美国国家公共电台 NPR--Pilots union at Southwest blames longstanding problems for flight disruptions

Pilots union at Southwest blames longstanding problems for flight disruptions

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, about the thousands of flight cancellations that have led to massive travel nightmares.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The pilots who fly millions of Southwest Airlines passengers each year say the waves of canceled flights over the past few days point to long-standing problems at the airline. So we're going to ask Casey Murray about this. He's an airline captain and president of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association.

Good morning, Casey.

CASEY MURRAY: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

FADEL: Thank you for being here. I mean, I guess I want to start, Casey, with whether you were surprised that this level of a disruption happened at Southwest when this - the storm came.

MURRAY: No. I absolutely wasn't surprised. I don't think most of our pilots were surprised. This has been an ongoing² issue for Southwest for really quite a few years. And the last 20 months, these meltdowns have seemed to occur. They've been coming with more frequency, and they've - becoming more severe. What happened over the Christmas weekend is really catastrophic.

FADEL: Now, your union has been sounding the alarm about this problem and about a lack of investment, especially when it comes to technical advances for years. Why weren't they addressed?

MURRAY: Well, I think that's a question for Southwest. But on our end, we've seen an increasing amount of inefficiency³ of how crews are being used. Southwest is having really some major issues connecting pilots to airplanes, connecting crews, flight attendants as well to airplanes. And it's been getting worse. And it's a function, as Kyle just said, of infrastructure⁴ and IT, but it's also processes. We're still using not only IT from the '90s, but also processes when our airline was a tenth of the size. And it's really just not scaled for an operation that we have today.

FADEL: So when you have this level of cancellations, you can't link the crew and the pilots to the planes?

MURRAY: That's correct. And the inefficiencies then - well, inefficiencies is the best word because crews get out of position. They have to start deadheading around. And 14 months ago, we had a major meltdown over Columbus Day. And it started with a summer kind of, you know, simple thunderstorm in Florida. And it cascaded⁵ to where, by the end of the three days, we had 1,200 pilots who were at work but never touched the wheel of an airplane, meaning they were either lost in hotels or deadheading around the system. And you just can't operate like that.

FADEL: Let's talk about what happened this weekend and what's still happening. This turmoil's still going on. How has it affected⁶ your fellow pilots, other airline workers? What were they going through? I mean, we heard a lot about what the passengers were going through, but what was happening with employees?

MURRAY: Well, we really feel, you know, for our customers who are stranded⁷, who lost memories, who lost - you know...

FADEL: Yeah.

MURRAY: ...They're out money. But the employees were kind of left to their own devices. Whether it was pilots, whether it was customer service agents, whether it was ramp⁸ agents - they weren't given the tools to do their job; nor were they given the leadership to answer the questions and to be able to provide solutions. And really, that's where we really failed, was not leading and not being able to give our employees the tools.

FADEL: Does any of these problems with the processes and the tech issue - does that actually compromise safety of air travel?

MURRAY: Well, at the end of the day, our pilots do a great job of mitigating⁹ risk, and ultimately it falls on them. We have actually - as our pilots association - have done a written letter to - not a written - an open letter to our management just earlier this year about these exact issues but how it's causing unprecedented¹⁰ amounts of fatigue¹¹ in our pilots. And we've seen fatigue calls go through the roof and continue to increase. So - but that's part of the safety chain.

And breaking the error chain that causes accidents is our pilots' ability to make that call and go, listen, I am tired. You need to take me off this flight. So at the end of the day, our pilots are responsible for mitigating and stopping, you know, that risk. And I think we do a fine job. But that being said, it's putting more and more pressure on our crews, you know, to make those decisions and understand when they're tired and taking that out of the error chain.

FADEL: The level of cancellations this weekend, especially with Southwest, have reignited conversation about holding airlines accountable. Have you sat down with anyone in the government to discuss what happened?

MURRAY: I did speak to Secretary Buttigieg yesterday. And we had a great conversation. We discussed, you know, the level and the chaos¹² with this latest meltdown and kind of what we were seeing on our side. I was very pleased. He, you know, was very concerned, as I was, about our customers. But also we had a good conversation about what our employees faced and the challenges that were facing them as well.

FADEL: Casey Murray is president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. Thank you so much.

MURRAY: Thank you.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

We reached out to Southwest Airlines. They declined to comment.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 inefficiency   

n.无效率，无能；无效率事例

参考例句：

• Conflict between management and workers makes for inefficiency in the workplace. 资方与工人之间的冲突使得工厂生产效率很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This type of inefficiency arises because workers and management are ill-equipped. 出现此种低效率是因为工人与管理层都能力不足。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 cascaded   

级联的

参考例句：

• His money cascaded away in a couple of years. 他的钱在三两年内便滚滚流失了。
• The water cascaded off the roof in the thunderstorm. 雷雨中水象瀑布一样从屋顶泻下。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

8 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

9 mitigating   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Are there any mitigating circumstances in this case ? 本案中是否有任何情况可以减轻被告的罪行？ 来自辞典例句
• A sentencing judge is required to consider any mitigating circumstances befor imposing the death penalty. 在处死刑之前，要求量刑法官必须考虑是否有任何减轻罪行之情节。 来自口语例句

10 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

11 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。