Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,500PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,500
Miami, FL USA
Hey, being stranded in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands doesn't sound too bad. It's quite the party place I hear! Now had those passengers been stranded in a place like Syria or Libya that would have really sucked.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
I was at Las Palmas last Wednesday. It is pretty much at the limit of the flight time regulations to fly there and back again in one day from Scandinavia, since it takes about five and a half hours to get there. We can have a maximum duty time of 13 hours, which is extendable to 14, and it doesn’t take much of a delay to mess things up. I’ve had a few unplanned stops at Las Palmas and Tenerife due to running out of duty time, mostly in winter because of lengthy de-icing or sweeping of the runway before departure. The islands are full of tourists, who mostly stay from weekend to weekend, and suddenly finding 180 hotel beds available immediately can be challenging.
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
My fault for not speaking French, you say? Well, there are six official ICAO/UN languages, and it is a stretch to demand that every pilot speak all six
All I can say is I'm happy to have notions of italian and spanish.
There aren't this many french words you need to help your SA. "autorisé décollage". "autorisé atterrissage" and "traversez piste vingt-six droite (zéro huit gauche, zéro neuf droite, vingt sept gauche)" are the ones you need.
Any international airport should be restricted to english on approach and tower frequency, imo. In CDG last time they tried they also asked traffic freq to use english, and those guys weren't ready, there were many miscommunications and they went back to french to regain their lost efficiency. If they try it with approach and tower it would work without any problem, and traffic controllers would adapt after some time.
Still, quite recently an american controller cleared an american aircraft to land on a runway on which an american aircraft was taking off, and the crash was barely avoided, a common language is not a warranty of quality atc, it only helps.
Last Tuesday, a FedEx cargo plane was attempting to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, when it had to reverse course after a Southwest Airlines plane was cleared to depart from the same runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The cargo plane came within 100 feet of the passenger jet, the FAA said.
“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,” the FAA said in a statement.
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,500PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,500
Miami, FL USA
I can actually READ French pretty well but just don't ask me to pronounce it correctly.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Still, quite recently an american controller cleared an american aircraft to land on a runway on which an american aircraft was taking off, and the crash was barely avoided, a common language is not a warranty of quality atc, it only helps.
Yeah, for having invented much of the ATC phraseology in use today, the standards in the US when it comes to actually using it are sometimes quite slack
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
I didn't notice it was actually the incoming Fedex 767 calling the SouthWest 737 to abort (which they didn't anyway). Terrible (CAT III) visibility, incoming plane on final cleared to land, and ATC still cleared the SW for takeoff. I guess the Fedex 767 couldn't believe it either, when he checked back with ATC to confirm that they are cleared to land...
Recently there was also a runway incursion at Honolulu: Incident: United B772 at Honolulu on Jan 23rd 2023, runway incursion It's hinted in the discussion in that link, that there is actually not enough space between the two runways for a 777 to clear the landing runway 04R and at the same time hold short of 04L. There is only the Cessna caravan mentioned landing on 04L, which vacated one exit before the crossing that the 777 used, but it is not clear where the 777 actually was when the Cessna landed, and it is also not clear whether the 777 had to get properly off 04R because of more traffic at 04R. I guess it doesn't matter, in the end it is still on the 777 to follow the hold short instruction, and leave it up to ATC to handle any implication that may have for operations on 04R.
...Flight crew statements were received. In addition to the crew statements, NTSB attempted to interview the American Airlines flight crew three different times. American Airlines cleared the flight crew’s schedule to ensure their availability; however, the flight crew refused to be interviewed on the basis that their statements would be audio recorded for transcription.... As a result of the flight crew’s repeated unwillingness to proceed with a recorded interview, subpoenas for their testimony have been issued.
...from Istanbul (Turkey) to Barcelona,SP (Spain), was already enroute at FL380 about 300nm northwest of Istanbul in Bulgarian Airspace when the crew decided to turn around and return to Istanbul due to a pungent odour on board followed by a cargo smoke indication.... Istanbul Airport reported cabin crew noticed the odour, a sensor detecting bad gasses in the cargo bay activated. The crew returned to Istanbul. Upon inspection of the aircraft it was determined Durian fruit, tropical delicacies which however emit pungent odour when ripe, caused the odour and sensor activation....
... remarkable, that a sensor actually picked up the bad smell/gas...
I'm wondering whether airlines/airports outside the "natural" Asian origins of the Durian fruit have regulations, forbidding it's transport. Such regulations are widespread in Asia, banning them from busses, trains, planes, hotels, ... There are regulations regarding vegetables/fruits/meat/fish/milk products/... to prevent spreading diseases, but whether that covers the Durian fruit?! EU: Taking animal products, food or plants with you
