Inspired by this great article in the Economist. And the Hudson river landing was a narrow-body aircraft, so you don't have to send that to me anymore.
True, that was successful, but it wasn't a wide-body aircraft, and anyway it was on a nice, calm river. Pretty ideal conditions for an emergency landing on water.
Not that it wasn't amazing - just don't expect a similar outcome over the ocean!
US 1549 had a lot going for it. Favourable conditions plus able pilots. The Ethiopian airline that ditched off Comoros didnt have a happy ending. Same story with the Turinter flight that crashed off the Adriatic coast of Italy.
I just recently read a study in which they actually tested if there was interference and there was. I've also been on the flight when the pilot refused to leave the gate until everyone had turned their phones off --- they could somehow detect in their equipment that someone was still using their phone. Yes, I am not an expert on these issues, but I am not willing to take the risk either!
If phones would interfere and if the equipment would be interferable by phones, both would violate the regulations.
Thats also the reason why you shouldnt take out the backplates on your PC case without putting some card in. Not because the air circulations gets worse, but because the holes in the metal are so small that the electric waves cant go through. If you take all the metal out you are sending the waves out and theoretically could interfere something (and be liable even if you dont actually interfere because of regulations violation). Thats for germany, but I expect the regulations are more or less the same everywhere.
Hahaha! I'm a white-knuckle flyer, and I would totally take this airline, because all this is just a watered-down, tame version of all the shit that goes through my mind during the flight.
Also, watching Mayday (I think it's know in the US as Air Crash Investigation) on a regular basis has been helping some -- strangely enough -- because it has given me a more realistic vision of how a plane operates and what may or may not happen. Honesty Airways FTW!
I just discovered your site, this stuff is golden! Spent the last 2 hours reading all of your comics. Now I want to make my own comic blog about my misadventures in learning Mandarin and Indonesian!
You totally should! I've learned only European languages, and I feel like I'm not representing a lot of the crazy stuff that you go through learning languages completely different than western ones. I want to learn Arabic and Mandarin for exactly that reason, to talk about it in the comic!
But if you do it, it would save me a lot of work. ^_^
Interesting case to note is Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 which did a water landing off the Comoros Islands. A wide-body aircraft. Most frightening is the number of people who died unnecessarily because they inflated their life vests while still inside the aircraft. So instead of being able to make it out the exit, they were trapped. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
There has been one successful water landing I remember, in the Hudson river in 2009 after the plane hit some birds right after take-off.
ReplyDeleteTrue, that was successful, but it wasn't a wide-body aircraft, and anyway it was on a nice, calm river. Pretty ideal conditions for an emergency landing on water.
DeleteNot that it wasn't amazing - just don't expect a similar outcome over the ocean!
US 1549 had a lot going for it. Favourable conditions plus able pilots. The Ethiopian airline that ditched off Comoros didnt have a happy ending. Same story with the Turinter flight that crashed off the Adriatic coast of Italy.
DeleteIf that's the reason you can't use electronic devices, they should also ban books.
ReplyDeleteYeah but if they really interfered with the instruments, they wouldn't be allowed on the planes at all, would they?
DeleteI just recently read a study in which they actually tested if there was interference and there was. I've also been on the flight when the pilot refused to leave the gate until everyone had turned their phones off --- they could somehow detect in their equipment that someone was still using their phone. Yes, I am not an expert on these issues, but I am not willing to take the risk either!
DeleteReally? My brother-in-law is an airline pilot and said that was nonsense. Maybe different planes are different...
DeleteIf phones would interfere and if the equipment would be interferable by phones, both would violate the regulations.
DeleteThats also the reason why you shouldnt take out the backplates on your PC case without putting some card in. Not because the air circulations gets worse, but because the holes in the metal are so small that the electric waves cant go through. If you take all the metal out you are sending the waves out and theoretically could interfere something (and be liable even if you dont actually interfere because of regulations violation).
Thats for germany, but I expect the regulations are more or less the same everywhere.
Books do not require earphones!
DeleteHahaha! I'm a white-knuckle flyer, and I would totally take this airline, because all this is just a watered-down, tame version of all the shit that goes through my mind during the flight.
ReplyDeleteAlso, watching Mayday (I think it's know in the US as Air Crash Investigation) on a regular basis has been helping some -- strangely enough -- because it has given me a more realistic vision of how a plane operates and what may or may not happen. Honesty Airways FTW!
Good! Glad you get where I'm going with this...we should compare catastrophic in-flight thoughts sometime. Or maybe we should never do that.
DeleteI just discovered your site, this stuff is golden! Spent the last 2 hours reading all of your comics. Now I want to make my own comic blog about my misadventures in learning Mandarin and Indonesian!
ReplyDeleteYou totally should! I've learned only European languages, and I feel like I'm not representing a lot of the crazy stuff that you go through learning languages completely different than western ones. I want to learn Arabic and Mandarin for exactly that reason, to talk about it in the comic!
DeleteBut if you do it, it would save me a lot of work. ^_^
Interesting case to note is Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 which did a water landing off the Comoros Islands. A wide-body aircraft. Most frightening is the number of people who died unnecessarily because they inflated their life vests while still inside the aircraft. So instead of being able to make it out the exit, they were trapped. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
ReplyDeleteIt's the closest we have to a "successful" emergency water landing. It was a 767 wide-body. There were 50 survivors out of 175.
DeleteAlthough if you have to land it in the water, somehow "successful" doesn't come in the equation to me.