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2023-09-16 Science & Technology

Crisis averted...for now: Pilot reveals why planes barely avoiding tragedy as terrified passengers speak out

[FoxNews] A commercial airline pilot revealed to Fox News Digital what he believes is the reason for an uptick in close-call incidents involving aircraft in the U.S., and what must be done to fix the country's travel system.

According to data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there have been 1,583 close-call incidents in fiscal year 2023 versus fiscal year 2022, which had 1,730 such incidents.

A letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sept. 5 from the House Oversight Committee stated that recent close-call incidents have "eroded the public’s confidence in air and rail safety and necessitates thorough investigation."

According to a New York Times report, the number of voluntary submissions involving close calls has more than doubled over the past decade with 300 incidents involving commercial airlines in the past 12 months, but doesn't say if the increased figure is a result of an increase in such incidents or more frequent reporting.

Bottom line is that a large number of experienced, Air Force-trained pilots retired or quit rather than get the mandatory Covid shot. And their replacements are young civilians who are flight school-trained, which I imagine to be considerably less rigorous, then thrown in the deep end rather than getting a long apprenticeship sitting junior to one of those retired Air Force types.

Posted by Skidmark 2023-09-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ] Top

#1 United Airlines flight to Rome diverts back to Newark, drops 28,000 feet in 10 minutes

A spokesperson for United Airlines told Fox News Digital that the flight returned to Newark airport "to address a possible loss of cabin pressure."
OR
"The flight landed safely and there was never any loss of cabin pressure," the spokesperson said.

Posted by Skidmark 2023-09-15 10:57|| 2023-09-15 10:57|| Front Page Top

#2 As mentioned here before...about many industries.

the air travel system in the U.S. is under "immense pressure," adding that individuals who are "less seasoned" and "less experienced" are now entering the industry.

Do they speak english?

Posted by Skidmark 2023-09-16 01:45|| 2023-09-16 01:45|| Front Page Top

#3 /\ Perhaps they should have chosen politics instead of aviation. Advanced age and senility are obviously not limiting factors there.

Posted by Besoeker 2023-09-16 06:31|| 2023-09-16 06:31|| Front Page Top

#4 #2 but they're more 'diverse'! And by the way, grades are racist! (do I need to put a /sarc on that?)

Posted by Procopius2k 2023-09-16 07:41|| 2023-09-16 07:41|| Front Page Top

#5 No, because that is one major airline's actual pilot hiring policy.

Posted by swksvolFF 2023-09-16 10:29|| 2023-09-16 10:29|| Front Page Top

#6 Is it pilots or the Air Traffic Controllers, whose civil service workforce has been DEI'd and Woke like the rest of the federal workforce?

Posted by NoMoreBS 2023-09-16 12:18|| 2023-09-16 12:18|| Front Page Top

#7 "United Airlines flight to Rome diverts back to Newark, drops 28,000 feet in 10 minutes"

Oh My! The dreaded 2,800 fpm descent! Any certificated pilot who has not performed a cross-controlled 5,000 fpm descent (with make-believe smoke/fire/gremlins coming out of the engine cowling) during training had incomplete instruction (imo).

The article states there was a pressurization issue with the a/c. Although not an "emergency" per se (Payne Stewart and like excepted), an aircraft subject to an inability to maintain cabin pressure (12,500 MSL for a max of 30-minutes, 14,000 MSL at any time - aircrew-required pressure altitude numbers) should descend (10,000 MSL is a good number) to maintain the pressure necessary to deliver, without equipment assistance, O2 to the lungs.

If a descent is unavailable and cabin pressure altitude is maintained (12,500 / 14,000) the pax would fall asleep, while the flight crew, per FAR regs, would be wearing supplemental O2 equipment.

Granted, the nap may become permanent in extended and extreme circumstances (again, see Payne Stewart), but I have heard of old-timey charter pilots dialing up the cabin pressure altimeter to quiet down a distractively raucous cabin.

Posted by Anomalous Sources 2023-09-16 17:16|| 2023-09-16 17:16|| Front Page Top

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