MovieChat Forums > Mayday (2003) Discussion > Help! Season 1, Episode 5, 'Cutting Corn...

Help! Season 1, Episode 5, 'Cutting Corners' - quote reference needed!

posted 18 years ago by tobymalik
4 replies | jump to latest

Hi.

My father is writing a book on risk and wants to use a quote from this particular episode. The quote in question is made by a female spokesperson from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). She is talking about John Liotine who blew the whistle on the shoddy safety practices at Alaskan Airlines (they extended the length of time required between inspections of the jackscrew. The jackscrew failed due to insufficient lubrication; this and the lack of any mechanical backup systems meant that the horizontal stabiliser trim failed which resulted in the crash, killing all onboard).
The quote goes something along the lines that "if you're going to be a whistleblower then you had better have another job lined up to go to"; the suggestion being that once you have blown the whistle on a company/organisation that you are pretty much unemployable within that company/organisation because you cannot be relied upon to "keep your mouth shut". I would be very grateful if someone who has a copy of this DVD/Video could take the time to look at it and get me the name of the spokesperson who made the quote and also a verbatim (exact replication) copy of the words that she said. YOu can post this here or email me at [email protected].

Thanks a lot!

[–] asantoni1 18 years ago

Hello - I'm a big fan of this show and do happen to have it recorded on my PVR, having just recently seen it for the first time.

The person who made the quote you're referencing is Mary Schiavo. Her title is given in the episode as "Former Inspector General U.S. Department of Transportation".

The exact quote you're referring to goes as follows:

"I get calls almost every week, [from] somebody saying 'should I blow the whistle', and I always tell them 'you need to know, you need to be prepared to find another line of work because you will not work in the industry, and you will not work in the government'. In most cases it's almost impossible to be a whistleblower and survive in your career."

Hope this helps,
Regards, Andrew
[email protected]

[–] ham_and_cheese 17 years ago

i saw this episode earlier!
it was awful, i liked the quote from the man who lost his daughter at the end, how they had to die becuase an airline company wanted to make more money

[–] makeupbyomar 14 years ago

- asantoni1 on Sun Aug 19 2007 18:42:05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello - I'm a big fan of this show and do happen to have it recorded on my PVR, having just recently seen it for the first time.

The person who made the quote you're referencing is Mary Schiavo. Her title is given in the episode as "Former Inspector General U.S. Department of Transportation".

The exact quote you're referring to goes as follows:

"I get calls almost every week, [from] somebody saying 'should I blow the whistle', and I always tell them 'you need to know, you need to be prepared to find another line of work because you will not work in the industry, and you will not work in the government'. In most cases it's almost impossible to be a whistleblower and survive in your career."

You're going to see a rise in mechanical failure related crashes in the next few years.

This is due to the fact of the recent global economic recession, and the industry having to cut costs, which filters all the way down to the suppliers of parts and sub standard materials that are being made.

And I bet anyone, that some NTSB Investigators know of some parts that are being made with materials that are not to spec or processing times cut short, or even aircraft maintenance crews not being properly trained. And these Investigators see a lot of Government spending being cut back or being diverted to the military branches. So when the Inspector General of the NTSB says whistle blowers will be black listed as betrayers, especially during the recession, you bet cash-strapped Investigators will look the other way in order to keep their houses and SUV's.

Yes, in the past the NTSB, along with the FBI through stings, have shut down aircraft counterfeit parts rings and have pulled flight operator's licenses due to poorly trained mechanics. But that was almost over 10 years ago or more, when the Government had a lot more money.

It's just a matter of time when a compressor blade will fail due to the wrong alloy ratio or incorrect heat times, or even mounting screws; or even scheduled maintenance being pushed by several hundred hours or more.

I know that regional pilots are being forced to fly longer hours and even longer routes because their pay is so low. Most pilots can't even afford a motel so they sleep on a couch in the pilot's lounge.

And look what is happening now. More airports world wide are increasing their fuel surcharge rates to passengers, and are implementing taxes to cover increased security.

It's all these little things that add up to an eventual failure in the system.

Some of these things Mayday has already covered and will cover again, addressing some of these issues.

The solution is simple: More money = no cutting corners and no whistle blowers.

Girl... Just what exactly is that tacky outfit trying to say?

[–] Brainwave1964 14 years ago

Scary thought vogueboy1, and sadly true. So long as money is valued higher than human life, more airplane disasters are inevitable.