I wonder if all implications of this decision have been considered. I hope that the horse will be adequately restrained during takeoff and landing. Hopefully seat belt extenders will be sufficient to prevent the animal flying through the cabin in an emergency stop. In the event of an emergency evacuation, especially if the cabin is filling with fumes, can the animal be relied upon to behave itself or be controlled by the human accompanying it ? The one miniature horse I am familiar with runs around his pasture kicking when excited. He has quite hard hooves, but the one positive is that he does not bite ! Will a leaping, kicking and possibly biting, horse interfere with a cabin evacuation, especially if an attempt is made to exit him onto a slide ?

(Written on 2019/08/18)(Permalink)

Thanks Torsten, looks as if they kept the wings level most of the way and then the right wing dipped into the crops near to the end of the run.

(Written on 2019/08/15)(Permalink)

They did a nice job getting it down, keeping the wheels up helps reduce the possibility of substantial chunks of metal debris entering the cabin or rupturing tanks. In a plowed field any spillage might soak into the ground rather than pooling as on hardstand. The fuselage staying intact was fortunate and it looks like all slides deployed. One report says they brought it down between the IM and OM; its lucky to have a convenient long empty field straight ahead to put it into. I presume you want to hold the nose up just sufficiently to get a mild enough tailstrike that does not affecting fuselage integrity, as long as you have the airspeed to give elevator control. I wonder how many pax retrieved their possessions from the overheads before deplaning. If this was winter I would want to be wearing an overcoat and decent footwear in that area, even when the equipment reaches the site they may not have facilities to shelter a couple of hundred ill-clad people from the elements.

(Written on 2019/08/15)(Permalink)

Does United know something or is this a panic move ? Have they had a good look at these actual 700s ? United are selling seats for the Spring 2020 right now. Are they planning to slot these 700s into their schedule in place of the Max ? If United aren't physically getting their hands on these used 700s until December, how long will it take until they're actually generating revenue eg how long to paint and refurbish the interiors, how much time to the next major etc ?

(Written on 2019/07/17)(Permalink)

Its already almost mid-July. You're already selling your Winter and Spring schedules. It would be nice to know what a/c types and seat configurations (assignments) you'll be using. You want to know what additional crew qualification/certifications you are going to need, especially if more training and simulator time has to be scheduled. What gate slots are you going to be committing to pay for ? What are the fuel and any other out-station parts requirements (and any other mx). Are any special service carts and containers needed, even something as simple as Emergency Evacuation cards that no one looks at. You might also want to be looking at provisional leases in case your grounded Maxes aren't usable.

(Written on 2019/07/10)(Permalink)

Back in the 1980s I was a member of a group that sued a Federal agency. Two Agents visited my office and spent a full day with me going through my records. They took some of my papers with them. A week later one of them returned my papers (judging by the pencil marks they'd gone through them in detail) and spent another full day reviewing their "findings". After all that the penalties and interest etc was just about $2,800, which I could have contested, and would have been justified, because I just could not find some supporting documents. But it was easier just to pay the $2,800 than to waste more time, or go to court, with all the expense, and time, that would have entailed. Don't upset the Feds.

(Written on 2019/07/10)(Permalink)

Didn't KAL have to punish a Cabin Crew for serving their Superiors with nuts from the wrong bowl some time ago ? Now not only does this Cabin Crew refuse a direct order from their Captain, the Man in Command of the a/c, but then they so disrespect him that talk about it behind his back ! It seems to me that at KAL discipline is breaking down. Perhaps this Cabin Crew needs to be flogged (or maybe even hanged) for mutiny !

(Written on 2019/07/10)(Permalink)

How do you keep heading down the centerline with that much drag on one side as your airspeed declines and your rudder loses effect ? Why don't you ground loop around the left main ?

(Written on 2019/07/02)(Permalink)

But what about the other end of the Supply Chain ? What happens to all the contractors and sub-contractors making the components and assemblies that are shipped to Boeing for assembly ? If Boeing stops assembling do they have to stop production and how will their finances be affected ? And if a supplier of a single source part has to pass QC standards and that supplier loses critical qualified personnel, or even worse goes out of business, how will that affect Boeing production when they restart the line ?

(Written on 2019/06/30)(Permalink)

I posted in more detail about this below. The throttles were set to climb on takeoff. They weren't climbing because MCAS kept trimming nose down. They couldn't throttle back as they were 1,000 feet agl and in the Max when you throttle back the nose drops. They switched MCAS off but that switched off electric trim. They tried but couldn't manually trim because of the airspeed. They switched stab trim back on to trim electrically but that brought MCAS back on which trimmed nose down.

(Written on 2019/06/28)(Permalink)