HA! +1 Smitty.

/will have my coffee black
//like my men

TFA
But the plane returned as a precautionary measure, due to the length of the flight over open ocean.

So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?

/not amused

LessO2: So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?

That way they could bury the survivors.

Technicians still have not determined how it happened

Do the words inspection, maintenance, and incompetence mean anything to you?

Anything at all?

LessO2: So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?

Would you rather be looking for an airport for an emergency landing over Missouri or over the middle of the Pacific? Thought so.

SNAKES?

YouPeopleAreCrazy: the words inspection, maintenance, and incompetence mean anything to you?

Anything at all?

Surely you must be joking.

Don't start in with your "white zone" shiat again.

/hate that filter more than Gayego.

Good Luck, we're all counting on you.

Flight in question (new window)
Yeah, I'll go back-not much in the way of divert airfields between Seattle and Maui.

An access panel was riveted on? I'm no airline mechanic, but that doesn't sound right. Shouldn't an access panel be easy to open, you know, for access?

Sounds like someone forgot to shut the panel correctly.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 is unimpressed:




/pic and link pop

Whatthefark: An access panel was riveted on? I'm no airline mechanic, but that doesn't sound right. Shouldn't an access panel be easy to open, you know, for access?

Sounds like someone forgot to shut the panel correctly.

Judging from the story, the access panel was easily opened. That was the problem.

Another plot by Charles Widmore....

LessO2: TFA
But the plane returned as a precautionary measure, due to the length of the flight over open ocean.

So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?

Or you know, any one of those pesky flat things that other planes use.

DoWhatNowToWhat:
YouPeopleAreCrazy: the words inspection, maintenance, and incompetence mean anything to you?

Anything at all?

Surely you must be joking.

"I'm serious. And don't call me Shirley."

JonnyBGoode: img258.imageshack.us

wow, kudos, very nicely played.

I just wanted to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

Anagrammer: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 is unimpressed:

The Kalinin K-7 of 1933 is even more unimpressed.

/designer tacked on an extra engine to an underpowered design
//it basically shook the plane to pieces in midair

Well, scraps IS a boy dog!!

Whatthefark

An access panel was riveted on? I'm no airline mechanic, but that doesn't sound right. Shouldn't an access panel be easy to open, you know, for access?

The lower wing skins have access holes (aka "wing skin cutouts") that allow access to the inside of the wing for inspections. The access hole doors are installed using threaded fasteners through nutplates (nutplates are riveted to the wing skin). The access door cover is then screwed into the nutplates to hold it in place. The fact that they are threaded fasteners (screws if you will) (and not rivets) allows for easy removal of said door.

JOEKC
imjustatroll
I'm of the opinion that if there's a problem with the plane like that, it doesn't farking matter where the flight is going, it needs to be fixed before it flies anywhere.

My post was just pointing out the stupidity of that statement the spokeshole made.

Several years ago my Dad and I were flying back from Alaska. It started getting really turbulent, and I joked to my Dad that I hoped we crashed.

Then it really started getting bad. We were about 100 feet above the tree tops at one point, and the plane was on it's side. It was kinda interesting, but everyone on the plane was getting scared to death. I don't think they appreciated my joke about hoping the plain would crash...

Since we almost died and the pilot saved our lives I shook her hand. It was kinda funny, but I was pretty glad to be still alive.

LessO2: "TFA
But the plane returned as a precautionary measure, due to the length of the flight over open ocean.

So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?"

I know you're probably just being a smartass, but land tends to have more of those things called "airports" than the open ocean does.

Over land, the pilot could easily decide that the vibration was not sufficient of a threat to the safety of the aircraft that the correct thing to do would be to continue the flight. Even if he was wrong, he'll have confirmed there are suitable airports at which he could make an emergency landing when needed. A crash is possible, but unlikely given that the issue would most likely have been very minor for the pilot to not be concerned.

