Posted on 09/07/2005 11:51:55 AM PDT by zipper
I do understand anyone's reticence in flying an "off-brand" airline...but many major airline's planes crash too, of course.
Yeah, per miles flown, I'm positive the Big Boy's records are safer, but if it's your time....
Love watching the National Geographic Channel program "Seconds From Disaster". It goes into the details explaining things like airline crashes...the reasons for most of disasters are very mundane and simple in retrospect, as I'm sure you know.
"Helios operates flights in the UK and other third world countries. "
Can I award myself the TYPO OF THE DAY AWARD!
Maybe it is Freudian.
Reminds me of flying from Chu Lai to DaNang on Flying Tiger
Airlines in 1966.
A venerable DC-3 packed with vietnamese and two
guard dog teams. You had to climb a step ladder to get in,
get past the snarling dogs and try to find a seat.
The co pilot would bring the ladder in, go up front and
then they tried to start the engines, the starboard one
started fine, the port would not start, starter bendix
kaputt, so the co-pilot went back, past the dogs, put the
ladder out, got out a long nylon baggage strap, climbed down
talked to the ground crew who brought up a forklift, the
co-pilot was lifted up to the port propeller where he carefully wrapped the baggage strap around the hub several
times, then he tied it off to the forklift.
Next he climbed aboard, pulled in the ladder, made his way past the now foaming at the mouth dogs and back to the cockpit.
Sticking his head out the window he hollered "CONTACT" and
the forklift driver drove off as fast as he could spinning
the engine like an out board motor.
No luck wouldn't start.
Repeat sequence.#1
No start.
Repeat sequence.#2
No start but some cylinders fire.
REpeat sequence#3.
Varooom! and off we went into the blue.
Of course for each sequence the co-pilot had to exit, wrap,
board,load ladder, sqeeze past snapping dogs etc.
I was very glad to land in Danang!
Helios might be a horrible airline, though, judging from what I've seen about this accident thus far. Gross negligence on their part, certainly.
I think I read that about the EU posting their blacklist in the Wall Street Journal article I mentioned in posting #19. The IATA has a partial list out, I think, but I can't seem to find it on their site.
Nobody here in the USA will ever call the UK a third world country after Katrina/New Orleans!
Besides the beer is so good in the UK, it practically defines advanced civilization (or maybe you prefer "civilisation")!
America is still civilized, it's just that the veil of civilization is thicker in some places than others.
No I meant, why when they called maintenence control while airborne. Sitting at a desk sometimes help see the big picture, like TWO pressurization related warning horns!
oops
My passengers got real nervous once, when I had to get out and bang the bendix with a hammer...LOL...the things freeze...
I don't think there is any regulatory agency like the FAA to maintain quality in some of those countries. Ever hear stories about the Russian airlines?
But recognize that about 80% of the world actually is under FAA control - why bother to pay for that beaurocracy, when the US provides it free? Their pilots have to get a US licence, the same with air traffic controllers - all is by US law, under US control.
Don't these investigations usually take much longer than this?
What's the JAA? Is that a European form of FAA?
I know the FAA can get extremely anal about quality. Is that beauracracy worth it or is it better to be lax like Aeroflop?
Ironically, Aeroflot has not had any fatal accidents since 1995, but the total before that was over 140 fatal accidents-- I read that somewhere yesterday; think it might've been the IATA site.
all the info was "leaked"
??? you mean the ICAO
Thank you very much for the ping. Unfortunately, a lot of people on this site have already classified this incident as a terrorist attack, and anything coming from any official source that disagrees with that opinion is a "guvmint lie".
You're right-- I went back to look at some of the earlier stories/posts from when the airplane went down, and many of them involved lots of, well, imagination.
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