MEL elimination

[Bob Owens]

how long can they continue operating with such high mel numbers and wouldnt the FAA have to at least give a warning if not shut down the airline til the mel counts are down?

The who? FAA?

 

[eolesen]

Look at the three 757s parked between the hangars in Indy. Sitting there with engines missing. Plenty of spare airplanes laying around and when they went to the fall schedule the pressure is off and they can afford to have a few sitting around broken.

I was told those were lease rejects with mismatched engines...

 

[Kev3188]

Kev, what is the current MEL count at NWA?

274 as of 1930 today.

13 A.O.S.

 

[bcp7]

The number of active MEL's for an airline fleet is irrelevant. The whole point of having an MEL manual is so that you can continue to operate flights as long as you are in compliance with the manual. Many MELs have minimal effect on flight operations.

 

[PlayTheOdds]

274 as of 1930 today.
13 A.O.S.

274 is getting a bit high for the new NWA standards. The one-ninety to two-twenty is more the average. They are still ahead of the game with pre-strike averages being around four hundred.

If I recall correctly I would say the AOS count averaged seven to ten. I guess now that AMFA is back on board we can expect to see these numbers go back to pre-strike levels.

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

274 is getting a bit high for the new NWA standards. The one-ninety to two-twenty is more the average. They are still ahead of the game with pre-strike averages being around four hundred.

If I recall correctly I would say the AOS count averaged seven to ten. I guess now that AMFA is back on board we can expect to see these numbers go back to pre-strike levels.

I would suspect,since NWA has outsourced so much,that any marked increases would be caused by 3rd party hack shops, employed by those that use torque wrenchs as pry bars, and think multi-day engine changes are no big deal.

 

[groundcontrol]

274 is getting a bit high for the new NWA standards. The one-ninety to two-twenty is more the average. They are still ahead of the game with pre-strike averages being around four hundred.

SCAB boy, did you not read the post from Don, where pre-strike, the parts were deliberately withheld and/or not ordered so the numbers were drastically increased? Then when you scabanics took over, you got to actually play with real airplanes and the count was lowered (parts made available). Well, now it looks like NW doesn’t care any longer, they don’t have to make you scabs look good.
"new NWA standards", read what you typed... its laughable.
You were a pawn just like everyone else on the property…. Thing is you bought into thinking you were actually “savingâ€￾ the airline. You were used and abused, which is what their fleet is, used and abused.

 

[Necrophilias]

SCAB boy, did you not read the post from Don, where pre-strike, the parts were deliberately withheld and/or not ordered so the numbers were drastically increased? Then when you scabanics took over, you got to actually play with real airplanes and the count was lowered (parts made available). Well, now it looks like NW doesn’t care any longer, they don’t have to make you scabs look good.
"new NWA standards", read what you typed... its laughable.
You were a pawn just like everyone else on the property…. Thing is you bought into thinking you were actually “savingâ€￾ the airline. You were used and abused, which is what their fleet is, used and abused.

I daresay that the 274 MEL count may be without due diligence. LOL

AOS aircraft, outsourcing and "new standards" have created a most suspect situation at SCABAIRWAYS.

You fine people who post on this website have taught me a few things about what life is like inside the airline in question. Thank you!

N.

 

[PlayTheOdds]

SCAB boy, did you not read the post from Don, where pre-strike, the parts were deliberately withheld and/or not ordered so the numbers were drastically increased? Then when you scabanics took over, you got to actually play with real airplanes and the count was lowered (parts made available). Well, now it looks like NW doesn’t care any longer, they don’t have to make you scabs look good.
"new NWA standards", read what you typed... its laughable.
You were a pawn just like everyone else on the property…. Thing is you bought into thinking you were actually “savingâ€￾ the airline. You were used and abused, which is what their fleet is, used and abused.

I didn't mean to confuse you groundcontrol so let me clarify it for you. The time period Don is talking about the MEL count rose to, I think, 680. The time period I am talking about was all the years before that.

 

[groundcontrol]

I didn't mean to confuse you groundcontrol so let me clarify it for you. The time period Don is talking about the MEL count rose to, I think, 680. The time period I am talking about was all the years before that.

What do you know about “all the years before that“!
I will admit I don’t comprehend scabonics and even if it was offered as a second language I still wouldn’t care to learn it. 😛

 

[PlayTheOdds]

What do you know about “all the years before that“!
I will admit I don’t comprehend scabonics and even if it was offered as a second language I still wouldn’t care to learn it. 😛

There are a lot of things you don't comprehend groundcontrol.

I would suspect,since NWA has outsourced so much,that any marked increases would be caused by 3rd party hack shops, employed by those that use torque wrenchs as pry bars, and think multi-day engine changes are no big deal.

You would be suspecting wrong in this case Thirdseat. Why do you guys have such a hard time with the facts? When the Original Scabs were running the show we blew by every bar the AMFA Boys had set. There was simply no comparison. You watch, as the AMFA Boys regain power of the maintenance again, you will see the MEL and AOS numbers increase. It is the nature of union shops. How about some of you AA guys posting your MEL and AOS count.