Over the open ocean, though, if the pilot's judgement call turned out to be incorrect and the problem started escalating then there would almost certainly be nowhere nearby at which to land the aircraft - and a crash would be absolutely guaranteed.

adamgeld: Several years ago my Dad and I were flying back from Alaska. It started getting really turbulent, and I joked to my Dad that I hoped we crashed.

Then it really started getting bad. We were about 100 feet above the tree tops at one point, and the plane was on it's side. It was kinda interesting, but everyone on the plane was getting scared to death. I don't think they appreciated my joke about hoping the plain would crash...

Since we almost died and the pilot saved our lives I shook her hand. It was kinda funny, but I was pretty glad to be still alive.

Wow, you are the absolute KING of internet tough guys.

/I will revere you until I opt otherwise.
/oops. excercised my options already.
///happens to all men sometimes

It caused a vibration, never your vibration.

This article gives me ex-cite-tations.

As the rivets pop...

Nervous?
Yes.
First time?
No, I've been nervous lots of times.

/there's a sale at Macy's!

slight modification since everybody left me here alone...

Look at me on a saturday night... photo shoppin'....

GOOD VIBRATIONS!

eno

could we possibly photoshop in a phil mickelson?

LessO2: So, if it was a flight to Miami, it would have been okay to crash over land?

I say: Let 'em crash!

Oh, and, JohnnyBGoode, awesome!

/Samuelelelelelelel L. Jackson/

If the trip was to Miami, they'd have found the plane:

And I just watched this movie earlier today.


Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

Me John, big tree!

/I want your soul
//Come to Daddy

shlabotnik: /there's a sale at Macy's Penney's!

/FTFY

YouPeopleAreCrazy: Technicians still have not determined how it happened

Do the words inspection, maintenance, and incompetence mean anything to you?

Anything at all?

Just on a hunch, I would say that the rivets were loose due to cracks in the panels forming in the aluminum due to metal fatigue caused by repeated ascents and descents; and not corrected on the ground because of hasty or incomplete maintenance checks by the airlines maintenance crews either because of inadequate downtime or an insufficient number of personnel to complete such checks.

But I'm just guessing here.

gweilo8888: Over the open ocean, though, if the pilot's judgement call turned out to be incorrect and the problem started escalating then there would almost certainly be nowhere nearby at which to land the aircraft - and a crash would be absolutely guaranteed.

But wait! That's why your seat may be used as a flotation device. The pilot just lands on the water and everyone hops off and floats around until a ship picks them up. No?

Every time they go through that part of the safety demo about seat flotation devices and life vests, I like to remind everyone who can hear me yell it out that no commercial airliner has ever survived a water landing. So don't worry about how to inflate the life vest.

I worked with a guy that was on Aloha 243. He had been a Navy pilot, and had a great perspective on the whole story. One thing I remember was that he learned that when the pilot was radioing the airport for the emergency, the tower kept asking if one fire truck would be enough. Apparently the city, or whoever ran the fire department, and the airport management were having some dispute about staffing, and the airport didn't want to pay for any crash equipment they weren't going to use.

Flew to Hawaii for the first time ever about two years ago and the plane was so squeaky the whole time I couldn't believe it. Anyone even remotely scared of flying would have been freaking out. Not that I was worried but the ambien may have had something to do with it.

Come to think of it most planes I have been in as of late seem frighteningly old. I'm pretty damn close to giving up flying anyway. The airlines are bastards these days anyway not to mention the massive carbon footprint.

eno: Look at me on a saturday night... photo shoppin'....

Izzat a picture of you in the window?

Anagrammer: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 is unimpressed:
/pic and link pop

I remember that on the news. And the terrifying made for tv movie about it. I wonder how they survived without the air masks.

FTA: One passenger on the flight told KOMO News that she could see rivets popping off the aircraft's wing during the flight.

Holy crap. If that was me, my pants would have been filled instantly.

At least these pilots were awake to realize something was wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. In case of an accident, your seat cushions may be used as toilets.