This is Your Captain: The Naked Truth about the Person Flying Your Plane by Captain Jack Watson

Author:Captain Jack Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: airline;captain;flight;cockpit;airplane
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2015-07-26T17:09:35+00:00

Chapter 10 : Typical Day Gone Bad

The likelihood of a typical passenger’s involvement in an airliner accident is similar to the odds of being struck by lightning. Flying in a modern jetliner captained by an experienced pilot is statistically the safest mode of transportation in the world — even more so than walking.

Like walking, flying sometimes becomes hazardous, even deadly. Despite the billions of dollars spent on aircraft design and training of crews to fly them, occasionally accidents do happen. Some are survivable while others are not.

In over 34 years of airline flying I have never run across a pilot who thought they were invincible — quite the contrary. What separates them from most people is their overwhelming desire to live. Assuring they have skills to handle most emergencies is a continuous training effort on their part and that of the airline employing them. Can they train for every eventuality? Regrettably, that’s a physical impossibility. Pilots train for emergencies that historically have caused most accidents. Unfortunately, that list keeps expanding. Does that mean you, as a passenger need to be concerned? Absolutely not!

Most fatal accidents start with a small problem that rapidly degrades to a major problem. If managed properly in the early stages it can usually be survived. Sometimes, however, dealing with the issue is physically impossible and becomes a good day gone bad.

The following NTSB transcriptions are of radio transmissions of two separate airliners involved in major air disasters. The first transcription is of a survivable crash. The second example ended with 100 percent fatalities.

Some will ask why show these unsettling words? To be candid, it shows good captains and first officers doing what they do best — working the problem and looking for a solution until the very end — survivable or not. That’s what the captain’s job responsibility is all about.

* * *

On January 15, 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 an Airbus A320-214 with US registration number N106US departed from LaGuardia Airport and shortly after takeoff suffered bird strikes in both engines. Thrust was lost in both engines and the crew was able to ditch the plane in the Hudson River. All 107 aboard survived.

KEY:

AWE1549 – US AIRWAYS 1549

LGA - La Guardia Tower

ATCl L116 - New York TRACON

LaGuardia Departure TEB - Teterboro ATC

TIMELINE BEGINS:

3:24:54: [Flight 1549 cleared for takeoff]

3:24:58 (LGA): Cactus 1549.

3:25:51 (AWE1549): Cactus 1549 - 700 climbing 5,000.

3:26:00 (L116): Cactus 1549, New York departure radar contact. Climb and maintain 15,000.

3:26:04 (AWE1549): Maintain 15,000, 1549.

3:27:32 (L116): Cactus 1549, turn left heading 270.

3:27:36 (AWE1549): Ah, this is, uh, Cactus 1539. Hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines. We’re turning back toward LaGuardia.

3:27:42 (L116): Okay, yea, you need to return to LaGuardia. Turn left heading of, uh, 220.

3:27:46 (AWE1549): 220.

3:27:49 (L116): Tower, stop your departures. We got an emergency landing.

3:27:53 (LGA): Who is it?

3:27:54 (L116): It’s 1529. He, ah, bird strike. He lost all engines. He lost the thrust in the engines. He is returning immediately.

3:27:59 (LGA): Cactus 1529, which engines?

3:28:01 (L116): He lost thrust in both engines, he said.

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