Sir Swagman

Don’t think a ‘doctor’ this stupid is one I would rely upon

One sure way to make a small fortune out of aviation - start with a large one.

I flew for TG (some time ago) - he is right......

While this may not be beyond the bounds of what could occur here……it might pay to look at your calendar

I worked for this company - glad I haven't posted the sort of things I saw and experienced on a near daily basis! Who gives advice to these people? What possible good could result from this legal action - nothing positive to most people I think.

This fellow hasn't any idea of the reason behind the decision to divert. The captain is in charge and that's the end of the story. TG always used to carry far too much fuel going Australia, as they didn't comprehend the Australian rules for minimum fuel required in Australian airspace. They now do, and it is sufficient to allow for a timely decision to be made, in the fairly rare event unforecast weather eventuates at the planned destination. However.... looking at the actual weather on that day and time, the wind was from the SE and runway 16 has a Cat 111b ILS, allowing for landings with no cloud base and 75m visibility minima. Thai (albeit a long time ago) were never able to maintain certification of the automatic landing capability of the old 747's (no idea if that applies to the aircraft used on this sector), so if a CAT 111b capability existed at Melbourne at the time, vis was reported at or or above 75m (and equipment may not be fully serviceable at the airport of course), it is probably safe to assume the aircraft was not capable, for one reason or another, or the crew were not qualified for such an approach. I think the suggestion that the passenger concerned get his pilots licence and start flying commercial heavy jets, before demonstrating his ignorance, a fairly good one.

I am always amazed that there are so many qualified parachutists in Thailand

Jet Fuel pretty much is diesel - current price (and of course it fluctuates) is close to 55 Cents USD/Litre. Wish I could buy diesel at that price!

As a traveller in aluminium tubing from a previous life I can tell you most of what is posted is BS. Thai regs are not much different from international ones (standards are another matter!) and if you weigh some passengers you have to weigh them all. Mixing average weights and actual is not permitted. Cargo loading is, unless the ULDs (the containers holding underfloor baggage on most larger transport aircraft are individually weighed - something I have not seen), not loaded by members of Mensa. Bags are just chucked into the nearest available box (if labelled fragile it will be thrown gently however). I guarantee that Load Control for any airline, seating more than about 30 passengers, does not have the capability to distribute passenger weights, either by zone or row, if individual weights are applied. It would take so long to enter individual weights to the system that check in times would need to be extended by perhaps an hour. They will use average weights to trim the aircraft. Standard passenger weights used to be 77Kg + carry on (average or limit) + actual checked baggage to achieve a load and thereby calculate takeoff weight, from which other performance parameters flow. There was (for a while at least) a standard passenger weight that applied to Asia (I think around 66Kg, from memory) but thanks to Macdonalds and the like, that is hardly applicable now. Leaving the US and some European ports the aircraft always slightly under-performed as the standard weights were exceeded by the vast majority of passengers. The ONLY reason this is being promulgated is to make money by saving fuel and engine wear and tear (reduced thrust takeoff) - safety is the very last thing on the mind of the accounts running airlines these days.

Is it possible for 'them' to make up their minds? "Tourism is up", "Tourism is down" which is it - more to the point, who cares - beyond those filling in the numbers on what must resemble a Sudoku puzzle when it comes to government statistics

You could pretty much write a template script for all the stupid things faring men do when deciding Thailand is 'it' (I am not much of an exception here BTW). It is always 'different with this one' etc etc etc. True love....LOL In reality they could replace all the currency sniffing dogs used at airports with almost any Thai woman, they would do a much better job!