need help brainstorming an idea

[huxley]

hello everyone, my name is huxley , a french canadian,

I'm writing a stage play . I'm half way done, I know the direction of my story and how it ends. there is just a few gaps that need to be filled with ideas.

one that I need help with right now is this : my main character wants to create a slow down in a certain company, another airline, so he bribed a union rep that works in the air line to create a working shut down at the airline for like a week,

*what could he do to create a work shut down? and what could be his position in the company?

and I was hoping to make this problem become a national problem in the airline company. something that could happen as soon as he's paid.

thanks guys

 

[RJM Corbet]

hello everyone, my name is huxley , a french canadian,

I'm writing a stage play . I'm half way done, I know the direction of my story and how it ends. there is just a few gaps that need to be filled with ideas.

one that I need help with right now is this : my main character wants to create a slow down in a certain company, another airline, so he bribed a union rep that works in the air line to create a working shut down at the airline for like a week,

*what could he do to create a work shut down? and what could be his position in the company?

and I was hoping to make this problem become a national problem in the airline company. something that could happen as soon as he's paid.

thanks guys

Hello huxley: could you clarify it a bit more please? Who is he? Where does he get the money to bribe someone, etc?

EDIT: Anyway, one way to do it would be to sabotage one aircraft on Monday, and two more on Wednesday, so it looks like mechanical failure? Like, on the runway, no loss of life? That should do the trick?

 

[Colbey Frost]

He could pay off inspection engineers to spot check the planes owned by the company (I'm assuming they're all the same type.) and report with a common fault - the fault is made up - they could advice that a recall be done, but with so many planes, this would lead the shut down?

Finding a company to check each and every plane for a problem that's not there?

They might not even be real engineers? Just someone who knows alot about them and paid to fool everyone?

------

Failing that, they could have a bomb threat call saying there's a bomb on one of the planes and when a certain date comes around it'll go off if the plane is driven.

Photos could be provided as proof and each and every plane would need to be searched? Slowing down / stopping the flights.

Feeling tired so cannot think of anything else. Hope this helped anyway.

 

[mosaix]

He could work as a programmer on the airline maintenance scheduling system. There are few things he could do: Fiddle around with the stock control system controlling the availability of spares or schedule all aircraft for maintenance at the same time.

 

[Nik]

Dig a hole under the perimeter fence ? That shuts and evacuates the airport for the rest of the day. Of course, it triggers anti-terrorist precautions, so the down-side is dire...

Have a case burst open and jam the baggage conveyor system. It always seems to take a full day to prise the last of the lint from the myriad rollers...

Hack the big wall-display that shows flight status.

 

[MstrTal]

Shut down the big air guns they use to deter birds and then release a few thousand feathered menace to heavier than air flight in the vicinity of all major air ports? Sneak in just one endangered avian and leak it to the press that upper management intends to fire people if the "Problem" isn't dealt with as well as rumors that this "isn't the first time"?

 

[RJM Corbet]

I think the idea is to cause difficulty for just one particular airline, not an airport?

 

[MstrTal]

Ahh then fake e-mails or confidential reports about the higher ups considering mass lay offs, suspension of benefits, draw backs in benefits, extending the age requirement for pension, requiring employees to pay in X percentage of wages into retirement fund, less beneficial package proposal structure at upcoming renegotiation and elimination of spousal benefits in healthcare package and leak that to the press and start rumors. Nothing will get a Union up in arms faster than an a possible attack on their rights and privileges.

You can also have your guy start sabotaging little things that are easily over looked but reportable to OSHA (or Canadian equivalent) and have him call their tipline. A sudden surprise inspection plus OSHA violations will bog things down very quickly while adding tension. Would also look bad for the airline.

 

[Jake Reynolds]

Totally agree with the above- a union strike is your best bet, since that won't effect other airlines, and won't risk any lives.

 

[The Ace]

The strike is an obvious option - some shop stewards can be bought, or again, a few judicious tweaks of the maintenance schedules (much harder to detect and you don't have to think of a reason).

Mucking about with the baggage ( flight a's baggage sent on to flight b, c's luggage sent to Bermuda) shows potential, but it's difficult to gauge between a minor inconvenience and the airline shut down by irate customers.

Similarly, bringing down an aircraft is out, committing mass murder is generally frowned upon by airline employees.

I'd go for a (false) hydraulic failure caused by contaminated fluid. Every aircraft's hydraulic system will have to be drained and checked - safety is your greatest ally here. Also employees won't lose wages, the disadvantage of a strike.

Just make sure your airline uses a different brand/supplier.

 

[huxley]

I think the idea is to cause difficulty for just one particular airline, not an airport?

yes this is more what I was going for. to shut it down nationally.


thanks for your suggestions. they are all very good.
I think I will go for a strike or a labor safety thing.... some thing that will only last 2 or 3 days. because after that the man that owns the airline that was attacked will retaliate,, but in a different way,,a P.R. nightmare on the other airline.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Huxley:

Hi,

The thing is, this seems a bit complex for a stage play.

