OT JetBlue

[JohnS]

Did anyone see that landing at LAX last night? Talk about a light touch on the controls...

[Sandy]

The pilot made it look easy in an extremely dangerous situation. Notice how remarkably close he or she kept the front wheels to the center white line? The design of the plane must have been an important factor also in the safe landing.


Safe Sandy

[flydhest]

Several friends/neighbors were watching at our house last night. It was impressive. That could have ended so badly; it's nice to see good news on the news some times.

[pbbob]

I enjoy watching other professionals performing their craft at the highest levels. he held a straight line better than a pack of cat 5's sprinting to the finish and with much better results.
congrats to pilot and crew.

[JohnS]

I ended up watching it for a few minutes. I was torn between my curiosity and not wanting to possibly see over a hundred people die. At the same time I was helping my wife try to get to Dallas from Beaumont. Cellphone coverage sucks in east TX. She was there on business and had to evacuate. The good news is that she's coming home a day early.

[sunninho]

Wow, I live right near LAX and didn't even know about it. 9 hours work, 2 hours of class, home to cook, eat and sleep. Thankfully, the landing was perfect. :beer:

[sunninho]

At the same time I was helping my wife try to get to Dallas from Beaumont. Cellphone coverage sucks in east TX. She was there on business and had to evacuate. The good news is that she's coming home a day early.

I grew up next to Beaumont, in Port Arthur. It's scary being along the Gulf coast and I can't reach relatives in Houston because all phone lines are jammed. Hard to imagine all those millions of people in Houston/Harris County evacuating all at once.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . to imagine is all of them trying to use their cell phones at once . . .

BBD

[67-59]

I was at MSP airport last evening waiting to board a flight when I saw a crowd near some TVs. Turns out they were watching the JetBlue thing on CNN. Ordinarily, my morbid curiosity would force me to watch, but the idea of watching a plane crash on live TV just before boarding my flight caused me to walk away. Just glad they made it down safely.

Related note from MSP: Just after my incoming flight arrived, some severe t-storms approached the airport and they issued a tornado warning. As someone was trying to announce the warning over the airport's speakers, other announcements kept drowning her out. ("Don't accept any packages from strangers." Yeah, thanks.) Once I finally did hear what she was saying, they told us to stay away from windows. Ever try to do THAT in an airport? I looked around for such a place, and the only non-windowed area I could find was the bathroom.

[Argos]

I like how the burning Magnesium wheels were sending Huge flames everytime it met with the paint strips. That looked cool.

[bcm119]

Once I finally did hear what she was saying, they told us to stay away from windows. Ever try to do THAT in an airport? I looked around for such a place, and the only non-windowed area I could find was the bathroom.

I was in the Atlanta airport a few weeks ago and a bad t-storm sat overhead for about an hour. One bolt of lightning struck the terminal roof, and caused a surge that zapped the woman at the gate computer- it arced out of the computer and went into her finger, splitting her nail! Very exciting, and she was okay, if a little shaken up.

[deechee]

heh. Didja see the "Mythbusters" episode when they see if you shouldn't talk on a telephone/take a shower during a thunderstorm? BZzzzZT. Scary.

[67-59]

So I assume the "new guy" was the one who had to stand in the shower? :)

[Ginger]

T-storms in the D right now...and I rode my bike to work.

There are no windows to stay away from!

[Tom]

'cause even God can't hit a one iron.



























Sorry. Skippy got to the keyboard again. I'm really very sorry.

[toaster]

I live near the L.A. area so for me I don't know if this emergency plane landing was better than the majority of televised car chases. To the news stations this was much more of a rare event and guaranteed to keep people glued to their TV's. Give me a car chase with stupid driving and daredevil manuevers anyday. If it has a violent ending, then all the better!

The best local car chase was about a month ago where a CHP had too much speed to match the turn the perp was going for and the CHP unit went straight through a corner building like it was paper mache. Awesome viewing.

The pilot was good, no doubt, but standard procedure and not that heroic. Give credit to the manufacturer, a smaller plane with different design needs would have hit the deck after the gear folded.

