Once again, a reminder of how fast things can go from "stable" to disaster. These two guys, probably Air Force Academy graduates and at the top of their game, lost control in the last few seconds of a crosswind landing.
This is the stuff of my nightmares.
Oh, Lord, please do not let this happen to my passengers...
Thankfully, Life on the Line continues...
This is the stuff of my nightmares.
Oh, Lord, please do not let this happen to my passengers...
Thankfully, Life on the Line continues...
19 comments:
Amen. My thoughts will be with all those involved and effected.
RIP FedEx Crew... MCO Craig.... Dave Tough to tell from the video what happened at that moment in time.. in my opinion, it just looks like they were hit by a sudden drop of headwind stalling her above the runway, dropping and bouncing back up in the air with less lift required to stay flying, only to come down hard on the nose gear and what looks like a colapse of the left mains which allowed the right wing to raise up, wind catches it inverting the yet to be planted aircraft on to its back...
I hope Fi FI carries alot of reserve power that can be spooled up in a hurry for situations like these.. and even then. it would be tough to react in time...
As a dispatcher, I am very fearful of sending my crews into airports with these kind of gusty cross winds.. down low where performance is on the bubble and lift is about to stop.. I usually send my guys to an alternate.. but that is just my comfort zone.. God Bless them.. and stay safe Dave.. better to go somewhere else and leave egos' in the bag than to force rough situations into a really bad day..
Its always a sad day when a pilot goes on an accident, trying to get down in difficult conditions. My prayers are with them, their families, and everyone involved. For the pilots out there: you guys hear something about the DC-10 (now the MD-11) being a little bit of a "tempered horse" on landing? Seems like there have been a few-too-many incidents where control has been lost during flare/attempted go-around from over the runway...just wanna see what your opinions are!
I saw this on the news. The captain was from my neck of the woods here in the Northwest. My prayers go out to the victims and their families.
It's all been said above.
We honor the good and brave who were doing their jobs.
Life continues.
Tears, too.
John, the co-pilot is from MY neck of the woods, Dallas.
I felt sick when I saw the video. There is something especially erie about seeing a crash like that, practically witnessing someone's fate...
Thoughts and prayers to the victims. Now, will there be another crash? This one, the PC-12 in Montana, things happen in threes...
i also felt sick when i saw the video. it's saddening since i see the FedEx MD-11s lumbering into KMSP all the time, and can't help but think about how cool they are. my thoughts go out to the families, for this and the Montana crash.
This seems pretty similar to the Fedex Flight 14 in 1997. As a matter of coincidence, I have read the whole NTSB report on that crash, and for a layman like me, it seems so similar. At the time of the other MD11 landing crash in HK (China Airlines 642), I had read many people saying "there can be more botched landing crashes". So I ask, is the MD-11 more dangerous than others at the touchdown? Does is have to be with the reduced area control surfaces?
best regards, this is by far my favorite RSS, I get happy when I see there's something new from you, Dave
My thoughts and prayers are with the families. You are soo right. Things go from stable to havoc in a matter of seconds. We experienced 2 crashes last year. There were no fatalities in either but we had very serious injuries in the the second crash. It's never quite the same after you're company has been through it.
"Oh, Lord, please do not let this happen to my passengers..."
I think it was (Capt.) Joe d'Eon's podcast that revealed to me that the only thing that pilots are fearful of is cocking up - or looking foolish in front of their fellow pilots. Your fears for the safety of your passengers takes this a step further and it is heartwarming.
You can almost-safely assume that their last thoughts were along the lines of, "thank God it's only cargo".
Dear Captain Dave,
I read your blog all the time and really appreciate the opportunity to live vicariously through your descriptions of 'life on the line'. I am a private pilot (working on instrument rating) beating up the skies around Northern California. Though I don't fly anything approaching a scheduled airliner I always have a few butterflies when I take up my parents, wife, her family... anyone other than myself. It's been a difficult couple of months for aviation. Thank you VERY MUCH for your timely entries regarding these occurrences. They are full of grace as much as they are informative.
Best regards,
-russell
Russell,
I, too, poke holes in the Norcal sky now and again out of LVK. And I, too, get those exact same butterflies whenever I have a passenger. Changes the whole game. A heavy responsibility.
I can only imagine what it feels like to have that responsibility (times 140) on a regular basis as with Dave and his peers.
The loss of the crew is the most dreadful thing, but also, this big beautiful airplane should have spent her last days in the desert sun, not upside down and in pieces. RIP
Fly safe
Always a downer when a modern jet ends up in twisted metal and a raging fire. Two people dead or two hundred it's never easy to accept.
I have around 3000 hours in the DC-10. I found it to be one of the best crosswind airplanes I ever flew.
Only made one crusher of a landing at ORD once in very gusty conditions, but it stuck after touch down. It appears this MD-11 bounced pretty high and the pilot flying dropped the nose a bit too much. The plane then touched down on the nose gear and the cross wind picked up the right wing as the nose bounced back into the air. It flipped very quickly as it appeared the left wing fractured or broke off.
The video is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQZ1zNmGEc
There's also a written acount at:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090325TDY02308.htm
Still kind of sketchy info, but the video is shocking. The written account says the MD-11 is very difficult to handle during landings. Never flew it so can't attest to that. Maybe they changed the control system from the DC-10. If so, it wasn't an improvement.
Supporting you, your crew and passengers in prayer for your safety, from the other side of the Globe... Noella
A Comment i read on twitter (http://twitter.com/dooce)
Phoenix airport smells like someone tried to cover up the smell of their sweaty panties with a wad of moth balls.
Jim at 10.18
The smoke trail doesn't indicate much of a cross-wind....
Mogg
This blog from a pilot out of Kuala Lumpur describes a harrowing landing at Narita just two days later...
Sorry, here's the link http://yellowherbie.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment