Who rides on ferry flights?

[lpbrian]

I remember when an MD-80 was damaged by a catering truck in Mexico. A field team was sent down to do a temporary repair. They flew with it back to TUL

 

[cynic]

This past Sunday I was in CLT waiting for a flight to ROA when the announcement was made that the flight was cancelled. I asked if the flight would go to ROA as a ferry flight and was told yes. Later the captain said he could not take me because I was not an active employee but a retiree. I had to stay in CLT overnight before I could go home. Is this policy or was the captain having a bad day? I have been on a ferry flight before as the captain said he would take non-revs period. No mention was made of active or retired.

With ROA being a maintenance base for Piedmont, I would guess that it was canceled due to being broken and ferried on a maintenance ferry permit. 

 

[dash8roa]

With ROA being a maintenance base for Piedmont, I would guess that it was canceled due to being broken and ferried on a maintenance ferry permit. 

The antenna was thought to be the problem. Some time ago at CLT a flight to ROA was delayed and then the captain walked in and told the gate agent the flight was cancelled and his next words were, " but I can take non-revs". It was the last flight of the day and I was so glad to make it home. Why leave non-revs behind when they can be accommodated?

 

[BeechDriver]

They can do that if the airplane is "fixed" and not on a maintenance ferry permit.  Only crew required for the operation of the airplane and its safety of flight can ride on a maintenance ferry.  Mechanics are never required...in flight, at least.

Sorry, not true. Been there, done that.

 

[Topcat187]

I've been lucky enough to travel on ferry flights, either on regional or mainline.
But all of the flights I traveled on, there was a full compliment of crew onboard. Most or all of these flights were repo flights, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Mainly, I was headed to a spoke where the plane (or crew) was needed to travel to a hub the next day. Or a hub to hub with a widebody. So I was lucky each time.  On all of the flights, I just had my roller, which is small enough to go overhead. (or in the case of a CR2/E145 - it went into an empty seat or in the crew closet.) 
 
I don't know about the active vs retiree on ferry flights though. The flights I was lucky enough to get on, all of the passengers were active employees. Again, the circumstances allowed us to be in the right place at the right time.

The policy is in the flight manual. If you are an active employee, you dont need the flight attendants etc.

 

[OldGuy@AA]

I was on a AA business trip and traveling A-12 when I was trying to get out of Grand Rapids Mich. to ORD and then to TUL about 15 years ago.  George W. Bush was coming in and they were going to shut the airport down.  The last Eagle flight was full but there was another Eagle RJ that was ferrying to ORD because of pressurization issues.  I was allowed a seat on this aircraft and it could not fly over 10,000 ft due to no pressurization.  Along on the flight was a Non-Rev Southwest Airlines flight attendant.  I would say that the captain can take anyone they want.  The one mentioned at the beginning of the thread didn't want to take a retiree so he lied.  I'm betting if it had been a retired pilot he would have gotten a seat.  We did have a pilot years ago that used to pi$$ the agents off at DFW when he'd ferry a flight to TUL and tell them to load all non-revs who wanted to go on the aircraft.  A friend of mine was a beneficiary of his kindness one Sunday night.  Captain Green was one in a million and I saw where he passed away a couple of years ago.  They broke the mold when they made that guy.

 

[lpbrian]

What kind of message does that send? Hey we fixed it but we ain't ridin on it. So long sucka. We goin elsewhere.

 

[nycbusdriver]

What kind of message does that send? Hey we fixed it but we ain't ridin on it. So long sucka. We goin elsewhere.

 
If it's a maintenance ferry, then it really isn't "fixed."  I've refused maintenance ferry flight.  Usually, those airplanes are ferried by management pilots when the line pilots refuse to fly them.

 

[Roadking5560]

What kind of message does that send? Hey we fixed it but we ain't ridin on it. So long sucka. We goin elsewhere.

That's when you refuse to sign off the logbook until you are issued seats.  This happened on a field trip to Kingston when they attempted to fly the plane out without taking the mechanics who fixed it.  Suddenly seats became available.

 

[jimntx]

Well, obviously there is a policy that may or may not be followed, and rules that may or may not be obeyed depending on whatever the PIC decides.  And, that's FINAL!

 

[kirkpatrick]

While the captain may be able to do what he wants, he still has to answer for it.  I don't think we can say much about the particular flight that gave rise to this thread without knowing all the specific details.
 
MK

 

[cynic]

The antenna was thought to be the problem. Some time ago at CLT a flight to ROA was delayed and then the captain walked in and told the gate agent the flight was cancelled and his next words were, " but I can take non-revs". It was the last flight of the day and I was so glad to make it home. Why leave non-revs behind when they can be accommodated?

He was likely referring to current employees that were commuting. The outstation basing has made it problematic for them to attract pilots and they tend to look out for each other when it comes to getting in and out of base. It's unlikely that he was thinking about guest passes, parents or zed tickets either. In my experience, Piedmont won't take anyone that is not a current employee on any repo flight, maintenance or otherwise. I've had to help family and friends get home a number of times when one of the very small number of flights to my home town has cancelled. 

 

[nycbusdriver]

That's when you refuse to sign off the logbook until you are issued seats.  This happened on a field trip to Kingston when they attempted to fly the plane out without taking the mechanics who fixed it.  Suddenly seats became available.

 
Personally, I would have staying the night in Kingston and waited for the company to send a MTC supervisor to sign the logbook and fire the mechanics.

 

[700UW]

Personally, I would have staying the night in Kingston and waited for the company to send a MTC supervisor to sign the logbook and fire the mechanics.

Fire them?

Maybe they should fire you when you refuse an aircraft.

It's a mechanic's legal right not to sign or to sign off their work.

Good union man you are, not

 

[Roadking5560]

 
Personally, I would have staying the night in Kingston and waited for the company to send a MTC supervisor to sign the logbook and fire the mechanics.

I was not on that field trip but what I heard was there were no accommodations available for them so they would have no option but to sit in the terminal until they could get on a flight back home.  On field trips I've been on the company bends over backward to get you on the first flight out but after the plane is fixed you become a non-person.  In many cases you have to fight to get on the manifest so you didn't have to pay any departure fees.  It appears neither you or management care whether the mechanics get home or not after you've humped it all night (outside on the tarmac).  This is of course after working at least a portion of your regular work shift prior to the field trip.  You sir are a sorry lot.