Definitely not! The FAA would take a very dim view of these attempts to dislodge the gear, especially bouncing the plane on the one extended main gear. We just don't have performance data on executing a safe go around after contacting terra firma. While any pilot realizes that this can be done, you're introducing the possibility of an even bigger problem (i.e. crashing the plane).

I would have thought that attempts would be made to re-cycle the gear (they probably tried this) and then contact company maintenance via radio for any suggestions on manual extension of the gear beyond what we may know of the aircraft systems. I would have also thought that it would be preferable to land with all the gear up rather than having just one side hanging down. Perhaps this wasn't an option here.

The MD-80 seems to be my aircraft of choice lately. When pushing back from the gate, I always hear an alarm going off in the cockpit as the FA is on the PA giving the safety briefing and the first engine is started. What is that alarm?

Also, what's your thoughts on the PED ruling, http://news.yahoo.com/are-electronic...22229790.html?

I don't remember any kind of alarm that would sound during an engine start, but it's been over six years since I've flown that plane. I just made a call to a friend of mine who currently flies it, so I'll get an answer for you when he calls back.

On my last trip, I found out that we've already eased the rules on this. Fine with me. So many people didn't turn off their devices anyway and it always put the FAs in the horrible position of being "hall monitor" for a planeload of adults who acted like two year-olds. I always complied with the rule, dumb as I thought it was, and I couldn't believe the number of people who blatantly ignored it. Of course, the FAs now have an even harder (actually impossible) job since the new rule is that devices may be on, but must be in airplane mode. As hard as it was to enforce the rule to have devices off, how in the world are they going to ensure that the devices are in airplane mode?

You might be thinking of the alarming sound the engine ignitor makes on a DC9. Maybe the MD80 makes the same sound. From other sites:

"It's the ignition circuit recharging between firing the ignitors, heard through the PA system because of wires in close proximity and poor electromagnetic shielding."

"The sound you hear is that of an induction coil charging a capacitor. It's much like how you'd hear the flash charging in a camera. A little freaky, but cool at the same time."

Took a flight from LAS-IAD recently and decided to follow along using ForeFlight on my iPad. Took a guess at the arrival we'd be using and programmed it in. I never use arrivals so this was the first time I noticed there was one named after Redskins legends (GIBBZ2) and I was pretty happy that we flew it in.

I started following somewhere over Kansas and we went in a direct line to the start of the arrival procedure over the Charleston, WV VOR. Is it common to get a direct leg that long? Do you still have a requirement to file a point within the first 200nm of every ARTCC you pass through?

I've never heard of the requirement you mention, but I wouldn't doubt something like that exists.

Were you taking the red-eye flight to IAD? I flew the red-eye from LAS to JFK many, many times last year and it was pretty common to be given direct to Wilkes-Barre, PA (LVZ) by L.A. Center. Sometimes we'd decline the clearance because our dispatcher had a note on our flight plan telling us not to accept a direct routing, for purposes of weather avoidance en route.

For flights during the daytime, a direct clearance across the country is pretty rare.

No, it was late afternoon, landed at 8:30pm ET.

Yeah, that's not all that rare. I got wrapped up in discussing clearances all the way across the country, which only happen at night (the province of the cargo carriers). During daytime flights, I seem to get long direct clearances more often heading west than east. Kansas City Center, and sometimes even Cleveland Center, will give us direct to Boulder City, Nevada (BLD) when heading to Vegas from New York.

I got a return call from my friend who currently flies the 88. He said that there is no sustained "alarm" sound of any kind during engine start, but the power transfer (from ground power or APU to the engine generator as it comes up to speed) will often cause the FA intercom chime to sound. This sounds familiar to me and I think it also interrupts their safety brief momentarily in back.

Long time, no comment, but I just wondered your thoughts on the new FAA regulations on electronic devices, as well as your company's surprisingly quick roll-out of the new policies.

First, and most importantly: Can you confirm that the planes still work, and that there haven't been any incidents where you called the tower and got the Snoop Dogg Pandora station.

Second, it seems like a win for pax and a huge win for flight attendants, but have you seen/heard of any issues?

Last week on a domestic flight in Australia, Melbourne-Coolangatta a late boarding passenger arrived on the plane demanding to be seated in seat 1A, which was already taken. He reckons he booked it online and paid extra, bla bla and was told by the Attendant that online it is only a "request". After a good 5 mins of arguing and being threatened with removal from the the plane they put him in an emergency exit row(with a little more leg room) , mid plane. I thought as these seats require the occupants to help in an emergency that putting an aggressive upset passenger there was pretty bad form. He continued to be difficult and berated the attendants for the whole flight. Would complaining to the airline do anything? I was genuinely concerned with safety on that flight.

