2 Qantas pilots suspended after heated cockpit argument

Qantas has a strong reputation for safety, with the Australian flag-carrier never experiencing a fatal crash in the jet age

But oh so many near misses and a track record of shoddy maintenance...it's a miracle they haven't crashed yet.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the captain and second officer on the 747-400 due to make a long-haul flight to Brisbane last week were told they could not fly after disagreeing about the take-off calculations they needed to use.

Pilots and co-pilots still do calculations? surely these are done by computer?

Of course they do calculations...they calculate how much they can legally drink before a flight without getting busted. But seriously...you would think there is a set procedure in place so that there is no doubt that they are doing the calculations correctly (weight...fuel...coffee, etc).

Are Qantas trying to make themselves look bad?

this is worrisome, I can see them fighting over who gets the extra dessert or something but on flight calculations, pretty scary stuff. I am to assume the co-pilot was out of line in arguing.

"Ladies and gentlemen. We are experiencing some turbulence........in the cockpit....and we haven't even taken off yet!"

I am to assume the co-pilot was out of line in arguing.

Actually NO, the first-officer is expected to tell the captain what he thinks now. about 25-30 years ago when the captain was king, they discovered that it was causing more accidents and incidents compared to when the captain was required to listen to the rest of the flight crew (first officer, the flight attendants, the ground handlers, others connected with the flight). In the U.S. the airlines were required to adopt what is called CRM (cockpit resource management) and the safety level went up (CRM is pretty much world-wide now).

I for one applaud the crew for arguing it out, if one felt that strongly about the safety of the flight that he was willing to face disciplinary measures then good for him, he put the safety of himself, his crew, the passengers and other people on the ground above everything else, I'll fly in his aircraft anytime.

I suspect the problem here is that the two guys didn't keep the argument private from the passengers or other crew and that is why we have heard about it.

My guess, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Qantas, IMHO.

So Qantas lied to the passengers about the actual reason for the delay?

So they either lied or left another important factor?

Does anyone think this is remotely acceptable, to lie to the customers, for the sake of reputation?

I sure as hell don't!