Canadian Airline removing dead weight from aircraft to save fuel
In a article at MSNBC, entitled Airline removes life vests to save weight, fuel the Canadian Airline, Jazz, has decided to remove Life Vests from it’s aircraft. This in itself isn’t stupid– though if a plane ever goes down in the water they might wish they hadn’t done so.
What is stupid is their logic. They claim that the life vests add weight to the aircraft (Editorial Note: We’re not disputing they do… read on.) and By removing the 50 life vests from the airplane they will save 55 pounds… this saving fuel says Manon Stuart, Jazz spokeswoman. Ummm…. sweetheart, that’s not going to save much fuel at all, I’d bet people are carrying 55 pounds of stuff in their pockets when they get on, not counting carry on bags… just stuff in their front and back pockets like keys, change, cellphones, etc! You guys run your company how you want, but don’t go skimping on safety features and billing it off as being Green or saving fuel… that’s a crock of crap.
If you want to save weight, how about mid-flight jettisoning people who are drunk and beligerant. Maybe expand that policy to those that smell bad– heck, give the people that won’t shutup while I sleep the boot out the cargobay hatch at 30,000 feet. Another thing that would save weight is to remove the auxilary landing gear wire harnesses… but, good God woman– what are you thinking when you consider getting rid of a safety device!!!
This is no huge concern for me personally, planes in the states have not had life vests for as long as they remember. They always say “in the event of a water landing your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device”. Well, I always think… any chance we can follow the Mississippi river down from Minnesota to Louisiana? Seriously, most times planes are flying over GROUND… anyone ever thought about that??? How about next time you ask if, “In the event of a crash, can the pilot aim for water?”
Alison Duquette, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said “if you are an airline and you fly an airplane over a body of water, you have to have a life preserver or an approved floatation means.” She went on to say a seat cushion would satisfy that requirement but she was not aware of any U.S. airline getting rid of life vests on their airplanes to help with weight issues… I want to know what airline actually HAS them none I’ve flown on do. And if they do… where do they put them?
Jazz, congratulations… you’ve made it onto the stupideststuff!
