Hansie Bloeckmann
Senior Airman
Agree- I did not much care for his comment- about the Germans belly-crawling over broken glass to get a cheaper fare.
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Agree- I did not much care for his comment- about the Germans belly-crawling over broken glass to get a cheaper fare.He is one air crash away from bankruptcy. The business model that relies on people always going for the cheap option has a down side.
I hope he does go "Belly-up"!! What a putz!!He is one air crash away from bankruptcy. The business model that relies on people always going for the cheap option has a down side.
You're right, it's all about examples and definitions. That the pilots were negligent is obvious, but does it rise to the level of "gross"? They had probably been told in ground school that the 400 series 737 had different bleed air/cabin pressurization ducting than the 300s, along with probably a thousand other details. But did they recall that apparently insignificant detail under pressure? No. So they misidentified the source of the smoke in the cockpit and cabin. This made them predisposed to identify the right engine as the culprit. They were experiencing high vibration along with the smoke, but did they consult those tiny little vibration monitor displays in the engine instrument cluster? No. They probably couldn't read them in the smoke and vibration, and anyway they had been changed to a digital format that was not very intuitive. Besides, the FDR readouts reported later that the difference in recorded vibration between engines was not terribly great, the whole airframe was shaking so much. Did the crew execute their emergency checklists flawlessly? No, they were interrupted repeatedly by ATC and missed several items. And here's the kicker. When they reduced power on the right (good) engine the smoke stopped and the vibration abated! They didn't catch the fact that power on the left (bad) engine had reduced as well (by the autothrotle) taking it out of the extreme vibration range. They thought they had their culprit, and shut down the right engine. At the reduced power setting for descent to land the left engine ran relatively smoothly, but still produced enough high frequency vibrations to loosen fuel and hydraulic fittings in the cowling, causing leaks. When they brought the power up, to dirty for landing, the vibration came back, the leaking fluids ignited, and after a few seconds the engine began to lose power, gravity set in, and the rest is history.Gross negligence is a criminal matter. I don't know USA law but certainly in England. Of course all about examples and definition.
Of course a pilot should be held legally accountable for his actions.
Now THAT qualifies as "obvious nefarious intent"!"Hey, we've all "tankered" fuel from time to time..."
He, he, that brings to mind a story. A local pilot acquired a DC-3 and planned to use it for, shall we say, the "import business. He had the airplane modified with extra fuel tanks, using the area just behind the cockpit that originally was for the radio operator. He first flew it to an airport different from the one where he based the airplane, wanting to buy fuel at two different airports in order to not arouse interest at how much he was putting in the airplane.
He decided to fill up the added tanks behind the cockpit first. And there was little fuel in the regular tanks. And he forgot about CG considerations. Guess what happened?
So there he was at an airport with an airplane he did not want people to notice. And he stands it on its nose.
They interrupted checklists to talk with ATC, leaving some items undone.
Wes
They must have loaded the cargo bay to the max, to get a 10,000 load factor over max gross-- didn't any of the loading crew remark on how bright and clean the PAP planking was- as opposed to the way heavier steel planking-assuming in this case the PAP was "factory new"-- Maybe a pocket horseshoe magnet and an inquisitive mind could have changed this potentially dangerous loading scenario-just "Monday morning quarterbacking""-- Also, I wonder why the crew didn't abort after the realized they could not obtain more than a "Half-Angel' ceiling--?? Glad they set down in TempleHof OK-- Lady Luck or some other good Karma.. HansieThere was a C-47 during the Berlin Airlft that had a bit of a W&B problem. It was loaded with Perforated Aluminum Planking (PAP), stuff they used for airplane parking spaces. They waddled out for takeoff, barely made it off the ground and found it would not climb higher than about 500ft. On landing in Berlin they blew the two main tires.
Turned out the PAP was in reality mislabled Perforated Steel Planking, and the airplane was about 10,000 lb over max gross.
That's the trouble with separation of duties: one loads, another writes, another calculates, and yet another signs for it. UPS feeder ops have a better idea: PILOT loads, PILOT writes, PILOT calculates, and PILOT signs. That way there's only one way to point fingers.They must have loaded the cargo bay to the max, to get a 10,000 load factor over max gross-- didn't any of the loading crew remark on how bright and clean the PAP planking was- as opposed to the way heavier steel planking
Thanks- especially for the data on the Max cargo load fr the C-47 at that time- most likely the same data for its long time usage- cargo-paratroop drops ,transporting personnel, etc.During the Berlin Airlift they were hauling anything. Coal, for example. I doubt they spent a lot of time on W&B calcs. And no doubt they had a lot of non-aviation people doing most of the grunt work. The PSP would have taken up no more space than the same number of sheets of PAP, but weighed a lot more. They did notice that the airplane did not have what you would call sparkling performance, but put it off to it being "tired."
Normal max cargo load for a C-47 was about 5000 lb.
Same reason we didn't abort our waddling, bobbling, 1900: so used to flying loaded heavy and loaded aft that it didn't seem THAT abnormal to us/them.wonder why the crew didn't abort after the realized they could not obtain more than a "Half-Angel' ceiling--??
Well crawling over glass is OTT but I worked for a long time near Hanover Airport but I never met anyone who went on holiday from it, they made all sorts of complex arrangements to fly from Dusseldorf or even Frankfurt because it was cheaper. To me just part of life in Germany, the strangest experience I had there was in a gym I used, every Wednesday night three middle aged ladies would come in, pay their fee and just go into the sauna to discuss grocery prices completely naked.Agree- I did not much care for his comment- about the Germans belly-crawling over broken glass to get a cheaper fare.
That's the trouble with separation of duties: one loads, another writes, another calculates, and yet another signs for it. UPS feeder ops have a better idea: PILOT loads, PILOT writes, PILOT calculates, and PILOT signs. That way there's only one way to point fingers.
Cheers,
Wes
What kind of imports? The white powdery kind?A local pilot acquired a DC-3 and planned to use it for, shall we say, the "import business."
Honestly I'm amazed at least one drug trafficker never even tried aerial refueling: Some are now using drones last I checked.He had the airplane modified with extra fuel tanks, using the area just behind the cockpit that originally was for the radio operator. He first flew it to an airport different from the one where he based the airplane, wanting to buy fuel at two different airports in order to not arouse interest at how much he was putting in the airplane.
COMAT?Lady Luck (love that woman) was with us: turns out Boston station had given us erroneous weight information, omitting 400 lbs of COMAT loaded in the aftmost compartment, and including a fully inflated Fokker 28 mainwheel and tire assembly. (An FAR violation!)
My favorite one is about the Azores Glider. I cannot remember if it was part of this series or another.