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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Plane Crash at Bluegrass Field Lexington Ky
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-30-2006 12:38 PM
quote: From the CNN article posted by Ron
Jackson said newspaper reports about her son were lies, but Cruz confirmed newspaper reports that Polehinke's wife, Ida, shot him in the abdomen with a handgun in 1999. Polehinke said the shooting was an accident, but his wife told police she shot Polehinke because she feared for her life after her husband threatened to kill her, The Miami Herald reported.
Polehinke declined to press charges, and Cruz said the couple had resolved their problems.
"They have overcome it, and they are working it out," he said. "It is a good relationship. They were supposed to travel to Italy or something, just the two of them."
What on Earth does this have to do with the plane crash? Unless the writer is trying to imply that marital difficulties may have distracted him from his duties on the morning of the crash - if so, the evidence is pretty thin, given that the incident described happened seven years ago - I fail to see how this information is relevant to the story. The poor man is going to have a hard enough time recovering from his injuries and then dealing with the inquiries and investigations, without his domestic difficulties being plastered all over the media.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 08-31-2006 01:46 AM
The thing that makes this so tragic is that it is such a simple, mundane mistake. There should have been fail-safe upon redundant fail-safe starting from the ergonomics of the runways -- signage in highly reflective paint or whatever, warning of a short runway, then all kinds of stuff in the tower to warn the air traffic guys that a plane that needs T . . H . . I . . S length runway is about to take off on a runway that is only THIS long.
Aren't the guys in the tower supposed to be actually looking when they say, "Flight so and so, you are cleared for take off."? Or do they just start the projector and not even look out the window at the screen, to make an crude but familiar analogy. Shouldn't which direction a plane is headed be quadruple checked that it's on the right freakin runway? especially at an airport where everyone knows that they have a runway that is too short for some types of planes? You would think.
But I guess we think this is all super high tech stuff, when really, it seems it be just a guy making as simple a mistake as taking a wrong turn. You want some more elaborate reason such thing can take place....something bigger that befits the enormity of the tragedy....not somebody didn't look out the window.
I was at the Denver airport awhile back. Lots of planes were backed up waiting to take off this one runway. Thing is, another runway crossed it at a right angle. As we kept taxing up to what I guess was some sort of starting point with planes at least four planes in front of us and planes in back of us, we on point we wound up sitting in what would be the "cross street" of the other runway.
We were all bored and kind of pissed because we had been in this taxing line for more than 45 minutes, so I am sort of daydreaming looking out the window at this other long runway. Then off in the far distance, I notice a jet in the sky. It was far enough away and so high up that I couldn't tell if it was even going to land so I didn't think much about it, but soon enough came the revelation: "Woe, look at that....it's going to land on the runway that is crossing ours, smack dab in the middle of WHERE WE ARE PARKED!! Hey, does this plane have any side impact airbags? Yah, funny now, but it wasn't then, trust me.
Now it never actually touched down, and it pulled up and went right over our heads, but WAY to close for comfort, let me tell you. There is no doubt in my mind that this was one of those near-misses the airlines are always saying hardly ever happens; yeah, right.
Talk your super Hooo-leeeey Shit! moments.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-31-2006 02:39 AM
I am increasingly thinking that the way the media reports aviation issues really isn't helpful. For example, this story:
quote: The Northern Echo, 23 August 2006
A PILOT narrowly avoided disaster last night when a jet's engine failed seconds before take-off. Passengers described how the pilot slammed on brakes to abort the flight as sparks sprayed from the damaged engine. Kevin Wilson, the chairman of the Master Photographers Association who was on the flight from Durham Tees Valley Airport, said: "It was a miraculous escape. We are very, very lucky the plane had not lifted off. "If it had, the pilot told us, the aircraft would not have been able to sustain itself." The drama began as a BMI flight to London, with about 50 people on board, was about to take off at 6.30pm. Mr Wilson said: "The aircraft was accelerating and was building up to maximum revs for take-off when I heard a loud explosion."I saw a shower of sparks flying over the wing from the engine, as the pilot jammed on his brakes. "I couldn't see smoke, but could smell it. "The aircraft was then surrounded by fire engines, which doused the engine with foam. Mr Wilson said: "There was oil all over the runway. The passengers were evacuated by steps brought to the aircraft and led to the perimeter."He added: "The pilot came up to us and explained that, although it was an emergency, he had not used the chutes as he had everything under control and didn't want to risk anyone breaking their limbs. "A spokesman for the airport said alternative flight arrangements would be made for the passengers.The runway was reopened once the oil was cleared, and no other flights were disrupted, he said.
