Posted on 04/19/2018 10:01:54 AM PDT by Freeport
Audio Recording between ATC and SW 1380.
Controlled decent from 30,000+ feet to 4,000 in about 2 minutes.
I thought everyone involved sounded as professional and competent as all get out. Props to all of them.
You can tell the attitude change in ATC when he tries contacting SW 1380 twice; this must have been when the engine failed.
Then, when he repeats “Descending?” back to the pilot and the pilot affirms decent on single engine. He perks right up.
Pilot was most likely calm because this scenario has been practices hundreds of times in a simulator, and there is an established, practiced off-normal checklist and procedure to follow.
I’m a little tired of this pilot being singled out for being a hero, loss of engine must occur with some regular statistical frequency, and training addresses that. She did what she was trained and expected to do.
Now, landing a fully laden plane on the Hudson, never even addressed in simulator time as a possibility... THAT is heroic and skilled.
Great post!
Thank you.
What causes engine failure? Fan blade breaking? I know there are thousands of internal parts to a jet plane fan, but is there an QC/x-ray process they all go thru before assembly. Honestly don’t have a clue...
I could hear that, too. The female pilot was so calm, it seemed to the Air Traffic Control Tower, that he could not believe his ears, as if her calm tone did not match what she was telling him.
As she approached runway, someone else took over, who sounded much more precise and experienced with a crisis. Did you think so?
The pilot turned the catastrophe into a heck of a nice one-engine landing. I was fascinated with the whole story, but concerned that the same or similar event had occurred in just 2016!
Probably they will look at the engine maker. They were the same in both cases.
Retired ATC here.....
Pretty sure ATC reached out to SWA1380 because they/he observed the a/c descending.
Pilots are required to comply with ATC instructions unless they have an emergency.
I agree, she sounded very calm considering what had just happened.
I have been involved in many emergency situations and usually everyone are very professional and other a/c that are being vectored out of the way never complain (they bitch about being delay vectored for non emergency situations)
I believe she was asking for a longer final because there was some hydraulic issues.
Well, maybe, but this was not just an engine out landing. The flight crew was informed that not only was there an engine out, a brief fire and an uncommented 40 degree right roll when it blew, that there was a hole in the aircraft and a passenger was “Sucked Out”. That’s what they knew I the cockpit.
Much more than an engine out.
Nope, they did good.
I take it that area is a pretty busy sector also? Lots of E/W bound traffic?
This morning the NTSB said there was a blade failure due to an internal blade crack; a failure not visible via external inspection.
Pilot could have been doing a normal landing under zero stress from the voice on the radio. Very professional. Way to go!
I think the pilot will not call herself a “hero”, probably because, as you said, of her total readiness for such an event possibility. Engine failure is possibly included in Flying 101.
Honestly, she spoke as if it the whole thing was one more walk-in-the-park. Now, that is “readiness”. She would agree with your take, I believe.
Learning to fly is basically learning to compensate for conditions and mechanical situations, right?
The pilot performed an emergency descent that she had practiced many times but not hundreds. In training it is called a “High Dive,” throttles in idle, speed brakes extended, and speed “on the barber pole, (the max speed limit). Descent rate is greater than 6,000’ per minute.
It was not an “Irregular Procedure,:” it was an “Emergency Procedure.”
She did a good job, period. Not a heroine, it was her only choice. Sully, had no choice either. Ditching is also a training item, reviewed at least once per year.
He did a good job, period. If the water landing happened ANY other place on Earth, for example the Atlantic Ocean south of JFK, the outcome would not have been as fortunate.
Sure, but NOBODY comes close to Al Haynes and his crew on United Airlines 232.
Sioux City Approach: “United Two Thirty-Two Heavy, the wind’s currently three six zero at one one; three sixty at eleven. You’re cleared to land on any runway.”
Haynes: “[laughter] Roger. [laughter] You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?”
Studs. All of them.
If you listen carefully, you can hear him call twice to the flight before the pilot informs of the decent.
He responds with a questioning “Descending?” very clearly. i.e. He didn’t notice the decent until the pilot said it. That’s understandable since he had just cleared them to 38,000 from 30,000 and had moved on to other traffic.
Once can also note his surprise in the “Sucked out?!” comment. He then gets back on track with the “Never Mind.” comment.
But yes, everyone involved deserves congratulations for bringing a damaged aircraft down with all but one person walking away. Quite impressive.
This was no “simple” engine out emergency.
Yes, I heard the term “metal stress” attributed to the fan blade.
The “fire” was in progress when the pilot phoned in, but diminished or went out in descent, and resumed as a small fire after landing. That’s what interviews were saying, anyway.
I thought she did her best job at compartmentalizing. She stayed a *pilot*, even knowing about the passenger.
Yeah. Great concentration on “Work the problem.”
She Flew the airplane
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