Does This Happen Often On Airplanes You Think?

[Jamie]

A friend of mine is a pilot. My girlfriend and I were leaving Krabi for Bangkok and there was a thunderstorm brewing. My friend told me that we would no doubt have a delay to wait for the storm to blow over. There was NO delay. My friend wished us good luck and said we were going to have a VERY rough ride. It’s a good thing my girlfriend didn’t have long fingernails. As it was it took two weeks for her fingerprints on my arm to go away. I’m happy that Boeing builds a tough plane. It was amazing how much the wings can bend without breaking off.

My co-worker's brother is a commercial pilot. She mentioned to me on one of our last bumpy flights that he said 45 degrees is the max. I don't think I would want to be on the next flight with that particular aircraft though.

[PhilHarries]

Never had anything real scary but once, flying Iberia out of Madrid, there was a tremendous bang and the whole aircraft shook. I was the only passenger in business and no stewardesses therefore no info. Anyway there was no smoke, flames or screams from the back so I settled down. About 20 minutes later the pilot came on the PA and announced that we had just (?) flown through the wake of another aircraft. I felt like filling in a complaint sheet, the incident caused me to spill some of my Rioja.

Anyway a few years ago they lost that plane out of La Guardia that took off too soon after the preceding flight. These heavier than air flying machines punch real big holes through the sky.

As for the OP's point about it not being in the newspapers that would depend on whether it's a slow news day or not. Or in the case of the UK whether last night's episode of Big Brother was particularly juicy or not.

[Anthony_Mustang]

By the way, it is relevant to note that Qantas is the

only major airline in the world that has never, ever,

had an accident!

On 23rd Sept 1999, Qantas Flight 1, a 747-400 arriving at Bangkok from Sydney, overran runway 15L while landing in a rainstorm. The aircraft came to rest on a golf course - fortunately there were no casualties among the 407 passengers and crew on board. But more than 1 golfer blamed their slice on this accident.

Thats actually not quite right.

Qantas has never lost a passenger during the jet age. They have lost some ground staff in accidents while maintiaing the aircraft.

Prior to the jet age the did loose some passengers mostly during World War II in accidents.

I used to work of for the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) in Australia and if people realy knew what was going on up there most of them would never get on an aircraft.

[Diablo Bob]

Jokes aside, commercial airline transportation is the safest way to go today! When you consider the amount of passenger miles racked up and the amount of accidents, this is a testament to the design of the aircraft and the training the crews (Pilots & Cabin staff) receive.

It is a rare occurance when an aircraft is lost due to mechanical problems, it does happen, but thank God, very rarely.

The BA crew took the correct path in their decision and erred on the side of safety rather than corporate profits.

I too had seen the Quantas gripe sheet a few years back flying a different flag, but it is making the rounds again, showing up yesterday on another aviation thread.

My favorite is about the engine missing, I was told by a jet jocky that jets don't miss they surge, so that gripe was pre-jet age! Don't know if that's true, but it makes sense.

[Farma]

It was amazing how much the wings can bend without breaking off.

One of the tests that can be carried out mid life to check for structural integrity involves freezing the aircraft and bending the wings up and down to their limits.

It’s amazing to actually see how much these wings do bend.

[cdnvic]

And new composite wings are able to go to even more extreme limits. Hope to never see it live though.

Here's a Boeing 777 wing being tested

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vp88K5WZCrU

[higgy88]

I found this website while doing some research on aviation safety records. Here is their data on Qantas, which is pretty impressive. They collect data going back to 1943 (I think) on all reported aviation "mishaps" including commercial, military, and private aircraft. I found this website to be very enlightening.

Aviation Safety Network

My wife, who is about as freaked out with flying as anyone I have ever met, wouldn't even consider getting into a China Air airplane because of their safety record, and I was looking to find out how bad it really was.

Higgy

[bendix]

I was flying business class from Sydney to Bangkok a few years ago, and was woken from a post-dinner snooze by some weird noises in the cabin.

I woke up fully and it seems a drunk Aussie was <deleted> and blinding, and had thrown a couple of punches at the guy sitting next to him - a complete stranger. He became so animated that the captain came to see what was wrong, and - quick as a flash - he attacked the captain, hit a stewardess in the face and lunge for the emergency exit door, trying to open it and trying to smash the window open (impossible of course, but how would a guy know that having drank two cans of Fosters).

Anyway, quick as a flash, three or four of us lunged at him and held him down.

He was then effectively restrained in his seat for the remainder of the journey, until the boys in brown escorted him off the plane at the end of the journey.

A good start to his holiday, I think.

[qwertz]

A friend of mine is a pilot. My girlfriend and I were leaving Krabi for Bangkok and there was a thunderstorm brewing. My friend told me that we would no doubt have a delay to wait for the storm to blow over. There was NO delay. My friend wished us good luck and said we were going to have a VERY rough ride. It's a good thing my girlfriend didn't have long fingernails. As it was it took two weeks for her fingerprints on my arm to go away. I'm happy that Boeing builds a tough plane. It was amazing how much the wings can bend without breaking off.

My co-worker's brother is a commercial pilot. She mentioned to me on one of our last bumpy flights that he said 45 degrees is the max. I don't think I would want to be on the next flight with that particular aircraft though.

I teach English for Airbus in Hamburg and get the occasional invitation to do a tour with the trainees. What I've learned there has made me a little more relaxed about flying. In their destructive testing lab they build a full Airbus wing to absolute zero tolerance, trap it in a huge pneumatic vice and bend it until it ruptures. I don't think it's quite 45 degrees but I wouldn't have believed without having seen it, that a wing could take so much stress without breaking. There is a huge safety margin. Boeing runs the same tests - and they build all wings to this standard. The bend on a wing in flight is nothing compared to this test. Bon voyage.

