irrational fear of flying

[bcm119]

Last night I was aimlessly looking at the FlightRadar app and watched a southwest flight trying to land at Oakland, and do 2 go-arounds. I noticed the ground speed as they were supposed to be landing was up around 150 knots, and when I checked the weather obs, sure enough they were landing with a tailwind. Finally, they did a big loop and came in from the opposite direction and landed safely with a speed around 115 knots. So my question is, were the go-arounds part of the planned process of changing the air traffic pattern due to wind direction change, or did the pilot abort the landings and tell ATC they have too strong a tailwind to land in?

[gregl]

Last night I was aimlessly looking at the FlightRadar app and watched a southwest flight trying to land at Oakland, and do 2 go-arounds. I noticed the ground speed as they were supposed to be landing was up around 150 knots, and when I checked the weather obs, sure enough they were landing with a tailwind. Finally, they did a big loop and came in from the opposite direction and landed safely with a speed around 115 knots. So my question is, were the go-arounds part of the planned process of changing the air traffic pattern due to wind direction change, or did the pilot abort the landings and tell ATC they have too strong a tailwind to land in?

I don't have time to investigate this right now, but you can listen to the ATC archive at https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php and see if the go-arounds were directed by ATC or initiated by the pilots.

Greg

[AngryScientist]

FAA "Computer Outage" ?? .... is this thing on?

[Piledhigher]

FAA "Computer Outage" ?? .... is this thing on?

No NOTAMs is a pretty big thing, probably don't want to be flying.

[j44ke]

No NOTAMs is a pretty big thing, probably don't want to be flying.

We are reasonably close to some lines of approach to Albany NY (ALB) airport, and I've been outside since 6AM and haven't seen or heard a plane all morning.

edit: Hah, of course - there's one now.

[Tom]

I'm fairly sure the FAA has back up systems.

[j44ke]

I'm fairly sure the FAA has back up systems.

In this case, they grounded all domestic departures for several hours, so that doesn't sound like having a backup for this particular system (NOTAM).

[rwsaunders]

I wish that Musk didn't own Twitter, but here are updates from the FAA...still no notice of what caused the outage.

https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1613135903010033665

[Tom]

Yes, when I read the Reuters article I was scratching my head. Geographically disparate redundant systems with data consistency are child's play - provided you have adequate funding. We kept the bank within 5 seconds at all times but we spent maybe 1.5x the cost of a single system. If we took a sysplex outage restarts took 30 minutes - we relocated the processing to a different data center in a planned event and were out two hours, 90 minutes of it was redirecting mirroring and validation that all the distributed systems in the site hooked back up. Apparently coding a resilient JVM is an unknown to some. I don't miss hearing "We'll bounce the JVMs and see if it fixes the problem" which was a common phrase but I digress.

Back to the topic... flying home tomorrow and hope the weather cooperates.

[Mabouya]

Maybe the FAA and SWA can pool their measly IT upgrade funds and come up with an integrated system.

[bcm119]

Maybe the FAA and SWA can pool their measly IT upgrade funds and come up with an integrated system.

Maybe the R's can manage to cut the FAA IT funds along with the IRS IT upgrade funds. Then we'd all have longer waits at the airport *and* on the phone with IRS agents. Win win for the R's.

[rwsaunders]

Was anybody flying at 60,000’ this evening?

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstro...-046-DFRC.html

[gregl]

Was anybody flying at 60,000’ this evening?

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstro...-046-DFRC.html

Kudos to the website designer for the XB-70 icon!

Greg

[bigbill]

My son finishes up The Basic School in Quantico this March. He then heads to Pensacola for flight school. The Marines are at 35% of what is required in the training pipeline, so he likely won't have any delays in training. He might get "stuck" flying F-35s because that's the greatest need. The Marines have B and C models. The B model replaces the Harrier, and the C model replaces the Hornet. He will have to learn both models and do carrier qualifications. US aircraft carriers usually deploy with at least one Marine squadron. At least he'll be stealthy and have an ejection seat.

[Bobonli]

My son finishes up The Basic School in Quantico this March. He then heads to Pensacola for flight school. The Marines are at 35% of what is required in the training pipeline, so he likely won't have any delays in training. He might get "stuck" flying F-35s because that's the greatest need. The Marines have B and C models. The B model replaces the Harrier, and the C model replaces the Hornet. He will have to learn both models and do carrier qualifications. US aircraft carriers usually deploy with at least one Marine squadron. At least he'll be stealthy and have an ejection seat.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday in a flight simulator (allegedly for the F-35 but I'd have no way to know for sure) as part of a team building/educational pedagogy experience. What a blast and humbling experience. A lot going on in a cockpit and many different ways to crash! I have a renewed respect for anyone pursuing aviation especially in the battle space. Good luck to your son.

[rwsaunders]

Near mishap at JFK on Friday with AA1106 apparently crossing the wrong runway while DA1943 was taking off.

https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/1614370783899303938

[bigbill]

I spent a couple of hours yesterday in a flight simulator (allegedly for the F-35 but I'd have no way to know for sure) as part of a team building/educational pedagogy experience. What a blast and humbling experience. A lot going on in a cockpit and many different ways to crash! I have a renewed respect for anyone pursuing aviation especially in the battle space. Good luck to your son.

My son has flown the F-35 simulator. He taxied to the runway and basically selected "take off". It is a aircraft for his generation. At age 16, he said; "I want to be a Marine pilot." Here we are.

[j44ke]

Near mishap at JFK on Friday with AA1106 apparently crossing the wrong runway while DA1943 was taking off.

https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/1614370783899303938

Yikes

[echappist]

Yikes

Yikes indeed. Squeaky bum just reading about the event and listening to the transcript.

According to this article, ~300 m separation between the two planes at the minimum point of separation. At what speeds do planes take off? ~200 mph iirc? Which would mean maybe 3 seconds worth?

[gregl]

Yikes indeed. Squeaky bum just reading about the event and listening to the transcript.

According to this article, ~300 m separation between the two planes at the minimum point of separation. At what speeds do planes take off? ~200 mph iirc? Which would mean maybe 3 seconds worth?

I believe that the 300m referenced is the distance between the two planes when the Delta flight stopped on the runway. The Delta crew appear to have executed the takeoff abort very well.

To generalize, a narrow body airliner takes off at ~150-180 MPH. Takeoff speeds vary greatly based primarily on aircraft weight, temperature, altitude, flap configuration, and obstacles (both natural and manmade) near the airport. Transport category aircraft rely on three "takeoff speed" numbers: V1, VR, and V2. V1 is maximum speed to abort a takeoff. At speeds up to and including V1, the aircraft can stop on the available runway. Beyond V1, the aircraft can safely takeoff within the remaining runway after an engine failure. VR is the rotation speed at which the pilot flying pulls the nose up to the specified takeoff pitch attitude. The aircraft becomes airborne shortly after VR. Once airborne, the pilots use the V2 takeoff safety speed to meet obstacle clearance and controllability requirements with a failed engine. With all engines working, you can blast through V2 very quickly. There are many more subtle variables that play into these "V speeds" including runway contamination (water, ice, slush, snow) and reduced power takeoffs. Yup, most takeoffs are made at less than full power to reduce stress on the engines. Saab2000 can chime in with much more accurate numbers since he currently flies one of the most widely used airline aircraft.

Greg