The Potomac crash was a nightmare; I've read about that one.
In fact, I've read about almost every major air crash in the jet age. Oddly enough, just recently I was trying to find out whether any plane had ever actually *had* a "water landing" that was not just really a crash -- like the kind of water landing that people actually inflate the rafts in, and get away. And here it is, dropped in my lap. I guess I should stop searching for things like that.
Anyway, awesome job on the pilot's part. And LiG, I'm pretty sure a 320 is a little smaller than a 757?
Planes can do some amazing things -- AND an experienced, well-rested and clear-thinking pilot can make the absolute difference between life and death. But still -- planes are engineered amazingly well. If you're ever scared about flying, read about the hawaii airlines flight where the top half of the plane was ripped off or the... shoot can't remember which one but the left wing was ripped off by a collision with another plane (Air traffic control accident) and the pilot managed to land the plane anyhow, fighting with his entire body to keep it level the whole time. Good piloting is amazing, simply amazing to read about. There's no way I could do any of that.
...oh and for the record, i am swearing off the Layoffs thread, never going back in that house of horrors again, never and i suggest you all follow my lead. save what's left of your sanity.
That crash reminds me of something I think about sometimes when I pack my bags : "If we crash, and I live, I will lose all of my favorite things because I have packed them all in my luggage." Yeah, yeah, I know it's a weird thing to think about.
I remember that Hawaii plane that turned into a convertible mid-flight. No one badly hurt, as I recall, but how painful for the poor passengers!
And those of you without children just be thankful that when you fly you don't have to multiply all the horrors times 10,000 when you think of them happening to your child! Yikes being a parent is hard.
manta I always wonder if I'd be able to at least grab my wallet in a plane disaster. They tell you never to take anything with you but men would have their wallets in their pants, right? And facing the recovery without my wallet just seems to make it far more difficult.
manta, I've had that same thought many times before, primarily because every time I get on a plane, I think I'm going to die. I am always thankful when the plane lands safely at Point B. God bless that pilot.
I just read an article the other day that any american airlines haven't killed anyone in 2 years and that you are much more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport than you are in the air.
I watched a made-for-TV movie about that Aloha flight. I saw it when I was in the 4th grade(give or take a year). Scarred me for life.
LIG_Like what Steven Ward said, there's pretty good skiing in New Hampshire. I recommend the Mount Washington area. Also, you have Haystack in Vermont which is mighty nice. As a beginner, the only item I'd recommend buying is a your own GoreTex jacket, gloves, and midweight polypro. You can rent to bibs, skis, boots, etc. until you figure out if this is a hobby worth pursuing.
As a GoreTex jacket can be quite costly, have you thought about purchasing used? If so, I recommend checking out local outdoor store, eBay, REI bulletin board, or Craigslist. Check out REI's store brand for midweight polypro. It's effective and much less expensive than comparable items from Patagonia.
I recall my first trip to Brazil, when we landed the people clapped and cheered! I thought that was cool. It is one of those wonderful thing Brazilians Do to make life better.
I thought I was only right to share the words of a genious: Per does it again.
"You can newer emagine, how strange this is for me, please tell me ; why fake rusty steel ?
I simply don't get it, it will be fake what it will make will be made with fake corton steel, why ?"
Good christ I remember watching that Aloha flight movie when I was kid, still totally scarred as well _n! Every time I get on a plane now, which I rather enjoy, I always wonder if the cabin is just going to peel away...fun times yo!
I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the shameless self promotion thread about Asian Shame where Nocti has just thrown out an SJP reference.
I here-by state my total in likeness with Nocti. Bear ye all witness!
hi tc! clapping after landing happens in a lot of countries in south america. it's both congratulations to the pilot and relief -we didn't crash-.
on last night's accident, i thought this was very cool: "When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said." [nytimes]- captain was last person to leave the ship!
I laughed out loud when I thought about the plane/water/geese comment peri.
Yeah, once I heard the pilot's resume, it would have been embarassing if he hadn't done everything right. He was head of the saftey board for christ's sake! Still, I'm down with giving him a medal.
Yet another accomplishment....it was the first time in the history of commercial aviation that a water landing was completed successfully without any fatalities. Yeah!
