It's getting more and more difficult for me to fly oceanic... not that I need to given my current location and lifestyle.
I'm from the old school where to fly oceanic the airliner needed a minimum of 3 engines and it's only because of commercial pressure by the airlines upon the authorities that we now have 2 engined airliners flying oceanic.
The only long haul 3 or more engined western airliners now in production are the B747-800 (but the sales of that are appalling) and the A380 (and I'd rather fly on 2 engines than on that thing).
And just one example of 2 engines oceanic, the Delta Airlines b777 shut shut one down slap bang in the middle of nowhere, elected for an emergency diversion to Ascension Island for a single engine landing and scraping the wing on the runway in the process.
And for anybody that thinks the Airbus A380 may be safe the crew couldn't even shut the engine down!
The Crew of Flt QF032 (Airbus 380 VH-OQA) has been awarded the prestigious Hugh Gordon-Burge Memorial Award by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN).
Awarded to 'a member or members of a crew whose outstanding behaviour and action contributed to the saving of their aircraft or passengers.'
Shortly after takeoff on 4 November 2010 from Singapore Changi Airport at about 7,000 feet, a loud bang was heard in the cockpit of Flight QF032, followed by indications of a failure to the No 2 engine. It was subsequently discovered that the RR Trent 900 engine’s IP turbine hub had broken into several large pieces which caused significant damage to the wing and to a number of systems of the A380 aircraft. Minor injuries occurred to some people on Batam Island in Indonesia as debris from the aircraft rained down.
The Captain, Richard de Crespigny, held the aircraft at 7,000 feet. It soon became apparent that auto thrust had failed. Indications of No 2 engine overheat, and subsequently of fire, were dealt with but there was no confirmation that the fire extinguisher had discharged. After discharging the second fire extinguisher without confirmation, the engine fire warning was replaced by an overheat warning. A PAN call was made. The Captain placed the aircraft in a holding pattern close to the airport while First Officer Mathew Hicks, dealt with more than 50 messages on the aircraft’s systems monitoring and alert system.
The list was considerable:
The No 2 Engine display showed a ‘failed’ mode, while engines 1 and 4 were in ‘degraded’ mode
The green hydraulic system indicated low pressure and low quantity and the yellow hydraulic system indicated engine 4 pump cautions
AC 1 and 2 electrical bus system indicated failure
Flight controls were in ‘alternate law’
Wing slats were inoperative, spoiler control was reduced and aileron control was partial
There were numerous warnings for landing gear control and brake systems
Autothrust and autoland were inoperative
Error messages for engine anti-ice and air data sensor were displayed
Multiple fuel systems errors including fuel jettison fault and centre of gravity messages were displayed
No 1 engine generator was disconnected
Left wing pneumatic system was leaking
Avionics system overheat warning was displayed
S/O Mark Johnson, went to the cabin and saw that the fin camera display showed a significant fuel leak from the left wing. As the fuel dump and transfer systems were unserviceable, the aircraft was moving towards both longitudinal and lateral out of balance. The Captain decided to land 50 tonnes overweight while the aircraft was still within the C/G limits. After computing several options with different configurations, a landing calculation was found that would permit a landing on runway 20C with a 100m margin.
F/O Mathew Hicks handled an unprecedented array of failures in an aircraft with great systems complexity.
S/O Mark Johnson established voice communications with Qantas engineers in Sydney through a mobile phone after failure of the aircraft’s satellite voice link.
Training Captain David Evans and Captain Harry Wubben, who was undergoing training as a Training Captain, made valuable contributions including visual inspections from the aircraft cabin, communication with cabin crew and passengers and assisting with calculation of overweight landing performance with the damage to multiple systems.
After controllability checks, the Captain commenced a 20nm final approach to runway 20C with the No 4 engine set to the same thrust as the No 1 engine while using only the No 3 engine for thrust control. After the autopilot disconnected twice, the Captain flew the approach manually from 1,000 feet. After touchdown, full reverse thrust was applied to No 3 engine, however, maximum braking could not be applied until the nose wheel had touched the ground. The landing run was completed about 150m from the end of the runway.
After completing shut down checks, the crew were informed by the fire crew that the No 1 engine was still running, even though there was no instrument indication of the engine running. Despite numerous efforts, it proved impossible to shut down the engine by normal means. The fire services were then requested to drown the engine. All the passengers were then disembarked without injury.
For their safe handling of an unprecedented set of failures, sound decision making in an extremely complex emergency and superb handling of an aircraft in extreme circumstances, saving the lives of all on board, the crew of Flt QF032 are awarded the Hugh Gordon-Burge Memorial Award.
best to travel with a reliable airline such as Lufthansa I will not using asian or malaysian airlines that go over Borneo area as they appear to under some sort of jinx
I can understand not wishing to fly with Malaysian Airlines and a "MUST" is to avoid flying with any airline registered in Korea, I can understand avoiding low cost carriers and certain aircraft types but to suggest any airline in an entire continent is taking things a little far.
