We'll let you know when the price of your flight goes up or down so you can book when the time is just right. [3]:115, The accident led to modifications to Concorde, including more-secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks, and specially developed burst-resistant tyres. I knew the fastest way to make money was to stop doing things that lose it. Our workers receive 15% of Continentals profitswhich has worked out to be approximately 7% of their pay over the last two years. [47], In March 2008, Bernard Farret, a deputy prosecutor in Pontoise, outside Paris, asked judges to bring manslaughter charges against Continental Airlines and two of its employees John Taylor, the mechanic who replaced the wear strip on the DC-10, and his manager Stanley Ford alleging negligence in the way the repair was carried out. Our maintenance team worked their fannies off, and Continentals handsome new image was everywhere. Section 1.16.7.3 "The Fuel in Tank 5" (page 118): "Taking into account these calculations, we may consider that the quantity of fuel in tank 5 was practically that which was loaded on the apron, which represents around 94% of the total volume of the tank". Based in: Ghana. [3]:159[28][29] Fuel transfer during taxiing left the number 5 wing tank 94 percent full. When in doubt, everyone knew it was advised just to let the customers fend for themselves. Probably none of them will knock your socks off. A single creditor could have blocked our restructuring. . At 16:38 CEST (14:38 UTC), five minutes before the Concorde departed, Continental Airlines Flight 55, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, took off from the same runway for Newark International Airport and lost a titanium alloy strip that was part of the engine cowl, identified as a wear strip about 435 millimetres (17.1 in) long, 29 to 34 millimetres . You can use Fly.com to compare flight ticket prices between hundreds of airfare providers. For CALite, Continental removed all first-class seats in some airplanes. The company had gone through ten presidents in ten years, so standard operating procedure was to do nothing while awaiting new management. It also forced the airline to pay more to accommodate customers who had to take other airlines because of missed connections. It remains the backbone of the companys strategy today. For years, different groups of employees had been pitted against one another in the effort to drive down labor costs. FACTUAL INFORMATION 1.1 History of Flight On February 19, 1996, at 0902 central standard time,1 Continental Airlines (COA) flight 1943, a Douglas DC-9-32, N10556, landed wheels up on runway 27 at the Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas. We organized our solutions to those problems into a strategy that we called the Go Forward Plan. Flight 1404 bound for Houston, pulled left and ran off of the runway during its takeoff roll at Denver International Airport. Brenneman replaced 50 of his 61 top officers with 20 new individuals. Continental started out as one of the smaller carriers in the United States, known for its limited operations under the regulated era that provided very fine, almost fancy . So I tell this story not to vilify them but to demonstrate the kind of trust that starts to emerge when a companys leaders neither hide nor mince words in bad times. When you are bleeding cash, its hard to think of anything but tourniquets. If you fire people inhumanely, youll be left with a bunch of employees who dont trust the company or their coworkers. In fact, for 15 years, the way to get ahead at Continental was to torpedo someone and then take his or her job. I took them through the current situation, what we were doing to fix it, and the help we needed from them. In fact, sometimes when I talk to people about the lessons the turnaround taught us, they say, Well, Greg, those seem simple enough. The scheduled, domestic passenger flight was enroute to Houston-George Bush Intercontinental Airport, TX (IAH). Any first-year marketing student can tell you that to make more money, you have to listen to your best, most lucrative customers. Thats where our focus was, and its a good rule for any turnaround. Do it now! We lit a fire of urgency beneath Continental; we rotated quickly and picked up speed as we climbed to 41,000 feet. Every turnaround involves cost reduction, and Continental was no exception. The mechanic's failure to maintain proper clearance with the engine intake during a jet engine run, and the failure of contract maintenance personnel to follow written procedures and directives contained in the airline's general maintenance manual. Continental Airlines Flight 1404 - WIKI 2 Fly.com is your one stop shop for great flights, flight tickets and cheap airfare. Dead Of Winter - Continental Airlines Flight 1713 - YouTube We offered them options along the way, so if the shareholders won, they would win. Make sure you know the difference. Continental Airlines CO Flight Status Tracker - Flightpedia We just talked at every opportunity about our plans for the airline and how we were going to accomplish them. Over the years, these rules were accumulated into a book about nine inches thick known as the Thou Shalt Not book. The type was finally retired in 2003: May at Air France; October at British Airways. Pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and gate agents manage the hotline. Continental Airlines flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500, departed the left side of runway 34R during takeoff from Denver International Airport (DEN). I kept telling them it was the worlds worst $6 billion company. That made our customers late and angry and ruined the lives of our employees who had to work overtime because of tardy arrivals. The Gonesse monument consists of a piece of transparent glass with a piece of an aircraft wing jutting through. 