A shout out to Q, EmK, Erin, Cameron, and Jill for agreeing to be part of my two submissions to GB2009. I'll let archinect know if we get accepted. my money is on green blogosphere voices getting through the selection gauntlet thanks to the irresistible panel that's lined up... towards a carbon neutral landscape was still slightly half baked when I hit submit; plus I don't know if we have the gravitas to pass muster.
On other news, the steven starr took his first crawl the other day. he also has gotten to the stage of babbling where worlds are mixed in. my money is on 'boom!' being his first intentional word.
t was the first time in the history of commercial aviation that a water landing was completed successfully without any fatalities. Yeah!
ahhh, that answers my question -- thanks WK!
What amazes me in this story is that the plane should have stalled immediately -- they hadn't finished climbing when the engines quit -- it's literally phenomenal that the pilot was even able to stabilize the plane horizontally, let alone glide it like that.
I love that Black Box book, Stourley, but man is it depressing as hell. Really teaches you a lot of what's actually going on, though, which is helpful to calm anxiety on planes, I think. (The more you understand of what's going on, the less anxious you are, usually.)
sonava! I had this whole post written, and clicked submit even, and then it told me invalid request, and now I have to remember, and then type it all over again.
Oh, yes....
TK, is it a full crawl on all fours, or the army/ninja crawl? Abram did both, and now a little bit of bear crawl thrown in. He also makes me walk him places. He really gows out of his way to make others do the work for him. Ex: He will hold YOUR finger and push abutton with YOUR finger, or he will grab YOUR hand, out it on his bottle, and hold it there. Crazy kid.
Ok, I know there was more, but I cant remember any more.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd w aht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is t aht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
ahahahha. that was funny lig... but per is much more creative than that...
anyway, back to piloting.
flying a glider requires a lot more skill than flying an airplane. however, flying an airplane with engine (s) failure requires evrything you have got as a pilot.
that is my dream. someday, someday i will. someday.
anyone interested in flying should read bob buck's book "north star over my shoulder". he started at age 17 flying little props in the 30s and finished a long and fascinating career as a 747 pilot for TWA flying the NYC - Paris route in the 70s. In between he did a lot of interesting things that furthered the science of flight, including being part of the team that flew around the globe from pole to pole. It's really well-written and again, fascinating. Anyway now he is very old and flies gliders for fun in New Hampshire, and I used to want to track him down and interview him.
yep that's me 15 y.o. in turkey, high school and college students can go to this semi government owned civilian aviation organization free of charge and learn to fly glider or become a parachute jumper as a sport activity. it was 6-8 weeks and at the end you had a solo flight and got a 'c' class license with a 1" dia badge with three gulls on blue surface, a standard first solo flight license recognized internationally. one of the most remarkable adrenalin experiences of my life. there was a special steel cable that rolled a mile away and you released the cable at 500 ft. altitude. like a manned kite... and made the basic landing legs (4 Right turns) and landed (landing is hard business). but the real courage is in taking off. when you take off, you know you are going to land one way or another (a little pilots' shop talk here...) the whole solo experience took +,- 10 minutes but lasted like a year in the air all by yourself.
next year i went for advanced training and had 30 hours of solo getting my pro license. i saw a terrible parachute accident in front of me and that scared me from further training and realized i wasn't going to be a pilot like my dad. in order to keep your license you have to have 20-30 hrs of flight minimum each year. i never went back to skies.
but flying gliders are beautiful. you have none of the noises of engine and all you hear and feel is the air. when you find an uplifting pocket, you gently circle and gain altitude. the bocian gliders we flew were polish made and glide 1 to 25-30 ratio. it is like sailing in the sky. so beautiful but dangerous nevertheless. we spent the morning waxing the surface for smooth air friction and it was all cloth and fiberglass body.
in my advance experience i learned how to be towed by an airplane which is pretty hard. you have to pay a lot of attention to the plane who is towing you.
we were also trained in few acrobatics. like looping and screw like drilling etc... gliders have all the same principles of any airplane flying except the help of the engine which makes things pretty manual but more fun. best training for new pilots is to start with gliders first where you develop natural instincts of piloting which is really an artform...
my father was a fighter pilot in a NATO fleet, first line of defense aginst iron curtain (russia) attack! fighter pilots are the guys who do the dog fights in the air, who call themselves the real pilots. an elite and most talented class in every airforce!
i was able to read that pretty easily. and i don't read. my exgf/not fw's dad built a freakin airplane and then he leant it to a friend of his and some other guy who proceeded to crash and get killed. the widow sued my not future father in law arguing that the plane was defective but he won in court. i would never ever ever get in a plane that i had even tightened a screw on.
