Posts Categorized: News

We hope the coming year is profitable and rewarding for you. This is the story of my last flight of 2012. It shows how one airline (who shall remain nameless) managed to turn a small, manageable problem into a very large problem. Small problems cost a little bit of money to solve, big problems cost… Read more »

Two things recently happened to me. First, I just recently completed delivering a training course in the Middle East. It turned out to be a very very difficult assignment for me, simply because no one was truly thinking about the course. Now I am not saying my training is the most important thing in the… Read more »

When I first saw this, I thought – WHY? Then I started thinking … Why NOT? And then I tried it. I tried for novelty value, and was pleasantly surprised that it was not horrible. While not my first choice, I am sure there are people in the world that would make this their first… Read more »

In my last newsletter I stated I had taken a new part time role at one of the local universities here in Melbourne. Most of my dealings have been with 3rd year engineering students, but occasionally I get to deal final year and postgraduate students. Remember, when dealing with students, they have been conditioned by… Read more »

I am finishing 8 trips in 9 weeks, and last time I wrote of my “interesting” experience with a hotel smoke alarm. It was my first experience with a smoke alarm in a hotel, and it was caused by a software error. So imagine my surprise when it happened a second time in 3 weeks…. Read more »

My work requires me to travel, and currently I am in the middle of a set of many trips (6 trips in 9 weeks, with 3 more potential trips likely to become reality, making 9 trips in 9 weeks). I do have the occasional traveller’s anecdote, and tips for making a journey comfortable and successful,… Read more »

A colleague described a very unusual situation in his project. A facility was undergoing an upgrade on the inlet of the facility. Nothing unusual about that, but what was unusual was as a result of the upgrade, 100% of the feed would flow through the new upgrade. And … while that statement by itself is… Read more »

Just as a point of clarification, I recently mentioned that one airline did not stock life rafts on their aircraft. I just got off a flight with that airline, and the flight crew informed me that their new aircraft are CURRENTLY not fitted with life rafts, but WILL be fitted in the next 12 months…. Read more »

The aviation industry here in Australia has been in the headlines recently, for all the wrong reasons. One airline was forced to ground its fleet because of safety violations. The other airlines were quick to say something like “we will never compromise on safety”. Then there was a volcano in Chile that erupted, sending ash… Read more »

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is visiting sites. I get to see many, and the differences between the processes, the way local problems are solved, etc are interesting and sometimes a source of inspiration. But whenever I look at a facility, I make one conclusion based purely on visual information …… Read more »