Now the joke’s on us
Says the airline pilot: “Air India has an excellent safety record. In fact, our safety standards are so high that even terrorists are afraid to fly with us. It is with pleasure I announce that, starting this year, over 30% of our passengers have reached their destination.”
You may recall this joke, one of many doing the rounds when India experienced problems with their aircraft. Similarly, a number of African countries went through the same ridiculing loop.
Who would have imagined SA’s airlines would suffer the same ordeal? The latest spate of serious malfunctions that endanger passengers is cause for concern. Had anyone seen it coming? Unlikely.
But by the same token, the telltale signs where visible. Take the deteriorating administration conditions of SAA, caused by the inept and corrupt people in charge to manage what should have been a successful airline, given the healthy number of passengers to destinations vital to tourism and business connections. Planes were mostly filled to capacity.
At one time it boasted some of the best pilots, many of whom were head hunted by international companies. Compared to other airlines, SAA’s cabin staffers were without exception, professional.
Then the vultures descended on the boardroom. Representing the top ANC echelon, they devoured the nuisance opposition, allowing them to pick the cash cow clean. They left some of the bits to their family trusts.
This selfish, corrupt management style filtered down to the workers. So it’s a good guess preflight checks are done haphazardly and breaks for maintenance of vital aircraft functions become less.
This scenario, as serious as it is, will bring out the jokers. Like this one: As part of his training routine the would-be pilot had to practice emergency procedures. When getting checked out for night flying, he asked his instructor how to react to an engine failure at night. The instructor dead panned: “When you think you’re getting close to the ground, turn on your landing lights. If you don’t like what you see, turn them off.”
The Indian folk had to bear the brunt of the jokes when their country’s pilots went through the doldrums. We can’t expect anything less.
But let’s hope SAA wings its way out of this mess.