Originally Posted by
84fiero
Or not...
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....omment-3917039
(debated putting this in the click-bait thread)
Starts off mentioning the continual debates over the behavior of children on airliners, whether they belong in J/F, etc. So you'd think this must be some situation where an airline crash was caused by unruly kids.
The post does link to an article about an airplane crash in Australia....of a Cessna 310 (which is a twin-piston engine general aviation plane holding a maximum of 6 people including the pilot).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_310
The pilot actually blamed both children who were "excited and a little disruptive" and a front seat passenger who kept coughing. But it also notes the pilot purposely decided not to put the gear down at the point in the pre-landing checklist where it was listed and skipped the last-minute mnemonic to remind oneself to check the gear and other final items.
In any case, pretty hard to see the connection with screaming kids on an airliner - certainly not the "Is this the knockout punch" headline.
Standard GTL post: poor analysis of the clear meaning of the report of the crash, which as you noted, indicates that some blame could be assigned both to the children and to the coughing passenger (and a fair reading of the report indicates more blame assigned to the coughing passenger). And the connection between a Cessna crash and normal commercial airline operations seems strained at best given the normal skill gap between commercial and general aviation pilots. But, as is also standard GTL procedure, the facts must fit Gary's narrative--in this case, screaming kids on planes are bad and here's a situation that proves just how bad.
He does this pretty frequently. Such as his post a couple of weeks ago about BA offering cheap enough fares that would deny otherwise qualified elites lounge access. It was only deep in the post that he mentioned that, of course, US domestic airlines don't even offer lounge access to elite members independent of a qualifying ticket (generally international First) or lounge membership through payment or a card. And it was never mentioned that mid-level BA Silver status accomplishes what AA elite status does not--lounge access, even on domestic tickets, no matter the cost. Obviously, there's a trade-off, since AA elite status earns flight upgrades not available in the BA program, but it's the kind of information that might be useful to someone who wants AA lounge access and who could credit some flights towards BA.
But, of course, BA, like DL and WN and IHG and Hilton, is bad in the GTL narrative. Until, of course, there's a card with a referral fee that he needs to push--then the negative comments somehow get downplayed for the duration of the offer.