While last night’s American Airlines Boeing crash landing in the Jamaican rain with limited visibility, with significant tailwinds on ungrooved pavement, with patches of residual tire rubber no less, was catastrophic for the plane, it is rather amazing that even though the Boeing was subjected to forces powerful enough to split the plane into at least three pieces, it neither caught fire, hydroplaned 10 more yards to end up in the bay, nor lost even a single one of the passengers.

An achievement in survival. A testament to piloting skill. Or maybe it is just an improvement in plane design.

I hope that someone out there is appreciating how different this crash is from the Tam (Airbus) crash in Brazil, where a bad landing in rainy conditions on an ungrooved surface was exacerbated by a malfunctioning thrust reverser, and the plane ended up crashing a perimeter fence, crossing a thoroughfare and causing a blazing fire that annihilated a warehouse across the street from the runway.

Someone more versed in plane design could explain the difference in dynamics between plane crashes; someone expert in runway physics could explain how the runway surfaces did or did not play a part, but that analysis will come later during the NTSB investigation.

For now, I predict that you’ll be seeing the powers that be blaming the pilots for breaking the airplane, rather than applauding the fact that no one died. There has already been at least one article blaming the crash on the fact that the pilots were in the 12th hour of their (up to )14 hour shift.

This is just a taste of the spin-doctoring to come. I’m sure we’ll see the crash “arm-chair” analyzed a dozen different ways, depending on the writer’s agenda. We will watch the groups lobbying for in-country maintenance flipping this story to blame it on out-of-the-country maintenance; the pilot fatigue people will be using this as a morality tale about long pilot hours; the Norman Manley International Airport improvement people will be talking about fixing runway surfaces or maybe doing other needed airport alterations.

For now, I think we should all spend a few moments taking a good hard look at the mess that used to be a Boeing 737-800. How did anyone live through that? In fact, everyone survived.

Some families in Jamaica will be hugging their loved ones just a little bit harder this season. Anyway you look at it, we had a little bit of a Christmas miracle this time.

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Passengers denied fair compensation’ by British Airways
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Passengers denied fair compensation’ by British Airways


Here’s the situation–after the problematic Oslo flight, British Airways paid for food and hotel accommodation for stranded passengers who had been on the flight, but they deny further compensation. This is apparently British Airways attitude in regard to “thousands of passengers” impacted by the closures caused by the BA flight, according to Travel Weekly.

BA’s cancellation of 200 flights after the Oslo flight issue led to Heathrow’s brief closure (of two runways.) 200 flight cancellations affects a whole lot of people.

In this case, the European Commission’s new guidelines are going to be tested. Clyde and Co. said if the closure was a bird strike, BA would probably be off the hook, but if it was due to faulty maintenance, that’s their responsibility.

In my opinion, BA deserves all the ass kicking they get and a whole lot more for their laxity in accepting responsibility. I hope the passengers all sue for their damages. Maybe, just maybe a lawsuit will send a message to the operators of huge airline companies.

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Remembering September 11, 2011, Long May We Wave

This day we are threatened by nature. Yesterday, the winds of Hurricane Harvey hammered Texas, and tomorrow Irma will be slamming Florida. It is a storm we will weather. We know we will, because we have lived through worse. We must remember this, because today is September tenth. And September 11, 2011 is a date no American can forget, marked as it is by four scars that will never heal. Four hijacked airliners carved the names of nearly three thousand victims into our memories, names written in blood. Three thousand names with more than three thousand families—and that is not even adding the number of injured, the number of rescuers, all losses that destroyed the innocence of our country. We were initiated on that day into a sad new world, scarred by tragedy that turned the sky from blue to red. How could we understand what was going on? The mass murder of our people, the senseless destruction, the planes crashing, buildings burning before our eyes. I’m just an ordinary guy. When it happened, I was bewildered by it all.

On Sept 11, this day, in 2011, Flight 11 and Flight 175 hit the twin towers.

The tragedy was filmed as it happened. We were glued to our screens, helpless, terrorized, mesmerized along with the international audience, the terrible scenes of desperate people making impossible choices: die in the burning towers, or jump to the unforgiving pavement. We cried, but we did not cry alone. The world cried with us.

American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, 64 aboard the plane and 125 in the impact, all fatalities.

On Flight 93, we saw our people become heroes. We learned of Burnett, Beamer, and Bradshaw, of passengers fighting the hijackers. “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.” They rolled into history as heroes. How many lives they saved by their actions—an incalculable number—and these were passengers who acted against the hijackers knowing they would lose their own.

