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What you really need to be afraid of when you get in an airplane
American Thinker ^ | 5 Apr, 2021 | Willie Shields

Posted on 04/06/2021 5:33:23 AM PDT by MtnClimber

I have a friend who is fearful of commercial airlines.

At the gate, before boarding, he asks the agent the following question: "What is the captain's name?" If the answer indicates the pilot is female, he will not board that flight. Any criticism of my friend's lack of confidence in any qualified aviatrix is answered along these lines: "She can't drive a stick shift. I should trust her with a Jumbo Jet?"

My friend is right to be cautious about flying, but for different reasons.

SNIP

Affirmative action has eroded the efficacy of the air traffic control system to an alarming degree.

SNIP

Unfortunately, the responsible are not always fingered, and mostly they are coddled and protected by the same bureaucrats who appointed them to the positions they can't handle. An illustration follows:

January 25, 1990. Avianca 052, a Boeing 707 en route from Columbia to JFK Airport in Queens, N.Y. After two missed approaches in bad weather, the pilot told the approach controller that he was "running out of fuel" and that he "needed priority." The flight received neither sympathy nor priority. All four engines flamed out, and the 707 crash-landed in a wooded area of Long Island. Seventy-five dead. The FAA pointed to poor communication by the pilot and a language barrier. At the time, when asked about this by a New York–area journalist, I informed the scribe that the ATC tapes were transcribed fully in English and that no foreign language was heard on the tapes.

As hard as it may be to believe, the controller(s) apparently did not know that running out of fuel is a serious event when it happens to an aircraft in flight.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: affirmativeaction; airlinepilots
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1 posted on 04/06/2021 5:33:23 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber
Air traffic controllers did not know that a jet running out of fuel is a serious event....the FAA covered it up???? WHAT????

Good article, much snipped to fit 300 word limit.

2 posted on 04/06/2021 5:34:05 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Uhhh...crashing?


3 posted on 04/06/2021 5:36:24 AM PDT by gr8eman (Elder Non-Binary Sibling is Watching You!)
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To: MtnClimber

The pilot is the ultimate authority, and screw ATC. He had a duty and obligation to override ATC, declare an emergency, and head straight for the nearest field. Pilot error!


4 posted on 04/06/2021 5:37:46 AM PDT by dinodino ( )
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To: MtnClimber

FTA....

...The air traffic controllers’ strike in the summer of 1981 was a crisis that the social engineers did not let go to waste. They replaced the PATCO workforce with many of the liberal left’s favorites. Let’s just say their favorites do not include straight, white, competent, experienced males.....

....I recommend avoiding the friendly skies altogether. This way, the sex of the pilot is not a consideration....


What are the current requirements vs previous (pre-81) requirements, for ATCs?


5 posted on 04/06/2021 5:41:59 AM PDT by Jane Long (America, Bless God....blessed be the Nation 🙏🏻🇺🇸)
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To: MtnClimber

Mohammed, Abdullah, Iqbal, Farooq, and Waleed chanting “Allahu Akbar” in unison while the plane is being pushed back from the gate, perhaps?


6 posted on 04/06/2021 5:43:14 AM PDT by rickmichaels (I shouldn't have to press 1 for English)
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To: dinodino

He had a duty and obligation to override ATC, declare an emergency, and head straight for the nearest field.


Isn’t that what the article said the pilot did? He landed in a field, on Long Island. Away from the populous city.


7 posted on 04/06/2021 5:43:16 AM PDT by Jane Long (America, Bless God....blessed be the Nation 🙏🏻🇺🇸)
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To: Jane Long

No, he landed in trees and killed 75 people. He should have immediately headed for the nearest field, as in, airport.


8 posted on 04/06/2021 5:45:25 AM PDT by dinodino ( )
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To: MtnClimber

Frankly i am not sure i would get on the flight if the flight attendants were wearing a hijab.


9 posted on 04/06/2021 5:46:08 AM PDT by ronniesgal (Hillary wants to be Governor of New York!!)
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To: dinodino
The pilot is the ultimate authority, and screw ATC. He had a duty and obligation to override ATC, declare an emergency, and head straight for the nearest field. Pilot error!

That's what I was thinking..."ATC, you're gonna give us priority, or I might drop my plane down right on top of you!"

