Any of you guys watch Air Disasters?

[ScarletHayes]

I'll occasionally catch this show on the Smithsonian Channel.  Outside of the morbid topic itself, watching how these crash investigators works just fascinates the crap out of me.  If you're into solving mysteries, but in a relentless methodical manner, this show might be for you.  I saw one episode where these guys painstakingly put the plane back together in order to solve the mystery.  


I've seen everything from crews not properly going over their preflight checklist being the primary cause, all the way to crazy mechanical failures.  

I know this is kind of a random topic, but I just watched an episode, and the way these guys solve this ***** just fascinates me to no end.  I highly recommend the show if you're into mysteries and/or science related topics.  Or if you're just bored it's worth a glance or two.  

[lrrps21]

It's pretty cool how a team of people take a wrecked plane and piece it together. It's the same with destroyed US Currency.

[cincydawg]

I used to get the NTSB monthly report from a friend on air "incidents". They'd have one long analysis of a crash, usually, it might be a large plane or small. The two main errors they found were:

1. Stall/spin, and
2. Controlled flight into terrain.

Mechanical failure was rare, but it happened (as it did to me once). I liked the way No. 2 is worded.

At times, the failures by trained professionals were hard to believe.

[ScarletHayes]

I recall one episode that involved a flight from China to San Francisco.  They encountered what the investigators later discovered was an extremely minor issue.  It (the malfunction) may have been due to the crew itself, but I forget now.  Anyway, these guys landed this plane in SF after it fell out of the sky on a couple of occasions (where they obviously pulled it out of a crash).  By the time they landed, the plane was barely held together after the G forces all but tore it to pieces.  The landing itself was a minor miracle.  The expert flying exhibited to just land the thing blew the the passengers away.  Anyway, after a painstaking investigation, what they found was that one of the pilots was exhausted.  Had very little sleep.  That one factor caused many obvious routine checks to be missed by the entire crew.  It turned out that to get out of the original predicament, it was just a routine solution found in one of the safety binders.  The crew skipped right over it and eventually went straight into disaster zone.  


Bottom line was that the crew's negligence put everyone's life in danger, but it then ended up being their miraculous skill that pulled them out of it.  No casualties outside of the plane itself.  Majority of the passengers praised the crew at their expert flying to save them, even after finding out that it was their negligence that put them in danger in the first place.

[cincydawg]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006

[ScarletHayes]

I dug up part of the episode here.  If you're interested I'm sure you could dig around and find the whole episode. The fact they even landed that plane was something else.  Anyway, gotta head out here shortly.  Here's what I found:

 

[lrrps21]

It's almost guaranteed - in military - any aircraft crash is going to be labeled Pilot's Error. I was the Rappel Master on a helicopter for the NG out of TX/LA/AR. I was working 24 hours and some guy from one of the NG units was pestering me about letting him get experience as Rappel Master. I finally let him. The helicopter crashed and all died. Turns out the pilot - a Vietnam pilot who liked to hot dog - clipped the treeline while flying NOE. The crash was ruled Pilot Error

Flying Advice:

Never fly Air China. I made this mistake once. Thought I'd be frugal and save on the cost of a plane ticket. I have flown a zillion times and over a zillion miles and this was the worst flying experience of my life.. The plane was packed, the non stop shouting, asking for food, getting up to walk or utilize the lavatory were only bettered by the constant sounds and smells of flatulence.

It literally looked and smelled like a can of sardines once opened.

[cincydawg]

The majority of airline crashes are pilot error, often with mechanical failures intertwined. The response to a mechanical issue can make it worse.

My own case, with a Cessna 152, was labeled an "incident" since there was no property damage and no one was hurt, and thankfully it was attributed to mechanical failure.

Failure to trust your instruments in clouds is a major error.

[lrrps21]

Yup. A friend's cousin died when his jet crashed. It turned into a nasty blame game between the military and family. Once the investigation was completed the rational family members accepted the pilot error decision. These people are very good at what they do.

[cincydawg]

There are at least two attitude indicators on every plane. If you have a wet compass that makes three in effect.

[JamesWright]

Great show. My favorite was the episode where they literally ran out of gas.

[ScarletHayes]

I had forgotten about this one from 5--10 years ago.  The plane that flew into the Alps at full speed.  Saw an episode about it last night.  

The long and short of it:  One of the pilots got up to go to the bathroom, and the other pilot (who had been taking medication for depression and was mentally ill.  He was supposed to notify the airline.  German law says the patient has to notify.  Doctors/psychiatrists aren't allowed to due to privacy laws) then wouldn't let him back into the cockpit and purposely flew the plane into the side of the mountain, obviously killing everyone on board.  I can't even imagine the terror the passengers were going through.  The pilot that got locked out of the cockpit was trying to break down the door with an axe.  Just an unimaginable nightmare.

[stxbuck]

I recall one episode that involved a flight from China to San Francisco.  They encountered what the investigators later discovered was an extremely minor issue.  It (the malfunction) may have been due to the crew itself, but I forget now.  Anyway, these guys landed this plane in SF after it fell out of the sky on a couple of occasions (where they obviously pulled it out of a crash).  By the time they landed, the plane was barely held together after the G forces all but tore it to pieces.  The landing itself was a minor miracle.  The expert flying exhibited to just land the thing blew the the passengers away.  Anyway, after a painstaking investigation, what they found was that one of the pilots was exhausted.  Had very little sleep.  That one factor caused many obvious routine checks to be missed by the entire crew.  It turned out that to get out of the original predicament, it was just a routine solution found in one of the safety binders.  The crew skipped right over it and eventually went straight into disaster zone.  


Bottom line was that the crew's negligence put everyone's life in danger, but it then ended up being their miraculous skill that pulled them out of it.  No casualties outside of the plane itself.  Majority of the passengers praised the crew at their expert flying to save them, even after finding out that it was their negligence that put them in danger in the first place.

Some reporter got in trouble after that flight for tweeting that the the pilots were Ho Lee Fuk and Sum Ting Wong.