Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[bindian]

Yippee, the Astros won. It was a routine slow game until the 8th inning, when the A's went ahead on a two run homer. Bottom of the 9th, we got a two run homer. Then with one out, the A's catcher threw the ball away. So we won 5-4. Really the A's gave the Astros the game.
Yippee anyway!
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

Woohoo! I just finished mowing my grass and got run inside by a downpour. Radar shows it won't last long, but it's a nice soaking.:thumbsup:

Yeah, we had a nice little shower just after 9 a.m. that amounted to a total of about .04", but at least it made it cooler for awhile.

 

[farmgirl19]

I heard this morning the nose gear collapsed backwards and up into the fuselage, taking out the forward avionics racks in the main electronic and electrical compartment behind the nose gear well. The photo in this article Southwest Airlines Flight 345's nose gear "collapsed rearward," NTSB says - CBS News shows the gear, minus both tires and the left tire's (#1) axle. So just looking at the photo and knowing the gear normally retracts forward and up..........I'd guess the pilot wheelbarrowed the nose gear into the runway for a nose gear hard landing. Even if it was metal fatigue, the gear would only go backward on a wheelbarrow landing. If just the drag brace broke, normal landing procedures would let the gear retract forward and up into the wheel well. So I guess this pilot's name is Ino Flare or Iauger Nose.
hugs, Brandi

:laughing::laughing: about the names, bindian!

Seriously, has SW been hiring pilots lately? Most of today's crop of pilots couldn't taxi a taildragger, if they had an airport the size of all of Harris county. So, the situation has me wondering if the pilot doing the landing was a relative new hire, co-pilot.

 

[jinman]

Most of today's crop of pilots couldn't taxi a taildragger, if they had an airport the size of all of Harris county. So, the situation has me wondering if the pilot doing the landing was a relative new hire, co-pilot.

I'm not a pilot, but I know enough about the rigorous requirements of training and re-training of US based airlines and aviation in general. Of course there are exceptions, but they are extremely rare, not the broad brush of "today's crop of pilots." Seriously! Where do your get your stats? There's not a mode of transportation including walking that is statistically as safe as flying a US based commercial aircraft. That said, why would anyone want to taxi a tail-dragger? We are graduating engineers who can't use a slide-rule either. Who needs 'em?

 

[farmgirl19]

jinman; You might not know as much as you think you do about the aviation industry. To taxi a taildragger, is like driving a standard shift car. If you can do that, you can drive any of the automatics. But drivers today don't all know how to drive a standard shift. Taildragger pilots are used to NEVER landing nose gear first! While aircraft may be considered "evolved", the pilots have lost their talent. All of the instruments and nose gear have made "mental cripples" out of many. How many crop dusters, or aerobatic planes, that require complete precision have nose gear?

And before you think I am spouting a bunch of BS:

I hold an ATP. I am rated for land and sea. I also hold type ratings in DC-3, as well as B-737. I can go from jets to aerobatics and barnstorming, to crop dusting, and back into jets. Today's standards for air carriers are NO WHERE close to what they were pre 1983! And too many Capt. Sully's are now retired.

 

[bindian]

:laughing::laughing: about the names, bindian!

Seriously, has SW been hiring pilots lately? Most of today's crop of pilots couldn't taxi a taildragger, if they had an airport the size of all of Harris county. So, the situation has me wondering if the pilot doing the landing was a relative new hire, co-pilot.

I have not heard of any pilot hiring. We picked up a lot of them when we bought Air Tran. I have no idea how many of those are flying SWA planes and how many still are flying Air Tran planes.
SWA is such a good company, we usually get to chose the cream of any pilots looking for work. This is mainly pilots that have been flying that type of aircraft for years at other companies. Usually pilots trying to build enough hours to get hired at the airlines, fly first for commuter airlines.

