Yeah, but he also set it down on dry land.
Airliner Crashes
- Thread starter Thumpalumpacus
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Yeah, but he also set it down on dry land.
There's nothing like starting out in gliders at 14 or younger to produce a superb stick and rudder pilot. Some of the 13 and 14 year old line workers I gave lessons to back in the 80s have become military and airline pilots. The other day I heard about one who's a triple7 captain now and spent 8 years in F18s along the way.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
When it comes to pilot training I guess there's no engines like no engines.
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 4,860
- May 13, 2018
The TACA pilot was routed through a severe thunder storm (the south Louisiana type) on approach to MSY (Moisant) and not allowed to deviate. Although ignition plugs were on, the water ingested flamed out both engines at fairly low altitude. He had prepared the the cabin crew & passengers for a water landing as he could see the canal through the storm and headed for it. Just before touch down, he saw the levee and adjusted, extended L/G. This levee is near the Michoud plant and basically swamp land 45 years ago. The airline two weeks flew it out after removing seats and heavy stuff. Flown out by the airline check pilot and chief mechanic.
What?
And I thought that all Sully did was just ditch the plane into the Hudson river.
Here is a Boeing 737-800 just ditched into a lagoon in Micronesia. The engines seemed to have stayed attached?
And made it look like a piece of cake, an outcome that was by no means guaranteed.
- Thread starter
- #27
Thumpalumpacus
Captain
That's badass any way you cut it.
- Thread starter
- #28
Thumpalumpacus
Captain
One thing us guitarists say about virtuosi: They're the guys who make the scary look easy.
Sully was without a doubt a virtuoso. One thing that blows me away about it is that within about 90 seconds into his decision tree, he's considered the alternate field in Jersey, nixed it, and started lining up for a water landing.
That's some supercomputer stuff.
Check this out:
Birdstrike is at 4:03.
4:58: "unable [to return to LGA]"
5:47: "I cant do it [go to Teeterboro], we're going to ditch"
1:44 to decide against two alternatives, and then maybe 2.5 minutes to line that thing up for a deadstick ditching.
I'd be willing to bet these two on the Hawaii flight had a tree about as truncated for decisionin', once the ATC recording comes out.
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The NTSB has found the plane in pieces on the sea floor at depths between 360 and 420 feet. They have released the first images taken from an unmanned submersible.
www.hawaiinewsnow.com
NTSB releases first images of cargo plane wreckage in deep waters off Oahu
Authorities said the scattered wreckage of the Boeing 737 is about two miles offshore and at depths of 360 to 420 feet.
Norman King
Recruit
- 7
- Jan 24, 2016
Saw the program on this, he lost both engines in a storm and side slipped it to perfectly land on the grass levee. I don't think side slipping is a required learn these days.
A few days later they lightened the plane and flew it off.
Norman
If I also recall, the pilot had only vision in one eye?
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 4,860
- May 13, 2018
True. Only one eye.
(FAA think) "If you've got flaps who needs side slips?"
BZZZT, WRONG!! It's all about mastery of your aircraft. Sooner or later you're going to have to make that gusty crosswind landing at the limits of your plane's crosswind component.
I was still instructed side slips 5 years ago.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I love that kind of talk!
The pilot of the Gimli Glider was also a glider pilot and side-slipped the 767, which had never been done before, learning to do so during gliding. Like the Sully Sullenberger outcome, the Gilmi glider was due to the pilot's skill in handling his aircraft.
en.wikipedia.org
Gimli Glider - Wikipedia
That's exactly it. This is where pilots earn their keep. The routine stuff is the easy part. Yeah, there's skill required to fly a big jet, but the real money is earned when stuff goes wrong. Human Factors in aviation is a huge investment with systems and processes in place applied to almost every aspect of operations to minimise risk, but stuff goes wrong because we're human and we make mistakes, so when these guys are put into a threatening situation, it takes every ounce of their training and decision making to get them to make the best outcome, which is to minimise the risk to those on board.
- Thread starter
- #38
Thumpalumpacus
Captain
And god bless 'em. But for all the miracles we read about, there's a crapload of of "I've tried A, I've tried B, I've tried C ... *plonk*"
That's why we rightfully laud pilots like Sully, or the crew on United 232 -- because in over their heads, they still snatched life out of the jaws of death, right? Not every guitarist is Eddie Van Halen, not every driver is Nicky Lauda, and not every pilot beats the odds either.
Except where the flight manual says to avoid them (C-172). I've done it, but would never have taught it as the aircraft can have some erratic handling.
AFAIK, C172 prohibition on slips is only with 20°+ flaps. At least that was the case on the ones I flew. To be on the safe side, I never slipped with more than 10°, and I never experienced any erratic handling. Most of the ones I flew were 1970s vintage and earlier.
I was a bit of a nazi about crosswind landings, as most rural fields around here are single strip airports.
We would practice flying down the runway in a slip and maintaining a specified altitude, then do it again lower, then lower still, finally flying a pass with one wheel rolling down the centerline, but with the weight still on the wings. The goal is precise control, and the benefit extends to all landings.
