Air Emergency

[AndrewHill]

I see this episode is a couple of years old, but I don't think I've ever seen this one. Thanks for the heads up Dan!

Yeah, that footage is jaw-dropping. This was also the topic on the History Channel's 'Shockwave' which is how I learned so much more of the story behind this crash, which is exactly how you described it above. I always wondered about the wing coming off and apparently it hit a coral reef, otherwise that portion of the plane would've stayed relatively intact. Agree that the captain was a hero, operating under horrific circumtances.

[AndrewHill]

Saw the Ethopian Airlines one this morning, and I misunderstood the break-up of the plane; it wasn't a coral reef but the engine hitting the water that started the break-up.

[Dan Gould]

Saw the Ethopian Airlines one this morning, and I misunderstood the break-up of the plane; it wasn't a coral reef but the engine hitting the water that started the break-up.

Yeah, I didn't remember what you said either, but I wasn't sure either way. The thing is, in one sense, you need a plane to break up in order to give people a chance to escape, and the other thing is, unless you're equipped with pontoons, I don't think its very likely to ever ditch in the ocean without losing the structural integrity of the plane.

I did think that it was a very cool design element of the plane that with no power, a little blade drops out of the wing and uses the speed of the plane to get some power to the cockpit and control surfaces, to give the pilot a shot at maintaining control.

[AndrewHill]

Saw the Ethopian Airlines one this morning, and I misunderstood the break-up of the plane; it wasn't a coral reef but the engine hitting the water that started the break-up.

I did think that it was a very cool design element of the plane that with no power, a little blade drops out of the wing and uses the speed of the plane to get some power to the cockpit and control surfaces, to give the pilot a shot at maintaining control.

I do too. There was another Air Emergency where the plane turned into a 10 ton glider and that little propeller dropped out and gave very limited power to the plane-they managed to land safely after gliding for some amazing amount of distance. What disturbed me about the Ethopian episode beside the obvious was that as soon as the power shut off, the pilot had no control of the flaps, which could've helped him slow down the speed of the plane, which hit the water at over 200 miles an hour. Perhaps they were able to correct that problem since this accident.

[Dan Gould]

Tomorrow at 11 AM there's an episode I don't recall seeing: "Miracle Escape." It's the story of Air France 358, which failed to stop on landing in Toronto and burst into flames after sliding down a ravine. It was a miracle escape because everyone - 309 people - escaped without life threatening injuries. Sounds like an interesting one, and a refreshing change from the usual stories that end in significant casualties.

Like, say, the "Seconds From Disaster" which follows at Noon, which is the story of the jet that crashed in Queens a couple of months after 9/11, when the initial instinct was to assume terrorism but it turned out that the pilot was poorly trained and applied too much force on the rudder, and the rear of the plain sheered away.

[AndrewHill]

I missed Air Emergency but caught Seconds from Disaster which looked like it should've been an Air Emergency episode. In this case, its one of those rare occurances where the pilot/flight school and not the plane was at fault. The fact that they were teaching their pilots to get past turbulance by jerking the rudders in the tail was revealing.

[Dan Gould]

Interesting episode coming up tomorrow morning on Air Emergency. The listing didn't trigger any memory so I googled "British Airways 009" and it turns out that is the flight that flew through an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption and lost all four engines. I liked this from the Wikipedia entry:

Despite the lack of time, Captain Moody made an announcement that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[2]

“ Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress. ”

Eventually they got an engine started and made an emergency landing, though the engines and windscreen were pretty severely damaged.

[AndrewHill]

Interesting episode coming up tomorrow morning on Air Emergency. The listing didn't trigger any memory so I googled "British Airways 009" and it turns out that is the flight that flew through an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption and lost all four engines. I liked this from the Wikipedia entry:

Despite the lack of time, Captain Moody made an announcement that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[2]

“ Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress. ”

Eventually they got an engine started and made an emergency landing, though the engines and windscreen were pretty severely damaged.

Is this a new one? Nonetheless, I've never seen it and will check it out.

[Dan Gould]

Hard to say for sure but I think it is new.

[AndrewHill]

It looks like it was produced last year, but somehow I never saw this one until now. That must've been a pretty intense situation when all four engines failed. Cool that the crew managed to start them up again (and then shut one down again) and still land safely.

[Dan Gould]

It looks like it was produced last year, but somehow I never saw this one until now. That must've been a pretty intense situation when all four engines failed. Cool that the crew managed to start them up again (and then shut one down again) and still land safely.

Well once again I forgot about it, though I had a good excuse - no rain so I decided to surprise my wife by cutting the overgrown yard.

[AndrewHill]

One of the new crop of Air Emergency's that were recently produced is on right now: "When Components Fail".