Glad I'm not a passenger

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,991
Tragic. It sure seems like the frequency of incidents has been increasing significantly, but it's hard to say if that's real, or if it's just caught the attention of the news media and so we hear about ones that previously would have gotten little or no coverage (of course, THIS one would have gotten covered!).

Assuming that it's a real increase, I wonder what the major causes are? Controller shortage? Poor training? Increased system utilization? Aging infrastructure? Any specific incident is, of course, going to reflect a set of factors relevant to it and the others are a non-issue; we have to look at overall trends and common themes across all accidents. As nearly is always the case, my guess is that most of the apparent increase is an illusion due to it having caught the attention of the news media and being fueled by the availability of tantalizing video from the ubiquitous cell phone presence. But I think there are some real issues at play as well, particularly related to runway incursions.

On a more light hearted note, about seven minutes in, he says something like, "Here's what it sounded like on the ATC audio." As if on cue, the video went to commercial with perfect timing and what I heard (I was looking down at a diagram and not watching the screen at the time) was something like, "Have you ever wondered why onions smell the way they do?" I was like, "WTF!"
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,991
You can come up with situations in which one fails and the other succeeds, so there's no absolute answer as to which is better. I suspect that in most situation where the difference might matter, the usual outcome will be that both will fail and everyone will die. So we are talking about cases in a pretty narrow margin. Given the number of times that pilots using intuition and skill have managed to bring a plane down safely, or at least in a way that has reduced fatalities, and which later analysis has shown how following normal emergency procedures and limits would have resulted in a total loss, I'd prefer to put my fate on the skilled pilot in those situations. Having said that, the level of training and proficiency of pilots varies a lot around the world, so my answer would likely be conditional based on that.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,991
While I agree that the pilot was irresponsible and should be held accountable (a healthy fine, at least), I think they are overstating the "danger" of what he did. Did it cause unnecessary concern/panic for the passengers and onlookers? Yes. That's the big reason why it was irresponsible and should be punished. Did it create a situation of higher risk than normal operations? Yes, and that's a factor, too. But was the actual risk that much greater? Nope.
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,512
I was living in a small double wide trailer back in the 70s when one night a flight of at least 6 C-130 Hercules (Fat Alberts) flew overhead at less than 1000'. They were moving an Army Ranger company from Hunter Army Airfield in Savanah 60 miles north of us down to Florida for a military exercise and were "ground skimming" at what looked to be ~500' and I thought the trailer was going to come off its blocks it shook so badly. It definitely raised our pulse rates. Quite a sight! We get lots of low flying military helicopters following the coast and offshore often some low flying military jets and the occasional A-10 as they transit the area following the coast from the Cherry Point Marine Air Station going to a Florida base or to the Naval Target station (no live ordinance) in the west end of our county. Not too unusual to see F-15s, F-16s screaming along the Altamaha River just above treetops going and coming from the bombing range when its active.
 
Top