A pilot that accidently wheelbarrows one, might have geased numerous landing with no main tire chirp just recently. I guess it's like hydroplaning on the road. At some time in your life, you will hydroplane. How you handle it is what matters.
hugs, Brandi

 

[farmgirl19]

I have not heard of any pilot hiring. We picked up a lot of them when we bought Air Tran. I have no idea how many of those are flying SWA planes and how many still are flying Air Tran planes.
SWA is such a good company, we usually get to chose the cream of any pilots looking for work. This is mainly pilots that have been flying that type of aircraft for years at other companies. Usually pilots trying to build enough hours to get hired at the airlines, fly first for commuter airlines.

A pilot that accidently wheelbarrows one, might have geased numerous landing with no main tire chirp just recently. I guess it's like hydroplaning on the road. At some time in your life, your hydroplane. How you handle it is what matters.
hugs, Brandi

Thanks, bindian! I know that SWA has the best pilots. I do worry about the Air Tran stuff, and had not heard of any new hiring there, but today's new pilots will be "iffy" in many ways. I just hope there are enough senior guys on the list as captains that are around long enough to let the new hires really learn.

I remember one time, years ago, when Herb still called all of the shots. He put in an order for new B-737s. Of course, Boeing wanted all of the bells, whistles and auto cr*p on those planes. Herb told Boeing, "I pay my pilots well to know how to fly the airplane, and to fly the airplane." He stipulated what would be on the aircraft, and what wouldn't. He told Boeing, if they weren't in agreement, he'd take his order of 22 aircraft someplace else. Herb was/is a genious, just no longer the driving force there.

 

[jinman]

Oh yes, I"ve heard all the old-school types who call today's pilots computer jocks. Your example of driving a standard making you capable of driving an automatic doesn't hold water either. I'm old enough to remember lots of people who learned to drive on standard shift and absent-mindlessly stomped on the brake and shifted to park because they were used to down-shifting. Lot's of modulator valves were replaced because of that little mistake. Nowhere that I'm aware of do they teach people to land nose-gear down first. Tell me, how would you use thrust reversers without a nose gear? How many tail-draggers have TRs? I just say technology and people evolve. Making accusations about today's crop of pilots without factual data is irresponsible.

 

[farmgirl19]

jinman: I have been in the aviation industry, for almost 50 years, and as a pilot for over 30, and an airline pilot as well. I am not intending to start a war with you, just stated facts, up front. You have my qualifications, should you choose to look up what they mean. If not, no hard feelings here. I know my abilities, as well as my limitations. I asked a question of bindian. And, BTW, I don't engage thrust reversers until AFTER I ALLOW the nose gear to come down, even if I am on a snow covered runway. Tail low landings are what taildraggers are really GOOD at teaching.

As bindian pointed out, all of us are human. But I still think many of the issues in today's aviation are due to too much mental inability. Sort of like life's problems are sometimes due to too little common sense. Many of today's society can type on a computer. How many can interact in the real world? Mental cripples and their numbers begin to grow.

I'll stop here. As I said, no beef with anyone. Just looking for answers myself, but I do come from some experience.

 

[jinman]

Farmgirl, I understand your qualifications and respect them. There's not a lot in your last post that I would disagree with. I agree that pilots may not be as mentally sharp or self-reliant in problem solving. I think that's driven by the tremendous complexity of technology such that you have to make decisions and prioritize what people know what to do. There are just too many systems to know everything. There are critical systems that each pilot should understand and procedures they know from memory and do automatically. Pilots today put tremendous faith in technology. It's a requirement that makes them less able to problem solve by the seat of their pants. Had things not turned out well, Capt. Sully would have been the goat rather than the hero even if ditching in the Hudson was his only choice. His skill was superb, but he also had a heapin' plate of good luck on that day. He also had a heapin' plate of bad luck that made all those heroics necessary. I believe I understand what you mean. MY only argument is with what I considered an unfair exaggeration. Hey! Even best buddies can disagree.