I remember the KLM-Pan Am disaster Los Rodeos airport on Tenerife like it was yesterday. Thank g-d we avoided one even worse. But one day our luck is going to run out if we don’t get our ATC and airport surface movement radar up to speed, stat.
"Shocking new images show how an Air Canada pilot almost landed on four planes after mistaking a taxiway for a runway — narrowly avoiding “the greatest aviation disaster in history.â€
The aircraft passed just 59 feet above ground before pulling up again in the close shave at San Francisco International Airport on July 7.
Newly released images show just how close the plane came to disaster as the National Transportation Safety Board released new information about the near miss.
Pilots in a United Airlines plane alerted air traffic controllers to the off-course jet, while the crew of a Philippine Airlines jet behind it switched on their plane’s landing lights in an apparent last-ditch signal.
NTSB investigators said they have not determined probable cause for the incident that came within a few feet of becoming one of the worst disasters in aviation history."
Confused pilot almost caused ‘greatest aviation disaster in history’ | New York Post
NTSB investigators said they have not determined probable cause for the incident that came within a few feet of becoming one of the worst disasters in aviation history."
One can guess. Maybe the pilots saw this blinking sign at the end of the taxiway.
NTSB investigators said they have not determined probable cause for the incident that came within a few feet of becoming one of the worst disasters in aviation history."
One can guess. Maybe the pilots saw this blinking sign at the end of the taxiway.
You are mighty nice about this thread. If it had been an American Airlines plane landing in Vancouver, Cerveloguy would have titled the thread: “Trump aviation policies almost cause disaster in Canada.”
I hope the pilot enjoyed his career.
Scary as shit, if you were in one of the planes lined up for departure…
I hope they FINE the AIRLINE big time for using incapable pilots (likely by overworking them).
The approach into SFO at night isn’t easy…and if you are tired and overworked (likely by too many flight hours), even the best training doesn’t help you to keep things straight…
Just check how many hours the crew had been logging, and then you’ll agree to that this is all on AIR CA-NOT-DO by having pilots being overworked and not capable of flying approaches or landings at any airport.
But, yeah, scape-goating the pilots will give the public satisfaction…as making profits at any cost (100’s of lives) is fair game.
Sometimes the opinions voiced on Slowtwitch approach the cognitive level of “extremely challenged”.
You are mighty nice about this thread. If it had been an American Airlines plane landing in Vancouver, Cerveloguy would have titled the thread: “Trump aviation policies almost cause disaster in Canada.”
I’m avoiding the political stuff as much as possible these days. Better for my health.
Yeah see I crewed Kc-135s and have spent a ton of hours watching pilots land in states of complete exhaustion at night and in insane weather so go lecture someone else about not knowing.
There where two sets of eyes to get that line up correct. Two pilots failed miserably. The fact they only missed it by 58 feet shows they where committed to land the whole time. The whole descent they never caught the error.
Sometimes life is super unfair and every human makes mistakes constantly. It sucks this happened but the pilots showed dangerous incompetence.
I hope the pilot enjoyed his career.
Scary as shit, if you were in one of the planes lined up for departure…
I hope they FINE the AIRLINE big time for using incapable pilots (likely by overworking them).
The approach into SFO at night isn’t easy…and if you are tired and overworked (likely by too many flight hours), even the best training doesn’t help you to keep things straight…
Just check how many hours the crew had been logging, and then you’ll agree to that this is all on AIR CA-NOT-DO by having pilots being overworked and not capable of flying approaches or landings at any airport.
But, yeah, scape-goating the pilots will give the public satisfaction…as making profits at any cost (100’s of lives) is fair game.
Sometimes the opinions voiced on Slowtwitch approach the cognitive level of “extremely challenged”.
And then there are the opinions voiced by the absolutely clueless, in this case you. Aircrew crew rest rules are set by the government, not by the airline. The airline can’t “overwork” pilots; they have to follow the crew rest rules to the letter. Having lived with very similar crew rest rules for many years, I can tell you there is no reason that both pilots should have been so exhausted that they almost landed on a taxiway.
This is completely on the pilots, period. There is no excuse for lining coming that close to landing on a taxiway.
You seem to be in groove making asinine comments lately. Your last sentence describes you pretty well.
When was the last time you worked under Part 117 rules? They are a complete joke. I am more tired under the new rules than I was under the previous ones. Part 117 was some govt official trying to build their fiefdom. Someone who never flew for a living.
Yeah see I crewed Kc-135s and have spent a ton of hours watching pilots land in states of complete exhaustion at night and in insane weather so go lecture someone else about not knowing.
There where two sets of eyes to get that line up correct. Two pilots failed miserably. The fact they only missed it by 58 feet shows they where committed to land the whole time. The whole descent they never caught the error.
Sometimes life is super unfair and every human makes mistakes constantly. It sucks this happened but the pilots showed dangerous incompetence.
It’s not just in the air, it’s down on the ground as well. I snapped this pic today. What do you suppose that fueler is doing while he’s up in the air, pumping Jet A into that B747-400? His head’s down and he’s looking at something. Hmmmm…let me think.
When was the last time you worked under Part 117 rules? They are a complete joke. I am more tired under the new rules than I was under the previous ones. Part 117 was some govt official trying to build their fiefdom. Someone who never flew for a living.
Well, I may very well need to eat a bunch of crow here. I assumed, perhaps very wrongly, that the FAA (and other country’s aviation regulations) would be similar to the USAF’s that had a fairly strict 12 hour crew duty day period, with proscribed rest periods prior to the crew duty period. Is that not the case with the FAA?
Also, if this is a concern (and it sounds like it is), then why isn’t ALPA pushing back on these rules in a fairly public way? It would seem that pushing the safety issue would be something that could gain some public traction.
Lastly…is this incident in your opinion something would be understandable with a really tired pilot team?
ETA: Do all airlines schedule their pilots to whatever limit their country’s regulations allow, or are some airlines more restrictive with regards to crew duty periods and required rest time?
When was the last time you worked under Part 117 rules? They are a complete joke. I am more tired under the new rules than I was under the previous ones. Part 117 was some govt official trying to build their fiefdom. Someone who never flew for a living.
Well, I may very well need to eat a bunch of crow here. I assumed, perhaps very wrongly, that the FAA (and other country’s aviation regulations) would be similar to the USAF’s that had a fairly strict 12 hour crew duty day period, with proscribed rest periods prior to the crew duty period. Is that not the case with the FAA?
Also, if this is a concern (and it sounds like it is), then why isn’t ALPA pushing back on these rules in a fairly public way? It would seem that pushing the safety issue would be something that could gain some public traction.
Lastly…is this incident in your opinion something would be understandable with a really tired pilot team?
ETA: Do all airlines schedule their pilots to whatever limit their country’s regulations allow, or are some airlines more restrictive with regards to crew duty periods and required rest time?
It’s not just the actual monthly flying hours that wears on the pilots (when I was at NWA, they started getting paid when the boarding doors closed and they released their brakes), it’s all that time spent before the brakes are released (we called it “popping the brakes”) and they push back from the gate, none of which they get paid for. Hours per day waiting to fly or preparing to fly. Getting from plane to plane, gate to gate. Eating crap food, for the most part. Sitting around, operating on not-enough sleep. I’ve seen it all when it comes to the flight ops people.
Flying used to be glamorous, for both passengers and flight (and cabin) crews. Today? Excepting transcontinental widebody pilots – who sit at the top of the seniority lists, usually – a lot of daily grind for the domestic crews is just that: a grind. Maybe a better-paid version of Greyhound bus driving, in the worst cases at some of the “ultra low-cost” carriers (and they know who they are ;-).
