This brings back a terrifying experience my best friend parents’ and brothers had. The brothers were flying into Huntington WVa, coming home from school for Christmas. The plane’s indicator was showing the landing gear was not down even though the control tower could see that it was. However they were afraid it might not have been locked in. Because the runway was so short the plane was diverted Pittsburg while my friend’s parents waited in terror to hear if it had landed safely. That was a long, excruciating wait because the plane had to keep flying until the fuel supply. Luckily it was just a faulty indicator.
The Huntington airport was on the top of a mountain and the runway was so short planes had to use the entire runway to stop very quickly. They later removed more of the mountain top and lengthened the runway but back then the planes would set down at the very edge, then immediately brake HARD. It took the entire runway to slow enough to that the planes could turn before going off the cliff. I would always watch out the window as the plane would turn — still going fairly fast — and looking right over the edge of the mountain. I thought it was normal but now it gives me the chills.
Ironically the one big accident they had was when the plane carrying the Marshall team hit came in too low the side of the mountain.
Very interesting, thank you. I have landed at that airport a couple of times, but (a) only in its current, longer incarnation, and (b) only in a Cirrus, which can comfortably land even on runways much shorter than the original version.
(I think the original at HTS was about 5000 feet. It's now 7000. The place where our plane is based, at Gaithersburg, is 4000 feet. The shortest runway where I've landed was 2,300 feet. A Cirrus is "comfortable" anywhere from 3000 feet and beyond.)
Competency and collaboration rule. No space for polarization As a people, we have the capacity to do the same, but seem at risk of not finding the way All souls aboard!
Great stuff, as always. Interesting he reports fuel in time, not pounds, as I would have expected. Not that it matters as they have plenty of fuel to hold, circle, etc. and fire crews will be aware the tanks are full.
On the "fuel remaining" point, my impression was (a) the controller had to ask that, as part of the ritual when someone had declared an emergency ("Say fuel remaining and souls on board"), and (b) this was the last thing on the pilot's mind, since he knew that whatever other problems the plane had, it wasn't going to run out of gas — having just taken off. So he just came up with some ballpark answer.
And you're right, the real "fuel remaining" concern would be for the fire trucks. Glad that was a moot point.
My father served as an air traffic controller on one of the three US bases during his last five months in USSR during WWII. I think that would have been late 1944 and early 1945, and I suspect the traffic was thin. But it was fun to find this out fairly recently.
According to Tom Wolfe, we can all credit Chuck Yeager for laying the foundation for a conversational style among pilots that borders on the lackadaisical. Wolfe claims that in the early days of commercial jet travel this laid-back style, adopted by most pilots, was the reason so many passengers stayed calm, avoiding the sort of panic that was humorously portrayed by a popular '70's-era movie. While today's pilots and flight controllers seem to have lost Yeager's trademark Missouri accent, they have maintained the calm, cool approach that is, as you say, the ultimate example of professionalism.
My first airplane flight was in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, in my mid-twenties. My first commercial flight followed a few years later, and over the next few decades I can count on one hand the number of flights I took. Then I was invited to teach in Cairo when I was nearly 60 years old, and over the next 6 years I must have climbed aboard at least 100 flights.
And every single time I entered the passenger compartment of one of those magnificent flying machines I marveled at the enormity of human achievement that makes thousands of such flights every day so routine, safe, and yes - comfortable. This audio clip is just one glimpse into the ecosystem of air travel that makes this all possible. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Thank you! Yes, I read The Right Stuff when it first came out. I *believe* that the Yeager part was excerpted in Esquire before the book itself was officially published. And the article's whole theme, as you say, was the long-tail effect of Yeager's super-cool drawl.
I wouldn't dare guess how many of today's professional-pilot corps have read (or heard of) Wolfe. Probably more of them know something of Yeager. And the passing years have eroded the kind of extreme casualness that was so familiar that the great movie 'Airplane' could make fun of it. But the good parts of the practiced calmness persist.
Air-traffic controllers didn't ever fall for mock-Yeagerism. As I understand it, it is a trained-and-ingrained culture of calm.
If you would like a loaded modern comparison, you could think of the way Jason Bateman, as Marty Byrde in Ozark, never raises his voice or changes his inflection about *any*thing. Of course, he is talking about drug deals and murders, as opposed to declaring an emergency and asking for "the equipment." But the good parts of his calm tone are like the good parts of practiced calm from ATC.
