Thanks for the clarification.

(Written on 2018年 05月 04日)(Permalink)

Does anyone know why the containment ring didn't do what it is ostensibly designed to do, i.e. contain a broken blade, either fan or turbine?

(Written on 2018年 05月 04日)(Permalink)

Fact is, the Wright amendment was put into place to protect DFW and its legacy carriers. Representative Jim Wright was, essentially, in the pocket of the legacy carriers, particularly American. The rules about how far carriers could fly was originated specifically to drive out Southwest's business model. I was working for a legacy carrier at the time and it was patently obvious what was happening. Southwest could fly anywhere they wanted, non-stop, as long as they didn't do it from Texas. To fly from Dallas Love, they had to stop within about 1500 miles from DAL, then they could go on. This protected the medium and long-haul flights of the legacy carriers. The legacy carriers flying out of DAL had the same restrictions, but the effect on the carriers was vastly different.

(Written on 2018年 03月 09日)(Permalink)

1. Yes, I've heard that, and also that operating emergency procedures were amended. 2. The point was that the airplane was designed the way it was because "it'll never happen" and because that's the way Douglas had found to be a previously acceptable way of doing things, e.g., in the DC-8. On the other hand, a contemporary airplane (Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star)was designed starting with a clean sheet and the engineers used a different, and, as it turned out, safer routing for those systems. Yes, the mishandling of the engine installation was the proximal cause of the engine loss, but there is reason to believe that, with a different system design, Captain Lux and his crew might have been able to save the airplane and its passengers.

(Written on 2018年 02月 23日)(Permalink)

Right on, Linda-like the odds that Douglas engineers calculated were 10 billion to 1 that an engine would come off the wing of a DC-10, so it was ok to route the electrical and hydraulic system through the same area of the wing, thus giving us the American Flt 191 crash at O'Hare and 273 lives lost. "No possibility both systems would be inoperative."

(Written on 2018年 02月 23日)(Permalink)

If you want to see a Herc with Rato/Jato bottles installed, there's one at the Hill Air Force Base Aviation Museum in Ogden, UT

(Written on 2018年 02月 23日)(Permalink)

The NTSB determines facts, that's true, and they don't legislate, that's also true, but they do make recommendations, some stronger than others. It's simply a case of separation of powers--we don't want the investigators making regulations, and we don't want regulators doing investigations, simply for the ostensible sake of objectivity on both sides. There are fair (to pilots) ways to use the CVR in investigations and followups on incidents/accidents; the 30-minute limit on the 'tape' is an anachronism, as is the ability of the pilots to erase the tape.

(Written on 2017年 12月 22日)(Permalink)

As a product of LA City Schools, you apparently don't know the difference between "imply" and "infer" either. Grady implied, you inferred.

(Written on 2016年 05月 27日)(Permalink)

Did one or the other pilot simply say "I have the airplane"or "My airplane", with a confirming response from the other, "You have the airplane", or "Your airplane", or something equally complicated? If it works in a Cessna 152 trainer (and it does), it should work here.

(Written on 2015年 12月 04日)(Permalink)

Years ago, I watched a pilot do exactly the same thing in a Cessna 337 Skymaster. He was landing at Cable Airport in Upland, CA, an uncontrolled field, but with UNICOM. As we watched the airplane come onto short final, the FBO operator, who saw that the gear was up, picked up the UNICOM mike and said, "Your gear is up, go around, go around, go around!!" Unfortunately, the pilot in the right seat was concentrating on trying to sell the airplane and neither pilot was really paying attention to their knitting. The airplane settled, touched its belly to the runway at the same moment max power was applied. It staggered into the air, went around the airport and came back for a more-or-less normal landing with the gear down. Once on the airport, they taxied to the farthest reaches of the taxiway, behind some hangars, to hide their shame. Broken habit patterns will catch you some time.

(Written on 2015年 04月 24日)(Permalink)