New rules
For air traffic controllers as a result of the recent near collision at, wait for it, Reagan Intl. Airport.
Yeah, the same guy who fired all the striking air controllers and disbanding their union over the same working conditions being complained about still today.
Long hours, low pay, and hostile work environment are the norm in the control towers, same as it always was.
I sense continued near misses until something terrible happens, and only then will these problems be addressed. Maybe.
Add to this the debacle with subpar quality control in Boeing aircraft and it becomes a scary affair to fly anywhere today.
Cue the stalwarts pontificating on how much safer it is to fly, per mile, than travels by car.
What they leave out is that a jet travels at 600mph and covers those miles in little time compared to a car. It's not even comparing apples and oranges, it's apples and meteorites.
Anyway, at the farm getting ready to plant a bunch of potatoes and onions.
Service may be in and out, but I'll manage the hosting for today's Open Thread even if I have to drive up on the hill ever few minutes to connect.
Hope everyone's day goes smoothly.
Comments
Good morning earthling1. I was unaware of any new rules,
or, for that matter, any near collision at Reagan. Gotta love it, thanks for bringing it up.
FWIW, I thought it was Reagan "National" Airport, because it was too dinky to handle the heavy load ow wide body traffic an "International" airport should; and that the Int'l airport in DC is, appropriately enough, Dulles.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hiya good morning
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Was living with a Flight Service worker in small town AZ when the
Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. I remember she was mad
about the situation, but it didn't effect her job much.
Good luck with the taters and onions!
question everything
Why do I get this feeling
that the reality of ATC life is much more like the film "Pushing Tin" (with Billy Bob Thornton and John Cusack) than I'd really prefer? (;-)
They also had a near miss at JFK the other day for the same reason, BTW. It is far more common than people think, and only aviation geeks like me really seem to keep track. Part of that is because I live 4200 feet off the threshold of Runway 35R at one of the busiest business/general aviation airports in the country, I guess. Keeps the rent cheap. And it is a lot of fun when the newly-minted naval fighter pilots from NAS Yuma fly up in their F/A-18s to go drinking at the airport bar. We go there for happy hour from time to time, and I'm always amazed when I see them- I swear that they look like they are 14 years old...
Just remember: "8 hours from bottle to throttle." It's not just a good idea, It's The Law. (;-)
For the interested student:
https://airlive.net/emergency/2024/04/19/a-southwest-boeing-737-narrowly...
https://airlive.net/emergency/2024/04/20/incident-swiss-air-flight-clear...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
That is one scary-ass website. I know that there a gazillion
flights out of everywhere under the sun for all of 24/7, so the incidence rate is minuscule, but, all the same, incidents aplenty. One could get hooked on just checking in, which I really don't have time for, but ...
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
aviation links
Hi all, Hey E1,
Hope all is well out there!
Let's say I follow some things aviation...
I watch this guy, though be warned sometimes he plays banjo or trombone. Dan Gryder - Probable Cause
DTSB - Dan's Transp. Safety Board (this guy does more than Buttgig for air safety)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq2EARBsKSk
23:20 first ATC incident discussed
27:45 the Reagan incursion discussed
Dan is right though, ATC should be a sterile cockpit environment, it is very far from that.
I have not yet watched Juan Brown's (Blancolirio) take on the ATC problems, but I regularly watch him as well... he flew F-15's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyJdZfJAnHs
VAS Aviation is good for ATC stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW6lAwLy_Os&pp=ygULdmFzYXZpYXRpb24%3D
The FAA lets Boeing self-inspect planes thinking, no doubt'what could go wrong?'. The incompetence of corporate capture at the top is unfathomable as it is pervasive.
Do not read this website if you like to fly. https://avherald.com/
click on an incident or accident to get details and with comments below by often experts, and often wankers.
Do noit read this one either... https://aviation-safety.net/
Click on the incident or accident to get details, often photos. I like the historical one at bottom right each day.
Hoover at Pilot Debrief is also most excellent (was F-15 and F-18 pilot)
https://www.youtube.com/@pilot-debrief
The FAA is as mucked up as the EPA, FDA, CDC, please stop me soon... all for the same reason, MONEY!
Safety or public well-being does not come first at any of them!
I gotta fly, happy trails !
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
And don't forget
Kathryn's Report: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/
Although, now that I look at it, it appears that she hasn't updated anything since December 2023. Her focus was general aviation much more than commercial air travel, and she caught a lot of flak from various GA sources over the years for posting the details and photos she posted, so I guess that I'm not surprised that she's stopped.
That used to be the best place for information about the various times that GA aircraft achieved Sudden Deceleration in our general neighborhood. The area off the end of 35R has been pretty popular for aircraft-assisted suicides over the past decade or so, and the big 500kV power lines that march through about a mile off the end of the runway have caught out a number of inattentive amateur aviators as well...
But the site is still up (for the time being, anyway), and is good for archival research into GA issues.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
KR
Thanks UFS!