I just got an email saying that Luciano Pavoratti left me 31million bucks in his will. How cool is that! I didnt even know the man. Guess I can stop my job search.
That's funny, SH, I just got an email this morning telling me that I won £45,000,000. They happened to misplace my address, phone number and social security number though. Not to worry, I sent them the information and my money will arrive in 4-6 weeks.
Oh no Atechno!!! Is SO's gram going to be okay? I had a dream the other night that I talked to mine, which was bittersweet, made me forget that she is gone.
Busy day today, am off to a chili competition this morning (my friend entered) then to a baby shower and then off to another friend's house for dinner. I can't remember the last time I've had so much going on. Have a good Sunday TC.
longest weekend ever for me - and no snow days or holidays to it. all three of my girls have been sick.
had to come home at lunch friday to be nurse and it's been non-stop. the youngest actually got better friday which exacerbated the situation because, while the other two are down (way down) and need attention, she's bouncing off the walls and needs a completely different kind of attention.
Thread Central
The Potomac crash was a nightmare; I've read about that one.
In fact, I've read about almost every major air crash in the jet age. Oddly enough, just recently I was trying to find out whether any plane had ever actually *had* a "water landing" that was not just really a crash -- like the kind of water landing that people actually inflate the rafts in, and get away. And here it is, dropped in my lap. I guess I should stop searching for things like that.
Anyway, awesome job on the pilot's part. And LiG, I'm pretty sure a 320 is a little smaller than a 757?
Planes can do some amazing things -- AND an experienced, well-rested and clear-thinking pilot can make the absolute difference between life and death. But still -- planes are engineered amazingly well. If you're ever scared about flying, read about the hawaii airlines flight where the top half of the plane was ripped off or the... shoot can't remember which one but the left wing was ripped off by a collision with another plane (Air traffic control accident) and the pilot managed to land the plane anyhow, fighting with his entire body to keep it level the whole time. Good piloting is amazing, simply amazing to read about. There's no way I could do any of that.
i remember the Potomac crash. i was somewhere near LB's age...
...oh and for the record, i am swearing off the Layoffs thread, never going back in that house of horrors again, never and i suggest you all follow my lead. save what's left of your sanity.
i think i have a cavity.
That crash reminds me of something I think about sometimes when I pack my bags : "If we crash, and I live, I will lose all of my favorite things because I have packed them all in my luggage." Yeah, yeah, I know it's a weird thing to think about.
I remember that Hawaii plane that turned into a convertible mid-flight. No one badly hurt, as I recall, but how painful for the poor passengers!
And those of you without children just be thankful that when you fly you don't have to multiply all the horrors times 10,000 when you think of them happening to your child! Yikes being a parent is hard.
manta I always wonder if I'd be able to at least grab my wallet in a plane disaster. They tell you never to take anything with you but men would have their wallets in their pants, right? And facing the recovery without my wallet just seems to make it far more difficult.
manta, I've had that same thought many times before, primarily because every time I get on a plane, I think I'm going to die. I am always thankful when the plane lands safely at Point B. God bless that pilot.
when i fly, i always carry two books with me; J.G. Ballard's Crash, and Black Box Recordings.
cavity? that sucks.
One flight attendant was killed when she was blown out of the plane.
I just read an article the other day that any american airlines haven't killed anyone in 2 years and that you are much more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport than you are in the air.
jinx.
I watched a made-for-TV movie about that Aloha flight. I saw it when I was in the 4th grade(give or take a year). Scarred me for life.
LIG_Like what Steven Ward said, there's pretty good skiing in New Hampshire. I recommend the Mount Washington area. Also, you have Haystack in Vermont which is mighty nice. As a beginner, the only item I'd recommend buying is a your own GoreTex jacket, gloves, and midweight polypro. You can rent to bibs, skis, boots, etc. until you figure out if this is a hobby worth pursuing.
As a GoreTex jacket can be quite costly, have you thought about purchasing used? If so, I recommend checking out local outdoor store, eBay, REI bulletin board, or Craigslist. Check out REI's store brand for midweight polypro. It's effective and much less expensive than comparable items from Patagonia.
