FAA admits near-collision of two jets

by Katie Hammel on

Early in the morning on November 23, two jets coming in for landing at Denver International Airport had a near-miss, as one plane tried to make a U-turn into the path of the other, causing the jets to come within 200 feet of one another.

According to ABC News, one jet was in a line of planes coming in for landing. The other was on a parallel path, and needed to be guided in to the line. Air traffic controllers gave the second plane incorrect instructions though, requiring it to turn around to right in the path of the other plane. The plane’s collision avoidance system sounded an alarm, and the pilots were able to avoid the other plane.

ABC News quoted a source as saying that the two planes merged on the radar screen and came with “a blink of an eye” of each other. As is always the case with incidents like these, the FAA is investigating.

Plane Answers: A pilot’s seatbelt sign philosophy and aircraft accident odds

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Caroline asks:

Can someone tell me why the pilot sometimes turns on the seatbelt sign but it’s seemingly for no reason? I recently flew Dubai to London and he (or she) kept putting it on however nothing happened. Especially annoying as I needed the bathroom at the time?

Hi Caroline,

There are a couple of possible explanations for a seatbelt sign that turns on and off frequently.

Occasionally we’ll get reports from airplanes in front of us warning of turbulence ahead. It’s best to get the seatbelt sign on if we get a report like this to prevent any injuries to passengers standing in the aisle.

Deciding when to turn the sign on after experiencing some un-forecasted and unreported bumps can be a challenge. Some pilots don’t mind turning the sign on and off as the conditions permit and some will turn it on, only to forget about the sign when the ride improves, thus making every passenger feel like a criminal for using the lavatory for the rest of the trip.

There are some pilots who are concerned enough about the liability involved when turning the sign off that they’ll insist on keeping it lit for the duration of the flight. This actually creates a riskier situation since passengers will disregard the sign, even during periods of turbulence, completely eliminating the point in having a sign in the first place.

There’s another explanation that might surprise you. Pilots have been known to get calls from flight attendants asking for the sign to be turned on so they don’t have to deal with people becoming stuck in an aisle between their carts or otherwise getting in the way of the service.

And occasionally there can be a rather large group of people congregating around the galleys chatting it up. One of the ways to disperse this crowd had been to use the seatbelt sign. This isn’t exactly what the sign was intended for, of course.

Jen asks:

Hi Kent,

In light of the Air France crash, I am curious to know if it is indeed true that passengers pass out first, due to loss of cabin pressure, even before a plane hits the water (assuming it didn’t explode in the air)?

What are the odds of this happening to me? Are the odds of this happening greater or less than winning the lottery?

P.S. This is my take: when I get on the plane, my odds are 50 / 50 : 50% chance that I live and 50% chance I don’t. (haha, ok, joking…)

Hi Jen,

If the flight were to depressurize, and assuming the passengers couldn’t get to their oxygen masks during the descent, then there is a limited amount of time until they will pass out. This time of useful consciousness varies depending on the altitude.

At FL350 (35,000 feet) that time is only 30 to 60 seconds. However if the airplane is descending rapidly, the lower altitude will likely wake people up.

It’s a morbid thought, for sure, but since you brought up statistics, let’s look at the odds of dying in an airline accident a moment.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the odds of losing your life in any given year is 1 in 502,544 and over an entire lifetime, it drops down to 1 in 6,460.

That’s much better than the 1 in 84 odds over a lifetime that a person could be killed in an automobile accident. It seems to me the most effective way to save lives on a large scale would be to improve auto safety.

The odds of winning the lottery are reported at between 1 in 18 million for a state lottery to as low as 1 in 120 million in a multi-state contest. So, in fact the odds of an airplane accident are greater than the average person’s odds of winning the lottery.

But the automobile odds show that driving is really the risky activity – 77 times riskier than flying, yet it’s unusual to hear of anyone afraid of driving.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for the next Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles to travel along with him at work.

Hawaii safer than ever (in the sky)

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Air tour accidents are down according to a bizarre measurement. For the current decade, crashes are down from the 1990s. However you stack it up, though, this can only be seen as a positive development. For the past 10 years, there has been an average of 2.5 accidents per year. The decade before, it was 3.6 a year.

Last year was a below-average year (a good thing), with only two accidents. A plane crash on Mauna Loa killed three, and a forced helicopter landing in Hilo in February 2008 led to five minor injuries.

The improvement shows that a solid track record can still get better. Hawaii‘s 2.5 accidents/year is well below the national average 13 (down from 18). Stricter FAA rules, technological advancements and a “better dialogue between tour firms and regulators” are credited with the success.

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Commuter plane crashed on way to Nome and all safe

by Jamie Rhein on

Last night a Frontier Flying Service plane heading to Nome, Alaska from Brevig Mission went down with a pilot and five passengers. Although the story is not as fantastical as the Hudson River landing, I imagine the sentiments of those on board are similar, particularly with the news of the crash near Buffalo still so recent.

According to this Anchorage Daily News article sent our way by Matt, a Gadling reader, the pilot guided the plane into a safe crash landing then set off the emergency locator beacon to help rescue teams locate the plane. Only one person suffered a bump on the head.

When the plane didn’t arrive on time after the pilot lost contact with the tower, officials knew something was wrong. The Piper PA-31-350 was found seven miles from Nome by rescuers on snow machines. The plane crash is under investigation, and it’s unclear what happened to cause the crash.

Reading the story reminded me of the harrowing tales my husband has told about flying to fish camp in Alaska. He had a couple of flights where his heart ended up in his throat, so to speak. No crashes, though–just some dips and turns he could have done without. [The photo is of a Piper Chieftain with Golden Eagle Airlines in Australia.]

Lives saved from missed connection on flight to Buffalo

by Jamie Rhein on

Imagine this scenario. You’re feeling aggravated because your flight has been delayed. Because of this delay, you’ve missed your connection on another flight. The hours have ticked by while you’re wondering when you might get to your destination.

Then you find out that the plane you would have been on if your flight had not been delayed had crashed into a house and everyone on board had died.

That’s the case of three people who would have been on Flight 3407 that crashed near Buffalo, New York if their flight out of New Orleans had not been delayed for five hours. The three–Dave Beckeny, Paul Dwaragowski and a business associate, were heading to Buffalo but missed the Newark connection. As one of them said, knowing what could have happened if they had been on time is “weird.”

Yesterday when Tom, and then I wrote about the crash, we didn’t know about these three until Heather sent this Nutty News post my way. Again, here is a reminder that so much about arriving or not arriving at destinations seems random. Still most of us get where we’re heading — never knowing what might have happened if we had walked out of the house ten minutes earlier or headed home sooner than expected. Regardless of whether a flight is delayed or leaves on time, enjoy where you are. That moment is yours.