Absolutely The scariest comment I've heard on this incident is that "the checks and balances worked as designed" so nothing really to see here. It appears to me that the checks and balances were running low, and that the UAL's radio call was an important contributing factor in averting a "Canary Islands times 4" catastrophe.

(Written on 15/07/2017)(Permalink)

Ditto on the memory fragmentation. Thanks for filling in the blanks. Truly remarkable stories.

(Written on 18/02/2017)(Permalink)

Thanks for that detail on the tail gunner. It jogged my memory a bit, and I think this was the case where the falling man was conscious and in a slow tumble where "the stars slowly alternated with the black of the ground". He must have been knocked out when he hit the tree branches. There is some background on the Caterpillar Club at Wikipedia. The Wikipedia account names the tail gunner and claims that he was refused membership. I might have miss-remembered that part of the story :) His fall was documented as 18,000 feet.

(Written on 17/02/2017)(Permalink)

There is another well documented case of a survivor with no parachute in the book "Into the Silk" that chronicles the "caterpillar club", a club formed for the airmen who lives were saved by a parachute. This club was formed by the parachute manufacturer Irvin when it starting receiving thank-you letters from bailout survivors. Normally to become a member, you had to have a parachute. But in one case, a WW II bomber crewman was hurled out of his plane at high altitude with no parachute. He crashed through branches of a tree and landed in a snow bank with minor injuries. The Germans captured him immediately and documented that he had fallen without a parachute and that his parachute was found in the wreckage of his plane. Technically, he didn't qualify for membership in the caterpillar club because his life had not been saved by his parachute, the requirement for membership. But they gave him an honorary membership anyway. I think there was another case as well, but I read this b

(Written on 17/02/2017)(Permalink)

Wow. You can't make this stuff up. Glad the crew got it down with just dirty laundry, no one on the ground hurt, and we can all chuckle about it. Could have been a real tragedy.

(Written on 06/01/2017)(Permalink)

LOL!

(Written on 09/12/2016)(Permalink)

I was one of the last passengers getting off a late Southwest flight one evening. As I came up the aisle, there was the captain with a garbage bag going through the seats with the cabin crew, pitching in to get the flight back on time. Pretty much exemplifies the Southwest culture. Great airline.

(Written on 11/11/2016)(Permalink)