I heart REI.
I also heart NYTimes interactives.
It's nice to have a happy ending to something so scary for once, isn't it?
happy endings to something scary? is dick cheney going to jail?
Cool graphic... If it's accurate, then that plane passed right over my apartment building.
I miss REI... Unfortunately, there's no REI store here in NYC. They've got some pretty good deals online, though.
I recall my first trip to Brazil, when we landed the people clapped and cheered! I thought that was cool. It is one of those wonderful thing Brazilians Do to make life better.
I thought I was only right to share the words of a genious: Per does it again.
"You can newer emagine, how strange this is for me, please tell me ; why fake rusty steel ?
I simply don't get it, it will be fake what it will make will be made with fake corton steel, why ?"
Good christ I remember watching that Aloha flight movie when I was kid, still totally scarred as well _n! Every time I get on a plane now, which I rather enjoy, I always wonder if the cabin is just going to peel away...fun times yo!
I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the shameless self promotion thread about Asian Shame where Nocti has just thrown out an SJP reference.
I here-by state my total in likeness with Nocti. Bear ye all witness!
hi tc! clapping after landing happens in a lot of countries in south america. it's both congratulations to the pilot and relief -we didn't crash-.
on last night's accident, i thought this was very cool: "When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said." [nytimes]- captain was last person to leave the ship!
That pilot had quite an aviation resume even before this incident... I hope Obama gives him a medal or something.
will someone think about the GEESE!?
I laughed out loud when I thought about the plane/water/geese comment peri.
Yeah, once I heard the pilot's resume, it would have been embarassing if he hadn't done everything right. He was head of the saftey board for christ's sake! Still, I'm down with giving him a medal.
Yet another accomplishment....it was the first time in the history of commercial aviation that a water landing was completed successfully without any fatalities. Yeah!
I read that Andrew Wyeth has passed away. This is depressing.
the cat was over 90 how long should he stick around?
A shout out to Q, EmK, Erin, Cameron, and Jill for agreeing to be part of my two submissions to GB2009. I'll let archinect know if we get accepted. my money is on green blogosphere voices getting through the selection gauntlet thanks to the irresistible panel that's lined up... towards a carbon neutral landscape was still slightly half baked when I hit submit; plus I don't know if we have the gravitas to pass muster.
On other news, the steven starr took his first crawl the other day. he also has gotten to the stage of babbling where worlds are mixed in. my money is on 'boom!' being his first intentional word.
ahhh, that answers my question -- thanks WK!
What amazes me in this story is that the plane should have stalled immediately -- they hadn't finished climbing when the engines quit -- it's literally phenomenal that the pilot was even able to stabilize the plane horizontally, let alone glide it like that.
I love that Black Box book, Stourley, but man is it depressing as hell. Really teaches you a lot of what's actually going on, though, which is helpful to calm anxiety on planes, I think. (The more you understand of what's going on, the less anxious you are, usually.)
sonava! I had this whole post written, and clicked submit even, and then it told me invalid request, and now I have to remember, and then type it all over again.
Oh, yes....
TK, is it a full crawl on all fours, or the army/ninja crawl? Abram did both, and now a little bit of bear crawl thrown in. He also makes me walk him places. He really gows out of his way to make others do the work for him. Ex: He will hold YOUR finger and push abutton with YOUR finger, or he will grab YOUR hand, out it on his bottle, and hold it there. Crazy kid.
Ok, I know there was more, but I cant remember any more.
it's a full on crawl. never got the army crawl worked out. did some scooting backwards and rolling over the past month.
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd w aht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is t aht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Don't give Per any ideas.
ahahahha. that was funny lig... but per is much more creative than that...
anyway, back to piloting.
flying a glider requires a lot more skill than flying an airplane. however, flying an airplane with engine (s) failure requires evrything you have got as a pilot.
i was thought this at a young age...
i am feeling nostalgic and showy!
we have local participating architect in most areas.
