Monday, November 20, 2006
Um, was that 30L or 30R???
Much is being made lately of the use of the wrong runway, or, in the most recent case in Newark New Jersey, mistaking a Taxiway for a runway.
First, this previous August, there was the case in Lexington Kentucky where a regional jet lined up on the wrong runway that was too short for the plane. The resulting crash killed 49 people. More recently, a Continental 757 lined up on the right heading, but landed on the taxiway next TO the runway instead. The next Monday, an Alaska Airways 737 used the wrong runway to take off.
My good friend, The Unhappy American asked me to write something about this a while back. In fact, he asked me so long ago, he probably thinks I've blown him off and forgotten about it. But I haven't. I've been going over and over this in my mind, and I just keep coming back to one inescapable conclusion:
The Pilot-In-Command is just that. Whether he/she is flying solo, or flying with a co-pilot, they are STILL the ones with the final responsibility for the aircraft. They are is STILL the ones with the ultimate responsibility for making sure the correct runway gets used, and to KEEP the damn aircraft OFF the runway iffen he/she's not supposed to be there. No one else is gonna do it for them. Not the people in the tower, the passengers in the back, mechanic in the hanger, not even the poor shmuck who has to empty the crapper. Even HE can't do it. Nope,the onus is on the PIC and the PIC alone. As complicated as aviation has become, it is still as simple as that.
There are ways for pilots to check if they're on the right runway.
First off, there's the runway itself. As you can see below, it's plainly marked with the number.
You can see it from the air as you approach during daylight landings. It's supposed to be painted, legibly, on all runways. If it's not, the airport is out of compliance. It's a little tougher to see from the cockpit during takeoffs unless you're driving a 747 or one of the other big boys. That number is the magnetic heading of the runway in degrees. And that's a key thing here. If they're taking off, they look at their gyro compass before they advance throttles, and if the number on that compass doesn't agree with what you assigned by the tower, well then you step back, take a minute and go over things to make sure you're not screwing up. If the pilots in Kentucky had done that one last simple step, that wreck might not have happened. Also, at most airports, there are signs next to the taxiways, and at the entrance to the runway that tell you where you are. Everything is color coded, including the lights, and all the taxiways and runways are labeled and numbered, with centerline stripes to show where to put the nose wheel. Here's an airport diagram for Wold Chamberlain Field in the Twin Cities.
Many times, things like this happen because the pilots were distracted by other problems, focusing on checklists, tending to a piece of equipment, dealing with an upset passenger or distracted in some way. Get-there-itis is something I was taught about when I was taking my flying lessons. It's something that can happen to anyone who's tired, in a hurry, trying to beat a storm, running behind schedule, the list goes on and on. The Kentucky pilots, if my memory serves correctly, were running behind schedule, and may have been rushing through checklists they might normally do while stationary to save time. Don't know for sure. We'll probably find out in about another 5 or 6 months.
What to do? Well, the sad fact is that until we take the pilots out of the cockpit and replace them with computers, not much. People are human, and people make mistake. To err is human, or something like that. Aircraft cockpits, especially modern airliners, are more complex than ever before. They're filled with flat panel glass displays, radio equipment that can damn near talk with Beelzebub himself, engineering equipment for aircraft systems such as hydraulics, electronics, air conditioning, radars, collision avoidance systems, both air and ground..... Well, I think you get the idea. Once a good friend of mine who was a senior Boeing 777 pilot told me that about the only thing that plane wouldn't do is shake his pecker for him after he peed. Now there's talk about adding yet another device to warn about being on the wrong runway. I don't know. I think there comes a point of diminishing returns for stuff like that. There's enough crap in the cabin already to distract the pilots, I think. It's just one more piece of equipment to screw and fiddle with when you should be paying attention to what's going on.
And that's really the point here. I'll end by recounting one principle drilled into me by my flight instructor. I got distracted by the radio one day while practicing approaches at an uncontrolled airport. He reached over, yanked the mic out of my hand and put it back on the hook and silently pointed at the runway. Message received. Later, on the ground, he looked me right in the eye, and told me in no uncertain terms, "From now on, above EVERYTHING else, FLY THE DAMN AIRPLANE!" That lesson stuck with me.
"The sky, to an even greater extent than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of errors. "-- Old Aviation Saying
First, this previous August, there was the case in Lexington Kentucky where a regional jet lined up on the wrong runway that was too short for the plane. The resulting crash killed 49 people. More recently, a Continental 757 lined up on the right heading, but landed on the taxiway next TO the runway instead. The next Monday, an Alaska Airways 737 used the wrong runway to take off.