I used to read Kathryn's Report regularly. A couple or few years ago it went intermittent for a period and I quit. I'll check it out again. It was always good, when the posts were regular.
be well brother!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Couldn't agree more
...about "statistics" on aviation safety. I worked with and around naval aviators for several years. Virtually from the outset, fatal accidents and memorial services were part of the experience. I actually saw people killed in military aircraft accidents, listened to the communications of pilots I knew while in desperate emergencies. Probably witnessed in one capacity or another ten accidents. Some involving people who survived total loss of the aircraft off the ship.
When I mention this to acquaintances who like general aviation, or fly a lot on civil air, they say what they are doing is safer. Pilots think my perspective is absurd. If they didn't they couldn't fly. I don't think general aviation is safer. The commercial airlines statistics don't allow for the total unlikelihood, barring the "miracle on the Hudson," that one would survive such an accident. Except for being ordered to fly somewhere in the military, or being demanded by an employer, I would never get in aircraft again. Most people think this is unreasonable. The irony is I have witnessed a few military pilots survive total loss of aircraft accidents. They had an ejection seat and parachute. What do you have in an airliner? Nothing. Only statistics.
語必忠信 行必正直
Ok...you peeps have pretty much
talked me down from the air travel thingie.
I have flown fairly extensively. One mechanical problem 3 hours into the flight caused a plane headed from Frankfurt to Houston to turn around. I was comped a hotel room, dinner, and breakfast, free taxi to and from the airport, flew out the following day. Another flight from Houston to Guatemala City turned around 3 hours into the flight because the runway had a pothole. I was not comped anything.
On a flight from Albequerque to Houston, turbulence was so bad, seat belts were required the whole flight, walking to the bathroom was prohibited, we saw no flight attendants at all. When we were exiting the plane, a man stepped onto the ground, fell to his knees, raised his hands, screamed "Thank you Jesus!"
I think I have had enough fair warnings to give up flying.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Oh, don't let that info
take the joy out of flying for you. After all, it's pretty much the only way to get anywhere other than more of the same, unless you live on a coast and own a boat...
I was a gazillion-miler with TWA, back in the day. I still fly, and I still find childish glee in it, when I can afford it. I like to know where I stand, so I study it from all sides- just like I study nuclear fission and fusion from all sides. We primarily fear what we don't understand, after all.
Flying, the chances are reasonably good that I'll end up where I'm going, more or less intact. There's are a reasonable chance that I'll wake up not-atomized and not-radioactive tomorrow, as well. I certainly wish the odds of the latter remaining true were better, and it pisses me off when our Owners blithely decide to edge-play with said odds. But at least I understand what would happen.
That's why I fear elections, these days. I don't understand them, and I don't see any way that things will be better after they happen, in any case. I really don't understand why the outcome always seems to be an acceleration of our decay, and why there are no realistic alternatives in the offing. Elections seem to represent the societal equivalent of drinking antifreeze. Our bread and circuses are actually reality teevee and Zerex pound cake...
Compared to that, flying is a walk in the park. (;-)
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Dear One sez no to flying,
and I do not want to travel without him.
With a few exceptions, I have seen everything on my Wish List for world travel. My goal was to show him what I have seen. He is happy to drive around the US, visit the rest of the world through videos.
It is more dangerous than it used to be, as well as more expensive, and luggage rules and restrictions have changes.
Vaccination requirements have changed.
One day we might take a cruise, although that is my very least favored travel mode.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
My little fantasy
is to step on board an international flight with a one-way ticket, one fine day. Ahh, we can dream...
I remember flying into Tulsa on a Braniff 727 through a thunderstorm once. The pilot must have been a retired naval aviator, because he whupped that sucker onto the runway hard enough that all the tray tables and about half the oxygen masks came down- he'd have caught the three-wire for sure. There wasn't exactly applause, but there was certainly commentary about the controlled crash amongst the passengers. Good thing that Karens hadn't been invented yet, especially later...
And then we waited for our baggage for over an hour. When the bags came out, most were dripping wet and had this weird red staining on them. Turns out that there was a shipment of whole human blood in the baggage compartment, and that had apparently broken open and dumped all over a bunch of the bags. So they had to break out a firehose, back behind the rubber curtains of the baggage carousel, and wash them for us.
That was a much more innocent time. I shudder to think what would happen in a situation like that these days. I bought a new suitcase, and I still wonder if that 727 ever flew again...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Clapping after landing.
Had a flight from Chicago to Warsaw. When the plane landed everybody clapped. The clapping scared the hell out of as first time I saw it. Did I miss some near fatal flaw that everybody else saw? But seemed a tradition among some Europeans.
That reminds me...
I had a landing clap on a flight from Las Vegas to Houston. Seems it really pisses off the pilot and crew.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
What did I miss
Got this OT posted just after dawn this morning and then lost internet service.
Just got it back after sunset.
Sorry for being AWOL all day.
The farm is down in a river valley (Cowlitz River) halfway between Portland metro and Seattle.
Glad everyone had a good time.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
You didn't miss much, but sorry you missed it all the same
We just had a little party, no mess, no damage.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Truth be told
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --