The Real History of AirTran

[NiGHTS]

Originally Posted by jetmech717

"Nights" hey guess what???? I dont care about AirTrans record before the merger and I dont care about ValuJet before the merger. All I care about is the AirTran Airways that you see and hear about TODAY....right here and right now.

So you don't care about the past at all? You don't care about the 110 who died? You don't care about the near fatal accidents? You don't care about the people who were left behind? The people who just about had their lives taken away? It appears the only thing you care about is yourself since you are so concerned about defending your employer to ensure that it continues to grow, giving you some job security. People who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, regardless of the liverly on the tail.

I love how most of the pro-airtran responses attempt to be closed ended so that they are not questioned and accepted at face value. Lets face reality people, there is never going to be any point in time where the other viewpoint is accepted. Regardless of how AirTran is now, it's based on how Valujet was THEN including the problems and the safety awards that you all proudly speak about. AirTran may not be Valujet in name, but you at least have to admit that there is a relationship between the two that goes beyond a simple name change.

No one answered my question. I suppose i'll attempt to look it up myself

[jetmech717]

Mr Nights said:

So you don't care about the past at all? You don't care about the 110 who died? You don't care about the near fatal accidents? You don't care about the people who were left behind? The people who just about had their lives taken away?

O.K. Baker junior AKA "nights".....you can twist around words all you want! Of course the sympathys went out to all involved, but whats done is done and there is nothing you or I can do about it today! The only thing I can do is learn from the PAST. So I apply this to my job and that is why safety is always first. I have grounded a plane when it was fully loaded and about to push the gate.....let me tell you those people who had to get off the plane and wait for another one arent thinking about safety...they are pissed off because there flight didnt leave on time. They dont care, escpecially the people who fly all the time. They would try to talk the pilot in flying on one engine if they had to. This is because they get complacient and think that aviation is just routine. Well guess what MR. Nights???? ITS NOT!!!!!!! And things happen to all airlines everyday. So while your out digging up AirTrans OLD safety record feel free to look up other airline crashes also and you come back here with the info and I'll show you a change that was made to commercial aircraft because of it.
MR Nights yet still:

Regardless of how AirTran is now, it's based on how Valujet was THEN including the problems and the safety awards that you all proudly speak about. AirTran may not be Valujet in name, but you at least have to admit that there is a relationship between the two that goes beyond a simple name change.

You can have you opinion about an airline that doesnt even fly to your location and you have never even flown on........I myself....an AirTran employee (for 5yrs) am telling you know that it is a different company with different management, different personnel, much different A/C (youngest All Boeing fleet in the country I might add), different attitude. We would like to look foward and see a positive future with positive growth. And I would appreciate if you would let the AirTran Airways maintenace dept keep the honor of the awards given to us by the FAA. I'm pretty sure we deserve that much!!!!!

[NiGHTS]

Woah woah woah. I have no association with dbaker. I only have respect for him as a poster, as I do for you, haze, and everyone else on here.

Originally Posted by jetmech717

Of course the sympathys went out to all involved, but whats done is done and there is nothing you or I can do about it today! The only thing I can do is learn from the PAST.

Originally Posted by jetmech717

"Nights" hey guess what???? I dont care about AirTrans record before the merger and I dont care about ValuJet before the merger. All I care about is the AirTran Airways that you see and hear about TODAY....right here and right now.

This to me is a bit of a contradiction. You don't care about the past of AirTran/Valujet yet you take what you can from what happened and employ it to your daily work?....Can you explain yourself a little better so I can understand what you mean?

Originally Posted by jetmech717

And I would appreciate if you would let the AirTran Airways maintenace dept keep the honor of the awards given to us by the FAA. I'm pretty sure we deserve that much!!!!!

I never once took the honor of your service awards, thats why I made sure I mentioned it as well as the problems. It's good that AirTran is getting awards for their service department, but we have yet to see if that continues trend in the long term. Let the number of problems be the judge of that If you are so sure that AirTran has changed, we'll see proof of it over time.

