Five days before the flight 447 accident, flight JJ 8054 TAM Airbus, (just like flight 447) en route from Rio to Paris on the same route (just like flight 447), had problems with turbulence (just like flight 447) in the region near the islands of St. Peter and St. Paul (just like flight 447).

A passenger on TAM flight JJ 8054, Helaine Patrícia Pinto Coelho, spoke publicly about her experience on that turbulent flight.

Apologies here for our translation from the Portuguese.
“I recall that followed the path of the aircraft by the screen that is in front of seats. When we leave the mainland, the northeast of the country, the plane began to shake, light warning of the tie belt and on-board service was suspended. Suddenly the thing started to get worse. I felt like a rag in an old washing machine.”

Then, the nozzle of the aircraft was down. “This happened two other times. People started to scream. Some vomiting. I do not know how long it lasted. To me it seemed an eternity, A lady who was beside me also despair. Crying, said she had a daughter. The pilot, when possible, give information about the flight, such as speed, altitude of the aircraft, and asked to be kept tied belts. ”

Please find the original quote here in its entirety.

George’s Point of View

Sometimes we have fair warning, and never know it.

Helaine Patrícia Pinto Coelho concludes that the pilot of her flight made decisions on the fly, turning East. She attributes survival to the choices made by the team; and that the crew held the passengers lives in their hands.

I’m sure she felt relief to be back on the ground after her flight; and that she and her fellow passengers were grateful to be alive. But they probably didn’t realize just how much a miracle their survival was until the disaster of the French Airbus, that tragic flight which followed the same path but did not reach it’s intended destination.

The pilot and crew of an aircraft truly do hold the lives of their passengers in their hands. It is a grim and unnerving responsibility but one not limited to the obvious pilot. The responsibility extends beyond the cockpit to everyone whose craft involves the fabrication, operation and maintenance of that plane: the manufacturers, the builders, the authors of the manuals, the maintenance crew.

Purveyors of technology may be the keepers of progress… but we must cast a diligent eye on that progress that our technological reach does not exceed our grasp. We should remember that progress is an audacious thing. We can do our best to build technologically safe bubbles in which to lead our lives; but our control is an illusion. We are only ants on the face of the earth, shaking our fists at the sky.

There is something about the brush with death that reawakens us to how frail are our lives. It is the media, agencies like the FAA and the NTSB–and even the public eye– who are stewards of that frailty. We cannot reach back to May 31st and pluck the passengers from their tragedy. The best we can do is take lessons from the past. So we don’t have to be reminded again.

George’s Point of View

I came across this Safer skies article discussing Continental Express Flight 3407, and panning the Federal Aviation Administration for lack of supervision.

The article mentions that “The co-pilot of the doomed flight in Buffalo lamented moments before the crash that she lacked flight experience in icy weather conditions? Does it care that she was making about $11/hour…” and goes on to pressure government agencies to better regulate pilot training, so that future pilots have the experience to fly the planes they are flying.

I’d like to make a point here about being a pilot.

Pilots are professionals. GOOD pilots have spent many hours learning their craft; and it is proper that they do so, because the lives of so many people rest on their shoulders. They SHOULD be expert if they have been given the control of the cockpit. Even co-pilots have spent significant time getting educated and up to speed, getting licensed.

IF the FAA does its job and regulates pilot training, then co-pilots should be earning more than $11/hr. They’re not flipping burgers. They’re not selling footwear.

Think about this: when you get into a taxi, you’re paying for someone who can drive the taxi. Whatever their vehicle, they are licensed to drive. Even the cheaper or shabbier taxi companies can not operate with drivers who are not licensed. They MUST be licensed if they are behind the wheel. To stay in business, even the funkiest, rattiest, cheesiest taxi company has drivers who are professionally qualified for their taxi licenses. I have no idea what they make for a living. But it is probably more than $11.00/hr. And if they wreck their taxis, they’re not going to fall 10,000 feet.

When you get into a plane, as a passenger, you trust that your pilot and your copilot are highly paid, highly skilled professionals. If they aren’t highly skilled, they shouldn’t be at the wheel.

So I would urge the FAA to step up to the plate and raise the bar on pilots; raise the bar on supervision; raise the bar on training. And with the professional standards well maintained–with adequate supervision–pilots and co-pilots should be paid wages that reflect their skill and professionalism.

$11.00 an hour doesn’t cut it.

Our pilots don’t need to ferry from one corner of the country to another, coming in to work exhausted, and flying planes on which they are not adequately trained. They should know the planes they fly, backwards and forwards, upside down, inside out and sideways. They should be paid commiserate to that degree of knowledge and skill. Or else, they should not be pilots at all.

Imagine the responsibility of the pilot and co-pilot. All those lives on the plane are completely dependent on the pilot’s skill.

What if the pilot has a heart attack? a bout of food poisoning as was recently in the news? or is otherwise unable to fly the plane? It’s like the co-pilot is the spare tire. You wouldn’t have a spare tire that was flat.

That’s what the copilot is there for. Except the co-pilot is not a spare tire. The co-pilot is not some kind of sub-human or half-pilot, deserving of a half-pilot wage. In this case, they’re the expert who’s on hand in case of emergency.

The co-pilot bears the responsibility of all those lives. The co-pilot shares the responsibility because they HAVE the responsibility. It’s their job. They should be prepared to do their jobs; and they should be paid a legitimate professional wage to do so.