FLIGHT OPS FLYER DECEMBER 3, 1999 **************** **************** Flight Ops Employees Assist Private Pilot ----------------------------------------- When the pilot of a single-engine Piper Cherokee on a ferry flight from Oakland to Hilo initiated a distress call due to a slow loss in oil pressure, three United flight crews and two dispatchers stepped in to assist. On Nov. 20, SFOFO Captain Jim Abraham and Captain Jerry Summers were flying Flight 40, KOA-SFO, when they picked up the Cherokee's distress call. They relayed the Cherokee's position and situation to dispatchers Jim Eggstaff and Wayne Tudor, who contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and alerted them to a possible ditching. As flight 40 passed out of range, LAXFO Captain John Eisenhart and First Officer Vickie Norton, flying Flight 42, picked up the conversation and continued to assist the Cherokee, followed by LAXFO Captain Mike Rand and First Officer Michale Odiorne, flying Flight 36. As the United pilots communicated with the Cherokee, Eggstaff and Tudor relayed information from the Coast Guard about the nearest vessel location, sea condition reports and ditching headings. Several hours after the initial contact with Flight 40, the Cherokee ditched in the Pacific Ocean. The pilot and a passenger were picked up about 12 hours later by a merchant ship. Both were unharmed and expected to make a full recovery. "This was a great example of pilots and dispatchers working together in an emergency," says dispatcher Jim Eggstaff. "It shows that the system works." Pilotbrief Adds Charts ---------------------- During November, United negotiated the addition of the following charts to the United Internet Pilotbrief site: *current U.S. surface temperature chart; *forecast high and low temperature charts for today, tomorrow and the following day; *current U.S. surface wind chill chart; *North Pole tropopause and FL340 temperature forecast chart; and *North Pole high level significant weather forecast. These new charts are only available on the Internet version of Pilotbrief, not the domicile (vector satellite) version of pilotbrief. United will discuss the feasibility of adding these charts to the domicile systems with the vendor, WSI. Welcome Aboard -------------- Twenty new-hire pilots began training at the Flight Center this week, bringing the 1999 total to 761. Their assignments are: 3 B727 F/O 2 to ORD, 1 to SFO 9 B727 S/O 4 to ORD, 1 to DEN, 4 to SFO 4 B300 F/O 3 to ORD, 1 to SFO 1 B737 F/O 1 to ORD 3 U-30 F/O 2 to SFO, 1 to LAX ************************************************************ Flight Operations Communications, WHQVF 847/700-7288 Current and past issues of "Flight Ops Flyer" are available on Flite Site, the Flight Ops pages in Skynet, United's intranet, and in Library 13 in the UAL Employees Forum in CompuServe. Employees may access Skynet via the internet at http://united.intranet.ual.com ************************************************************