sibeymai

Smoked salmon slices, cream cheese spread, raw sliced white onion and capers, on a lightly buttered poppy seed white bread roll.

Been into BKK more than 50 times and I'll give my vote to BA. Consistently better in all aspects both on and off the aircraft.

I'm getting about 14km/litre from my 2007 Toyota Vigo 4x4 dual cab...and it's an auto. Mostly highway use 100-120km/h. No complaints.

Wonder why Fortuners seem to get such poor mileage. Seems many may be doing city driving. Can't understand why you'd need a fortuner in the city. I have a Honda Jazz for that, and it gets great mileage too.

Now I know why Fortuners are driven so fast....either they have to get to the service station soon....or owners think the faster they get from A to B the less fuel they will use.

Gotta agree...never seen a road anywhere in Thailand which is suitable for a superbike (or even a Ferrari for that matter). Maybe there might be just one.....the elevated Bangna-Trat tollway at about 3am. But only 70km I think so only 20 minutes each way.

post # 654

Well, that's what got me thinking. Isn't 100 feet above the runway a little late to abort ? In fact, could the landing gear retract in that time (100 feet to touchdown) ?

Seems to me that a pilot would abort a landing at such a late stage only in the most absolutely necessary of circumstances....such as adverse mechanical or weather effect on the plane's alignment with the runway or aircraft trim, and no time to correct before touchdown.

Flight recorder data will be interesting.

I'd like to hear from some pilots how long does it take for an MD-82 to effect a "go-around" (ie. achieve positive rate of climb) ?

I understand that the engines are in a throttle position to effect descent and when a go-around is necessary there is a delay in achieving a positive rate of climb because the engines have to spool up.

It seems from the information given so far that the decision to abort the landing was made in sufficent time for the landing gear to retract before the plane hit the runway. Could this be 10 seconds before impact ? How long does it take for the MD-82's undercarriage to retract ?

If 10 seconds is ballpark for the gear to retract could the plane have achieved a positive rate of climb in that time under normal conditions ? Could weather conditions at the time have extended the time taken to achieve positive climb beyond the time to impact ?

The flight recrder data will be very interesting in determining the timing and sequence of events. I just think it is curious that there was enough time to retract the gear, assuming the gear was initially deployed (reports from passengers indicate it was) yet the plane did not achieve a positive rate of climb.

Some passengers reported that the plane did appear to climb momentarily before dropping onto the runway. Did the aircraft stall due to too much nose up before the engines had reach full power ?

Again, the flight data recorders will tell the story.

Agreed the ineffective BIB are the root of the problem. But even if bribes disappeared a 400Bt fine will not do much to change people's driving habits. However, fines of 5,000Bt and up might have more effect.

Make getting caught breaking the traffic law very costly, with cancellation of driving license and car registration and even confiscation of vehicles for non-payment, then make it a jailable offence to drive without a license or registeration and you will see three things happen virtually overnight:

1. a rapid increase in government revenue (can be used to pay police a proper salary or to employ more police to enforce traffic law thus generating even more revenue)

2. a rapid increase in the prison population

3. a rapid decrease in the number of road deaths

None of the above is hard to do.

RIP young lady.

very good question. I guess the bad weather was only transient, not like where an airport can be closed due to fog or ice/snow or gale.

If only the pilot had been a sailor....."if in doubt, go about", preferably before you get shipwrecked.

a few comments.....

CDNVIC: there was a report from an eyewitness who observed the crash from a plane which was said to have landed after the MD-82. I would have thought all flights would have been diverted immediately.

Regarding IFR, VFR etc, on final approach it doesn't matter which flight rules are being used, or perhaps none at all. The aircraft must be flown within the defined glide slope parameters. This requires the pilot in command to fly the plane (focus external) and the other pilot to observe the cockpit instruments and aircraft performence (focus internal).

Therefore the pilot flying the plane would have been fully visually aware of the external weather conditions throughout the final approach.

A clear case of pilot error for choosing to land in unsafe weather conditions.....ie. conditions which, if they were to deteriorate, could exceed the aircraft's specification and the pilot not allowing enough margin to inititiate a "go-around" successfully before those specifications were exceeded.

As stated elsewhere in this thread, the pilot took a chance, gambled and lost.

There's nothing really offensive about the word farang. Ever been with a group of Thais when they see an elephant ? They all start saying "chang, chang, chang". The elephant doesn''t get offended.

Comparisons will inevitably be made to the Thai Airway's Surat Thani tragedy a few years ago in similar circumstances. If the reports are correct that the pilot was trying to initiate a "go-around" then they are very similar indeed.

