Flying Humor!

[a440]

Too Funny!
Brent

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[whirlcool]

This was a good example of the reason we no longer call turbulence turbulence to our passengers. All we are allowed to call it now is "bumpy air". It's less upsetting to the passengers.

 

[toggleswitch2]

And weathermen no longer call a storm as such. Now it's a "weather event".

"Storm" triggers a REASON (in the minds of the masses) to worry, panic and hoard.

OOOH my aching back. Geez in the old days you'd panic upon 15 inches and up not 8 or less. Snow, I mean.

 

[sudsmaster]

I LIKE turbulence

It's like a free roller coaster ride.

I especially like it when the wings start flapping.

 

[toggleswitch2]

I was tempted to say "we are all gonna die" but I

.
How is California like a bowl of cereal?
Once you get past the nuts and the flakes, all you have left is the fruits.

From across the airport seating area in L.A. I saw this (Californian) young woman, on a mildly crips autumn day with a heavy winter jacket and furry snowboots. I though OMG, she's just not all "right". (At security check-in I managed to see her drivers' license).

Of course where did Missy sit on the plane? Right next to me, thank you very much. We went through some turbulence and she was freaked out. I offered her to take my hand to comfort her. well, I had nail marks in my hand! Poor dear was quite shaken.

They say the hardest part of flying is giving up total control and being locked in a "room" with nowhere to go with mostly strangers.

 

[laundromat]

I love Flying!

Back in '93,i went on a continental flight to Great Britain. The flight left the Hollywood Fl. Airport around 5:30 PM. I fell asleep 5 minutes after take off and woke up around 6AM to a severe shaking of the jet.The pilot came on the speaker to ask us not to worry.There was a storm pocket we were in and the air pockets in it were causing turbulance causing the jet to vigorously vibrate but for us not to be alarmed.It lasted about 45 minutes and the Nun sitting next to me was grasping her Roserie beeds and crossing her chest with her hands. My eyes closed back up as I laughed to myself and fell back to sleep.The flight back was even more turbulant but I had no worries. Fate is fate and if my fate is to die flying away or home,so be it.No worries.I have flown dozens of times since and still love sitting next to the window watching the clouds and enjoying the excitement of where my destination was and how soon we'd be landing.

 

[sudsmaster]

The only time I was really concerned when flying what on an island hopper in Hawaii. I had a window seat, as usual, and as the jet climbed steeply and leveled off, the sides of the plane would flex so much that my fingers got caught between the armrest and the interior wall of the plane. Painful! I quickly learned not to drape my fingers over the armrest on that plane.

A year or two later one of those island hoppers shed a large part of its roof in flight - taking one flight attendant with it. I've always wondered if it was the same plane I was on earlier.

 

[jeffg]

> They say the hardest part of flying is giving up total control and being locked in a "room" with nowhere to go with mostly strangers. <

Yes, studies have shown that very few people who say they're afraid of flying actually fear flying. What they're afraid of is giving up control of their own lives to someone else, even for a few hours.

 

[whirlcool]

Actually, those "Island Hoppers" were Boeing 737-200 aircraft. They are considered mainline type of jets. In fact, the 737 series is the most common aircraft to fly on these days. Chances are if you fly just about anywhere in the US, you'll be on a 737 or some kind.

 

[sudsmaster]

I though the island hopper I was on in the early 80's was a DC-9... When did the 737 come out?

As I recall, metal fatigue from many take-offs and landings (as well as the pressurization/depressurization cycles) led to serious cracks in the fuselage of a number of these jets, which had to be repaired or retired. Other than that time in Hawaii, I've never been on a jet that tried to pinch my fingers off during a steep climb.

