Further, in many countries including the EU, UK & US there are strict legal limits on the hours the crews of aircraft can work without adequate rest (defined) periods. If in his enthusiasm to keep his airline flying on time those rules are breached then he could find that aircraft are grounded by the authorities until the crew have been sufficiently rested.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Further, in many countries including the EU, UK & US there are strict legal limits on the hours the crews of aircraft can work without adequate rest (defined) periods. If in his enthusiasm to keep his airline flying on time those rules are breached then he could find that aircraft are grounded by the authorities until the crew have been sufficiently rested.

One might even expect that the certificate of the airline to operate at all would be suspended or revoked if a boss was ordering unsafe operations.

It has taken the war in Ukraine to highlight the real pain of globalisation & the profit 1st mantra.

Fuel stocks were low before the invasion and there was already a global shortage of refining capacity. The sector has not been highly profitable in recent years and attracted little investment.

It's a rich company's world
Oh the sector has been profitable - for the board members of said company & even better now.
Wonder how much will their end of year bonuses be?

Probably for repeated occurrences.
As far as I understand the authorities will give a slap on the wrist for a single minor excursion, and probably require appropriate procedures to be put in place in a given time frame. But keep repeating and managers and directors can expect to find their feet no longer snug on that nice comfy executive carpet, but their knees landing on hard concrete.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

It has taken the war in Ukraine to highlight the real pain of globalisation & the profit 1st mantra.

Fuel stocks were low before the invasion and there was already a global shortage of refining capacity. The sector has not been highly profitable in recent years and attracted little investment.

It's a rich company's world
Oh the sector has been profitable - for the board members of said company & even better now.
Wonder how much will their end of year bonuses be?

https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Investors/Investor-relations/Quarterly-earnings

https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Investors/Investor-relations/Quarterly-earnings

I question the use of the word "earnings" in that url.

What have they done to "earn" the increased revenues following the price hike caused by the market's response to the Ukrainian crisis? Or did they just sit on their hands and watch the dosh roll in?

1979-1997, 18 years of Tory rot.
1997-2010, B.Liar's Labour did nothing to stop the rot.
2010-to date, it had to happen

Operose Health is putting patients at risk by prioritising profit, says a senior GP.
The company, with almost 600,000 NHS patients, is owned by US healthcare giant Centene Corporation.
Operose says it's not short-staffed and operates in patients' best interests.
A GP working at the practice said they were short of eight doctors.

Greed & stupidity
No worries say board members, we use our own Gulfstream.

One really has to admire just how far America goes in the chase for profits.
ICIJ does it again
The sleaze of our current government made it all so easy.

This is not looking good for anyone flying a USA carrier:


America Is Running Dangerously Low On Qualified Airline Pilots
wrote:

The American airline industry is in trouble. They are running out of qualified pilots and can't replace them fast enough...

Will the "bean counters" compromise safety requirements...?

(And Human safety be damned...?)


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

One issue that the USA needs to look at is the flight hours requirement for commercial airline pilots. The base line for entering training is 1500 (sanity check needed on this figure) hours. Now this obviously costs the individual a lot of $$$, so you either have to be stinking rich or be able to get a suitable job, most likely as a flight instructor with one of the many flight training schools.
Hmmmm......
Personally I would expect a flight instructor to be a "well seasoned" pilot with lots of hours, not a "fresh faced" pilot with only a few tens or low hundreds of hours. OK they have had to go more than just the basic 50 hours required for the lowest level.

Hmmmm 2......
Needing to build up that many hours takes time, and for over two years flight schools have been effectively shut, so have many of the light aircraft hire companies, thus even with the money and a flight instructor license its been difficult to get the hours in.

Hmmm 3....
A lot of airline pilots are getting toward mandatory retirement age. Here life gets fun, some airlines have a lower retirement age than the FAA mandated one, so are seeing older pilots leaving early to get a few more years in their pension pot, albeit at a lower grade. And for various reasons the early retirement companies are find it hard to increase their retirement age to the FAA mandated one.

Hmmmm 4......
Many other countries have very different entry to commercial requirements. The most common is a much lower hours requirement, provided your training is at a "suitably approved" flight school, which as a private individual is more expensive per hour, but the entry to an airline is almost guaranteed. Many individuals are able to get airline sponsored training which takes them from zero-hours right up to a contract with the sponsoring airline.

Perhaps it is time the USA got out of the "You must be a good enough pilot as you have 1500 hours" and started to look at "You are a good pilot because you have been properly trained and assessed".

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Meanwhile...
Here at home

Oh back when 1500 hours was decided upon equipment was a lot dodgier and by that many hours you would have had to survive at least one engine failure.

50 hours pass test and basic license. Another 50 hours pass test and now you can fly in clouds. Another test and now you can get paid to fly. More hours and tests and you can teach. Many more hours and more tests and you can teach flying in clouds.

Sheep greed
Who in their right mind, would pay £1,000 per night to watch grown men hit a small ball?

Profits 1st, Safety 2nd?

How about, "Profits 1st, Health 2nd?

Now we've all heard about how super expensive healthcare is in the U.S. and then I read this story this morning.

Why is insulin still so expensive for diabetes patients in the U.S.?

Nicole Smith-Holt’s son, Alec, died in 2017 from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that occurs when the body doesn’t have enough insulin.

Alec had Type 1 diabetes. The 26-year-old had been recently removed from his parents' health insurance plan and was about $300 short of the $1,300 he needed to pay for his insulin medication, his mother said.

In a bid to wait until his next payday to purchase the medication, he rationed the insulin he had left.

“Unfortunately, his body was found three days prior to payday,” said Smith-Holt, of Richfield, Minnesota.

In the five years since Alec’s death, not much has changed: The high cost of insulin remains a significant barrier to care for many Americans.

A study published this month in the journal Health Affairs found that 14% of people who use insulin in the United States face what is described as a “catastrophic” level of spending on the medication, meaning that after paying for other essentials, such as food and housing, they spend at least 40% of their remaining income on insulin....

And after a quick search I came up with this.

Cost of Insulin by Country 2022.

No wonder that medical dept is no.1 of the Most Common Causes of Bankruptcy in the U.S. and big U.S. pharma is a driving force in that fact.

Dr.'s who take massive kickbacks to prescribe the latest and greatest delivery device and not the ultra cheap no kickback vial and syringe.

This shouldn't be happening...


Welsh NHS staff advised how to access food banks
wrote:

An NHS worker was left feeling "sad" and "incredulous" after bosses sent staff an email with advice on how to access food banks.

A body that provides logistical support for the health service across Wales sent the email...

... The NWSSP provides a wide range of administrative services to health boards across Wales including procurement, audit and employment support.

The staff member said that after putting in so much extra work during the pandemic the email felt "very hollow - like what we were doing was not appreciated enough by governing bodies".

"I was sad that people were struggling so much that we were left with no other alternative option other than to go to the foodbanks...

... "This message from health bosses, pointing staff to food banks, shows how far we've gone down the road of thinking this is somehow 'normal'. It isn't."...

So... Where are the profits going?...

Stay healthily safe folks?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

So... Where are the profits going?...

Profits? What Profits? There are no profits! Look at this P&L. Income X, expense X = no profits!
Please ignore the cost of executive labor.

California steps up to the plate to take on big pharma after my little rant.

California aims to make its own insulin brand to lower price.

Many lives will be saved by the move.

We're certainly being had.

Average pay for FTSE 100 chiefs jumps by 39% to £3.4m.