January 2009 Archives

Pretty astonishing pix below of a Eurocopter AS350 birdstrike in Arkansas a couple of weeks ago courtesy, in the roundabout way of the web, of Hectop, who has posted several more of them. Nobody hurt apparently. Helicopter force-landed outside 'adult' shop as it happens.

Connoisseurs of this sort of thing may like another look at the Challenger hit from last year here. And more serious students of the subject may like to read my feature in Flight International this week, by conicidence, here.

Back on 1 May 2007 I wrote a post asking: Has Delta ever actually managed to repaint its fleet?

In view of the movie below, that'll be a 'no' then...



I can't remember who it was, but the CEO of one of the original Delta Connection regionals used to tell the tale of walking into the office of Delta CEO Ron Allen for his monthly reporting session and asking when Delta was ever going to become a serious airline and get some four-engined aircraft like him. He, of course, was the proud possessor of a fleet of BAe 146s.

The ditching of the A320 itself was obviously pretty impressive, but in many ways that was only the start of the passengers' problems and the fact that they all survived to tell the tale is quite incredible.

This account below by a manager at executive headhunters Heidrick & Struggles confirms just how dangerous the situation was and how close some passengers came to losing their lives. It's by Gerry McNamara who, handily enough, is an ex-USMC captain.

It's rude I know, and I apologise in advance to the good ladies of USAirways for highlighting the information below, but it seems only the right thing to do.

That ditching of USAirways flight 1549 was notable for many things, but one other has come to light - the extraordinary quantity of flying experience packed into that Airbus A320.

Turns out the whole thing was captured by the US Coast Guard. Quite extraordinary footage. Incident begins at 2:02.

A pretty sure bet for an agenda item at today's Air Canada Jazz management catch-up is a discussion of whether taking lifejackets off their aircraft where possible is quite so sensible in the light of last night's events.

Damn that branta canadensis! Not wanting to finger an innocent species after last night's events, but unsurprisingly New York has a known Canada goose problem as this paper below published last year explains.

The USAirways A320 accident last night has prompted a lot of interest in Airbus' so-called ditching switch. Courtesy of a guy called Andy Tracy, who is apparently a Cathay Pacific A330/340 captain, here's some detail on just what it does.

Normal - The system functions normally.

ON - The following valves close; (Lt White)

-           outflow valves. Will not close automatically if under MAN control.

-          emergency ram air inlet

-          avionics ventilation overboard valve

-           cargo compartment isolation valves

-           pack flow control valves

-           cabin fans stop

Caution: If the ditching pb is put ON, on ground, with low pressure ground cart connected and all doors closed, a differential press will build up.

 

I'm not absolutely sure it's "unique" as is being stated (though maybe). I believe there is something similar in the BAE Ssytems RJ series, though perhaps with different functionality. And I read that Boeing 727s at least had a snorkel-like system which used floats to close off external air valves if an aircraft sank into water.

 Bit of a personal obsession I know, but if you like Lightnings then you'll want to see this - although not in a good way. Old airfield buildings make the hairs on my neck stand up, and in some ways the sensation is more acute in places like messes than in operational buildings.

In fairness I believe Aeroflot is delivering a vastly better product these days, but on domestic flights things can still be a little, umm, lacklustre. Great video here of a less than wholly enthusiastic safety briefing

Happy New Year all.

This below is a new one on me....

 

...and not just me.

Full story here. Nicely done St Louis Helicopter.