My good friend, The Unhappy American asked me to write something about this a while back. In fact, he asked me so long ago, he probably thinks I've blown him off and forgotten about it. But I haven't. I've been going over and over this in my mind, and I just keep coming back to one inescapable conclusion:
The Pilot-In-Command is just that. Whether he/she is flying solo, or flying with a co-pilot, they are STILL the ones with the final responsibility for the aircraft. They are is STILL the ones with the ultimate responsibility for making sure the correct runway gets used, and to KEEP the damn aircraft OFF the runway iffen he/she's not supposed to be there. No one else is gonna do it for them. Not the people in the tower, the passengers in the back, mechanic in the hanger, not even the poor shmuck who has to empty the crapper. Even HE can't do it. Nope,the onus is on the PIC and the PIC alone. As complicated as aviation has become, it is still as simple as that.
There are ways for pilots to check if they're on the right runway.
First off, there's the runway itself. As you can see below, it's plainly marked with the number.
You can see it from the air as you approach during daylight landings. It's supposed to be painted, legibly, on all runways. If it's not, the airport is out of compliance. It's a little tougher to see from the cockpit during takeoffs unless you're driving a 747 or one of the other big boys. That number is the magnetic heading of the runway in degrees. And that's a key thing here. If they're taking off, they look at their gyro compass before they advance throttles, and if the number on that compass doesn't agree with what you assigned by the tower, well then you step back, take a minute and go over things to make sure you're not screwing up. If the pilots in Kentucky had done that one last simple step, that wreck might not have happened. Also, at most airports, there are signs next to the taxiways, and at the entrance to the runway that tell you where you are. Everything is color coded, including the lights, and all the taxiways and runways are labeled and numbered, with centerline stripes to show where to put the nose wheel. Here's an airport diagram for Wold Chamberlain Field in the Twin Cities.
Many times, things like this happen because the pilots were distracted by other problems, focusing on checklists, tending to a piece of equipment, dealing with an upset passenger or distracted in some way. Get-there-itis is something I was taught about when I was taking my flying lessons. It's something that can happen to anyone who's tired, in a hurry, trying to beat a storm, running behind schedule, the list goes on and on. The Kentucky pilots, if my memory serves correctly, were running behind schedule, and may have been rushing through checklists they might normally do while stationary to save time. Don't know for sure. We'll probably find out in about another 5 or 6 months.
What to do? Well, the sad fact is that until we take the pilots out of the cockpit and replace them with computers, not much. People are human, and people make mistake. To err is human, or something like that. Aircraft cockpits, especially modern airliners, are more complex than ever before. They're filled with flat panel glass displays, radio equipment that can damn near talk with Beelzebub himself, engineering equipment for aircraft systems such as hydraulics, electronics, air conditioning, radars, collision avoidance systems, both air and ground..... Well, I think you get the idea. Once a good friend of mine who was a senior Boeing 777 pilot told me that about the only thing that plane wouldn't do is shake his pecker for him after he peed. Now there's talk about adding yet another device to warn about being on the wrong runway. I don't know. I think there comes a point of diminishing returns for stuff like that. There's enough crap in the cabin already to distract the pilots, I think. It's just one more piece of equipment to screw and fiddle with when you should be paying attention to what's going on.
And that's really the point here. I'll end by recounting one principle drilled into me by my flight instructor. I got distracted by the radio one day while practicing approaches at an uncontrolled airport. He reached over, yanked the mic out of my hand and put it back on the hook and silently pointed at the runway. Message received. Later, on the ground, he looked me right in the eye, and told me in no uncertain terms, "From now on, above EVERYTHING else, FLY THE DAMN AIRPLANE!" That lesson stuck with me.
"The sky, to an even greater extent than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of errors. "-- Old Aviation Saying
Friday, November 17, 2006
Trip Seven Meets Its Fate.
For the first time, a Boeing 777 has been retired to the scrap heap. It's an early 777-236 model, the 19th off the assembly line. It does not have the extended range package. It was equipped with GE 90-90B engines, which are not common on this model.
This is sort of a surprise in some ways, as 11 years is nothing for airliners. It's odd to think that this aircraft will be scrapped, when older aircraft such as 727s, Mad Dog-80s and 737 dash 2s are still happily plying routes and making money, but there are reasons for this move. Even odder is that not a single 777 hull has been lost to an accident, so this trip 7 is truly the first to be removed from revenue service.
The aircraft was originally a British Airways aircraft plying middle east routes, before being phased out as newer, longer ranged aircraft joined the fleet. It was resold to Boeing in 2002, and went through two false starts in attempts to sell it before a holding company bought it and leased it to Varig, the Brazilian national airline in January 2004. It was operated by Varig until April 2006, and returned to Boeing in August 2006.