2. It is the flag carrier of Republic of China with its headquarters in Dayuan Township, Taoyuan County. Do you know what the first step in problem solving is? I asked. Strategic direction is never more crucial than during a crisis. I was thinking, Greg, this is one of those times in life when you step up to the plate or you chicken out. I had spent the last six years making recommendations that my clients sometimes took and sometimes ignored. We needed to create a culture at Continental where people liked coming to work. Confession is good for everyones soul, and often for the pocketbook as well. According to a report in a British newspaper, by journalist David Rose, the crash had "more than one contributing factor, most of which were avoidable. Learn how to manage uncertainty, dispel rumors, and help your team recover. Page 32: "The maximum structural weight on takeoff being 185,070kg, it appears that the aircraft was slightly overloaded on takeoff". We were on our way to a third bankruptcy. One last thing before we get to the lessons. Finally, probably to prevent a riot, the captain turned on the DC-9s auxiliary power unit. We learned that in one of the early cost-reduction programs, management had decided to clean the airplanes less frequently and to have the pilots clean their own cockpits. Managements implicit communication policy had been, Dont tell anybody anything unless absolutely required. Very quickly, we required the scheduling and operating departments to review and sign off on the flight schedules before they were loaded to be flown. Want to make sure you have the best experience with Continental Airlines? [26] Commercial service was resumed on November 7, 2001, after a 17M (24M today) safety improvement programme, until the type was retired between May (Air France) and October (British Airways), 2003. We also told our employees we believed in them. Relying mostly on our own experience as business travelers, we knew that the customer in seat 9C would pay extra for a few things: airplanes and terminals that are safe, comfortable, and attractive; on-time flights and reliable baggage handling; and good food at mealtimes. Maybe things were a bit dicey while it was happening, but it sure doesnt sound like brain surgery.. A group of baggage handlers came to me a little more than a year ago and asked if we could tag the bags of our best customers priority and deliver them first off the baggage belt. We compare every price from over 1,200 airlines and travel agents to find you the best. Until the time came when we could offer them something great, I didnt want to promote a product that we couldnt deliver. Gordon and I were determined to present a united front. Im not going to tell you that all the employees at Continental are empowered. We fly airplanes, after all. CNN.com - Mechanic sucked into jet engine - Jan 16, 2006 By the end of the call, however, they were usually appreciative that an officer of the company had taken the time to seek them out. The windshear was generated by the outflow from a thunderstorm which was over the aircraft's departure path. From. By the fall of 1994, Continental had blown much of the $766 million in cash that it had when it emerged from bankruptcy in April 1993. Calculated Risk: The crash of Continental Airlines flight 603 It would be cheaper. That route, along with other cash-draining flights, was soon eliminated, and 7,000 employees were let go. On Thanksgiving Day in 1994, I discovered that we were going to run out of cash on January 17, 1995paydayand no one even knew it. The NTSB described those incidents as "potentially catastrophic", because they were caused by blown tyres during takeoff. A pilot came to the microphone to express how incompetent he felt management was and how Continental was once again making the wrong decision. [3]:2135[4][5], The cockpit crew consisted of the following:[3]:1820[6], The wind at the airport was light and variable that day, and was reported to the cockpit crew as an eight-knot (15km/h; 9mph) tailwind as they lined up on runway 26R. First, they had to pass what we called the raw IQ testthere is no substitute for smarts. Every month, Gordon and I hold an open house where employees can ask us questions, and we publish a newspaper describing whats happening in the company. The government definition refers to airlines with over $1 billion in annual revenues. They knew how to treat customers right, and we moved quickly to let them do just that. Instead, managers who have gotten a company into a mess are usually mired in a puddle of overbrained solutions. The plane did not gain enough airspeed with the three remaining engines as damage to the landing gear bay door prevented the retraction of the undercarriage. But it was a tough and emotional time for everyone. It was going to take hard work, but that didnt worry me. Near collision with a Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011. [18][19][20], All the passengers and crew, and four employees of the Hotelissimo hotel were killed in the crash. . But the company was still sinking fast.