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

You would be suspecting wrong in this case Thirdseat. Why do you guys have such a hard time with the facts? When the Original Scabs were running the show we blew by every bar the AMFA Boys had set. There was simply no comparison.

Oh well lets see...

When the original scabs were there, was NWA running a full schedule?

NOPE!

Were the original scabs doing all the work formerly done by thousands more AMFA AMTs?

NOPE!


Your hack band of 800 or so SCABs only blew by a substantialy lowered bar. Nothing more.

Get over yourself.

 

[groundcontrol]

There are a lot of things you don't comprehend groundcontrol.
You would be suspecting wrong in this case Thirdseat. Why do you guys have such a hard time with the facts? When the Original Scabs were running the show we blew by every bar the AMFA Boys had set. There was simply no comparison. You watch, as the AMFA Boys regain power of the maintenance again, you will see the MEL and AOS numbers increase. It is the nature of union shops. How about some of you AA guys posting your MEL and AOS count.

TSH,

Can't agrue/debate with a SCAB. They speak and understand only scabonics, which translates to "they are always right".

 

[CSAR GYRENE]

A week before the strike the MEL count was really high. The reason was parts availability. We couldn't get a part to clear an MEL. The rumor was that there were parts being stored in a hangar location in DTW for use immediately after we went on strike so that the SCABS could get the MEL count back down and thereby showing the world that Dougie's SCAB crew were, in is words, "highly qualified and experienced mechanics". Thanks to certain posters on this board we've learned "that it just ain't so". The reason for the high count is as you have said Necro...low level of experience and in some cases inept mechanics. Crack staff Dougie.

You're half right here Don. The parts were indeed being "stored"...just not in DTW. When I arrived I was assigned to recieving Inspection in MSP. There were over 50 FULL pallets of -9 and -4 parts awaiting recieving inspections, with several more pallets backed up in the conformity area. The total count varied, but a SWAG would put it in the area of about 70 total pallets. For whatever reason, the recieving inspecters prior to Aug 20 were barely scratching the surface. When we processed the parts, an overwhelming majority were being returned from the vendor with "no fault found". Once we got ahead of the curve on recieving, and started recieving parts removed after the 20th of August, I noticed that the incidences of "no fault found" dropped about 80 percent. One of the Amfa members who crossed told me that part of AMFA's stragedy was to attempt to backlog so many parts that they would not be available when the MEL's dropped dead, thereby throwing a wrench into Andy's plan. While I cant verify this, it does seem like a good way to slow the process down. Had it succeeded, we would not have been able to get the MEL count down as low as we did. (For what its worth, I recall one of the strikers laughingly tell us "good luck getting parts". He may have been trying to be helpful, or he may just have known more than he was letting on. Who knows.....?)

I daresay that the 274 MEL count may be without due diligence. LOL

AOS aircraft, outsourcing and "new standards" have created a most suspect situation at SCABAIRWAYS.

You fine people who post on this website have taught me a few things about what life is like inside the airline in question. Thank you!

N.

Necro, I must congratulate you on how quickly you have learned the ins and out, parlance, and common terminology used in aviation. I have to be honest, if I did not know you weren't in the industry, I would surely guess you to be an old hand. This speaks highly of your learning capability, as well as the outstanding teaching skills of those on this board. Keep up the good work.

 

[Necrophilias]

You're half right here Don. The parts were indeed being "stored"...just not in DTW. When I arrived I was assigned to recieving Inspection in MSP. There were over 50 FULL pallets of -9 and -4 parts awaiting recieving inspections, with several more pallets backed up in the conformity area. The total count varied, but a SWAG would put it in the area of about 70 total pallets. For whatever reason, the recieving inspecters prior to Aug 20 were barely scratching the surface. When we processed the parts, an overwhelming majority were being returned from the vendor with "no fault found". Once we got ahead of the curve on recieving, and started recieving parts removed after the 20th of August, I noticed that the incidences of "no fault found" dropped about 80 percent. One of the Amfa members who crossed told me that part of AMFA's stragedy was to attempt to backlog so many parts that they would not be available when the MEL's dropped dead, thereby throwing a wrench into Andy's plan. While I cant verify this, it does seem like a good way to slow the process down. Had it succeeded, we would not have been able to get the MEL count down as low as we did. (For what its worth, I recall one of the strikers laughingly tell us "good luck getting parts". He may have been trying to be helpful, or he may just have known more than he was letting on. Who knows.....?)
Necro, I must congratulate you on how quickly you have learned the ins and out, parlance, and common terminology used in aviation. I have to be honest, if I did not know you weren't in the industry, I would surely guess you to be an old hand. This speaks highly of your learning capability, as well as the outstanding teaching skills of those on this board. Keep up the good work.

The truth is that outside of what I have learned from reading and listening I'm not too up on airline operations. Thanks for your kind words nonetheless.

I concur that many of the mechanics who post messages here are great teachers. I find many of the messages posted here to be interesting.

My experience with airlines has been from the passenger side of the operations. With that note I'll stop short of going into a rant. LOL

N.