Replies to post #33295 on Baltia Air Lines Inc. (fka BLTA)

[Devolution]

I will answer your question which you could have answered yourself if you just read things more carefully:

The FAA only invalidated the "old vendor" for packing slide #5 - they themselves, in their infinite wisdom at the time, had no evidence to foresee any of the other slides....#1 to #4.....as a problem........until last night's mini.

Do you truly believe that Baltia...just a small cog in a huge wheel of many airlines throughout the country....and with their 1 plane....should have greater knowledge than the government agency designed to oversee thousands of planes throughout the US?

In other words.....if the FAA didn't see it as a problem at the time, why would Baltia?

Now....after last night....the FAA realizes there is a problem, and is yanking the "old vendor's" right to pack ANY slides....not just the #5 slides.

"Hindsight is 20/20", "Monday Night Quarterbacking"....whatever you want to call it.....but no one on this planet expected those slides to fail. The FAA was shocked....embarrassed....horrified....but the vendor which they approved (and this is certainly NOT some little mom and pop company!) f'd up on packing more slides....other slides....and not just the ones assigned to door #5.

Each door has a very specific slide, and each approved vendor must have specially trained employees to pack the specific slides.

Last night's malfunction blind-sided the FAA just as much as it did Baltia.

No one expected THAT. No one saw THAT coming.

And that is one reason why the FAA re-scheduled the mini so quickly with Baltia.....because last night's misfiring wasn't seen as a possibility by them either.....and Baltia's staff performed their functions superbly.

If the FAA doesn't see Baltia as being at fault here...and they are at the cutting edge of these matters....how can we?

Bottom line: No one saw this coming, and you can't hold Baltia at fault, and that is why the FAA re-scheduled the mini so quickly.........

The FAA...in their infinite wisdom and with unlimited resources....did not see the slides packed for doors #1 through #4 as a problem.....so why should we believe Baltia should have?

And keep in mind.....for the next mini.....every single slide on N706BL will have been packed and inspected by the "new vendor" - which is an FAA approved facility and which has up-to-date proved that their workmanship is exemplary...ie....there is no evidence that any of their slides have ever malfunctioned in the past.....knock on wood as we write this......