[saab2000]

[/QUOTE] The pilot was good, no doubt, but standard procedure and not that heroic. Give credit to the manufacturer, a smaller plane with different design needs would have hit the deck after the gear folded.[/QUOTE]

Do you fly airplanes for a living? Well, I do. There is no "Standard Procedure" for the nose wheel steering to have malfunctioned, causing it to skew up to 90 degrees to the direction of travel.

I have not yet seen the video. I have only seen the still shots. That pilot may not be heroic, just doing his job. Think about that next time you hear about the next round of cuts the pilots are taking at the major airlines. I am currently earning a salary which makes peoples' eyes bug out when they hear it. It is vastly smaller than the stereotype of most airline pilots. Same holds true at JetBlue.

The pilot should be heralded as having done some terrific flying, not just "standard procedure, and not all that heroic".

I would like to see most of the armchair pilots out there doing it. It is a pretty easy job 99% of the time. But the other 1% pilots earn their salaries.


:no:

[sn69]

I'm Navy. The difference between when I handle an IFE versus this person or any of Saab's peers is that it's really only my arse and my crew's on the line. This flight crew worked together comendably to work through a problem that went beyond standard Quick Reference Handbook/critical memory item procedures. ...And in doing so they saved the lives of everyone on that plane.

Next time you fly, remember, that crew is there for your safety. Granted, that's a function of profit for the companies, but it's still worth remembering.

I say good job to the JB crew.

[saab2000]

sn69,

Fly safe and have a beer for us! There is at least one other here too. Mdeeds flies around as well. :beer:

What do you fly in the Navy?

[Dekonick]

I remember a motivational speech given by the pilot of the Soiux City Iowa crash - believe me when you fly your life is in the hands of the pilot(s), crew, maintenance crew, airplane manufacturer and YOU. From what I saw the pilot performed an extremely difficult feat and thus saved alot of lives. Good job!

BTW - side note. Do you count the rows to the exit? I do - both directions. You can't see in smoke - trust me I know.

Do you take hotel room's above the 10th floor? I don't. Thats about as high (actually 8 floors is more realistic) as a ladder can reach. Do you count doors to the exit stairwell? I do. The same applies for theaters etc...

You can do alot to keep yourself alive - but one thing you can't do is pick your pilot.

Kudo's to da man. :banana:

[sn69]

We're on a two hour alert tether at present, expecting Hurricane Rita evac tasking. I "go on" in 5 minutes and will be curled up next to the phone until mid morning tomorrow.

I'm currently flying C-40s, our "new car"...737-700 modified with 800 wings and gear and a couple other enhancements. I've previously flown C-9s, C-12s and a couple types of H-60s. (I swing both ways...rotary and stiff wing....)

Scott :rolleyes:

[saab2000]

Nice! I have only ever flown fixed wing aircraft. Have fun and fly safe. That's what it's all about.

[sn69]

Ironically, as I launched on a flight last night, SoCal TRACOM was still working with the Jet Blue gang. At the same time, a corporate jet declared an emergency with an engine failure.

...It was one of those nights. I think I heard every pop and squeek in the jet....

[wheels513]

I have been working aircraft since 1963,military and airline and I have never
seen an aircraft in that situation.
The pilot is Good and kept his cool thats what he is trained and paid for.
There are numerous flights that that had the nose gear NOT extend on landing, this happens more on military aircraft and pilots are trained for this situation.
Today we discussed this situation with my fellow A&P mechs (between the four us we have almost 175 years of experiance) and we could NOT visualize the NOSE wheels at 90 degrees after ROTATION and prior to retaction.We therorized that the centering cam in the strut failed but we never seen one fail or have any wear on them when we do a reseal of the strut .
While I think the aircraft is sound and safe to fly ( I am flying jet Blue next week to Interbike) AIRBUS did somethig on the A320 to save weight.
NO I DO NOT WORK for jet BLUE,as far as I know they have a good maintenance program.