Certainly there are extreme weather conditions likely in tropical areas, just as there are risks to aircraft flying in very cold climates. With, it seems, two weather related accidents in Thailand in a short space of time should induce airlines flying here to look at their pilot's training for flying in bad weather.

Just reported on TITV that the pilot was Indonesian. No word on his level of experience. I wonder whether he was ex-air force like Thai's pilot at Surat Thani.

Does poverty in Thailand ever get me down ?

Not while I can feed myself for 50 baht a day.

doubt you'll find a rear wheel drive car to suit your spec. What's wrong with front wheel drive ?

Cheers for Jocky mate,

I've been once before to Sydney, but under very different circumstaces. I did like Manly beach - are there any nice, reasonably priced hotels there?

I'll give you a shout when we get there.

Sorry, just read your last post about Manly. Will cost a fortune to go there from the airport due to Sydney's geography, but it's a nice place. Better suited for a beach location is Bondi or another eastern suburbs beach which are much closer to the airport. Google a map of Sydney to check out suitable locations. You can find some bargains depending on what standard of hotel your looking for but anything 4 star or above will cost $A150 a night or more even if not in the CBD.

With the airport so close to the city (less than 15 km) why would you want to stay near the airport ? Depends on what you want to do but there are much better options all over the city....stay near the harbour or near the beaches...none are far from the airport.

has to be a 2WD pickup dual cab, Toyota of course. You'll trade off some ride comfort but they're indestructible.

Anyone can answer my questions?

I'll bet AoT wants to know answers to the same questions.

All the design engineers aren't returning AoT's calls and the site supervisor's all swear they were upcountry on the day the work was done.

It must be a full moon.

First, lets bring this thread back from the level of an 11 year old. That I stooped to respond at all causes me chagrin. Accept my apology, I usually dont crawl into the gutter.

Sorry you had to "crawl into the gutter" on this thread......and so early in the day being only 15:00. You must be real hardcore. Most of us don't end up in the gutter until well past midnight.

Hi,

I was under the impression that sex toys were illegal in Thailand. Yet someone sent me an email about a product called Tenga, which is basically a masturbation toy for men hehe..

A thai person read the FAQ for me and said they claim that the toys are legally imported from japan. So now I am curious if there has been any change in the laws; I don't know so many Thais that I can ask about this.

I think they're illegal unless they're living and breathing in which case the police turn a blind eye......

...and the batteries last a lot longer in the living and breathing varieties.

Rumour has it that the whole incident was planned by TIA management....and an offer for a slightly used and damaged A380 was submitted to Airbus before the plane left Thailand.....TIA executives were heard asking "rot, tao rai ?"

Plan A was to to have the BIB impound the plane until a full investigation to identify a scapegoat could be completed.

TIA executives figured they could ask for a bigger discount after a few re-enactments at the scene.

However, the BIB couldn't do the re-enactments because the wing walkers had fled the scene.

My mention of the 'harbour' engine refers to the engine on patrol boats that propels the vessel while in a harbour. This particular motor was never used for any other purpose. The motor was used as a matter of 'orders'. It was simply a design mistake. In some instances, a smart skipper would not do this & instead, use one of the sea-going engines to do this job (PACMAN-MCU 16 cylinder twin turbo diesels).

Assuming the harbour engine is of much smaller horsepower than the seagoing engines and would therefore be working under more load than a larger seagoing engine when used for manoeuvering within the harbour confines, why would the old man choose to run in harbour on a seagoing engine ? Wouldn't the lower comparative load on the seagoing engine operating at low speed cause a greater propensity for cylinder glazing ? Surely the installation of a dedicated harbour engine is specifically to avoid just this type of usage of the seagoing engines.

Sailors are very aware that running diesel auxiliaries solely for the purposes of charging batteries will, over time, cause cylinder glazing and shorten the life of the engine. Most sailors now use wind, solar or propellor shaft generators for battery charging and use diesels only for motive power.

If only K. Anuchit had used a Benz to kill his victims instead surely the court would have been more lenient. Anyone using a Benz to kill people instead of a gun clearly has to be insane, right ?

Thanks hansmast. 16/32GB would give 1-2 hours recording then...but require 3 spare batteries. I read a review which stated the HD resolution is not as detailed as a dedicated HD camcorder, but without seeing for oneself it's difficult to say. Yes I would be recording in HD widescreen mode.

I like the idea of a small sized unit being able to function both as a camera of reasonable quality (I use a Casio at 3.2mp now and I find it adequate) and also for HD video. Would have been better if it recorded in MPEG4 format although this wouldn't change the battery limitation.

Thanks for your comments. Haven't discounted the Canon yet...will research the Sony dedicated camcorders a bit more first.