Could be worse. On my last flight some 90+ year old woman could barely walk and was let on during preboarding. Her seat was in an exit row. When asked if she was willing and able to assist in an emergency she said "Yes." The FAs looked at each other like "What do we do?" and came back a few minutes later saying the Captain wouldn't allow her to sit there.

It was a pleasant surprise to me that this rule was finally rescinded and that Delta immediately made the change. The little dance that flight attendants had to go through on every flight was getting pretty old, like trying to get two year-olds to put down their toys,. And it was obvious that the threat wasn't as serious as some would have you believe, because if those devices really did present a threat to the safety of the flight, they wouldn't have been relying on the honor system to ensure that the devices were off.

So far, I haven't heard of any issues with regard to this change.

I can't imagine what you want the airline to do at this point, now that the flight is long over. Was your concern over the fact that he might not be a help in a possible evacuation?

Yeah, the flight attendants were in a tough spot there. They are required to ask the occupants if they're "willing and able" to assist in an emergency evacuation, but they are also required to accept the answer at face value. In this case, they rightly took their concern to the Captain who can make whatever decision he wants in the interest of safety.

I thought for sure we would have several comments or questions by the time I got back to this thread regarding the Southwest Pilots PA 'mistake' as regards, "We're going down"

Could you imagine making a mistake (by hitting the PA button) and saying something like this in a 'loss of cabin pressure' situation as this was supposed to be?

Southwest Airlines pilot apparently tells passengers 'We're going down'

Southwest Airlines passengers get vouchers for wild ride


the pilot made the remarks as the plane went into a nosedive

Southwest said the plane descended rapidly from 40,000 to 25,000 feet. Passengers said it felt like the aircraft was in a nosedive.

"We all thought we were descending to our deaths. My husband and I were clenching hands and saying 'I love you, you know, this is it.' And I think I was praying out loud and I'm sure a lot of other people were too," recalled passenger Phyllis Fann.

the letter from southwest (linked in the second article) is pretty bad imo.

Does a loss of cabin pressure where it is necessary for the masks to come down even happen once a year in the US? or is it a much more frequent happening then my experience flying and talking to other flyers. I have never heard anyone ever mention the experience to me, including many FA friends.

Yes I though he might not help out in an emergency, but realise that is a rare occasion. It made me think tho that if the FA did this during a training scenario she would have failed her course! Makes me wonder how many other official procedures are just for show and not really followed or taken seriously by airlines...

I'm not sure why you think the FA would have failed her course because of this action. It sounds like the FA in your situation did the exact right thing and resolved the issue.

As for other procedures, it's true that the airlines all do what is mandated by the FAA, no matter how silly or meaningless. A great example is the demonstration on the use of the seat belt. Don't you think we could skip that little explanation and demo at this point?

Random fun contribution to this thread...

This has to be the coolest remote control airplane I've seen:

http://telly.com/1ELOZUV?utm_source=...n=tellytwitter

That is my point, she didn't really resolve the issue. She put a belligerent passenger in a seat where he was supposed to help out it an emergency! If you can pass your FA course doing that then heaven help us all. Removing that passenger from the flight would be costly for the airline and no doubt cause grief for the FA. I thought maybe thats why she did what she did.

But I will defer to your opinion that it was handled correctly.

Forgive me. I was confusing two different scenarios and was thinking of the one with the 90 year-old woman, where the FA escalated the case to the Captain. For your case, where she put the belligerent passenger in the emergency exit row, I think she probably figured that putting him there, with the extra legroom, would mollify him. She was just trying to find a way to satisfy a customer. Apparently it didn't work.

What are the typical responsibilities of a passenger seated in the exit row? I know we're supposed to figure out how to open the door but if that's it I don't see the problem with putting a belligerent passenger there. Nobody's such a dick that they would just sit there and let the plane burn around them just to screw over their fellow passengers.

+1

I agree that with the 90 year old woman the FA shouldn't need to go to the pilot (given that common sense says a 90 year old probably can't do the job) but given the rules it sounds like she handled it fine.

And I guess even if the FA could have made the decision herself its still nice to put the blame on the pilot given they're the ultimate authority figure and the pilot doesn't need to keep dealing with the passenger like the FA does.