I was on that flight last Tuesday and, frankly, what this Kevin Wilson chap said is simply bullshit. He might be a master photographer, but he also seems to be a master of making a drama out of a crisis. What happened was this: the plane, very lightly loaded (an A319 or 320, with only about 30-40 passengers) started its take-off roll, seemingly normally. Probably around 10-15 seconds in, I heard a sort of dull 'thud' - clearly an indication that something unusual was happening, but not much louder than the bump you'd hear when going over a nasty pothole in the runway . At that point we did brake very hard and came to a stop, less than half way down the runway (for those that know Teesside Airport, we started from the railway end of the runway and were roughly adjacent the hangars when the plane came to a stop). The fire engines and foam bit was right, but at this point Wilson's description starts to enter the realms of fiction.
The pilot came on the Tannoy and told us to remain seated with belts fastened. He explained that the takeoff had been aborted because an engine had failed, that the correct emergency procedures had been followed and that no-one was in any danger. He didn't elaborate further, and certainly didn't mention anything about the plane 'failing to sustain itself'. In fact, as my pilot friend told me, a twin-engined airliner is designed to be able to take off safely even if one engine stops at the moment the wheels lift off the tarmac. Mobile steps were wheeled up to the plane in situ, we all got off and were taken by bus back to the terminal. A couple of hours later, another flight made an unscheduled stop, picked us up and we flew to Heathrow without incident (though presumably not Mr. Wilson, who I guess was busy telling the Northern Echo's reporter how he'd just starred in a 1970s disaster movie).
I can only speculate that some underpaid and overworked local journalist didn't have the time or inclination to double-check what this guy said, but it only makes for unnecessary hysteria. Personally, I didn't think the incident was even newsworthy. I guess I probably take one or two flights a year in which there's some sort of unusual happening. The last was in May this year, when the pilot had to abort two attempts to land at Newquay becuause of thick fog and divert to Exeter. I wonder how the local rag covered that: '130 tourists moments from diaster as holiday jet neaerly crashes into sea!' ? Then there was the flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam which diverted to Gander because they discovered that a suitcase had gone on board without its owner. The bottom line is that air travel is now so routine and widespread that minor incidents are bound to happen, and it's testament to how seriously the industry takes them that it's incredibly rare for them to turn into major incidents.
One final thought - someone on the radio made the point yesterday that the number of people who died in Sunday's crash is roughly the number who are killed in accidents on Britain's roads in a 36-hour period. That's not to diminish the tragedy for those involved, just to point out that fatal air accidents invariably hit the international media and stay there; while in contrast, a fatal road accident usually doesn't even make the local paper.
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 09-01-2006 01:53 AM
The lengths of the runways are published on the airport diagram and each instrument approach chart that applies to a given runway. These charts or their electronic equivalents are required to be aboard any aircraft engaged in scheduled airline operations. So yes, the runway length data is readily available. But what if you're not on the runway you think you're on? You'll be reading the data you expect, not the data that actually applies.
In yesterday's NTSB briefing it was noted that this flight crew got off to a bad start that morning. They began by going to and setting up the wrong aircraft for the flight. When they found out they were on the wrong airplane, things got very rushed as they packed up their stuff and moved over to the correct aircraft and went through all of the set up again. Apparently there was a real rush to get the flight out on time. This is a classic situation where the little things like checking heading against the runway number before pushing the power up can get unconsciously skipped.
Here's the airport diagram for KLEX as shown at www.airnav.com :
Note the taxiway from the ramp to the end of runway 22. One has to cross the end of runway 26 prior to reaching runway 22. It was dark, and this flight crew was in a big hurry. In their haste it looks like they turned left at the first runway they came to instead of proceeding further ahead to the next one. They didn't notice the runway number, either on the runway threshold itself or on the taxiway signs. They were in a hurry. They didn't notice the aircraft heading as they turned onto the runway. They were in a hurry. They expected to see runway 22 and that's what they thought they were on. They were in a hurry. The controller, busy with end-of-shift paperwork, didn't notice the mistake either. So, a series of very simple mistakes and oversights compounded to yield a very tragic result. A classic accident scenario.
The controller might have caught this, but as mentioned above this situation would be most unexpected with a professional flight crew, especially on a routine daily or weekly flight. In the end the controller's primary job is to separate aircraft from each other - anything beyond that is just foam on the beer. It is the flight crew's job to navigate the aircraft, both on the ground and in the air. The controller did nothing wrong in this case. And that there was only one controller on duty at the time may be a contributing factor, but not a causal factor.
As I wrote above, when tragedies like this happen we in aviation are all reminded that it's the simple things that can kill you in this business. My condolences go out to the victims and the survivors.
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"Penny pinching" in VITAL areas .. those responsible for such things should be shot! Well, not really, but someone needs to be held accountable. The current ruling crowd in D.C. talk about responsibility and accountibility, but don't like to apply it to themselves, or their cronies. Things will (hopefully) change (a little) soon. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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