Passenger Avoids Delay By Fixing Plane Himself

It would be a shame if an engineer on a recent Thomas Cook Airlines flight doesn't get a complimentary first class upgrade every time he flies. The engineer was on flight TCX9641 when it was announced that the trip would be delayed eight hours, while a mechanic was flown in to fix a problem. Luckily for the other passengers, the engineer happened to work for Thomsonfly Airlines, which has a reciprocal maintenance agreement with Thomas Cook. After about 35 minutes the man fixed the problem and the flight was on its way. A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook said, "When they announced there was a technical problem he came forward and said who he was. We checked his licence and verified he was who he said he was, and he was able to fix the problem to avoid the delay. We are very grateful that he was on the flight that day."

Comments

I noticed this comment doesn't have a first post..

[GigaHurtsMyRobot]

That's a problem.. just thought I'd show my ID and let you know I could fix it.

Charity is Unpatriotic

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I imagine if he had tried to pull that in the US he'd be colling his heels naked in a TSA holding cell by now.

Re:Charity is Unpatriotic

[jav1231]

Actually, union rules would have forbidden him from touching the plane in the U.S. even if were an American in that union.

Re:Charity is Unpatriotic

[FictionPimp]

The USA's DHS has no jurisdiction in Europe....

YET!

Re:Charity is Unpatriotic

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't matter if he _could_ work on the plane. Many union rules forbid unscheduled activity. In effect, this guy took away 8 hours of pay from his union brother.

What if he got hurt while working on the plane? Would the airline claim responsibility? His employer, even though the were not paying him for the labour?

I'm not saying what he did wasn't sensible, but when you're dealing with unions and bureaucracy you must discard all common sense and reasonableness first.

Re:Charity is Unpatriotic

[sumdumass]

I can't give you a reference on that but I can tell you I was reprimanded and almost fired from a factory job where I assembled cartons for glass packaging. We had to cut strands of the cardboard away from the boxes to deal with mismatched cartons. Anyways, one day the shavings and cuttings were getting particularly heavy and started to create a hazard where the floor became slippery and presented a tripping hazard. I picked up a broom and swept the cuttings away from my work area and the shop steward started jumping my ass because they paid someone else to sweep the floor and I was taking his job away. I was told I was getting wrote up over it. I went off on the guy and the floor supervisor when he backed him up.

I quit the job before the reprimand could go through. That's my experience with a union and it backs the idea put forth by the GP. Of course every union will be different but I'm not sure if in this area. Unions are about getting money for people at the expense of the business, not saving the business money.

Re:Charity is Unpatriotic

[KillerBob]

the reason unions have so much power in the US is because the labour laws are so lax. in countries with strong labour protection laws, like most of Europe, Canada, Australia, etc., the government has been set up to protect the workers. Unions aren't needed as much, and so they do not exert their power... truth be told, I have never worked at a company that was unionized, because unions are dying a slow death in this country (Canada). Outside of the federal government and manufacturing sectors, most people are not unionized any more. who needs collective bargaining when we have public health care benefits, labour laws that say you can't be fired without cause and that you're entitled to severance if you've worked there more than 90 days, and a wealth of other fundamental rights that have traditionally been fought for by unions?

In the US, though, things are different. Employers have much more power that they can exert, and as a result, the employees need to exert more collective power. It's protectionism. For starters, look up what it means to live in an "at will" state: you can be fired at any time, with no notice, no severance, and without cause. they need unions in the US, and so the unions exist, and they exert power.

This is too much.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

First they took away all the food and gave us peanuts. Then they went all the way and said, "Bring your own food". Now bring your own technician. What next? Bring your own pilot?

Re:This is too much.

[tom17]

Naah, bring your own plane.

Re:This is too much.

[palegray.net]

I brought my own pilot, flying my own plane, but I can't get clearance to land because apparently I should have brought my own air traffic controller, too. Now I'm going to die when my plane runs out of fuel, thanks.

Hrm

[Steauengeglase]

Shouldn't you get the death penalty for something like this? Seriously, this malcontent took work from airline repairmen. That is almost like eating babies. I say death to the traitor.

Bad summary!

[dzfoo]

Keith Lomax was not the engineer who fixed the plane. From the article:

Holidaymaker Keith Lomax, from Stirling, was travelling home from a week's break with his wife when the plane's captain announced the expected delay.

"We were in the plane, ready for take-off, when he announced there was a technical problem and that an engineer might have to be flown out from Manchester to fix it," he said.

"Then a stewardess told us there was an engineer on board and they were checking out to see if he could work on it. He was obviously successful. When he came back onto the plane there was a round of applause from the back of the aircraft.

Keith Lomax is just a passenger, on vacation with his wife, who witnessed the event and talked about it to the reporter.

Jeez! now not even the submitters are R'ingTFA!

        -dZ.

Re:No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express

[gavron]

He fixes airplanes. With toothpicks. He debunks myths. Without snopes or wikipedia. He once delivered a baby airplane from a mother airplane at forty-thousand feed - in the wind! He is the most interesting man's next door neighbor's cousin. "I don't always drink single-malt Scotch. But when I do, it's pretty decent. Stay thorsty, my frenz."

Re:BREAKING NEWS: Plane engineer fixes plane

[clone53421]

Plane engineer fixes plane, and what's news about that, you ask?

How often does the engineer just happen to be there already, as opposed to needing to be flown in from eight hours away...

How often does an engineer do the job for free...

And how often does one ride in the plane after he successfully repairs it? Personally, if my flight is delayed because the plane is broken down, I'd be very reassured to have the guy who fixes it riding in the same flying tin can as myself...