irrational fear of flying

[Dave Thompson]

You seasoned pilots have probably had your share of bird strikes and I experienced one coming into DEN a few years back as a passenger, which resulted in the pilots shutting down the portside engine as we were approach in a 757. I also recall such a device at a glass manufacturing R&D facility that I was building, where they were testing B1 bomber and Ferrari windshields with the frozen, many,I was managing a gunshop chickens as well...and this was in the late 80's.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/a...cmd/index.html

Years ago, many, I was managing a gunshop in a Seattle suburb. I received a written request from Boeing for 15 pounds of black powder for their chicken cannon. I wish I could have watched.

[gregl]

You seasoned pilots have probably had your share of bird strikes and I experienced one coming into DEN a few years back as a passenger, which resulted in the pilots shutting down the portside engine as we were approach in a 757. I also recall such a device at a glass manufacturing R&D facility that I was building, where they were testing B1 bomber and Ferrari windshields with the frozen chickens as well...and this was in the late 80's.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/a...cmd/index.html

I've worked both sides of the bird strike challenge. As a pilot, I've had birds strike (or did we hit them...) radomes, windshields, wings, landing gears, and engines with results everywhere from no damage to engine overhauls that cost hundreds of thousands of $$. BTW, the term for the bird remnants after hitting an aircraft is "snarge." As an engineer, I've led the development of bird detection radar systems. Nothing gets the heard pumping faster than taking a gull dead center of the windshield on a hazy summer midnight. And don't even get me started on deer strikes!

Greg

[j44ke]

I've worked both sides of the bird strike challenge. As a pilot, I've had birds strike (or did we hit them...) radomes, windshields, wings, landing gears, and engines with results everywhere from no damage to engine overhauls that cost hundreds of thousands of $$. BTW, the term for the bird remnants after hitting an aircraft is "snarge." As an engineer, I've led the development of bird detection radar systems. Nothing gets the heard pumping faster than taking a gull dead center of the windshield on a hazy summer midnight. And don't even get me started on deer strikes!

Greg

When we went to Maasai Mara in Kenya, the airplane buzzed the airfield twice at low elevation before it landed. The first was to scatter the gazelles and the second was to convince the elephants.

[gregl]

When we went to Maasai Mara in Kenya, the airplane buzzed the airfield twice at low elevation before it landed. The first was to scatter the gazelles and the second was to convince the elephants.

At the first airport where I worked in rural CNY, our pilots would call in when they were 5-10 minutes out before night arrivals. We would send an airport pickup truck out on the runway, beeping the horn and flashing lights. Anecdotally, deer strikes were lessened.

Greg

[Tom]

My brother's daughter is working toward getting long line certification on her helicopter licensing but she's looking to do it for commercial work, I think both ends of that rescue operation are at a whole different level.

[rwsaunders]

Anybody up in the air this past week? Definitely some memorable takeoffs and landings…especially the landings.

[bigbill]

We got to experience the Newark airport this past weekend. What a horrible place. They're doing upgrades and supposedly building a new terminal, but arriving passengers have to walk single file to get past the TSA area. The luggage claim looks original to the airport. We had considered getting a taxi to Fort Lee but the line was at least 30 minutes so I ordered an Uber. The taxi line manager heard me discussing Uber and told me they would get lost and I would get dropped off nowhere near my hotel. My Uber was there when I walked outside and got us to the hotel in 45 minutes with traffic. Leaving this morning, the Uber was 20 minutes with no traffic. We got to the airport 2.5 hours before the flight and spent more than an hour in the TSA line. I have Clear, but they were temporarily shut down for the remodel. Just a sea of humanity. We connected at DFW for our flight to Vegas. Those two airports made Newark look like a third-world country.

[j44ke]

All I can say is Newark Airport must be run by the mafia. That's the only explanation I can come up with for the near total lack of any sort of approach to actually running an airport.

[bigbill]

All I can say is Newark Airport must be run by the mafia. That's the only explanation I can come up with for the near total lack of any sort of approach to actually running an airport.

That was the feeling I got too. The taxi folks were downright Mafioso-like. The airport security looked like extras from the Jersey Shore cast. Even the American Airlines luggage drop-off staff were rude.
"you have to wait in line"
"I am in line"
"that's the first class priority line"
"I've got first class tickets"
"well, you still have to wait in line"

[vertical_doug]

We got to experience the Newark airport this past weekend. What a horrible place. They're doing upgrades and supposedly building a new terminal, but arriving passengers have to walk single file to get past the TSA area. The luggage claim looks original to the airport. We had considered getting a taxi to Fort Lee but the line was at least 30 minutes so I ordered an Uber. The taxi line manager heard me discussing Uber and told me they would get lost and I would get dropped off nowhere near my hotel. My Uber was there when I walked outside and got us to the hotel in 45 minutes with traffic. Leaving this morning, the Uber was 20 minutes with no traffic. We got to the airport 2.5 hours before the flight and spent more than an hour in the TSA line. I have Clear, but they were temporarily shut down for the remodel. Just a sea of humanity. We connected at DFW for our flight to Vegas. Those two airports made Newark look like a third-world country.

