During Daddy Bush's "conflict" to rescue the oil in Kuwait, HP could....and did ferry troops on their 747s. Those troops also pretty much wrecked the hell out of HPs big birds. HP had not had their 747s very long, and had just begun their service to HNL and Nagoya...and it was a very nice service and great on-board amenities but, it was never any secret that Daddy Bush's little war in the cities of oil caused HP to fall into bankruptcy after it was over, they simply couldn't pay for the aircraft leases on the peanuts that uncle sam was paying them to ferry the 17 and 18 year old snot nosed brats with rifles that ripped their jets up so bad they had to be taken out of service for interior repairs before being put back on routes again - which, by then, had long been abandoned by the customer base that they had started to build. And no, uncle sam did not pay any of the airlines for any of their damages, thank you CRAF, you get 88 bucks a head and fuel at cost... and that's it.
I understand AA had some damaged aircraft after that conflict also, but HP being my carrier of choice at the time, I paid more attention to them. I'm sure someone out there remembers Desert Storm and what it did to AA.
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As a crew member I have shuttled those"snot nosed brats" many times accross the atlantic..On CRAF,MAC and CAM flights, and I will have to say they were well behaved and respected us as crew and our aircraft. I do not know where you get your information WNP..but you could not be further from the truth..AW woes and those old delapitated 747s were in a nose dive far before our troops set foot on them headed for the mid east. It was a yeild mgmt prob along with other bad business manuvers..not foot prints on the bulkheads...I would take a plane full of military personal over any "business" pax anyday...these "kids" are model pax and could teach joe business a thing or two about behavior...
..and as for AAs equipment...the cabins returned to the line in the same condition the left??
I flew dozens of CRAF flights on TWA's 747's and L1011's and can't come up with a single incidence of cabin damage. I consider those flights to be the highlight of my 31-yr career both by the importance of what I was doing and the courtesy and respect shown by the passengers. I can't imagine where anyone could get the idea that they were harder on the cabins than the typical business/leisure passenger.
How dare you call these young men and women snot-nosed-brats, who are going over to a war to protect your butt. You should be ashamed of yourself for calling them that. It is a shame you are not thrown over there on the front line in their place. One of these days, but I doubt it, you might just grow up.
I am glad to see that I am not alone in this..as not only is this post disrespectfull it flat out can not be further from the truth with regard to our troops behavior on board our aircraft.....that is something imporntant for all to know who read these BB...our men and women in uniform are MODEL passangers..to say the least...
WNP..you can have your say as everyone else here does...but your down right wrong on the facts on this one...buddy.....we know, we were there...where were you?
never have flown on AW 747, I do not know of their condition..just assuming that in the mid 90s the 747-200 was not showroom new..and the market LAS-hawaii/asia..a leasure one...
the purpose of my post was to dispute the rap of military personal thrashing airplanes..Again I will say they were perfect gentelmen/ladies...any wear and tear on equipment was due to the type of OSO and circumstances surrounding it..
It really disturbs me to see our Country's soldiers referred to as "snot nosed brats". Obviously, those who would use such a term does not realize that it is this country's military that retains for them the right to slander others in such a manner. Also, obviously, one who would use such a term has never served their country "Honorably." I flew six legs carrying troops on Desert Storm, buildup and return (about 2,400 troops); and, not one bit of damage to the aircraft was ever noted. They were the best group of passengers I ever carried.
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On 1/10/2003 8:56:57 PM AC AA LA FA wrote:
never have flown on AW 747, I do not know of their condition..just assuming that in the mid 90s the 747-200 was not showroom new..[/blockquote]
Correct, although HP's 747s were all gone by the mid-'90s.
They operated the following four 747-206Bs, all ex-KLM, at one time or another between 1989 and 1992:
N531AW (ex-PH-BUA), originally delivered in 1970
N532AW (ex-PH-BUB), 1971
N533AW (ex-PH-BUC), 1971
N534AW (ex-PH-BUD), 1971
As these were KLM's four oldest 747s, they definitely had some miles on 'em by the time HP took them on.
[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 1/11/2003 753 AM WingNaPrayer wrote:Granted, I didn't get to see any of the planes after they completed their 'desert' service, but spoke to many who did and I'm not exagerating aircraft damage
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[P]Sounds like one of those "My wifes aunts brother-in-laws coworkers sisters father-in-laws sisters hairdressers brother" saw one, and HE said they were trashed.[/P]
Senator McCain deserves respect for his service. But he and his fellow Senators once again are trying to change the laws to tilt the scale in manangement's favor. He wants to change the Railway Labor Act and force settlements on airline unions ala "baseball style arbitration." I can't recall any baseball players getting reductions in compensation or having to give concessions. My question to McCain is, who is going to force settlement on the greedy executives of airlines and make them take less pay and give up their perks?