Have to jump in here after finally getting to Fate is the Hunter. Just finished last night. Gann takes great care to explain how the most hair raising experience made right at the very edge of total catastrophe would later be referenced in the company of other pilots as if the whole thing was like parking a car in an empty lot. Likewise, as they consider whether the entire airframe might come apart at any moment, the call to the tower for clearance intentionally sounds as though they're bored. Great book.
Ah, very good points, thanks. (And, for anyone visiting in, 'Fate Is the Hunter' really is an excellent book, specifically about aviation but about many larger themes as well. Had referred to it back here: https://fallows.substack.com/p/fate-is-the-hunter )
Possibly this tone is as old as aviation itself — and maybe older. (See also: cowboys, mariners, etc.)
Thank you for this post. Airplane cockpits and controller towers are (tiny) office spaces, but in the sharpest possible contrast to the movie, the people who work there quietly set an example of being among the highest functioning teams, day after day. Like Deb wrote in her post, I too used to love listening to the ATC channel on United. The very first time, I remember turning it on shortly after takeoff on a 3+ hour flight, expecting to check it out for a few minutes and then start reading. I ended up listening, delighted, until we touched down.
Thanks, appreciate it. Yes, I used to listen nonstop to Channel Nine on United, back when they had it. (And back when I was ever on airline flights. But that is a different story.)
Agree about the difference between this kind of "skill" and "life-saving," and what is portrayed, and perhaps what is portrayable, in movies.
Funny--I think you may have been referring to the gag-filled 'Airplane!' movie referenced by Thomas Mischler but I was actually referring to the gag-filled 'Office Space'. In any case my sense is that the point of your post was to highlight the impressive professionalism of pilots and air traffic controllers. I'm merely adding that they also create this value from cramped, shared workspaces--a contrast to some other institutions where teams of office workers can't seem to pull together or operate in partnership nearly as well despite having far more comfortable working environments.
One additional point: The approach controller, as is often the case, is working more than one frequency. What you can hear on the recording is only part of the stream of radio conversations the controller had to process and respond to.
Riveting commentary Jim. Thank you for explaining this every step of the way. I always thank the pilots when we land!
This brings back a terrifying experience my best friend parents’ and brothers had. The brothers were flying into Huntington WVa, coming home from school for Christmas. The plane’s indicator was showing the landing gear was not down even though the control tower could see that it was. However they were afraid it might not have been locked in. Because the runway was so short the plane was diverted Pittsburg while my friend’s parents waited in terror to hear if it had landed safely. That was a long, excruciating wait because the plane had to keep flying until the fuel supply. Luckily it was just a faulty indicator.
The Huntington airport was on the top of a mountain and the runway was so short planes had to use the entire runway to stop very quickly. They later removed more of the mountain top and lengthened the runway but back then the planes would set down at the very edge, then immediately brake HARD. It took the entire runway to slow enough to that the planes could turn before going off the cliff. I would always watch out the window as the plane would turn — still going fairly fast — and looking right over the edge of the mountain. I thought it was normal but now it gives me the chills.
Ironically the one big accident they had was when the plane carrying the Marshall team hit came in too low the side of the mountain.
Very interesting, thank you. I have landed at that airport a couple of times, but (a) only in its current, longer incarnation, and (b) only in a Cirrus, which can comfortably land even on runways much shorter than the original version.
(I think the original at HTS was about 5000 feet. It's now 7000. The place where our plane is based, at Gaithersburg, is 4000 feet. The shortest runway where I've landed was 2,300 feet. A Cirrus is "comfortable" anywhere from 3000 feet and beyond.)
I do remember that terrible Marshall crash.
Competency and collaboration rule. No space for polarization As a people, we have the capacity to do the same, but seem at risk of not finding the way All souls aboard!
Great stuff, as always. Interesting he reports fuel in time, not pounds, as I would have expected. Not that it matters as they have plenty of fuel to hold, circle, etc. and fire crews will be aware the tanks are full.
Thank you.
On the "fuel remaining" point, my impression was (a) the controller had to ask that, as part of the ritual when someone had declared an emergency ("Say fuel remaining and souls on board"), and (b) this was the last thing on the pilot's mind, since he knew that whatever other problems the plane had, it wasn't going to run out of gas — having just taken off. So he just came up with some ballpark answer.
And you're right, the real "fuel remaining" concern would be for the fire trucks. Glad that was a moot point.
