might fly with just one engine. (I never did have the chance to ask the captain this.)

The airplane landed safely at about 7:30 am and all of us walked off the airplane furious at the situation NWA had put us in.

Again, the reason I share this is because I very much feel that our lives were placed at risk unnecessarily and I'm very upset about it.

We did talk to our base manager upon landing and he assured us that our concerns were 'duly noted' (what this really means I have no clue.)

I then placed a call to the FAA Whistle blower Protection line and will make a full report to them tomorrow (Monday).

In the meantime, I suggest that all of you do the same thing anytime you feel that our safety is being compromised. In the last three days alone we've had a plane land in Guam with a broken nose gear, smoke on a DC-9 and a 757 land with four flat tires. And these are only the incidents we know about it. It's incumbent on all of us to be EXTREMELY ALERT... and if you see anything that doesn't look quite right.... SAY SOMETHING!
 
Gives you chills, I couldn't imagine the stress as a pilot or F/A knowing this. As always, the FAA will do nothing until there is a body count, and then it will not be managements fault but the NWA mechanics on strike.

Glad to see KTO is in the cornfield, like his scab career, I knew he couldn't last.

Scabs never do. :D
 
that sure is scary. I would imagine if it had gotten to the point of flying on one engine, then the pax would have noticed that the one engine running and the other shuttin down. I would rather bring my parachute with me than fly on NWA plane givin the scary concept of having clueless scabs working on the plane that had been serviced by the scabs
 
robbedagain said:
that sure is scary. I would imagine if it had gotten to the point of flying on one engine, then the pax would have noticed that the one engine running and the other shuttin down. I would rather bring my parachute with me than fly on NWA plane givin the scary concept of having clueless scabs working on the plane that had been serviced by the scabs
[post="294211"][/post]​

The pasengers probably would only nothice that it was taking longer than expected to get where they were going. If they could see the enigine it would still be spinning.
 
Thomas Paine said:
The pasengers probably would only nothice that it was taking longer than expected to get where they were going. If they could see the enigine it would still be spinning.
[post="294214"][/post]​
even if the engine shut down would occur? I thought that is what actually happened on the SEA to HNL route?
 
robbedagain said:
that sure is scary. I would imagine if it had gotten to the point of flying on one engine, then the pax would have noticed that the one engine running and the other shuttin down. I would rather bring my parachute with me than fly on NWA plane givin the scary concept of having clueless scabs working on the plane that had been serviced by the scabs
[post="294211"][/post]​
A passenger bringing a parachute would be funny, in a morbid kinda way.
 
HNL-SFO.
Trouble with the aircraft enroute.
Passing the point of no return.
Will we make it to SFO?

Sounds like a good plot for a movie.

Maybe the Duke could slap Eliot Ness.
(Quien es mas macho?)

Oh wait...it's been done.

Maybe if we added a stuck 707,
a stowaway, Joe Patroni and...

You are now free to move--and whistle
the theme--about the country.

;)
 
Northwest Airlines SCABS, putting crew member and passenger lives in danger everyday.

I HATE SCABS!
 
Fly said:
Subject: FA report NWA AC5804

In the meantime, I suggest that all of you do the same thing anytime you feel that our safety is being compromised. In the last three days alone we've had a plane land in Guam with a broken nose gear, smoke on a DC-9 and a 757 land with four flat tires. And these are only the incidents we know about it. It's incumbent on all of us to be EXTREMELY ALERT... and if you see anything that doesn't look quite right.... SAY SOMETHING!
[post="294182"][/post]​


Let me play devils advocate here..

The 757 flat tires & the DC9 smoke in the cabin.. These events happen all of the time with every major airline & the only reason this is even making the news is because it is NW & AMFA is on strike..

The situation with the oil leaking from an engine in flight.. That is a different story.. Rather than 'assume' that mtc didn't fix the problem why not follow-up with your mtc control and find out what the fix actually was.. Could have been an internal engine problem that could not be detected on the ground? Could have been an allowable leak? Could have been faulty indications in the cockpit? Could have been any number of things..

My point being this.. I work for DL in Atlanta with Mtc Control and I support NW Mtc (we are not to far behind).. What I hate seeing is the media getting hold of Mtc events that happen fairly routinely & blowing them all out of proportion creating fear among the traveling public.. It is a doble-edged sword.. On one hand you feel & support NW Mtc and the position they are in and on the other hand you need the ASSES on the planes. If you scare off the traveling public everybody looses.. NW pilots, flight attendants, ramp, ticket counter, etc...
 
Fly said:
We did talk to our base manager upon landing and he assured us that our concerns were 'duly noted' (what this really means I have no clue.)

As one experienced in corporate-speak, please let me translate for you...

"Your concerns are duly noted" translates in the English to "Try to imagine how much I DON'T care what you think. You landed with all body parts still intact; so why are you bothering me with your concerns? End of subject."

If it happened again, I believe that I would remove myself from the trip. Of course, that's easy for me to say from the sidelines. I got cold chills just reading the narrative.
 
OH where OH where is the so called FAA, could it be that once again they look the other way while allowing Airline management to put passenger safety at risk?
 
usjacket said:
OH where OH where is the so called FAA, could it be that once again they look the other way while allowing Airline management to put passenger safety at risk?
[post="295625"][/post]​

Don't worry, the FAA was (according to the report) RIGHT there watching...with a purse, no less!
<_<
 
Smoke in the cockpit: This is information related to me from other mechanics. The smoke was caused from oil being introduced into the packs by way of an over serviced engine. (If this is possible will someone confirm it?) The mech was terminated after the investigation. It was reported to be an AMFA mechanic that crossed the picket line. This information is second hand, so take it as you will. I will add though that the incident happened during a time of random sabotage by AMFA workers.