 

[jeffg]

Here's a similar bit from Monty Python's Flying Circus.. I love the bit about "Emergency Sprill" LOL

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[whirlcool]

The 737 first came out in 1968. The launch customer was Lufthansa, and United here in the US. At first they were off to a slow selling point and jet fuel was pretty cheap. But after 1974 sales really started to take of and the 737 is even being built today. There were more 737's built than any other kind of Boeing jet! Not only are they cheaper to operate, but they only require a two man crew, another cost savings.
The Aloha 737 that lost it's roof was over 20 years old. Short hops up and down do tend to wear out the airframe of the aircraft. That's what happened to the Aloha flight. The constant pressuizing and depressurizing of the aircraft leads to metal fatigue. It's just like bending a piece of tin back and forth until it breaks.
NW/Delta is still flying DC-9's. Some of those jets are 42 years old! With careful maintenance and checkups, a plane could literally fly forever.

 

[gyrafoam]

Also, Aloha had purchased the kits to upgrade the strength of critical areas on the aircraft but had never applied it! DUH!
So, yes, it was a mx issue. I've seen some old -100's and -200's that were peppered with "scab-patches" especially around the doors.

Oh, and those old DC-9s are built like battleships. They have a much heavier structure than Boeing uses and that has had a considerable difference in the longevity of the fleet.

Just my two-shekels.

 

[abcomatic]

Electra jets

Maybe I am wrong about this, but I remember hearing about the Electra Jets from the 1960's. I believe it was said that the reason why they were taken out of use was because the wings fell off of them? Is that right or not? Gary

 

[sudsmaster]

Don't know about the "Electra Jet", but an early British jet airliner - the Comet - was taken out of service because of a series of unexplainable accidents. The engines were mounted at the junction of the wind and the fuselage - and that was a potential source of failure. Finally after several lost aircraft, the problem was traced to the design of the windows (square) and the technique used to rivet them. When the aluminum skin failed at the rivets, the cracks spread and the entire structure failed catastrophically. The windows were redesigned as oval and the rivets were backed up by glue, and the catastrophic failures stopped. But Comet sales never fully recovered. The Comet was the first commercial jet airliner.

 

[whirlcool]

Yes, The Lockheed Electra was grounded for awhile soon after it hit the market. It had a structural problem with the engines and the wings. The engines would vibrate and reach a frequency the same as the wing and the motor mounts would break loose, and the broken fuel lines would pour jet fuel on the engine exhaust, thereby creating an explosion. Both Northwest Airlines and Braniff had crashes due to this reason. The government tested and tested the Electra never to have the problem occur on test flights. Finally Lockeed, the mfg of the plane, increased the structural strength of engine mounts/wing structure and the aircraft flew on to be very successful in the end. It is still used today by some cargo carriers around the world and in Alaska. And the Electra is still used today by the US Navy as the P-3 Orion. Northwest Airlines flew them up to about 1975 or so. Other carriers that had them were American Airlines, National Airlines and KLM Airlines, to name a few.
There is a memorial near Tell City, Indiana where the NW plane went down. The flight was traveling Chicago Midway- Miami when it crashed. They just covered the wreckage up because it all melted together in the ground with a lot of bodies still inside.
One of the marketing problems with the Electra was that Lockheed released it about the same time that Boeing was building 707 pure jets and Douglas was building pure jet DC-8's. The Lockheed Electra was considered a dated design from the get go.

http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~steve/Spiro/electra1.html

 

[alr2903]

Whirlcool, i like seeing that Braniff logo. Now, Braniff knew how to "set" a tray table, cloth napkins and salt & pepper shakers. I sure miss them... Once on a SW flight with family to Orlando, the flight attendant announced we will arrive in Cincinatti at... on time... ALL the kids onboard enroute to Mickey were protesting loudly. We had small children in our group, but i have to admit, it was a good prank. alr2903

 

[sudsmaster]

And here is part 2 of the Lockheed Electra story:

http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~steve/Spiro/electra2.html

 

[whirlcool]

RE: Braniff

My father flew for Braniff. You are right, they did have some of the best service in the air. When they came out with the "End of the Plain Plane" campaign in 1965 they literally turned the airline service world upside down. Pucci uniforms, "jelley bean" painted planes. Etc.
This change was created by Marry Wells, the advertising exec. She was also famous for the "Ford has a brighter idea" and the Alka Seltzer "Plop plop fizz fizz" campaigns. She later became the wife of Harding Lawrence, the president of Braniff at the time. She's still around today.