[GregL]

Lots of Monday morning quarterbacking, but to my estimation (and I'm an aeronautic engineer, former corporate pilot, several bizjet type ratings and 5,000+ hours...), this was a picture perfect emergency landing.

- I've seen excerpts from an A-320 emergency checklist applicable to this type of situation. By all appearances (no thrust reversers used, no spoilers used, nose gear gently lowered on to the runway, etc...), this crew flawlessly executed their emergency procedures.

- The cabin crew was lauded by the pax for their professionalism. Again, followed emergency procedures to the letter.

- Both the cockpit an cabin crews gave the passengers good, timely information about their situation.

- I think the decision to leave the cabin live TV available for the pax (until preparations for landing) was smart. If the TVs were turned off, the pax would have had more time on their hands to worry and would have felt that they were purposely being left uninformed.

The vast majority of the time, flying is the most enjoyable, stress-free job in the world. You're not paid for that time. Your paid for the times when problems arise. And this jetBlue crew earned every penny -- on live national television!

Incidentally, I had a similar situation (blown out nose steering cylinder) on a Lockheed JetStar. It was a real shock, but fortunately, it happened while taxiing at 10 MPH. If it had happened at a critical moment on takeoff or landing, I would have been featured in the headlines...

Regards,
Greg

[Kevin]

The Jet Blue pilot can be my wingman anytime. :D

Kevin

[jekent]

As a Serotta CSI driver and Commercial Airline Pilot flying this same airplane, Airbus 320, what impressed me the most was the integrity of the nose gear strut. Because the nose gear strut remained intake while taking such a tremendous side load, speaks well of this part. Unfortunately, for this to have occurred, something was not right. whether it was a maintainence issue or something else, I am sure I will find out soon.

James

[Kevan]

on that thing?


Anyone know what damage was done to the runway? Did they have to close it for repair.

Why should I even care?

[saab2000]

Airliners have clinchers. They are also pumped up very hard. Fighters use Dugast silks, of course.

Seriously, the runway was probably closed for a while and then inspected and reopened.

Airplane tires are inflated with nitrogen and truly are pumped up to a high pressure. I don't know off the top of my head, but it is more PSI than on your bike.

[PanTerra]

he held a straight line better than a pack of cat 5's sprinting to the finish and with much better results.
congrats to pilot and crew.

I didn't know cat 5s had a reputation of being able to hold a line at all. :bike:

[toaster]

As a Serotta CSI driver and Commercial Airline Pilot flying this same airplane, Airbus 320, what impressed me the most was the integrity of the nose gear strut. Because the nose gear strut remained intake while taking such a tremendous side load, speaks well of this part. Unfortunately, for this to have occurred, something was not right. whether it was a maintainence issue or something else, I am sure I will find out soon.

James

That's what impressed me. BTW, the pilot did a good job with emergency procedures, standard training protocols or improvised.

[mdeeds71]

Hey Saab2000, saw it while waiting to evac a/c from IAH when I was in CLE...They ended up using some IAH crews that could not drive out...They were allowed to bring family and pets...now 150 a/c sit in TYS, STL, MEM etc...I am going out of LAX tomarrow...

As to the A320...great job especially since the side stick is a little harder to manage at lower airspeeds...i.e. letting the nose down later than usual...The culprit is the centering cam but compunded by the hydraulic steering as well...cant get any more detail now but also related to an inproper push by the rampers at the gate.

Amazing how many pilots all the sudden popped up now! :banana:

Lurkers!

Now time to fly the Red Eye to Mexico

[sn69]

When my extended Navy airlift family was evac'ing NOLA at MSY, one of the TSA goons tried to impound a dog that a small girl had. The jet's aircraft commander saw it and stormed down the airstairs to confront the TSA fool. As one would expect, an argument ensued, but our guy told the TSA agent that the dog was all the little girl had left, and it WAS coming on the jet. Story varies after that, but the version I like the best says the TSA guy still tried to stop the girl, but our guy pushed him to the ground and brought the little girl and her dog on the jet.

[Louis]

With all these acronyms flying I feel like I’m at work…