Under Varig's operation, slowly fell into a state of disrepair, as maintenance was put off. There are reports from customers of dirty cabins, thread bare seats, and personal TV sets on the seat backs breaking down. There's one picture of the interior 9 months before it was parked and you can see that not a single TV screen is working. The passenger was told they were shut off due to constant breakdowns. He also reported that electrical power to an entire section of the cabin was lost on one trip, but the flight continued on anyway. The plane was eventually parked as noted above.
Just like cars, there comes a time in a machine's life that it becomes more valuable for the sum of the parts rather than the whole. And that's what's happened in this case. Some of the factors are the early configuration of the airframe (Non extended range) the odd engine combination, and most important, the dismal overall shape of the craft. It's due for a D-check. That's the aviation equivalent of a frame-off restoration. It includes completely stripping the interior down to the framework and inspection of the interior structure for corrosion and damage. The engines are removed and either zero-timed or replaced with new ones. All of the hydraulic systems are drained, cleaned, flushed, and refilled. All of the electrical systems are checked and repaired as needed. There's more, but you get the idea. And it isn't cheap to do. That's why this plane is being broken up. The owners can make more money off of the parts than they can by putting it back into service.
Kinda sad really. There's a certain retired airline Captain I know who flew these, along with what he used to call "Flying Cows." If he knows about this, I'm convinced he's probably shedding a tear.
Sorry Dan. If it had been up to me, I'd a kept her flying.
"The nicer an airplane looks, the better it flies."
This is sort of a surprise in some ways, as 11 years is nothing for airliners. It's odd to think that this aircraft will be scrapped, when older aircraft such as 727s, Mad Dog-80s and 737 dash 2s are still happily plying routes and making money, but there are reasons for this move. Even odder is that not a single 777 hull has been lost to an accident, so this trip 7 is truly the first to be removed from revenue service.
The aircraft was originally a British Airways aircraft plying middle east routes, before being phased out as newer, longer ranged aircraft joined the fleet. It was resold to Boeing in 2002, and went through two false starts in attempts to sell it before a holding company bought it and leased it to Varig, the Brazilian national airline in January 2004. It was operated by Varig until April 2006, and returned to Boeing in August 2006.
Under Varig's operation, slowly fell into a state of disrepair, as maintenance was put off. There are reports from customers of dirty cabins, thread bare seats, and personal TV sets on the seat backs breaking down. There's one picture of the interior 9 months before it was parked and you can see that not a single TV screen is working. The passenger was told they were shut off due to constant breakdowns. He also reported that electrical power to an entire section of the cabin was lost on one trip, but the flight continued on anyway. The plane was eventually parked as noted above.
Just like cars, there comes a time in a machine's life that it becomes more valuable for the sum of the parts rather than the whole. And that's what's happened in this case. Some of the factors are the early configuration of the airframe (Non extended range) the odd engine combination, and most important, the dismal overall shape of the craft. It's due for a D-check. That's the aviation equivalent of a frame-off restoration. It includes completely stripping the interior down to the framework and inspection of the interior structure for corrosion and damage. The engines are removed and either zero-timed or replaced with new ones. All of the hydraulic systems are drained, cleaned, flushed, and refilled. All of the electrical systems are checked and repaired as needed. There's more, but you get the idea. And it isn't cheap to do. That's why this plane is being broken up. The owners can make more money off of the parts than they can by putting it back into service.
Kinda sad really. There's a certain retired airline Captain I know who flew these, along with what he used to call "Flying Cows." If he knows about this, I'm convinced he's probably shedding a tear.
Sorry Dan. If it had been up to me, I'd a kept her flying.
"The nicer an airplane looks, the better it flies."
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
He's Back!!
In case you hadn't read my earlier posts, our son underwent brain surgery last Thursday, November 9th, to remove an Arterio-Venous-Malformation. (Google it. Here, I'll do it for you.)
It was located in the right front lobe of his brain, and presented a major risk for bleeding, or worse, outright rupture and certain death. The neurosurgeon was emphatic that due to it's size and location, it needed to be removed. He emphasized "I wouldn't wait very long to do this!!" And he meant it.
