Letters to the Editor
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Last week's crash
Pertaining to someone's comment about last week's crash in Nigeria. That had nothing to do with what PAtrick was talking about, first of all I dont quite remember if it had anything to do wtih turbulence but I doubt it. For this reason, after the crash I talked to a friend of mine who is Nigerian and whose parents and family lived their before moving to the States. She replied that it was sad but not that suprising, pilots and air traffic controllers orutinely ignore suggestions there and they apparently buy not the best airplanes. She also said that no one in her family would ever ride a Nigerian airplane because of this, and her mother, when she found out, had been saddedned but not horribly suprised that this happened; it was the third crash for a Nigerian airplane in a year. Now I know someone is going to say this is anecdotal, and what does she know, but nonetheless, look into it, you 'll find this is true. I hate riding airplanes, I know all of the physics behind it, but they stil freak me out, however this article and the explanation behind the Nigerian crash last week calmed a bit.
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wrong runways
Turbulence is interesting but what about Continental landing on a Newark taxiway and Alaska taking off on the wrong SeaTac runway?
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Patrick, what about those pilots who CHOOSE turbulence
I am a frequent flier who used to be terrified and now feel fine as long as there isn't continuous turbulence. To wit: When I used to fly Air Jamaica on a short route from Miami to Montego Bay, I believe I never had a flight that wasn't amazingly bumpy.
I realized, living in Jamaica, that since nothing much happens there (except violence) the pilots are considered the creme de la creme, but they always seemed to fly INTO and not Around turbulence, the worst I, who've flown too many times to name, from 9-63 finally tried American Airlines on this exact same route. Amazingly, American Airline pilots never dove into turbulence but rather flew around them. That is one example of choosing an airline whose pilots are sensitive to not disturb us passengers.
Next, I wrote you before but I find this odd, female pilots, esp on east coast JetBlue seem to fly far more smoothly than male pilots on the same LGA to FLL routes. Well, Patrick, is some of this turbulence due to pilot pleasure in avoiding it, or is that just a coincidence and like your story about Portland, when it happens it just happens.
Last, I was once on Air France from Paris to Ben Gurion when a bird flew into one of the engines. How often does this occur. In all my days and nights on planes, this was absolutely the worst. We were told we were returning to Orly and once on the ground (which most did not believe we'd find) the pilot talked to us on the airfield about how scared HE was. But he was forced to take a similar plane, MD 80 I believe, within the hour. My friend and I got off and flew the next day after our nerves were calmed. This pilot did NOT want to fly. Should he have been forced to?
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A300 rudder preexisting faults.
Patrick, you write: "Design flaws and a possibly preexisting stress crack may have played a role in the A300 crash". The NTSB write: "No design faults from the original design and material specifications were found in the vertical stabilizer". (Official report, p. 135) Either one of you has to be wrong. Do you have information not accessible to the NTSB?
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Takeoff Aborted
Hello Captain Smith,
I was in a flight, in the late '70s, when my country's flag carrier - Philippine Air Lines was still using the BAC 1-11 jets.
It was an hour 20 minute ride from Davao City (Southern Mindanao) to the capital city, Manila.
As I've been a frequent flyer on this route, I've more or less memorized the standard takeoff patterns, such that if I see the airport terminal on my right side then the nose would lift before a minute is gone.
On this particular flight, the nose did not and my gut feel told me the plane will stop at the end of the runway.
It did stop, I don't know at what distance to the end!
We went back to the apron and before all could disembark, the Captain went out of the cockpit and did an explanation on the aborted takeoff. Something to do with a light on the panel signalling a malfunctioning cooling system. He said either we needed to unload some cargo, or he'll wait for some of the passengers to volunteer to pass up the flight. So thirteen people immediately stood up and chose to disembark. The crew had to count and they did some computation. Final decision, we could take off again and no need to unload cargo, which would have entailed much delay.
My question: Did we un-necessarily risk our lives on that decision of the captain? I did not realize those planes needed cooling system. Certainly, my wife and I were not "cool" during that flight.
Thank yo for your reply.
Jun Dimarucot
PS. I kept the details in a hard copy diary. I know they call it blog nowadays.
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There's no doubt that turbulence rattles the nerves of uneasy fliers, but is it dangerous?
Patrick:
Tow comments:
1) It is sometimes "imagined" by us who are NOT in the pointy end that the drivers are oblivious to the bumping, and don't take much interest in making accommodations for it. ATC issues aside, I can remember innumerable instances where an aircraft, on an approach to BF-somewhere (i.e. not a metro/congested area), pounds along through the tops, banging up the back end. That's sort of borne out by your comment that the drivers "level of experience" is different from the paying folks back there, and, that they don't necessarily notice what shakes 'em up badly in back.
I had that proved to me last week when I took a test ride in a light single just east of PHX into the mountains. I was driving from the right seat. As is typical in early afternoon over the mountains (JUST above the mountains) in a 20+ knot westerly, we got into some interesting bumps as we crossed the west slopes. To ME, it was light chop. To the owner in the left seat with only about 300 hours, it was apparently something significantly different, because he throttled back to maneuvering speed and took control. Perception!
2) "In my youth", I took TWA 800 from JFK to Paris on a regular basis - at least once a month or so. We then went on to Tel Aviv. In fact, when that infamous flight went down, it took some of my office workers with it, also regular commuters to Tel Aviv. Some of the pilots and me discussed that incident with some fear. On a conventional controlled/uncontrolled flight into terrain, g-forces and a short fide down make the last few seconds merciful.
The TWA drivers, on the other hand, were attempting to drive the flight deck and first class all the way down while unaware that they had left tourist class behind. The coach passengers would have had an unobstructed view of the sky over LI Sound while climbing for a while, followed by an unpleasant spin to the water below. A fair amount of time passed for both groups before the final abrupt stop. One has to wonder what they were thinking about.
I've only been in two near fatal situations: One was weather related where we lost control of the aircraft before being blown upsidedown out of the undercast over Illinois (whereupon the aircraft behaved exactly as you said in your article -- righted itself and we went on to STL). The other involved O'Hare departure allowing a Lear 23 to attempt to penetrate our flight deck on a clear night just off the east end of 27. I remember what I was thinking both times. I wonder what the TWA guys were thinking?
Nick Phelan