Children of today who ride airplanes are accustomed to today’s security protocols. It must be impossible for them to believe that there was a time when we simply walked aboard. There was no threat. But these days are different. We live in a world that irrevocably changed that day. It is a day we can never forget.

We tightened our belts.
We sharpened our defenses.
And we are not alone in this. The whole world is a more vigilant place.

The twin towers were a symbol of our prosperity, a couple of the world’s greatest buildings in one of the world’s greatest cities; and though the towers stand no more, our cities and our country goes on. The Pentagon was rebuilt. A Pennsylvania park commemorates the heroes of Flight 93.

I certainly mourn those who were lost on September 11; and I feel for the families of the injured, as I believe we all do. I may mourn our loss of innocence, but I can also take pride that we stand now, scarred perhaps, but stronger because of what we have survived. We have taken measures to make our world safer, but we can never relax our vigilance. We can never such a thing to happen to us again. On the ashes of the towers, we rebuilt. Some of us are still rebuilding. On the ashes of history, we rise.

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Virgin Aborted Takeoff–Etc…

A Virgin Airlines flight taking off from Canberra aborted takeoff to avoid an incoming flight viewed by other passengers crossing in front of them to the left. Noteworthy is a report that the Virgin Airline pilots hit the brakes when ATC said “Actually, stop, because we’ve decided we’ll let this other aircraft land first and then you can take off.” Another non-collision is a good thing; as nerve-wracking as a rejected take-0ff can be, obviously it’s better than the alternative.

Boeing studies indicate one in 2000 takeoffs are aborted, though early rejected takeoffs may not always be reported.

A 1992 Takeoff Safety Training Aid Aid by the FAA says that

  • More than half the RTO accidents and incidents reported in the past 30 years were initiated from a speed in excess of V1.
  • About one-third were reported as occurring on runways that were wet or contaminated with snow or ice.
  • Only slightly more than one-fourth of the accidents and incidents actually involved any loss of engine thrust.
  • Nearly one-fourth of the accidents and incidents were the result of wheel or tire failures.
  • Approximately 80 percent of the overrun events were potentially avoidable by following appropriate operational practices.

For passengers, the terrors of flight are certainly eased when there is some explanation to go along with the crisis. Perhaps a lack of narration can be forgiven if the pilot has his hands full averting a would be crisis. Still, a couple of word scan be very comforting and enlightening.

Personally, I can say this:

Molly and I experienced a aborted takeoff from Athens.

We were past the half way mark for sure and later were told the pilot had a warning light.

The plane came to a screeching halt taking maybe 45 seconds or more to bring it to a halt.

It is a scary situation, especially since the crew in the cockpit are dealing with whatever needs to be handled and we passengers are told NOTHING.

Maybe daredevils and roller-coaster enthusiasts would get a kick out of it, but it was a kick I’d have just as well gone without.

The plane was filled with people. We all weathered it pretty darn well. I heard no screams or crying, but they’d have had to be pretty loud, because my own heartbeat drowned out everything else. I’m sure there were a lot of rapid heartbeats that moment in that plane.

But I am here now, thanks to that pilot and crew handling a situation they might not even have called a crisis.

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Canadian Fowl Responsible for US Airways Incursion

George’s Point of View

Not much turns slower than the wheels of time during a plane investigation.

Thorough research of every factor extends for years, even when the causes appear to be obvious. But it is a mark of how obvious the cause is that the Hudson River crash in which “Sully” Sullenberger became a household name has already been officially attributed to “Migratory Canada geese.” At this juncture, I should probably say something clever about
1) green cards,
2) carding migratory birds or
3) Canadian Customs, but I am sure that Jay Leno already said it before he left the tonight show.

Read the June 4, 2009 NTSB announcement below:

NTSB Advisory
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
June 4, 2009

UPDATE ON NTSB PUBLIC HEARING ON THE US AIRWAYS A-320 HUDSON RIVER DITCHING ACCIDENT

The National Transportation Safety Board today released additional information about the Board’s scheduled public hearing on the January 2009 ditching of the US Airways A-320 into the Hudson River.

The hearing, originally scheduled for two days, has been expanded to three. It will convene at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, and is expected to conclude mid-day on Thursday, June 11. It will be held at the NTSB’s Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C. The room is lighted for television and a mult box is provided for sound.

On January 15, 2009, at approximately 3:27 p.m. EST, US Airways flight 1549, an Airbus Industrie A320 bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, incurred multiple bird strikes during its initial departure climb from New York’s La Guardia Airport (LGA). The airplane subsequently lost thrust to its engines and ditched in the Hudson River approximately three and a half minutes after striking the birds and about five minutes after leaving LGA. To date, of the five crewmembers and 150 passengers on board, five serious injuries have been reported.

The Safety Board will also open the public docket at the start of the hearing. The public may view and download the docket contents on the web under the “FOIA Reading Room” at http://www.ntsb.gov/Info/foia_fri-dockets.htm at that time.

The information being released is factual in nature and does not provide analysis or the probable cause of the accident. The docket will include investigative group factual reports, interview transcripts, Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts, Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data and other documents from the investigation. In addition, docket items that will be used as exhibits during the public hearing will be available on the website under “Public Hearings”

The hearing, which is part of the Safety Board’s efforts to develop all appropriate facts for the investigation, will cover a wide range of safety issues including:

Pilot training regarding ditching and forced landings on water.
Bird detection and mitigation efforts. \ Certification standards regarding ditching and forced landings on water for transport-category airplanes.
Cabin safety training, emergency procedures and equipment.
Certification standards for bird ingestion into transport- category airplane engines.
An agenda is posted on the Board’s website at http://www2.ntsb.gov/Weehawken-NJ/agenda.htm. A live webcast of the proceedings will be available on the Board’s website at http://www.ntsb.gov/events/hearing_sched.htm. Technical support details are available under “Board Meetings.” To report any problems, please call 703-993-3100 and ask for Webcast Technical Support.

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Stuttgart: Fokker Foam Landing Update


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Bernd Sturm

What: ContactAir Fokker 100/Lufthansa en route from from Berlin Tegel to Stuttgart
Where: Stuttgart
When: Sep 14th 2009
Who: 73 passengers including Franz Muentefering and 5 crew (6 injury/issues)
Why:
Update:
According to news releases quoting Lufthansa, the Stuttgart emergency landing on Sept. 14 was “probably caused by a valve part that came loose and blocked the landing gear’s hydraulic system.”
“Part of a valve came loose internally and blocked a hydraulic line…It worked like a stopper.”

George’s Point of View

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. It’s a 14 year old plane. Should I repeat “maintenance” 14 times? It’s not as if the plane were self-aware and could tighten or replace its own valves.

The plane’s last inspection was in August, prior to Contact Air acquiring the plane. Even if Contact Air is not legally required to perform a post-purchase inspection, it seems like it would be a reasonable thing for a new owner to do.

If this were a used car purchase, would we take it for an inspection with our own mechanics, and to get tags?

See archives:

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Spatial Disorientation-in the pilot, or in the head of the investigator

Donald Estell attempted to land the 21-year-old, single-engine Piper aircraft in challenging conditions, (on its second approach to St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia) but instead, struck a house. The crash that ended the life of 65-year-old Estell of Clayton, Mo., and Robert Clarkson, 77, of Belleville has been attributed to pilot error by a June 27 report by the NTSB. The crash occurred on Feb 21, 2010, and it happened (according to the NTSB) because of spatial disorientation.

A pilot who loses his orientation, and whose proprioception (perception of direction) is compromised is described as suffering from spatial disorientation. Most useful for maintaining orientation is an external visual horizon, which helps maintain the sense of “up and down.”

We know that spatial disorientation is a real condition. It is also one of several “pilot error” causes that officials point to when they can not figure out why an otherwise airworthy (or supposedly airworthy) plane crashes.

There are cases rightly or wrongly attributed to spatial disorientation, for example, the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 that spiraled into the sea off Beiruit; the May 12 2010 Afriqiyah Airlines Flight 771 crash where the pilot undershot the runway on approach to Tripoli; and the July 28 2010 Airblue Flight 202 which crashed in the Margalla Hills on an ILS approach to the opposite runway 30.* There are events attributed to spatial disorientation when it may or may not be a factor, and may or may not be the only cause. Even when it does occur, it is usually in combination with something else, such as foggy weather which obliterates the horizon, radar failure, cabin pressure loss (the sudden loss of pressure can cause a pilot to lose consciousness.)

Families who have lost loved ones in airline crashes rely on investigations to determine what systems failed, and what went wrong that caused the crash. It is the solemn duty of investigators (like those in the NTSB) to sort through the wreckage, and analyze the black boxes to determine to the best of their ability what went wrong. The final report is usually the result of a year or several years of intensive study and research. It is usually the more responsible or determined investigators who do not settle for a spatial disorientation cause blaming the pilot, but who look beyond it to find the underlying factor—the radar failure, or system failure, or pressure leak or faulty automatic pilot—that instigated the disorientation.

*See Comment

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