10 posted on 04/06/2021 5:48:40 AM PDT by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
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To: MtnClimber

Liberalism assumes that women and minorities are inherently too incompetent to perform technical duties, that in order to equalize outcomes women and minorities must be promoted in spite of their performance. Pardon me if I don’t want my heart surgeon to be a woman or minority promoted by this system.

I was a passenger on a jumbo jet flight piloted by one of Bill Clinton’s four hand-picked women pilots. She had been promoted through the Navy combat flying program. It was a simple night landing with no extenuating circumstances. When landing we “skated” down the runway for what seemed like an interminable amount of time before someone in the cockpit simply threw on the brakes.

One of those four women went on to be an astronaut trainee until she was arrested in a diaper traveling across country in an attempt to murder her cheating boyfriend.


11 posted on 04/06/2021 5:52:30 AM PDT by nagant
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To: MtnClimber
As hard as it may be to believe, the controller(s) apparently did not know that running out of fuel is a serious event when it happens to an aircraft in flight.

I was an air traffic controller for 20 years. I wouldn’t have any problem understanding what running out of fuel means. Any controller who can’t understand the concept, probably should be flipping burgers somewhere.

12 posted on 04/06/2021 5:58:36 AM PDT by Mark17 (US Air Force, retired. It was a long 20 years. )
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To: MtnClimber

Same is true in medicine.

I knew a real “affirmative action” surgeon. I handled medical malpractice insurance claims. Need I say more.?


13 posted on 04/06/2021 6:01:28 AM PDT by Baldwin77 (The 2020 election was stolen from MY President Trump)
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To: Lou L

Agree that the pilot should have declared an emergency. I’m more worried about how much pilots are relying on automation letting their hand flying skills deteriorate.


14 posted on 04/06/2021 6:01:28 AM PDT by 6ppc (Democrats would have to climb Everest to reach the level of "scum of the earth")
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To: MtnClimber
They were told to just pull over and wait for a guy with a gas can.

Along similar lines, choose your health care professionals carefully.

15 posted on 04/06/2021 6:01:49 AM PDT by Noumenon (The Second Amendment exists primarily to deal with those who just won't take no for an answer. KTF)
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To: MtnClimber
At the gate, before boarding, he asks the agent the following question: "What is the captain's name?" If the answer indicates the pilot is female, he will not board that flight.

I seriously doubt that anybody would do that. Calling BS.

That said, at the supermarket, I do automatically steer myself into a check-out lane manned by a woman cashier. I don't like to have men checking my groceries. My wife finds that hilarious, just a quirk of mine. But that doesn't mean I'll leave the supermarket in the rare instance there are only men at the registers.

16 posted on 04/06/2021 6:07:18 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (By stealing Trump's second term, the Left gets Trump for 8 more years instead of just four.)
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To: 6ppc

During the cold war a passenger plane pilot had emergency over an airfield where classified work was being done. He asked the tower for permission to land. They refused. He landed anyway, stating the plane was either going to wind up on that runway or beside it.

Sometimes you can’t wait for permission or for people to understand what is going on.


17 posted on 04/06/2021 6:09:34 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: Mark17

Out of curiosity, what are the minimum qualifications to get an entry-level position as an ATC? It truly is hard to imagine anyone having a difficult time understanding what “plane with no gas” means.


18 posted on 04/06/2021 6:09:40 AM PDT by ruiner
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To: MtnClimber

I just don’t fly. 2 decades or so ago, I had to for work maybe once or twice a year, but when I moved on to another job, no flying required. Then TSA came on the scene - I have not flown since & no intention of doing so. My brother has to visit an office several states away - he has found that by the time he goes through all the airport crap, stops along route, maybe change flights, delays, etc. ..... he can drive it in the same amount of time it takes to fly & he is in control, can make stops when he needs to, no hoops to jump through.


19 posted on 04/06/2021 6:15:44 AM PDT by Qiviut (2020 Election steal result: We are beginning our "40 years of wandering in the Wilderness".)
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To: Jane Long
"All four engines flamed out, and the 707 crash-landed in a wooded area of Long Island."

Crash landing is a bit dif than a normal landing

20 posted on 04/06/2021 6:16:58 AM PDT by Bell Bouy II
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