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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.