It was the most tense 4 hours we've ever spent in our lives. When the surgeon came out to the waiting room to tell us that "Everything went fine. I got all of the AVM out, sealed off all of the ends of the veins and arteries, and he should recover fully!" it was like an overfilled balloon was suddenly released. The release of tension was palpable. We sat there, pretty much drained, and contemplated what had just happened. He was in post-op for a couple of hours, and all of a sudden, my wife and I realized we hadn't really had anything to eat that day, and we were really hungry. After lunch, we were directed to the ICU where he was to spend the next couple of days, and we saw him for the first time. He was awake, cogent, and as "with it" as one can be after someone pulls your scalp halfway off your head and punches a big hole in your skull. His entire head was covered with dressings and a gauze cap. We asked him how he was doing, and he said "I feel like I've been hit by a truck! A reeeeeealy big one!" Right away, his sense of humor was there, and that was incredibly reassuring to us. He was back on solid food on Friday evening, and was in a regular room by Sunday, with all of the tubing and wires and crap off, and boy was he glad to get rid of all of that.
He's back home now, and he's back to his old self! (Mostly. Still feels like a truck hit him, but a smaller one now.) It's going to take about 6 weeks of recovery before he can do things like go back to work, school, etc. The most important thing is that he's back mentally. One of the things we had to realize was that there was the possibility there could be side effects from the operation. Anytime you go inside the skull, no matter why, there's always the possibility of after effects. Our son seems to have none of those, and as I wrote, he's his old self in every way possible, and that's the thing we are most thankful for. That isn't entirely working in his favor. He's a classic type "A" and was hoping he was going to be able to "hit the ground running" but is somewhat dismayed that it's going to take longer than a few days to get through this. He's the type to get bored if he sits any longer than 15 minutes, but we've finally managed to convince him that if he doesn't just take it easy and recuperate fully before getting active, he could end up right back in the hospital, in worse shape than when we started. That got his attention, and he's resigned himself to taking it easy, laying on the couch, and watching movies he's been meaning see.
Once again, I want to thank everyone so much for all of the thoughts, best wishes, and prayers. They meant so much to us, and helped us get through this stressful month. (The operation was one month to the day after the seizure that brought all of this on.) Thank you all.
Hariseldon 67
It was located in the right front lobe of his brain, and presented a major risk for bleeding, or worse, outright rupture and certain death. The neurosurgeon was emphatic that due to it's size and location, it needed to be removed. He emphasized "I wouldn't wait very long to do this!!" And he meant it.
It was the most tense 4 hours we've ever spent in our lives. When the surgeon came out to the waiting room to tell us that "Everything went fine. I got all of the AVM out, sealed off all of the ends of the veins and arteries, and he should recover fully!" it was like an overfilled balloon was suddenly released. The release of tension was palpable. We sat there, pretty much drained, and contemplated what had just happened. He was in post-op for a couple of hours, and all of a sudden, my wife and I realized we hadn't really had anything to eat that day, and we were really hungry. After lunch, we were directed to the ICU where he was to spend the next couple of days, and we saw him for the first time. He was awake, cogent, and as "with it" as one can be after someone pulls your scalp halfway off your head and punches a big hole in your skull. His entire head was covered with dressings and a gauze cap. We asked him how he was doing, and he said "I feel like I've been hit by a truck! A reeeeeealy big one!" Right away, his sense of humor was there, and that was incredibly reassuring to us. He was back on solid food on Friday evening, and was in a regular room by Sunday, with all of the tubing and wires and crap off, and boy was he glad to get rid of all of that.
He's back home now, and he's back to his old self! (Mostly. Still feels like a truck hit him, but a smaller one now.) It's going to take about 6 weeks of recovery before he can do things like go back to work, school, etc. The most important thing is that he's back mentally. One of the things we had to realize was that there was the possibility there could be side effects from the operation. Anytime you go inside the skull, no matter why, there's always the possibility of after effects. Our son seems to have none of those, and as I wrote, he's his old self in every way possible, and that's the thing we are most thankful for. That isn't entirely working in his favor. He's a classic type "A" and was hoping he was going to be able to "hit the ground running" but is somewhat dismayed that it's going to take longer than a few days to get through this. He's the type to get bored if he sits any longer than 15 minutes, but we've finally managed to convince him that if he doesn't just take it easy and recuperate fully before getting active, he could end up right back in the hospital, in worse shape than when we started. That got his attention, and he's resigned himself to taking it easy, laying on the couch, and watching movies he's been meaning see.
Once again, I want to thank everyone so much for all of the thoughts, best wishes, and prayers. They meant so much to us, and helped us get through this stressful month. (The operation was one month to the day after the seizure that brought all of this on.) Thank you all.
Hariseldon 67
Monday, November 06, 2006
Soon......
Well, the day draws near.
My son is doing OK. He's still learning to deal with the anti-seizure drug, but is much more active now than he was before. He's a "Type A-gotta keep doing stuff" sort of guy who gets bored if he sits any longer than 15, 20 minutes. Not being involved with school activities and studying is something he's getting used to.
