Old Alliance Planes

[jkhastings]

Hey all. Like all of us, I fly a lot and am very particular about which airlines I fly for safety reasons. Most of my flights are booked through my work so I have no real control. In the last 18 months, more and more I’m walking onto a Qantas/Virgin booked flight to find a 30+ year old Fokker 100 with Alliance branding. Researching the Rego of the plane is eye watering how long they been in service. That, along with younger less experienced pilots, is not really acceptable. But what can you do? Is anyone else annoyed by this subcontracting?

 

[mannej]

Whilst I understand a trepidation based off age, why would you consider this alone as a determining factor of acceptability? If you look at QF domestic fleet as an example, there are certainly 737 and A330’s that are in the 20+ years age group.

Yes one of the QF Link flights had to divert in WA earlier this week, but by and large you don’t tend to hear much about issues with these flights. Out of interest, would you prefer stepping on a F100 that is relatively well looked after, even if it is 25-30 years old, or a newer 737 Max?

 

[jkhastings]

Whilst I understand a trepidation based off age, why would you consider this alone as a determining factor of acceptability? If you look at QF domestic fleet as an example, there are certainly 737 and A330’s that are in the 20+ years age group.

Yes one of the QF Link flights had to divert in WA earlier this week, but by and large you don’t tend to hear much about issues with these flights. Out of interest, would you prefer stepping on a F100 that is relatively well looked after, even if it is 25-30 years old, or a newer 737 Max?

I see your point, but the maintenance of Alliance aircraft is an unknown. The stress and strains on an airframe over 30 plus years of service must be immense. I suspect you aren’t a nervous flyer. I like experienced pilots with quality wings. There’s only a handful of international carriers that I will fly for this reason. But domestically, I just feel like I’m not getting what is paid for. If I fly Qantas, I would be expect Qantas equipment. It mostly happens on BNE-TSV and return flights.

 

[markis10]

I see your point, but the maintenance of Alliance aircraft is an unknown. The stress and strains on an airframe over 30 plus years of service must be immense…….I like experienced pilots with quality wings.

The maintenance of Alliance aircraft isn’t unknown, the airline is subject to the same regulatory requirements any other airline is in Australia. 30+ years of service is somewhat irrelevant, more important is the cycles and time flown and makers test their aircraft for airframe life as part of the design process, usually writing off a hull. In fact the F100s were subject to close analysis back in the 90s: https://www.researchgate.net/public...ysis_of_the_Fokker_100_wingfuselage_structure

You could argue that older aircraft at least have their chance to iron out issues with their designs such as those experienced by the Max and the Neo GTF issues.

As for experienced pilots, no guarantee you will have one airline employing more than another, if they are Australian airlines. The recent industrial issues at Qantas could well see experience going to Alliance as pilots get sick of the various EBA negotiation failures across short haul/AIPA and the subsidiaries such as Network and NJS not to mention Jetstar. One has to wonder how long before the divide and conquer attitude of management will last.

 

[Mattg]

If an airline in Australia was using planes that were not airworthy, or pilots who were not qualified, I would expect CASA to shut them down tomorrow.