Any Korean airline ... "Korean Airlines" barely have a safety record, google their crashes in Guam and London/Stansted just for starters and don't forget "Asiana's" crash in San Fransisco where the pilot(s) totally f*cked it up.
Cathay Pacific's in-flight catering, both quality and quantity, is outstanding whilst, never having flown with them, Thai and Singapore Airlines also have good reputations.
And the obvious one I neglected to mention ... When Korean Airlines strayed off course, reportedly when the flight crew were asleep, and the Russians shot them down.
There is overwhelming orthographical and video evidence that concludes the missile that brought down MH17
was fired by a Russian crew of unit 3x2, A Buk launcher belonging to the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade based in Kursk
an excellent article shows the painstaking research that proves it.
https://www.bellingcat. com/news/uk-and-europe/2014/11/08/origin-of-the-separatists-buk-a-bellingcat-inv estigation/
MH17 was brought down on 17 July, am I reading a different article then?:
It is the opinion of the Bellingcat MH17 investigation team that there is undeniable evidence that separatists in Ukraine were in control of a Buk missile launcher on July 17th and transported it from Donetsk to Snizhne on a transporter. The Buk missile launcher was unloaded in Snizhne approximately three hours before the downing of MH17 and was later filmed minus one missile driving through separatist-controlled Luhansk.
The Bellingcat MH17 investigation team also believes the same Buk was part of a convoy travelling from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Kursk to near the Ukrainian border as part of a training exercise between June 22nd and July 25th, with elements of the convoy separating from the main convoy at some point during that period, including the Buk missile launcher filmed in Ukraine on July 17th. There is strong evidence indicating that the Russian military provided separatists in eastern Ukraine with the Buk missile launcher filmed and photographed in eastern Ukraine on July 17th.
I found myself, for the first time, reading the report of the AF447 incident where the aircraft, apparently, stalled at something like 38,000ft and fell to earth, well ocean, from there, it quite turned my stomach.
It would appear this Air Asia suffered a similar fate ... I'm not in a hurry to go flying again anytime soon!
When I joined the airline industry many of the flight crew would be ex military, even ex WWII, and these guys knew how to fly an aeroplane and their training was paid for by their employers, the airline.
Moving on 30+ years pilots, there are no flight engineers, navigators, air electronic operators etc. any longer, are no longer pilots, they have become computer operators and with cutbacks in the military, speaking for my own country they barely have an air force any longer, and the world being run beancounters (accountants) it's all about money and, particularly, with these low cost carriers to get a break in to the industry pilots, often of wealthy parentage, pay for their training and indeed pay for their first job where they pay the airline, per flight hour, to fly the aeroplane, well operate the computer anyway.
'Sully' Sullenberger hit the nail on the head after he shot to fame after his belly landing in the Hudson River, he was from the old school and could actually fly an aeroplane, Google for the "Gimli Glider", that B767 Captain was actually an ex glider pilot and he was able to "glide" a B767 to a landing on what was, by then, a go kart track.
What happened with AF447 was that the pitot heads (speed indicators) iced up whilst there were two first officers (co-pilots) at the controls, the Captain was on a break in the rest area, they had no indication if they were doing 100kts or 400kts whilst meddling with a thunderstorm, they stalled the aeroplane hitting the surface of the sea pretty much intact and the rest is history.
Whilst the FDR & CVR reports of this Air Asia are still to be identified it appears a similar scenario, they were meddling with a thunderstorm, they actually requested to climb above the storm which any pilot should never do, they stalled the aeroplane and, again, they hit the surface of the sea pretty much intact.
Corporate error or corporate manslaughter? ... The industry needs to get back to where management, rather than beancounters, ran it and took decisions, yes pilots go thru periodical training checks but these are pretty much merely operating the computer and a simulated single engine failure or similar and most often in a simulator rather than an aeroplane.
The industry needs to get back to training pilots to fly rather than merely operating computers.
Note that the Air France, Malaysian Air, and Air Asia flights were all at night. Some people cannot drive at night and maybe some should not fly at night?
Engine power wasn't the problem in either the Gimli Glider, AF447 or Air Asia.
The Gimli Glider simply ran out of fuel whilst AF447 &, it seems, Air Asia, the crews weren't sufficiently trained to fly an aeroplane once the computer could no longer fly it for them!
Welcome to WiiAirlines. our pilots are the best console players in the world,,, when the alarms go off pull back on the stick and throttle up... Game over!!!!!!!!!
Im still getting back on a plane in 9 days and wont really give it much thought. There have been thousands of car crashes and hundreds of fatalities in automobiles since this air accident.
Your Reply:
Russian brides > Main Forum > Malaysian Airlines MH17 Shot Down over Ukraine Donetsk Region by Pro Russia Putin Supporters. 295 Dead