George’s Point of View
Fast food.
Maybe you don’t ever go to a drive through, but I admit, sometimes in my life, I have. I make no excuses for it. But there is one time that sticks in my brain.
I was at an undesignated drive through in an undesignated city, and I pulled up to make my undesignated order, and after 2 seconds of talking to a speaker, realized I was being quizzed by a recording. Although it was working perfectly and in English, we didn’t speak the same language. And to make it even more aggravating, this is one of those driveways it is impossible to exit until the end. So I was forced to wait all the way around; and when I did, I did not get food; but I did make a formal complaint, which I followed through both indoors and in a letter to the undesignated franchise. Maybe it’s stupid, but I felt offended; and I did not return to that particular franchise until that impersonal protocol was removed.
And this was just fast food. My life was not at immediate risk.
Recordings don’t cut it. Sometimes you JUST NEED PEOPLE to communicate.
I’m betting that there are some French Aer Lingus passengers who feel the same way. Friday, somebody in the cabin of an Aer Lingus Dublin to Paris flight pushed the wrong button and subjected the French passengers to the wrong pre-recorded message…the emergency landing message. This put them all in fear of their lives. That same pain and suffering people feel when they’re actually about to crash–that’s what these French passengers were going through. The non-French were fine, since they didn’t get that message that they were about to crash.
I’ve been on planes that made emergency landings and in both instances we heard directly from a live human in the flight deck who explained the problem and urged us not to worry.
Where do they come off with stupid recordings like this? The airline should refund the full fare to these passengers for the grief they unnecessarily went through, even if only for a few minutes and airline operator should be happy they got off that cheaply.
There’s no excuse.
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AfavTAM Issues, 3 Years After TAM Airlines Flight 3054
From the desk of AfavTAM president Dario ScottAfter nearly three years of sorrow, of missing our loved ones, we still struggle for truth, justice and life!
The facts: Information extracted from www.globo.com 08/24/2007
- 7 month before the TAM tragedy, in a meeting with ANAC, Captain Gilberto Schittini, ANAC’s manager of evaluation standards for aircrafts, warned INFRAERO and AIR COMPANIES technicians, TAM’s technicians among them, that “… the three incidents we recently had could be considered as ‘warning signs of more serious incidents, involving the overrunning of the runway…’”, referring to Congonhas Airport, under certain conditions. The same statement was given before the Aerial Blackout Parliamentary Inquiry Committee.
- On 07/17/2007, TAM flight JJ3054 overran the Congonhas runway, hitting a TAM building, and 199 people lost their lives. Hundreds of families were destroyed and are still struggling for justice. WHAT HAPPENED?
State and Federal inquiries were already concluded. The state inquiry, as disclosed by the press, identified a number of people from ANAC, INFRAERO, TAM and even AIRBUS to be held accountable.
Although working from the same facts, the federal inquiry came to a different conclusion, only identifying the pilots as responsible for the tragedy, exasperating us all.
Now, AFAVITAM awaits and relies on an independent and solid analysis by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. AFAVITAM and rest of Brazil count on the indictment of the real wrongdoers that are responsible for this foreshadowed tragedy. Time elapsed is a disturbing factor; we don’t have a closure, even after three years. Due to the statute of limitations, time works on behalf of the guilty. We believe that, in order to get the proper measures taken and to PREVENT NEW TRAGEDIES, to compel and awaken society, an exemplary punishment is a valid mechanism.
We have monthly meetings because we believe we can make a difference. WE LOOK FOR:
- TRUTH AND JUSTICE;
- PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE;
- SOLUTIONS FOR THE PROBLEMS FOUND, so we can avoid another tragedy.
NO MORE IMPUNITY IN BRAZIL.
HOW LONG OUR SAFETY WILL HAVE TO WAIT?
YOU CAN’T PUT A PRICE ON A HUMAN LIFE!!!Estamos completando três anos de saudades. São três anos de caminhada pela VERDADE, pela JUSTIÇA e pela VIDA !!!! (www.afavitam.com.br)
Dos fatos: (Informações extraídas do G1, Globo.com, de 24/08/07)
? “O Comandante Gilberto Schittini Gerente de Padrões de avaliação de aeronaves da ANAC, alertou 7 meses antes da tragédia, em reunião em que estavam presentes técnicos da ANAC, INFRAERO E AS COMPANHIAS AÉREAS, dentre elas a TAM, que “ … os três incidentes ocorridos recentemente poderiam ser considerados indícios de que “há um potencial de ocorrências mais graves, com ultrapassagem do final da pista (VARAR A PISTA) …”, referindo-se ao aeroporto de Congonhas, quando ocorridas algumas condições.” Declaração fornecida por este em depoimento, posteriormente, à CPI do apagão aéreo.
? O QUE ACONTECEU? No dia 17/07/07 a aeronave da TAM, vôo JJ3054, VAROU a pista do aeroporto de Congonhas, bateu no prédio da TAM e 199 pessoas perderam suas vidas. Centenas de famílias foram destruídas e encontra-se em reconstrução atrás de JUSTIÇA.
Os inquéritos nas esferas Estadual e Federal já foram concluídos. No primeiro, conforme divulgado pela imprensa, várias pessoas foram apontadas como responsáveis, tanto da ANAC como da INFRAERO e da TAM, tendo referido ainda a empresa AIRBUS. O segundo, em que pese analisar os mesmos fatos, indicou apenas os pilotos mortos como culpados, o que indignou a todos. Agora a AFAVITAM aguarda e confia na análise firme e independente do Ministério Público Federal e espera, junto com a sociedade brasileira, que haja a denuncia e o apontamento dos verdadeiros culpados dessa tragédia anunciada. Estamos preocupados com a demora, porque já se passaram 3 anos e ainda não temos uma definição. Sabemos que o tempo beneficia o culpado, porque pode ocorrer a prescrição da pena. Acreditamos que a punição exemplar dos responsáveis pela tragédia é um mecanismo de coerção e conscientização para que medidas sejam tomadas e novas tragédias NÃO SE REPITAM.Nos reunimos todos os meses porque acreditamos que podemos fazer a diferença e
BUSCAMOS:
– VERDADE E JUSTIÇA;
– PUNIÇÃO PARA OS CULPADOS;
– SOLUÇÕES PARA OS PROBLEMAS ENCONTRADOS, para que outra
tragédia anunciada não ocorra;
CHEGA DE IMPUNIDADE NESTE PAÍS.
A SEGURANÇA DE TODOS VAI ESPERAR ATÉ QUANDO? VIDA NÃO TEM PREÇO!!!- 7 month before the TAM tragedy, in a meeting with ANAC, Captain Gilberto Schittini, ANAC’s manager of evaluation standards for aircrafts, warned INFRAERO and AIR COMPANIES technicians, TAM’s technicians among them, that “… the three incidents we recently had could be considered as ‘warning signs of more serious incidents, involving the overrunning of the runway…’”, referring to Congonhas Airport, under certain conditions. The same statement was given before the Aerial Blackout Parliamentary Inquiry Committee.
Ethiopia Flight 409: The Questions Keep Coming
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Alastair T. GardinerNewspaper reports talk about traces of black soot on the Auxiliary Power Unit. The APU is like your computer backup—similar in theory to the battery backup you may have at home hooked to your computer.
The APU is an auxiliary engine that provided electric power and air to the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 until the main engines began to run.
We ourselves haven’t seen soot, or proof of fire–but we haven’t seen much proof at all, since the report that we keep hearing whispers of has not been made public.
Some facts are known We know, for example, that…
—…the APU is located in the rudder section.
—…the weather was bad.
OLBA 250300Z 06004KT 030V090 5000 VCTS RA FEW020CB BKN026 10/06 Q1014 NOSIGWe have heard rumors which may or may not be unfounded:
—Statements made anonymously by Lebanese airport sources report that Captain Habtamu Benti, the pilot in command (PIC) of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 encountered engine problems, perhaps a flame out, during takeoff, and requested permission to abort the flight and return to Beirut. He was given clearance to do so, but another aircraft, a Etihad Airlines flight from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was in the process of landing and could have interfered with his emergency maneuvers. *But some information has been made public.
—The rudder found at the plane’s tail was reported to have been sent to France. *
—“One of the five cockpit voice recorders which has a damaged segment will be sent from France’s BEA to a Seattle-based company [Honeywell] to recover that lost segment.” *
So we have even more questions. Where, for example, are the statements of the witnesses? What has France said about the rudder? Has the APU been found, and if so, what is its condition?
Even if ATC sent pilot in to a storm, the pilot also has radar and should have seen the storm and refused the order to take off and/or the heading issued to him. Did his radar fail? Did the APU fail? It might well be that the pilot was misled by a radar system in the plane that was not operating correctly. Unlikely, but, possible. There are still a lot of possibilities we can not rule out. The captain had too many hours logged to take off in to a storm with a plane that he knew was not built to withstand the forces of a cell ahead of him.
Even if there is no immediate report available yet, we look forward to the promised release in March/July. (They say that data collection will continue until March 15 2011, in April the data will be verified/validated by Ethiopian and Lebanese authorities, officials of Boeing and the US National Transport Safety Board by May 30th, with a tentative public release date in July.) When more official information is released, it will help to rule out all gross speculation, so we can focus on possible culpable parties in the chain of events that caused this tragedy.
We shall see.
What: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 en route from Beirut to Addis Ababa
Where: 2 miles west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.
When: Jan 25 2010
Who: 7 crew 83 passengers
Why: Shortly after taking off in stormy weather and heavy lightning, Lebanese ATC lost contact. The plane disappeared from radar 45 minutes after leaving Beirut. Witnesses on the coast saw the plane as it crashed into the sea. So far 9 bodies have been found by members of the Lebanese army .
Update
Initial reports of 7 survivors, became 9 bodies, and now the count has reached 21 bodies.
The site of the crash is 2 miles west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.
Fifty-four passengers were Lebanese, 22 Ethiopian, two were British and there were also Canadian, Russian, French, Iraqi and Syrian nationals.
A Cypriot police helicopter has joined the Lebanese army in the search for survivors, and two U.N. helicopters are on the scene.
Ethiopian Airlines is state owned, and has a standing order of 10 of Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800s
—ET-409 Incident – 25 January, 2010
Ethiopian flight ET-409 was scheduled to operate from Beirut to Addis Ababa on January 25th lost contact with the Lebanese air controllers shortly after take off. The flight departed at 02:35 Lebanese time from Beirut International Airport.
Flight ET-409 carried 82 passenger plus 8 Ethiopian Crew members. Out of the total passengers 23 were Ethiopian, 51 Lebanese, 1 Turkish, 1 French, 2 British, 1 Russian, 1 Canadian, 1 Syrian, 1 Iraqi nationals.
Strobe flashes- Aer Lingus | Boeing | electrical | Emergency | Ireland
Aer Lingus Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Dublin
Aer Lingus flight EI-131 had to return and make an emergency landing in Dublin, Ireland, on November 4th.The Boeing 757-200 plane took off for Hartford, Connecticut, but had to turn back due to an electrical problem.
The plane landed safely. All one hundred and thirty-seven passengers and six crew members remained unharmed.