The operation is this Thursday, the 9th, with preliminary stuff being done the day before on Wednesday. He's supposed to be in the hospital until Monday the 13th.
The doctor performing the operation is confident things will turn out well. He won't say it's a 100% certainty, of course. Only an idiot would do that, and I'd be suspicious if he did. But he feels things will turn out well. The plan is to spend about 6 weeks weaning him off of the anti-seizure medicine after the procedure.
I want to thank everyone again from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful expressions of support and well wishes during this rough time. It's very much appreciated. I will come back here when I can after Thursday and let you know how things are going.
My son is doing OK. He's still learning to deal with the anti-seizure drug, but is much more active now than he was before. He's a "Type A-gotta keep doing stuff" sort of guy who gets bored if he sits any longer than 15, 20 minutes. Not being involved with school activities and studying is something he's getting used to.
The operation is this Thursday, the 9th, with preliminary stuff being done the day before on Wednesday. He's supposed to be in the hospital until Monday the 13th.
The doctor performing the operation is confident things will turn out well. He won't say it's a 100% certainty, of course. Only an idiot would do that, and I'd be suspicious if he did. But he feels things will turn out well. The plan is to spend about 6 weeks weaning him off of the anti-seizure medicine after the procedure.
I want to thank everyone again from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful expressions of support and well wishes during this rough time. It's very much appreciated. I will come back here when I can after Thursday and let you know how things are going.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Thotz And Obsurvashions:
The election draws near, and the bullshit is flying fast and thick around here. I've got my waders and noseclip on. The Rep. and Dem. parties are both flooding the airwaves with ads designed to make you think the "other" candidate is a flaming idiot and world's biggest asshat. The line of choice is that "XXX is "wrong" on issue Y, and "wrong" on issue Z, and is just "wrong" for us." Usually these ads are accompanied by an extremely unflattering photo of the "enemy" showing them frowning/smirking/leering at the camera. We get all upset at this sort of stuff. You hear complaints about negetive advertising all the time. It usually gets worse when one side percieves a loss coming. Most experts agree that the reason campaigns use these ads is because they work. This is nothing new, of course. It's been happening throughout America's existance. Campaigning for public office was considered so onerous in early America that in some of the first presidential elections, it was considered "beneath the dignity" of the candidate to do it themselves. That nasty job was usually left to the candidate's contemporaries and subordinates. It wasn't unusual to have a man's intellegence, heritage, and even matrimonial faithfullness called into question.
A new practice being used by parties on all sides is taping the opponents every public move, in the hope of capturing one of those "gotcha!" moments to use against them. Now, in the back of every compaign event, from dinners, speeches, appearances, even wistle stops, you'll see several people standing there with a video camera, recording every thing that happens. The good thing is that it's hard for a candidate to deny doing or saying something stupid. The bad thing is that to guard against such "dumbshit" moments, every move, every word, every facial expression is now scripted with the precision of a Hollywood movie. We're much less likely to see the "real" candidate now than ever before, and were much less likely to hear anything of substance, so as to guard against the candidate saying something stupid.
Noticed at lunch today: I drive into the parking lot get out of the car, go inside to a relatively open order area, place my order, get my food and go back outside to my car. I notice that 3, perhaps 4 cars have managed to move through the drive thru lane while I was inside, and the same cars I passed driving into the lot are still there, waiting to order. COME ON people. You could save a ton of time if you just get your fat ass out of the car, and do a little walking.
"Extry pickles please!"
Me
A new practice being used by parties on all sides is taping the opponents every public move, in the hope of capturing one of those "gotcha!" moments to use against them. Now, in the back of every compaign event, from dinners, speeches, appearances, even wistle stops, you'll see several people standing there with a video camera, recording every thing that happens. The good thing is that it's hard for a candidate to deny doing or saying something stupid. The bad thing is that to guard against such "dumbshit" moments, every move, every word, every facial expression is now scripted with the precision of a Hollywood movie. We're much less likely to see the "real" candidate now than ever before, and were much less likely to hear anything of substance, so as to guard against the candidate saying something stupid.
Noticed at lunch today: I drive into the parking lot get out of the car, go inside to a relatively open order area, place my order, get my food and go back outside to my car. I notice that 3, perhaps 4 cars have managed to move through the drive thru lane while I was inside, and the same cars I passed driving into the lot are still there, waiting to order. COME ON people. You could save a ton of time if you just get your fat ass out of the car, and do a little walking.
"Extry pickles please!"
Me