I can't see how you would work it in without taking valuable scene changes (switch to terminal building kind of thing) and character development.

If it's a quick on and off it will seem a bit 'staged' to me so I think you may need a quick rethink.

I assume this factor of the play is not the main thread. So I would suggest you get it in early. Perhaps even in the opening scene. Have the boss come in raging and moaning about an event that has caused the slow down/troubles and then when the effects of the strike/food poisoning or whatever need to raise their ugly head it can be eluded to by a phone call or some such minor interlude between characters.

 

[huxley]

Huxley:

Hi,

The thing is, this seems a bit complex for a stage play.

I can't see how you would work it in without taking valuable scene changes (switch to terminal building kind of thing) and character development.

If it's a quick on and off it will seem a bit 'staged' to me so I think you may need a quick rethink.

I assume this factor of the play is not the main thread. So I would suggest you get it in early. Perhaps even in the opening scene. Have the boss come in raging and moaning about an event that has caused the slow down/troubles and then when the effects of the strike/food poisoning or whatever need to raise their ugly head it can be eluded to by a phone call or some such minor interlude between characters.

exactly , the event is not the main thing of the play,, plus we don't see the event we just hear about or learn about from a newsreel.... we don't see the event , we learn about it, we see the reaction to learning the event.

I'm having fun writing this play, I'm doing it little by little,


need some final help

-----I'm going to pick "union strike" that will only last for 2 to 3 days.
1. what would be the job title of the man that takes the bribe and causes the labor shut down?
(I was thinking someone that's not higher up, someone that needs the money.)
2. what would be the cause of the strike?

let's bounce some ideas around----

what comes to mind for me is : a man working with the luggage (but how would someone like that cause a strike)

--- or someone in aircraft maintenance(but again how could he cause a strike)

 

[RJM Corbet]

A strike would be quite a major event, organised at the highest union levels after extensive wage negotiations. Not that easy to orchestrate ...

 

[paranoid marvin]

Get staff member to hit/swear at a supervisor/manager and get himself sacked ; then claim that it was the supervisor/manager who started it. So the staff go out on strike in sympathy. If they are all members of the same union , they should all follow the union leader out on strike regardless of what ther own personal opinion.

 

[RJM Corbet]

When the British Airways cabin staff went on strike they lost their travel perks, which were the main attraction of the job in the first place. Strike ... dodgy ...

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Of course there's always the obvious terrorist threat.

It doesn't take much to cause a strike. It doesn't even need to be justified.

Someone accused of threatening behavior, stealing, a suggestion they are all going to be made redundant. The ringleader could even be on the management side picking an issue that is known to be close to the hearts of the workers.

Hints at a takeover, where they all loose their jobs. In the UK at the moment, people are walking out because their pension rights are being nibbled away.

A good one is that they are refusing to recognise union negotiating rights. That's almost guaranteed to make the union go ape.

 

[huxley]

I need allitle more help then I'll be good.

I think what I'm going to do is this direction: a several plane mandatory grounding because of a incident that happens to 3 planes.


the same incident happens to 3 different planes so they are forced to ground their fleet for inspection.

1. what would be the job of the individual that sabotages these airplanes?
2. what would be the incident that happens ? a mechanical part. oil in the engine ect...

these are the articles I found :

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/02/arizona.flight.diverted/index.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nds-leaked-oil-3-Rolls-Royce-jet-engines.html

http://www.ktvn.com/story/14371099/several-southwest-planes-grounded-after

 

[RJM Corbet]

I need allitle more help then I'll be good.

I think what I'm going to do is this direction: a several plane mandatory grounding because of a incident that happens to 3 planes.


the same incident happens to 3 different planes so they are forced to ground their fleet for inspection.

1. what would be the job of the individual that sabotages these airplanes?
2. what would be the incident that happens ? a mechanical part. oil in the engine ect...

these are the articles I found :

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/02/arizona.flight.diverted/index.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nds-leaked-oil-3-Rolls-Royce-jet-engines.html

http://www.ktvn.com/story/14371099/several-southwest-planes-grounded-after

A mechanic would just need to replace a few titanium bolts with sub-standard ones, and then 'discover' them by 'accident .,..

 

[MstrTal]

How believable does this need be?

I only ask because you could always have someone monkey around with the transponder or instrument panel in a way that will not cause fatalities but will cause enough concern to ground the planes. It could be as simple as swapping out a good part for a faulty one that causes panel lights to cut in and out intermittently while the instruments still work to the transponder blaring the wrong codes. It doesn't even need to be shown (I think you mentioned play or screen?) but could be mentioned in dialog.

As someone pointed out to me earlier in a critique you do not have to get to technical just give enough information to let the reader/viewer be drawn in.