TC/AC
(Thread Central Architects' Collaborative)
well at least that's the fantasy...
orhan you flew gliders!!!!!!!!!
that is my dream. someday, someday i will. someday.
anyone interested in flying should read bob buck's book "north star over my shoulder". he started at age 17 flying little props in the 30s and finished a long and fascinating career as a 747 pilot for TWA flying the NYC - Paris route in the 70s. In between he did a lot of interesting things that furthered the science of flight, including being part of the team that flew around the globe from pole to pole. It's really well-written and again, fascinating. Anyway now he is very old and flies gliders for fun in New Hampshire, and I used to want to track him down and interview him.
i like the parachute strapped to your back. did you ever have to use it???
orhan you look a lot like my father in that snap. perhaps you are my archinect father.
yep that's me 15 y.o. in turkey, high school and college students can go to this semi government owned civilian aviation organization free of charge and learn to fly glider or become a parachute jumper as a sport activity. it was 6-8 weeks and at the end you had a solo flight and got a 'c' class license with a 1" dia badge with three gulls on blue surface, a standard first solo flight license recognized internationally. one of the most remarkable adrenalin experiences of my life. there was a special steel cable that rolled a mile away and you released the cable at 500 ft. altitude. like a manned kite... and made the basic landing legs (4 Right turns) and landed (landing is hard business). but the real courage is in taking off. when you take off, you know you are going to land one way or another (a little pilots' shop talk here...) the whole solo experience took +,- 10 minutes but lasted like a year in the air all by yourself.
next year i went for advanced training and had 30 hours of solo getting my pro license. i saw a terrible parachute accident in front of me and that scared me from further training and realized i wasn't going to be a pilot like my dad. in order to keep your license you have to have 20-30 hrs of flight minimum each year. i never went back to skies.
but flying gliders are beautiful. you have none of the noises of engine and all you hear and feel is the air. when you find an uplifting pocket, you gently circle and gain altitude. the bocian gliders we flew were polish made and glide 1 to 25-30 ratio. it is like sailing in the sky. so beautiful but dangerous nevertheless. we spent the morning waxing the surface for smooth air friction and it was all cloth and fiberglass body.
in my advance experience i learned how to be towed by an airplane which is pretty hard. you have to pay a lot of attention to the plane who is towing you.
we were also trained in few acrobatics. like looping and screw like drilling etc... gliders have all the same principles of any airplane flying except the help of the engine which makes things pretty manual but more fun. best training for new pilots is to start with gliders first where you develop natural instincts of piloting which is really an artform...
my father was a fighter pilot in a NATO fleet, first line of defense aginst iron curtain (russia) attack! fighter pilots are the guys who do the dog fights in the air, who call themselves the real pilots. an elite and most talented class in every airforce!
I read Orhan's entire post fluently, do I get a prize?
Mrs B and myself also ripped right thru the post....English is her second or I guess fourth language.
i was able to read that pretty easily. and i don't read. my exgf/not fw's dad built a freakin airplane and then he leant it to a friend of his and some other guy who proceeded to crash and get killed. the widow sued my not future father in law arguing that the plane was defective but he won in court. i would never ever ever get in a plane that i had even tightened a screw on.
I just got an email saying that Luciano Pavoratti left me 31million bucks in his will. How cool is that! I didnt even know the man. Guess I can stop my job search.
Wow, Orhan what a great life experience. That is utterly amazing.
i'm still alive
That's funny, SH, I just got an email this morning telling me that I won £45,000,000. They happened to misplace my address, phone number and social security number though. Not to worry, I sent them the information and my money will arrive in 4-6 weeks.
you chicks can get yer own planes now! woohoo!!!
Orhan beautiful experience.
Thanks for sharing.
hi all knackered - read the school blog post for details (and I've not slept much because so's gram is in the hospital)
Oh no Atechno!!! Is SO's gram going to be okay? I had a dream the other night that I talked to mine, which was bittersweet, made me forget that she is gone.
Busy day today, am off to a chili competition this morning (my friend entered) then to a baby shower and then off to another friend's house for dinner. I can't remember the last time I've had so much going on. Have a good Sunday TC.
Wait - is today Sunday? Angus' school had a snow day Friday and MLK Day Monday so my weekend is wonky.
longest weekend ever for me - and no snow days or holidays to it. all three of my girls have been sick.
had to come home at lunch friday to be nurse and it's been non-stop. the youngest actually got better friday which exacerbated the situation because, while the other two are down (way down) and need attention, she's bouncing off the walls and needs a completely different kind of attention.
i'm - what's techno's word? - knackered.
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