5 Myths About Airline Turbulence

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jhon of NY 5:37AM September 19, 2008

Since when can anyone lump all the pilots, mechanics and airlines into one group? I have been an airline mechanic for 25 yrs and would not have a problem flying on any of the airplanes my airline owns. The airplanes are NEVER allowed to fly broken. We will delay or take the a/c out of service in an instant if it is not safe to fly. If you are looking to place blame, don't pick on those of us who do our best to keep these planes in the air.

fred of WA 4:44PM May 22, 2008

Jeff of NV
With your 7000 hrs of experience I guess you are qualified to speak for all of us aviation professionals. Are the airlines hiring younger and younger people yes they are, as an airline pilot you should know that it is the nature of the times. I guess with only 7000 hours of experience you dont remember the last time this happen. As far as air travel safety, it is still at a all time high look at the numbers. As far the training of our aircrew and techs, the facilities and equipment is far better than what we had when we were comming thru, I invite you to visit a few of these universities that these professionals are comming from as well as the courses. Once they get to the big show it is learning curve but they are well equiped to do the job. As a result training time has went down this normal. What are the Domestic carriers safety record as compared to our international carriers with the training they get. FYI many international carriers send there pilots and techs here to the states to train. That should also speak volumes about our system/domestic carriers.
Jeff if this is truely how you feel about your airline/prof. and your a pilot please find a new career. Last thing we need is you to be the captain of the bird with us and our families on board. As a pilot with over 7000 hrs of experience you should know that confidence in you and your crews training is paramount. That includes the ground crew. Until then please land your a/c and allow our families off before your uncertanties and insecurities get someone in trouble.

Bob of MN 8:10AM May 21, 2008

I'll take my chances in the air! Have any of you ever driven in Chicago? Ever time I put on my seat belt I say a little prayer before stepping on the gas peddle. Airline travel certainly has it's problems and solutions need to be found before the amazing safety record of the last 5 years comes crashing down (sorry, no pun intended). Most pilots, flight attendants, maintenance personnel are incredibly dedicated individuals who care! I don't have any answers and people a lot smarter than I need to find a way to work together to make things better. I still feel very confident when I get on a plane, the people involved will get me from point A to point B safely.

B Norris of IL 1:44PM May 12, 2008

I hit turbulence over Asia once and it was totally unexpected... hit my head on the ceiling and on the way down, my legs buckled right under me! I never saw anything like that! At the time, I was standing in line for a bathroom. I almost went in my trousers!
Flying over the Himalayas or nearby can be surprising, although I have flown from Europe to Asia many times, that time was unforgettable. The lady next to me flew right along side of me, but was REALLY shook up by it!
A Japanese lady got killed from turbulence a few years ago, and after my experience, I could see why! I could have easily snapped my neck or worse when I hit the ceiling... after that, I am ALWAYS buckled up when I fly.

Santiago Matamoros 1:29PM May 02, 2008

I understand and respect what jeff is saying but i dont understand is that if it is that bad why don't you stateside pilots stand up and be heard . It happens here quite regularly , i have known several pilots in the UK to refuse to accept an aircraft for duty due to faulty equipment without any backlash from management. You know in the end if you or one of your buddy's sign out and take up a faulty bird and an accident should happen where there is a loss of life , your not only risking your own life for a paycheck but your also risking your reputation and the life of a couple o hundred people in the rear as well. Oh and the only reason i became a pilot was it seemed cheaper to train as a pilot and get a nice comfy chair on every flight instead of paying for business or first class all the time (i also like the privacy the flightdeck affords)lol.

patrickA 8:22AM April 18, 2008

To the person in the U.K....
I have the utmost respect for my fellow pilots, what they did to get where they are and the experience they have. Your post trying to make Dawn feel better is a nice gesture but unless you're here in the U.S. to experience our system, please don't comment on it. That's fine that when you started out you were paired with a very experienced captain but this is NOT always the case here. In fact, on the smaller regional or commuter carriers, that is frequently not the case. I'm not saying that they're all dangerous or an accident waiting to happen. What I am saying is that in general, it's not the way to do things. I'm 38 and have over 7,000 hours of experience and have been around the block enough to know what I'm talking about. I have many other pilot and maintenance buddies that would agree with me 100%. All I'm saying is that the people running this show here in the U.S. don't care about safety the way that they should. The dollar is king and as long as nothing happens to anyone on an airplane, they won't change anything. This fine for Southwest and the grounding of airplanes for inspections will be forgotten soon and we'll go back to business as usual. I truly hope that nothing terrible happens but I fear that it will and then maybe they'll sit up and take notice. Remember the poor souls aboard Alaska Airlines flight 261? This is from the NTSB report of that accident...
"Contributing to the accident were Alaska Airlines’ extended lubrication interval and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval of that extension, which increased the likelihood that a missed or inadequate lubrication would result in excessive wear of the acme nut threads, and Alaska Airlines’ extended end play check interval and the FAA’s approval of that extension, which allowed the excessive wear of the acme nut threads to progress to failure without the opportunity for detection. Also contributing to the accident was the absence on the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 of a fail-safe mechanism to prevent the catastrophic effects of total acme nut thread loss".
Our system is broken and needs to be fixed.
As for you Dawn, take in all the information you can get and then decide whether you want to fly or not. If you still feel safe, more power to you and I wish you a safe journey. If not, then welcome to the club. There's a growing number of us out there with every passing day.
Be safe folks!!

Jeff of NV 1:24AM April 18, 2008

(on my soapbox).......The experience level is dropping drastically and the industry is getting very scary. As a mech at an mro I'm watching it go down hill. Cessna is sending work out of country, along with Bombardier, Hawker, Beech, and most of the US carriers. I work with a person who decided to try working in Panama and found the mro out of compliance. One licensed mech to 15 people. (per far reg is illegal). Might I add, these people are making $600 a month salary to "wing" these repairs. At that rate.... who really cares if you did it right. Materials to do the job..... forget it. Some of it is here in the states too. FAA PMA "inspected" parts..... most of the time i guess, maybe. Dunno who is allowing bad hardware in the states. FAA couldn't be to blame for any of this. Seems like repair station certificates out of the country are getting handed out like candy. Feds just turn their heads. Southwest shook up the industry by missing inspections. Feds knew the whole time but hey... they are saving the airlines money by allowing this. When they went to court with SWA they got mad and used AA as an example to show the public that "were doing our jobs". I feel they are not. This industry has been building up to this and there has to be some changes.... Raise the fares.... Regulate air travel....Take a very close look into maint and the FAA. It will keep jobs, more airlines, more routes, less merging, and higher standards.

jaybeava of IL 11:26PM April 17, 2008