[madjbs]

The standard safety margin in aviation is 1.5. Sounds small but its enough.

Jake

[kojac_phx]

Based on my several hundred flights in various commercial aircraft, I'd estimate about 0.5% have a noticable problem for a passenger. Some as minor as an aborted landing to having hydrolics to the flaps not working with emergency vehicles lining the runway.

[Nignoy]

Is the DC10 the plane that's so bad they had to rename it MD11?

Flying from Istambul to singapore on a douglas DC7 in early 62 did a wheels up crash landing at Karachi,resulting in severe underwear contamination,and bonus 17day stay in karachi, what a blast for a 19 yearold virgin whitey from blighty,still dont worry about flying, after all no plane has ever stayed up there, they all have to come down sometime!! Nignoy

[Alf Witt]

Never had anything real scary but once, flying Iberia out of Madrid, there was a tremendous bang and the whole aircraft shook. ......we had just (?) flown through the wake of another aircraft.

I have had a similar experience. I had always thought that aircraft were supposed to be separated by 1000 ft in altitude, so how does this happen?

Is it caused by an Air Traffic Control error?

[cdnvic]

Never had anything real scary but once, flying Iberia out of Madrid, there was a tremendous bang and the whole aircraft shook. ......we had just (?) flown through the wake of another aircraft.

I have had a similar experience. I had always thought that aircraft were supposed to be separated by 1000 ft in altitude, so how does this happen?

Is it caused by an Air Traffic Control error?

Could be either ATC or the pilot. Seems to happen alot in Chinese airspace.

[jumnien]

It's fun reading thru all these experiences. What really amazes me is that it's only about 80 years since Lindbergh first flew across the Atlantic and already aviation has advanced this far. If I am fortunate to live another 30 years on the planet I can just imagine what will be flying and where.

[Kerryd]

I get a chuckle every time I see this list. It doesn't seem to change a lot, except for who it's credited to (in this case, Quantas). How ever, ask yourself this the next time you see it:

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

""IFF" = Identification, Friend or Foe. Used by military aircraft to avoid shooting down (too many) of their own planes. Not very useful on passenger planes though. (Yes I know, civilian aircraft have Identification signals as well, but I'm pretty sure they don't have systems telling them if other aircraft in the vicinity are friendly or not !)

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

When did Quantas (or any other non-Israeli passenger line) start installing Targeting Radars ? Part of a plan to eliminate competition ? Rival airlines duking it out at 30,000 feet, each trying to land ahead of the other to get the best "gate" ?

Is that why they like to close the window shutters after they serve the meal ? And the headphones/movies are used to disguise the sound of the missiles being fired at other aircraft ?

Sheesh, maybe there is more going on up there than we know about !!

[lampard10]

There is a laid down procedure for every type of emergency. What you have reported is not bad, but good. All flight crews are trained to put the passengers safety first. There was most likely no danger at all, but the way you have said the crew and authorities acted, they made dam sure there were no gliches to make things worse. Often major air catastrophies are not just one thing going wrong, but six or seven in sequence that makes the Aircraft go down. Every system on modern aircraft are backed up by two or even three emergency systems, but they never wait for them all to take effect. And why broadcast the fact to the World that nothing actually happened?

Just remember, you are more likely to die falling out of bed, than in an Aircraft accident. In fact as stats go, if you flew every day of your life, you would be due an aircraft accident once every 40,000 years. And then not a fatal one.

Edited March 1, 2007 by lampard10

[Upcountry]

If I am fortunate to live another 30 years on the planet I can just imagine what will be flying and where.

With all the pollution problems leading to crisis, we'll probably be walking!

That, and doing a lot of things virutually, thanks to advances in VR, etc.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Upcountry

[pokoal2000]

Good fun hey! I was flying from London and our engine was on fire, flames were coming out of it, then the second engine started smoking, captain on the intercom telling everybody not to panic, that we can fly on one engine if need to. Very professional and calm with a bit of humor. All the Brits were very cool, joking, but few Asians started crying, but the staff was excellent and British Airways deserve congratulation for the way it was handled.

[Alf Witt]

Never had anything real scary but once, flying Iberia out of Madrid, there was a tremendous bang and the whole aircraft shook. ......we had just (?) flown through the wake of another aircraft.

I have had a similar experience. I had always thought that aircraft were supposed to be separated by 1000 ft in altitude, so how does this happen?

Is it caused by an Air Traffic Control error?

Could be either ATC or the pilot. Seems to happen alot in Chinese airspace.

I know that air temperature at 30,000ft + is very cold and the wake of an aircraft is hot, but what causes the bang?

[solent01]

Air temp at that alt. is normally between -24 and -26, wake is not hot, you are referring to wake turbulence which is the difference between air pressure above and below the wing (pilots here know what I am talking about), the bang when you travel through wake is just turbulence (however, as a rule, flying trough wake is not advisable, that’s why we wait before take off, normally 2 mins, depending on the size of the aircraft before you). As a commercial pilot, please understand that travelling by air is still the safest way to travel............. Relax.

[bri1guy]

You have probably all heard this before but Flying is the safest form of transportation out there!!!! I work in the Aircraft industry & can't qoute stats but emergencies due happen daily (minor) and large scale emergencies are rare, you actuallly are more likely to be struck by lightning!!! Obviously they don't write about all these smaller mishaps to secure there image and prevent panic ! Remember you have to take chances in life to live your life.

[cdnvic]

If you're taking a taxi from BKK the airplane is the last thing you should be worried about.