The sad thing is Newark has improved a lot. It was much worse.

[gregl]

The sad thing is Newark has improved a lot. It was much worse.

When I used to fly into EWR weekly, we joked that if you were to give NJ an enema, you would insert it in Newark... Yup, it's better than it was circa 1985, but that's not saying too much.

Greg

[j44ke]

The taxi system at NYC-area major airports used to have two lines of cabs waiting at the curb for pickup. As the two lines got whittled down by departures, more cabs came and filled in at the back of the line. Now there are no cabs until people start showing up, then the dispatcher calls for cabs from a central staging area. Which can take 15-20 minutes before the first cab shows up. In the meantime, 100 people come out of the terminal looking for cabs. And then 100 more. The previous arrangement worked really well, which I am guessing is why they changed it.

Probably the same people decided that evening shift change for taxis should be 5:30-7:30PM. I mean, not many people are going to need a cab during evening rush hours, right?

[rwsaunders]

JFK Sunday morning “waiting line” from a few years back.

[bigbill]

The taxi system at NYC-area major airports used to have two lines of cabs waiting at the curb for pickup. As the two lines got whittled down by departures, more cabs came and filled in at the back of the line. Now there are no cabs until people start showing up, then the dispatcher calls for cabs from a central staging area. Which can take 15-20 minutes before the first cab shows up. In the meantime, 100 people come out of the terminal looking for cabs. And then 100 more. The previous arrangement worked really well, which I am guessing is why they changed it.

Probably the same people decided that evening shift change for taxis should be 5:30-7:30PM. I mean, not many people are going to need a cab during evening rush hours, right?

At 5:30pm, there were no cabs outside. The cab line had about 30 people. Cabs used to be an adventure, especially in large metropolitan areas. There was something comforting about getting in a crown vic and leaving it all to the driver who wanted to get you there as soon as possible. Now the cabs are small SUVs, no different that what most Uber drivers had. Overall, the trip to NJ and our time in NYC made me look forward to retiring in Wyoming. We'll return to NYC for a visit in the next year or so, but we'll fly into LaG and stay in a hotel near the sites. My artist wife wants to drag me through all the museums.

[rwsaunders]

Just in case you’re looking to track Santa tonight…

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/t...mpaign=website

[rwsaunders]

Good luck to anyone flying over the past week. The oldest has been trying to get back to Seattle for 3 days and she’s had 3 consecutive days of cancellations and rebookings on Alaska Airlines…bad weather in Seattle and Covid among crew members. First world problem I told her, as she could be sleeping on a cot in O’Hare, as opposed to being at home and eating my wife’s cooking. I did try to book her an alternative flight yesterday on Amercian, but they wanted…get ready…$7,247. I had to pass.

[htwoopup]

Good luck to anyone flying over the past week. The oldest has been trying to get back to Seattle for 3 days and she’s had 3 consecutive days of cancellations and rebookings on Alaska Airlines…bad weather in Seattle and Covid among crew members. First world problem I told her, as she could be sleeping on a cot in O’Hare, as opposed to being at home and eating my wife’s cooking. I did try to book her an alternative flight yesterday on Amercian, but they wanted…get ready…$7,247. I had to pass.

ICYMI...https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/o...s-flights.html

[Saab2000]

My airline experienced a few operational meltdowns over the past 12 months or so but weathered the Christmas holiday insanity relatively unscathed. We had less than a 1% cancellation rate thankfully. I worked a lot leading up to and over Christmas, with long days, multiple legs per day and short layovers. It's quite fatiguing actually. But starting in January we enter the doldrums and most of my schedules are about half full compared to what's been going on since before Thanksgiving.

The article is right about the grants, which supported jobs and I support the grants and still do, but the point is taken that most airlines are indeed understaffed in many low-visibility but vital posts, like ramp personnel, baggage handlers and even training center instructors. May we live in interesting times!

[vertical_doug]

Good luck to anyone flying over the past week. The oldest has been trying to get back to Seattle for 3 days and she’s had 3 consecutive days of cancellations and rebookings on Alaska Airlines…bad weather in Seattle and Covid among crew members. First world problem I told her, as she could be sleeping on a cot in O’Hare, as opposed to being at home and eating my wife’s cooking. I did try to book her an alternative flight yesterday on Amercian, but they wanted…get ready…$7,247. I had to pass.

My daughter was scheduled to fly EWR to ORD to Aspen on Dec 31 early, but given all the flight delays, we expected best case she would get stranded in Chicago NYE. So we changed flights and had her fly to EWR to Las Vegas direct where she can drive up with her sister to Aspen. JBU57 flew, but if you know the shape of the jet stream now, they made a stop in Denver to refuel. Flight arrived 5 hrs late, but better than getting stranded.

Pretty crazy

[Saab2000]

Upper level winds have been extreme lately. That’s not uncommon in winter but they seem higher than normal. Probably not in real life but it seems that way. I flew to Las Vegas last week and it was about 4:10 in the air from Chicago. Thankfully, it wasn’t bumpy. In the other direction you’ll arrive an hour early.