My father served as an air traffic controller on one of the three US bases during his last five months in USSR during WWII. I think that would have been late 1944 and early 1945, and I suspect the traffic was thin. But it was fun to find this out fairly recently.
According to Tom Wolfe, we can all credit Chuck Yeager for laying the foundation for a conversational style among pilots that borders on the lackadaisical. Wolfe claims that in the early days of commercial jet travel this laid-back style, adopted by most pilots, was the reason so many passengers stayed calm, avoiding the sort of panic that was humorously portrayed by a popular '70's-era movie. While today's pilots and flight controllers seem to have lost Yeager's trademark Missouri accent, they have maintained the calm, cool approach that is, as you say, the ultimate example of professionalism.
My first airplane flight was in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, in my mid-twenties. My first commercial flight followed a few years later, and over the next few decades I can count on one hand the number of flights I took. Then I was invited to teach in Cairo when I was nearly 60 years old, and over the next 6 years I must have climbed aboard at least 100 flights.
And every single time I entered the passenger compartment of one of those magnificent flying machines I marveled at the enormity of human achievement that makes thousands of such flights every day so routine, safe, and yes - comfortable. This audio clip is just one glimpse into the ecosystem of air travel that makes this all possible. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Thank you! Yes, I read The Right Stuff when it first came out. I *believe* that the Yeager part was excerpted in Esquire before the book itself was officially published. And the article's whole theme, as you say, was the long-tail effect of Yeager's super-cool drawl.
I wouldn't dare guess how many of today's professional-pilot corps have read (or heard of) Wolfe. Probably more of them know something of Yeager. And the passing years have eroded the kind of extreme casualness that was so familiar that the great movie 'Airplane' could make fun of it. But the good parts of the practiced calmness persist.
Air-traffic controllers didn't ever fall for mock-Yeagerism. As I understand it, it is a trained-and-ingrained culture of calm.
If you would like a loaded modern comparison, you could think of the way Jason Bateman, as Marty Byrde in Ozark, never raises his voice or changes his inflection about *any*thing. Of course, he is talking about drug deals and murders, as opposed to declaring an emergency and asking for "the equipment." But the good parts of his calm tone are like the good parts of practiced calm from ATC.
Have to jump in here after finally getting to Fate is the Hunter. Just finished last night. Gann takes great care to explain how the most hair raising experience made right at the very edge of total catastrophe would later be referenced in the company of other pilots as if the whole thing was like parking a car in an empty lot. Likewise, as they consider whether the entire airframe might come apart at any moment, the call to the tower for clearance intentionally sounds as though they're bored. Great book.
Ah, very good points, thanks. (And, for anyone visiting in, 'Fate Is the Hunter' really is an excellent book, specifically about aviation but about many larger themes as well. Had referred to it back here: https://fallows.substack.com/p/fate-is-the-hunter )
Possibly this tone is as old as aviation itself — and maybe older. (See also: cowboys, mariners, etc.)
Thank you for this post. Airplane cockpits and controller towers are (tiny) office spaces, but in the sharpest possible contrast to the movie, the people who work there quietly set an example of being among the highest functioning teams, day after day. Like Deb wrote in her post, I too used to love listening to the ATC channel on United. The very first time, I remember turning it on shortly after takeoff on a 3+ hour flight, expecting to check it out for a few minutes and then start reading. I ended up listening, delighted, until we touched down.
Thanks, appreciate it. Yes, I used to listen nonstop to Channel Nine on United, back when they had it. (And back when I was ever on airline flights. But that is a different story.)
Agree about the difference between this kind of "skill" and "life-saving," and what is portrayed, and perhaps what is portrayable, in movies.
Funny--I think you may have been referring to the gag-filled 'Airplane!' movie referenced by Thomas Mischler but I was actually referring to the gag-filled 'Office Space'. In any case my sense is that the point of your post was to highlight the impressive professionalism of pilots and air traffic controllers. I'm merely adding that they also create this value from cramped, shared workspaces--a contrast to some other institutions where teams of office workers can't seem to pull together or operate in partnership nearly as well despite having far more comfortable working environments.
Thanks for the clarifying point, which I also agree with. As with your esteem for 'Office Space.'
The traditional cramped newspaper newsroom — from back when there were newspapers, and newsrooms — would also fit what you are talking about.
One additional point: The approach controller, as is often the case, is working more than one frequency. What you can hear on the recording is only part of the stream of radio conversations the controller had to process and respond to.
Bruce, excellent point, thank you.