The Last Stand

A very Happy New year everybody!!

Boys and girls this article is not for the faint of heart! You have been warned! Read on at your own risk!

This story is once again about our "Hero" Mr. Bram Steller. Our favorite colleague here at TMA. This time he has really hit the JACKPOT! I am sure everybody is aware of the immense success of the new ATR now engaged in domestic operations to Gan Island. Competition again for Island Aviation (maybe nothing new to them). Without doubt the domestic operation on wheels is something new for TMA. So lets quickly go through the resources at our "Hero's" hands for this bold new step by TMA:

1. Mr. Latheef: With him around who needs a windsock? All his experience in the aviation industry can be summed into two words. "License Plate"
2. Mr. Ranjit: TMA must be the only multi million dollar company without a Chartered Accountant in finance department. Let's see if he can calculate the how much damage him and Bram are doing to this company.
3. Flight Operations Manager: Or is it "Probation Manager"? Since Capt. Muja joined TMA he seems to bound with that word!
4. Chief Pilot: Well, atleast now Fahud will not be the one who grounds airplanes the most. Cos he won't be flying as much! Thank god, what a relief for the engineers!!
5. Chief Engineer: Mr. Thomas why does your vocabulary reduce to only one word in front of Bram? and why does that word always have to be "YES!"???
5. Mauro "Mental" Ambrosini: Lets hope some of his "mental" disease passes on to Bram.

Enough about Bram's invincible army. It's time now to look at the ATR aircraft TMA so proudly illuminates with its bright yellow and blue colors.

8Q-ATM
This aircraft is 17 years old and belongs to the ATR42-320 family. From its famous inauguration "non-flight" to its engine failure within the same month, this aircraft has been showing its "true colors" since its first landing at MAle' International airport. However, as usual Bram has been doing what he does best; covering it all up with his usual words of deceit! But what is he going to do about the poor air conditioning of this aircraft? He is only full of "Hot Air" so he can't be any help there! And what about the primitive speed compared to the Dash-8? Is he going to introduce logging flying hours for passengers as well? Join the "TMA Hours Club" not the "Miles Club".

096
096 is the serial number (you guessed it right, Latheef's number plate) of the next aircraft that is being painted TMA colors in Hawker Pacific Hanger in Australia. But before it gets painted with the bright yellow and blue; some "minor repairs" as Bram puts it, needs to be done. For an aircraft that first flew in 1988 (20 years old) and was last used by an airline in Indonesia which is famous for less than poor safety records; "minor repairs" sounds a bit under maintenance don't you think? There were even rumors about the engineers in Australia finding a dead chicken inside its landing gear bay. When I say dead chicken I'm not talking about the tiny little chickens you find in the Maldives. These chickens are the size of a 2 year old kid in Male'!!
To sum up the; this airplane is costing the company more to repair it than the original price of a brand new airplane!
A few minutes of research on the internet will allow you to find out that this aircraft didn't fly much in Indonesia (at least thats what you will find) because in March 2007, the Indonesian Transport Ministry announced ratings of Indonesian airlines with some in the category of "holding potential for threatening safety of aviation". One of these was Dirgantara Air Service, the former owner of MSN096.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirgantara_Air_Service

"PT Dirgantara Air Service, which is in the bottom category, had three of its jetliners grounded by the ministry because of poor safety compliance."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailweekly.asp?fileid=20070323.@02

Many amongst us believe that this aircraft will be the beginning of the end for TMA.

Well, I know for that most of us at TMA would like to believe that this is beginning of the end for Mr. Karl Bram Steller, and yet we will all be proven wrong again! Hint: SJ30 jet!

Thank you.