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    Fear of Landing

    fearoflanding.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2013

    Fear of Landing covers aviation accidents and incidents, with cockpit sequences, transcripts and report analysis.

    Visit blogRSSHN submissions
    ScienceHistory
    What HN says

    HN commenters link it for accident reports and cockpit transcripts, such as the Southwest 812 decompression and the Ethiopian 737 preliminary report.

    Stats for nerds
    17HN people shared it
    10linked in comments
    450story points
    Dec 2023last shared
    2016people per year2023

    Top posts on HN

    1. 1
      The unstallable plane that stalled
      1 person · 176 points · first shared 2024 · 179 comments on HN
    2. 2
      Sequence of Events in the Cockpit on Asiana Flight 214
      1 person · 158 points · first shared 2013 · 129 comments on HN
    3. 3
      Lightning aircraft crash at Hatfield (2013)
      2 people · 95 points · first shared 2017 · 5 comments on HN
    4. 4
      Post-Pandemic Mystery at Heathrow
      1 person · 12 points · first shared 2022 · 1 comments on HN
    5. 5
      Fear of Landing – When Both Your Mind and Your Instruments Are Lying
      1 person · 2 points · first shared 2017 · Discussion on HN
    6. 6
      Recognising NASA Technology on Modern Airliners
      1 person · 2 points · first shared 2024 · Discussion on HN
    7. 7
      Santa's instrument approach charts (2015)
      1 person · 2 points · first shared 2024 · Discussion on HN
    8. 8
      The Missing Bolts from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282
      1 person · 2 points · first shared 2024 · Discussion on HN
    9. 9
      Just a little slip: a tragedy of errors for G-EUOE
      1 person · 1 points · first shared 2015 · Discussion on HN
    10. 10
      Hypoxia on kalitta 66
      1 person · first shared 2018

    What HN people wrote when they linked it

    • belochMar 2017

      While it's "only" 52 years old, another plane still in production (albeit under a new company) that's worthy of discussion is the de Havilland Canada (now Viking) DHC-6 Twin Otter[1].

      The Twin Otter isn't just nice to fly, cheap, or ubiquitous. It isn't just a mainstay bush plane everywhere. It's still the best plane in existence for certain extreme requirements.

      Many different planes can go deep into Antarctica during the summer, but when somebody gets sick enough to warrant evacuation from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica in the middle of winter, as happened in 2016[2], the DHC-6 is still the best plane for the job. In fact, two DHC-6's went because the only plane capable of performing search and rescue for the first was another DHC-6. There simply aren't other planes out there that can land on a short, frozen runway in the dark of an Antarctic Winter when temperatures are so cold that fuel turns into jelly[3].

      Viking has been modernizing many aspects of the Twin Otter, but they're still making Twin Otters. The Twin Otter is 52 years old and still does things no other plane can.

      [1]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kenn-borek-air-south-pole-june-22-1.3646966

      [2]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kenn-borek-air-south-pole-june-22-1.3646966

      [3]https://fearoflanding.com/misc/twin-otter-emergency-winter-flight-to-the-south-pole/

    • outworlderSep 2018

      Another interesting one is the guy that was suffering from hypoxia.

      "Unable... to control... altitude"
      "Unable... to control... airspeed"
      "Unable... to control... heading"
      "Other than that, everything A-OK!"

      Guy landed safely after ATC realized it was hypoxia and ordered the flight to descend.

      EDIT: link https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/accident-reports/hypoxia-on-kalitta-66/

    • imglorpDec 2016

      So it turns out not only was that guy negligent, but there was also another plane in the pattern who got priority because, at the time, it looked like that other one was low fuel also (maybe a false alarm).

      Here's a reputable source.

      https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/not-enough-fuel-the-disgusting-truth-about-lamia-flight-2933/

    • tyingqSep 2020

      There's a transcript from a decompression event that shows what you're talking about here: https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/accident-reports/weve-lost-the-cabin-southwest-flight-812/

      I particularly like the "He's doing it anyway" comment.

      I imagine there are situations where they can't descend though.

    • bronsonMay 2019

      Remember that they left an airport about 7000 feet up and headed over mountains. It's unlikely the plane was ever more than a few thousand feet above ground level.

      Page 26 in Ethiopia's report: https://fearoflanding.com/files/2019/04/Preliminary-Report-B737-800MAX-ET-AVJ.pdf

    • jleaderMay 2016

      Example where the pilots involved pushed their luck until that 1% chance finally killed them (and their passengers): http://fearoflanding.com/accidents/accident-reports/how-to-drop-a-gulfstream-iv-into-a-ravine-habitual-noncompliance/

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