[trs717]

Bottom line, if you fly commercially you will be inconvenienced. I had a lady tell me last week that she left her wallet in another plane while she connected in Atlanta. And all of her life…was in that wallet. I felt very badly for her. But we had 117 people on board and it was departure time. She was mad that we wouldn’t wait 10 minutes while she went looking for her wallet. She will probably complain and will swear to never fly AirTran again, but in the end…it was her, who lost that wallet. 116 of other passengers managed to keep theirs. So why should they suffer. We provide public service and individual needs are sometimes overlooked. We can’t move a standby passenger up the list, because he is traveling to a funeral and this is the most important event in his life. We have procedures to follow, and laws to obey. Especially when it comes to safety. Now, there are those passengers who get their way in aviation. They force their pilots to go, against their will and judgment. That’s called owning your own jet. I’ve done that kind of flying and hated every minute of it. We often hear about those passengers as victims of a Learjet crash that was attempting an approach in an unsuitable weather, or G-4 flying into a mountain, because the crew was exhausted from a long duty day, etc. Fortunately airline crews are never concerned with passenger convenience, but only with their safety. So, yeah, there will always be those who are upset. When I have to delay a flight due to weather or mechanical problem, I try to be very informative on the PA and to make it clear that I’m doing this for everyone’s well being. I tell them that: “I know we have a schedule to keep, however, that schedule is amendable, and your lives are not.” Almost everyone can understand that, and usually they thank me on the way out. All of a sudden that delay takes a whole new meaning to them.
As an example, here is a problem that instructors like to give captains in recurrent schools: You have a passenger who is collapsed on a floor. The Flight Attendant managed to find a doctor on board, and the doctor says that this passenger will probably not make it if we’re not on the ground in 20 minutes. There is an airport close-by, however the weather there is not legal for landing. The closest airport with good weather is 1 hour away.
Now, Boeing 717 can land automatically in very poor weather, however the airport that is near-by is not approved for that kind of landing. That doesn’t mean that the airplane can’t still do it. And as a captain I can wave all the FAA rules if situation requires so. One might think, let’s go ahead and land…we know the airplane will do a great job and we’ll save that poor guy. But the correct answer is: 116 + 5 ± 1. What that means is, we have 116 people on board, plus 5 crew, plus or minus one. So you’re expected to got to the airport 1 hour away and not to put anyone else in danger, even if it means that the poor guy dies. Now, if we were told that there was a bomb on board and it would go off in 20 minutes, that would be a different story.


Lessons of our past are not forgotten here at AirTran. But referencing to our past as a reflection of our safety today, is totally inaccurate.

As a side note. Just returned from a trip. While cruising along from DC to Atlanta we heard Delta telling the ATC that they had a fuel leak, a few minutes later they reported one engine shutdown and that they were declaring an emergency and landing at nearest airport. So things like that happen every day. And that day there were 100+ some passenger that would swear to never fly on Delta again. You see what I mean?

[NiGHTS]

Well I certainly like how you explained it, trs717, rather then jetmech717's explination.

Safety is more then just goes what on in the air though. It's something that must be done at all levels of the company. Pilots and Mechanics can be safety conscious, but what if the corporate culture is not? AirTran keeps on expanding and growing at such a fast rate. Something has to give at some point.

[jetmech717]

AirTran keeps on expanding and growing at such a fast rate. Something has to give at some point.

Nights, please explain to me how exactly AirTran is growing at such a rapid pace? Now that we arent expanding in MDW I think all we did last year is move to (1) new city (I believe). Other than ordering some good American made airplanes (which helps the economy) I think were expanding rather smartly. With all the bigger airlines backing out of places this is the perfect time to gather up any landing slots or gates that come open because they may not be available next time. Also I would like to say that the corporate culture here is just like you would find at most other airlines, And contrary to what you think...the pilots and technicians work for the FAA (since they license us) Were just employeed and paid by AirTran.....In a twisted kinda way. So we wouldnt let any upper management effect our judgement anyways if that was the case.

[trs717]

ahh???

Did anyone hear about Egypt Air starting a new service? Non-stop from JFK to JFK jr.

I know it's pretty bad... Sorry.

[jetmech717]

Since this guy posted this spam on the AirTran forum......Maybe we are flying to Eyypt next??????????? lol