AMERICAN JETS FALLING OUT OF THE SKY
 

Well, not exactly, but the Miami crash is not exactly the first incident in American Airlines' [recent] history, nor certainly not in the history of American airlines, either.

So, why, with the recent SQ crash, the first in its history, is all this banter spurred in FT as well as the media at large about how the airline is lax in enforcing it flight minimum standards, how its flight attendants with their Asian somatoform and traditional dress were wholly useless if not downright obstructive in evacuation, how Asian pilots may not be as technically competent (obfuscated by using the terms, "Not as proficient in the English language"), and that Asian airlines and airports as a whole should be carefully scrutinized for their 'dismal' safety record?

Seems to me that for every China Airlines crash, there are a couple more to go around on US carriers.

Seems to me that AA hasn't enjoyed an incident-free year in the past 3 years.

Seems to me that the Concorde, with its proliferate structural cracks, tire ruptures, environmental impact, and generally questionable safety and reliability record is flown by Anglo/Franco carriers AF and BA. I'm not even going to go into how the recently crashed Concorde was taking off out of Paris (not BKK), had Goodyear tires (not Toyo or Yokohoma), and that one of the foci of causative factors is debris from a McDonnell/Boeing DC-10 in Continental livery.

KAL jets have indeed gone down - hell, even been shot down - by substantiated pilot error. But in the US, as we have seen with ValuJet, pilots don't even need to do anything wrong to bring people to prematurely meet their maker.

Taking off in foul weather? The Asian airlines telling you, "Yeah, we get typhoons here all the time, and we take off in them since we're used to them," got you jittery? Let's try it on the other end. Ever hear the CVR or read the transcript of AA in Little Rock (and that's not "Ritto Rock," by the way)?

Folks, if we're going to point the finger, let alone scream bloody murder, we ourselves ought to be beyond reproach.

[This message has been edited by FQTV (edited 11-20-2000).]

> Taking off in foul weather? The Asian > airlines telling you, "Yeah, we get
> typhoons here all the time, and we take
> off in them since we're used to them,"
> got you jittery?

Did you forget to take your meds today?

The typhoon-weather was not at the Tapei
airport. The winds were indeed well within
the the published/approved/demonstrated
capability of the b747.

The controllers screwed up by turning on
the white/runway lights when they were using
the "closed" runway as a taxiway. (taxiway
lights are green). The SQ pilots screwed
up by not verifying that they were indeed
on the assigned runway.

-drr
pilot

That's right, Dranz, runway incursions never happen on Western soil, either.

Look, my point is, regardless of the cause of the recent SQ crash, speculations about and attributions following it are becoming downright racist, which is entirely unacceptable.

Would that journalists raise furor about 'tall, overweight white males' populating exit row seats be a hindrance to evacuation procedures, what with their extra mass to obstruct that tiny passageway!

[This message has been edited by FQTV (edited 11-20-2000).]

Not all Asian airlines should be grouped together as having dismal records of safety. Singapore Airlines had until the recent crash a totallu unblemished record. Their planes and safety standards are still among the top in the world. Their average age of their fleet are under 5 years old. That certainly cannot be said for any american carrier.

Most Asian carriers are safe even by asian standards. Some can be more troubled than others - namely Korean Air, China Airlines, and Garuda. A lot has got to do with management and older aircraft. But airlines like EVA Air, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines to name a few have good safety records, their aircrafts are new and generally service and crew I feel are more competent than some american ones.

Newspaper reports sometimes have nothing better to report than for their own benefits.
They are the ones who have probably never been on an asian airline to do any comparison.

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 11-20-2000).]

Maybe it's just me...but I find the subject of this post and the reference to "the Miami crash" to be unfortunate and irresponsible. We should avoid sensational pronouncements such as these on FlyerTalk.

The American Airlines A300 did not, in fact, "fall out of the sky" (true, FQTV did somewhat clarify that part in the first sentence) and it certainly did not "crash" at Miami yesterday.


[This message has been edited by bbinchi (edited 11-21-2000).]

I was not going to respond to this but here are my views. This post has nothing to do with The Buzz (and ff news....). It also has little to do with "American Jets" ( and I did not have to shout). The post rambles on and on about totally unrelated (and sometimes untrue "incidents". Do people often not read the directions and/or possibly drink too much bubbly before they post? Can someone please explain this post/title/reasoning to me in a nice way?

Here's the nice reply:

I'm going to **** well post in whatever forum I feel like.

Have a nice day.

Taxiway lights are green? Since when? Did you mean blue?

I deleted my inappropriate message.

[This message has been edited by wonderland60069 (edited 12-14-2000).]

The centreline lights are green. Sidelights are blue.