In the airline industry, excess weight equals higher fuel costs. Higher fuel costs equals less profits. So, what can the airlines do to make the planes lighter? You get rid of the heavy, bulky, costly, unneeded items that you don’t absolutely HAVE to have in order for the plane to hopefully get off the ground.
You know those pesky, heavy as rocks, Life Vests that the flight attendants tell you are stowed under your seats for use in case of emergency landing on a body of water?
Get em off the planes!!
This past week, Air Canada Jazz, the commuter extension of Air Canada, announced that they would no longer be carrying life vests on their aircraft in order to save weight and fuel. While the airline does not fly transatlantic or transpacific routes, it does operate in the Atlantic Seaboard Islands of Canada and does fly over all the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay. Spokesman say the airline passengers will not be in danger because their seat cushions can still be used as a flotation device.
One Issue I have with this rationale is, What if you are badly burned or injured in a crash landing on water and do not have the strength or physical ability to hold onto your seat cushion until help arrives? A life vest inflates and you are done with it.
Delta airlines is looking into having the Pilot and Co-Pilot each only carry ONE HALF EACH of the planes “Flight Instruction manual” onto the plane. Right now, each cockpit member has their own phone book sized book that they carry on-board. Delta wants the Captain to carry “Part A” while the Co-Pilots would carry “Part-B”, therefore saving one books worth of weight on the aircraft,
If you thought forgetting your schoolbooks at home when you were a kid was a bad thing….wait until your plane loses an engine at 33,000 feet and you find that one of your pilots forgot his half of the book at home! What if bad scheduling actually results in two part A’s working the same flight with no part B book on board? The airlines say that they are in the process of getting rid of the books altogether anyway and that soon all the material will be accessed solely off the planes computer system. (We all know a computer system would never crash or lockup)
Everyone probably remembers what Jet Blue airlines did earlier this year when they removed pillows and blankets from their planes. You now can purchase a small pillow and blanket for $7 and the best part is you get to keep them as a momento of your memorable trip.
Most airlines have done away with complimentary magazines and newspapers on-board, many have switched from using real silverware in first class to just using plastic silverware, most airlines have removed the credit-card activated sky phones from the seat backs in order to save weight, and a number of carriers now will charge you $2 for that can of COKE and tiny bag of peanuts that we all jump up down craving while stuck in the tiny, cramped seats for hours on end.
How long before the airlines actually just set up a store right next to the gate to try to sell you the stuff you will actually need for increasing your chances of survival and comfort for the duration of your flight?
Blanket/Pillow $7, Life Vest $5, Bottled Soda/Water $4, Peanuts/Pretzels $4, Window Seats $10, Air Conditioning $5, Arm rest or seatback $10, Seat actually INSIDE plane $25, Pilot Take-off Fee $25, Pilot Landing Fee $50, Oxygen for use in Emergency $40, Oxygen to actually breathe inside aircraft $60, Use of Restroom charge $20, Flushing of toilet charge $23, Plane actually departing on date listed on ticket fee $25.
That’s where we are headed before you know it……
You will never have the situation you described where you have two pilots with “part A” of their manuals and no-one with “part B” due to a scheduling mixup. Captains carry “part A” and copilots carry “part B”. If a Captain is flying as a copilot for some reason (instructors), he will carry the copilot manuals. Problem averted.
In fact, though the airline allows pilots to leave half of their manuals at home – no pilot that I know actually does that. You have to maintain (update) all the manuals anyways – so you might as well have them with you. And who wants to rely on someone else for something that important.
Oh, and we all look forward to the day when the manuals are all in the computer. Those systems are actually very good, and many aircraft are already flying with them.
I had to laugh at this: Pilot Take-off Fee $25, Pilot Landing Fee $50. I can imagine it now: “OK folks, we’re circling until everyone has paid the landing fee. Come on now, pay up ….”
By: Joe d'Eon on September 15, 2008
at 4:16 pm