FlyGlobeSpan fined for "optimistic interpretation"...

[AA 1818]

LONDON (AFP) - A budget airline was fined 5,000 pounds Monday for flying a faulty passenger plane across the Atlantic despite knowing it had problems following a lightning strike.

Although two engine pressure radio indicators (EPRs) were not working, Globespan Airways used an "optimistic interpretation" of aviation rules to fly the Boeing 757 from Britain to the United States on June 28, 2007.

As a result the crew of the plane, which had 20 passengers on board, had to manually adjust the throttle with the help of another gauge during the 3,000 mile flight.

Specifically the airline, trading as FlyGlobeSpan, breached Civil Aviation rules by declaring the aircraft "serviceable" to fly from Liverpool to New York despite knowing about the fault after a lightning strike earlier in the day.

The Edinburgh-based no-frills carrier also admitted two cases of flying the plane without a valid certificate of air worthiness or a valid operator's certificate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080804...s_080804133419

Ok, so... seriously, why did they fly? I mean, why not just shuffle the 20 passengers onto another flight. Flying 20 on a 757 is not nearly profitable anyway (unless under a serious charter deal) I am sure that getting the money for operating the charter is less than the fine and the backlash that they will be dealing with...

[Airbus_A320]

Ok, so... seriously, why did they fly? I mean, why not just shuffle the 20 passengers onto another flight. Flying 20 on a 757 is not nearly profitable anyway (unless under a serious charter deal) I am sure that getting the money for operating the charter is less than the fine and the backlash that they will be dealing with...

Maybe they had more coming on the return flight, and if they were getting a fixed rate for a charter be it with 20 or 200 people, it wouldn't matter. That being said, was this indeed a charter? And either way, even if one leg is going to lose money, they still have to fly the return. They can't just leave people stranded and maybe with the size of their fleet finding another plane wasn't possible. It seems that with these charter airlines problems where the plane actually can't fly cause delays of days because they only have a few planes and can't substitute.

The Edinburgh-based no-frills carrier also admitted two cases of flying the plane without a valid certificate of air worthiness or a valid operator's certificate.

Also this part is interesting, are part of the fines coming because of this? While flying without a valid certificate is illegal, it doesn't mean something was wrong with the plane at those times, it just means that the paperwork wasn't in order.

The question I have is, how does stuff like this get found out about? Does someone in the company that worked on the plane go to the media usually? The plane made it fine, and I'm sure the pilots did fine using the N1 indication or whatever else they used. I can't imagine that stuff like this doesn't happen quite a bit without anything happening or anyone hearing about it.

[HalcyonDays]

...That being said, was this indeed a charter?

No, it was a scheduled flight. That particular route was later suspended, due to poor loads. This airline has developed a pretty poor reputation for itself in the past two years, mainly for unreliability, poor punctuality and constant schedule changes/aircraft substitutions etc.....

[474218]

Engine pressure radio? I wonder if it is AM or FM.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/epr.html

EPR engine pressure ratio!

[NickN]

As a result the crew of the plane, which had 20 passengers on board

Good to see their flights are enjoying large patronage

[HalcyonDays]

Good to see their flights are enjoying large patronage

It was calling at Knock on the way from Liverpool to JFK, so it would have been picking up more passengers there for the transatlantic crossing. However, there is no doubt that some of their scheduled loads have been poor.

[DAL767-400ER]

With an airline that had their ETOPS certification TWICE already in the short period they've had it so far, nothing really surprises me anymore...