Pilot almost kills 150 people showing off to a child

[AlphaMale]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

[Herrlster]

Sweet deal, passengers should've loosened up and enjoyed the flight.

[ROON]

Silly, you're not supposed to let ANY passenger inside the cockpit in this day and age. And wiggling the controls around, that was a bit stupid. But the other plane should not have been so close to him. I doubt it was his fault that another airline was within "near miss" distance in his airspace.

EDIT: In fact, last flight I was on the flight stewardess said even they are not allowed in the cockpit anymore.

[gold_member_321]

meh, it happens.

[bmc]

It's air traffic control's responsibility to ensure safe separation between aircraft in controlled airspace. If the controllers weren't snoozing, they would have seen this conflict long before it became critical.

Less to do with the pilot and more to do with ATC.

The danger to passengers had nothing to do with a pilot banking the airplane. That's what the airplane is designed to do. The matter really has much more to do with selling newspapers.

[The BurgerMeister]

Originally Posted by bmc

It's air traffic control's responsibility to ensure safe separation between aircraft in controlled airspace. If the controllers weren't snoozing, they would have seen this conflict long before it became critical.

Less to do with the pilot and more to do with ATC.

The danger to passengers had nothing to do with a pilot banking the airplane. That's what the airplane is designed to do. The matter really has much more to do with selling newspapers.

+1 to all of that.

[embellisher]

Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

[TheDarkReaver]

this is the daily mail though reporting about a french airline, with a french piolt and a french boy in the cockpit. i can't help but feel the story may have been slightly exagerated.

[Tegzsa]

Passenger Shaun Robinson, 40, boss of travel website www. holidayinsider.com sounds like a whingeing prat.

Perfect fodder for the Daily Mail.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by Tegzsa

Passenger Shaun Robinson, 40, boss of travel website www. holidayinsider.com sounds like a whingeing prat.

...

I thought the same thing when I read that story yesterday.

[Toasted]

This "shoula / coulda" style of news is an infection on our airwaves.

[bmc]

There's an old saying in the news business: If you don't have a good story by twelve noon, make one up.

I doubt very much that the pilot was doing yank and bank.

About nine years ago, I was on a long flight from the Persian Gulf to London. It was an overnight flight. I was working for the airline at the time. I woke up in the middle of night and wandered up to the cockpit. This was long before 9/11. I sat in the jumpseat and yakked with the crew. We talked flying for a long time. I have my private license but have been in the industry 25 years. At one point, the first officer went to the bathroom. I mentioned to the captain that one day I planned to go to the simulator facility to try the Airbus. We were in an A340. He offered me the first officer's seat to try it out. I accepted and adjusted the seat. Airbus airplanes have side sticks, not unlike computer joysticks. Very different from Boeings that have a control wheel.

Anyhow, once settled in, he told me to hold the red button down on the top of the stick. I did and a bunch of yellow master caution lights illuminated. I asked him what that was about. He said, "Autopilot disconnect. You have control." Now, we were at 40,000 feet in controlled airspace over Turkey with 200+ souls in the back, most of who were asleep. They paid good money for a smooth ride. I gently pulled back on the stick an climbed 100 feet. Gently descended 100 feet. Gentle turn to the left. Gentle turn to the right. Then leveled off. Nobody noticed a thing. It was a kick for me to get some unlog-able stick time on a large Airbus.

At night, there is not a lot of traffic over Europe. Asian inbound flights start coming in around 5am. The captain knew that I knew not to fool around. The airplane, as with all airliners, are equiped with Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS). At any time, the captain you take control from as simply as pressing a command over ride swtich on his stick.

It was a fun flight.

TCAS is worth mentioning here. Each airplanes TCAS talks to the TCAS of a potential conflict. One system will command its pilot to immediately descend. The other will command its crew to immediately climb. Air Traffic Control will see a conflict and advise the crew of what action to take. The flaw in the system is that ATC is unaware of what the TCAS is telling the planes to do. Six years ago we had a horrible mid air over Switzerland where one crew listened to what ATC told them to do instead of listing to their TCAS. ATC said to descend and they desceded into a desceneding airplane.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I remember when I was younger (about 5-6ish) being allowed in the cockpit of the plane with some of the other kids on board to see how everything works, was very cool at the time!

Originally Posted by Toasted

This "shoula / coulda" style of news is an infection on our airwaves.

It's what happens when there is nothing interesting going on!

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by bmc

It's air traffic control's responsibility to ensure safe separation between aircraft in controlled airspace. If the controllers weren't snoozing, they would have seen this conflict long before it became critical.

Less to do with the pilot and more to do with ATC.

The danger to passengers had nothing to do with a pilot banking the airplane. That's what the airplane is designed to do. The matter really has much more to do with selling newspapers.

+1

ATC messed up on this one.

Not all airlines around the world are afraid to show 13 year olds the cockpit of an airliner. A short bank to the left followed by a return bank to the right had nothing to do with any near miss.

[ahkiatt]

10000 feet to avoid an aircraft? Sounds like a whole lot of drama.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Or a really really big plane

[Scarlet Fire]

I detest the Daily Mail.

[bmc]

I think it's important to mention that the Daily Mail also breaks stories about alien abductions and children raised in London sewers raised by aligators.

It's also important to mention that these flights serve alcohol, which people consume.

Pilots may comment on abrupt maneouvers. Sometimes. They will seldom, if ever, advise passengers that they had to climb 10,000 feet to avoid another aircraft. Flying in the vacinity of thunderstorm activity can see you climb agressively, not unlike an agressive climb to avoid traffic. At best, you'll get an apology and an advisory to keep the belts fastened.

There isn't a story here folks. Move along.

[JacoLesFlea]

this story sounds bogus.

[peterbright]

The pilot in command of an aircraft is responsible for scanning the area around his aircraft for other aircraft. ATC may have screwed up, but so did the pilot. They have joint responsibility.