The Wings Stayed On!: Under the watchful eye...

Jan 11, 2010

Under the watchful eye...

INDUSTRY NEWS

US FAA said it has heightened its oversight of American Airlines following three difficult landings in December. In the most serious of those, a 737-800 was destroyed when it overran the runway at Kingston on Dec. 22 and skidded onto a nearby beach. There were no serious injuries in that accident. The agency said AA had two other poor landings last month involving MD-80 wingtips hitting the runway in Charlotte and Austin. It said that in addition to stepping up oversight, it will examine the incidents to determine if there could be a link. AA is cooperating with the FAA. (Source: Air Transport World)

Wikkipedia has a detailed article on American Airlines, including mention of some previoius issues regarding maintenance.

3 comments:

成人色情漫畫卡通 said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; Jan 14, 2010, 9:05:00 AM
Peter said...: Not related to this post, but to all the heightened security. From the Rick Mercer Report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZfbTlYpKYo (sorry, couldn't get the link tag to work).; Jan 15, 2010, 6:21:00 PM
Aluwings said...: That's great Peter - thanks. It deserves a post all its own.; Jan 15, 2010, 6:39:00 PM

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What"s this about?

An eclectic series of articles based on my experiences as a commercial pilot. Sometimes behind-the-scenes tales; sometimes more technical descriptions of Jet Transport Aircraft - and the people who fly them. While the stories are based upon actual experiences and real people, I use composite characters and made-up names*. If they seem familiar, they are. They're the people you live and work with every day. The world is full of interesting people - if we only knew!

The title of this blog comes from my first observation after test-flying my home-built aircraft: "The wings stayed on!" And later I realized that life is often like that. We are continually faced with new adventures. And though we study and train and prepare as much as we can, finally we have to launch and put all this preparation to the test. And unexpected things still happen. As the bumper sticker says, Life Happens. And we deal with it - hopefully with a good dose of humour and hope. And if the "wings stayed on!" well at least that's the main thing. And everything else is just details.

My stories are usually drawn from looking back over my career, which thankfully has been pretty dull. Trust me. When flying a commercial airliner, boring is good. You wouldn't like exciting... So don't expect many stories about engines exploding, and wheels falling off, and cabins catching fire. Though that kind of stuff goes on, thankfully, it hasn't been my experience. My stories are the more mundane things, the little things that inhabit real life.

And while mundane is the reality of modern airline flying, still it's an amazing feat, a dramatic and dynamic accomplishment that we shouldn't take for granted. Perhaps day-in, day-out our world-wide airline industry represents our civilizations' most complex achievement. And though it has become mundane we should never forget that the real drama lies in the times when these bigger disasters are too close for comfort. The times when some small factors could produce seriously different outcomes.

Sometimes all the calm around you is an illusion -- a little like the movie Jurassic Park where the investors are touring the not-quite-ready-for-opening facility, while the technicians thrash away at command central, trying to keep everything together - trying to keep up the facade that it's all under control. But if it is, it's not by much.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Like everyone in the airline industry who's blogging, I'm hoping to write a book, and I'm practicing on you folks. I'm always trying to hone my story-telling skills so if you have any comments please leave them. Also, please respect the copyright thing.

Thanks.

Aluwings