Aviation Tales from the Fringes
This week, I have a collection of flying stories that aren’t really about the flying part of the flight. They are all stories that reminded me that aviation isn’t just about getting from A to B and I couldn’t resist sharing them. I hope you find them interesting as well!
A Communication Breakdown at Oslo
An SAS flight landed normally at Oslo but then evacuated, apparently due to a misunderstanding between the pilot and cabin crew. Despite an investigation including breathalyzer tests for all crew (which came up negative), the exact nature of this miscommunication remains a mystery. What could the flight crew have possibly said that would lead to this?
SAS flight evacuated at Oslo Gardermoen: incident declared a misunderstanding
“Within minutes, panic ensued,” Jonsvold reported. Passengers were instructed to leave their belongings behind as they exited the aircraft. Upon disembarking, they were met by several fire trucks, and the police quickly arrived on the scene. “People were walking out onto the wing, and several slid down the emergency slides,” she added.
Landed Without Incident
In this recent Reddit post, an air traffic control operations manager is full of righteous indignation and I can’t say that I blame them. That said, I laughed out loud at the top comment: “Oh shit its the guy they give you a number to call when you fuck up.”
If you are no longer an emergency aircraft, tell ATC as soon as practical.
I am an operations manager at an Enroute Center, I’m the guy in charge of investigations when there’s a pilot deviation, an emergency, a missing plane, etc. I’m also coordinating with other facilities, search and rescue, law enforcement, and the Command Center in DC whenever we have an emergency.
Today we had a pilot declare an emergency due to loss of power and was diverting to the nearest airport (non towered). We lost radar and radio communications with the pilot about 2 miles from his divert airport. A local tower hears the MAYDAY call in the vicinity (50 miles) and rolls trucks and rescue. After about 10 minutes we don’t hear from the pilot so we initiate search and rescue (ALNOT). Everyone from the Air Force to DC and local PD/fire are on high alert and searching. We have airborne aircraft overfly the airport, they see nothing. We call other facilities nearby, they know nothing. Search and rescue is fully underway at this point; police have dispatched a vehicle to drive to the airport, department is prepping their helicopter, etc.
An HOUR later we get a phone call from a local TRACON that they see the ADSB of the aircraft airborne and cruising along. We track him to his new destination (non towered) and are able to get a fueller on the phone to confirm call sign is safely on the ground. We get the fuel guy to tell the pilot to give us a call, which the pilot does. He landed without incident at his divert airport then continued on his merry way to his next destination. Like WHAT THE FUCK DUDE???
Please don’t hesitate to ever declare an emergency or declare mayday, ATC is happy to help and will do so unflinchingly. But if you don’t need help an anymore, tell us.
Rant over.
Qantas’ R-Rated Surprise
A nightmare on a long-haul flight from Sydney to Tokyo: the in-flight entertainment system broke down, which meant that it wasn’t possible for passengers to choose films to watch. Normally, the crew pick a family-friendly film to play for the entire cabin. Unfortunately, someone decided that Daddio, a rated R film with strong language and nudity, was a good choice.
Qantas apologises after R-rated movie played to passengers on Sydney to Tokyo flight
After the flight, some passengers shared the experience on social media. One described the movie as “40 minutes of penis and boobs”.
“These poor kids and their parents because you should’ve heard the audible gasps across the plane,” wrote the passenger.
Boeing Machinists’ Quest for a “World-Class Contract”
Working at Boeing was once the dream job in the Pacific Northwest. In an opinion piece in the Seattle Times yesterday, Bruce McFarland, a Boeing Machinist of 36 years, shared some interesting insights into how things have changed and what’s at stake in the ongoing negotiations between Boeing and its Machinists.
I’m a Boeing Machinist. This is what I’m fighting for
When I hired in 36 years ago, Boeing was the premier place to work in the Puget Sound area. The wages were the best in the Northwest, you had a competitive retirement that let you retire with security and dignity, and the medical benefits were company-paid. It was not easy getting in the door; even coming from the military with an aviation background, it took me a year to get hired. Now, Dick’s Drive-In pays more than many of our starting labor grades.
When Running Out of Fuel is the Least of Your Problems
A flight instructor and student’s trip to Arizona took an unexpected turn on the return flight, when they ran out of fuel on final approach to Oceanside, CA. They landed on the highway at 1:30am local time. But that’s not the story. Rumour has it that the aircraft actually had fuel on board – the pilot had simply forgotten to switch tanks. Worse, after the police arrived, one of the occupants tried to hide a backpack in the bushes, which turned out to be a kilo of cocaine.
Cocaine found in small plane that made emergency landing on SR-76, Oceanside police say
“It doesn’t surprise me. I think we have narcotics coming into our country in various ways, but I think the surprising part is the emergency landing and how we came across it,” Valdovinos said.
The best response in the Reddit discussion, in response to a comment that one kilo didn’t seem like much for drug smuggling:
I have seen enough movies to know this was their trip to prove themselves to a Colombian cartel. Once they showed they could move a kilo, they would then be allowed to take plane loads of blow back to the US and marry Penelope Cruz.
A Student Pilot’s Costly Tantrum
When a student was told he wasn’t ready yet for his first solo, he did not take it well. As reported in September 2023 a PPL student in Florida sabotaged ten aircraft at his flying club, bending the throttles so that no one else could fly.
His arrest was filmed from the body cam from the police and the footage was released last month. It strikes me that the student shows no remorse but simply asks how much the fine will be. He was held in custody for 266 days (8 months) after failing to attend a court date and was sentenced to time served and a flying ban for life.
[ETA: the link stopped working. To see the court documents, visit https://court.martinclerk.com/Home.aspx/Search and search on the case number: 23001150CFAXMX ]
The CrimePiece has posted the footage on YouTube: Foreign student damages 10 planes in fit of rage. BODYCAM
These situations outside of the cockpit remind me that in aviation, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Which one caught your attention? Or, if you prefer, tell your own: What’s the most unusual situation you’ve faced as a pilot, passenger or plane spotter? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
Thanks for the seattletimes.com link. That’s a refreshingly direct and simple article.
It’s the same in the computer industry. Remember all the HP/Google/Microsoft/Oracle perks of a gym, canteen, drycleaning pickup, free snacks/coffee, a matched 401K, etc,etc? Now you’re lucky if you don’t have to train the guy in India that’s replacing you when you get laid off.
I’ve never understood how the “Train the guy in India” bit is supposed to work. What comeback does the company have if you train him wrongly?
Loved Boeing as a (plane nerd) kid. Grew up to be an aerospace engineer. Worked with Boeing subsidiaries.
Now I don’t want to fly in their planes… I mean, if they don’t have enough quality control to put the screws back in a door plug (!), how could they possibly be trusted to do complex things? Nuts.
You’d be even more concerned if you learned that on some 737NG and 737MAX, the rudder can freeze, and Boeings advice is simply to push the rudder pedal very hard to get it unstuck. This seems like bad advice when the pilots are in the process of landing the aircraft, when they absolutely must not swerve. See NTSB Aviation Investigation Report AIR-24-06.
Geez, and I wouldn’t even have thought that rudder control is a “complex thing” by this time… I mean, we’ve been doing it in various different forms for more than 100 years, and Boeing’s been doing it on big jets since the 50s; surely it’s sorted by now?!?
And yes, I’m well aware the 737 has had rudder issues in the past…. which Boeing in their wisdom strenuously denied until it was obvious. Oops.
Boeing adds complexity by design. The 737s are fly-by-cable, and that means for every electronic assistance feature, they have to add a servo motor that pulls the same cables the pilot is pulling. (This design philosophy has already grounded the 737max fleet due to MCAS and the crashes it caused.) What happened here is that Boeing added a servo for CAT IIIb autoland to control the rudder, and then disabled it for carriers that don’t need it. But because it is still physically connected to the cable, if that motor seizes up, the cable is stuck. And when you produce these things in Mexico, …
When you produce those things in Mexico, you need strong quality control, same as when you produce them in Kansas or Washington State.
And quality control is expensive.
@Minz Yes. Generally, managers decide to move production out of the country not because they want it to be better, but because they want it to be cheaper.
Or indeed, you move construction out of a place where you have a unionised, educated workforce to a different state with weaker labour laws because you want it cheaper.
I’ve worked on aircraft from another US manufacturer and have been told that you need to look out for particular things in maintenance because they imported an uneducated, un-unionised (cheap) workforce in order to make more profit. Boeing aren’t the only ones!