Seems to be having a lot of problems lately. Hopefully everything gets fixed before my December trip.

http://avherald.com/h?article=40d5b09e&opt=0

...it sounds like it's just problems with this one particular airplane, which clearly is the 744 of the Beast.

They have more than one plane flying NW20?

Uh, yeah. NW20 departs NRT before NW19 arrives, so there have to be multiple aircraft involved.

I wouldn't be too overly worried about the 744s that NW uses for two reasons:

1- NW pilots are pretty much top-notch when it comes to evaluating aircraft for problems. I myself have been stuck on a variety of them before takeoff while they, or ground crew, solved problems. While this might be an annoyance to some, it shows me that at least they've got the ball rolling so that a potential problem wouldn't happen in the air.

2- Even if this were to happen in the air, there are only a few patches not totalling more than 3 hours where if NW had to ditch, they would make a water landing. So my point is, more than likely, they'd be able to make an aborted landing over land (I take any chance to speak with pilots when the opportunity presents itself and this account was from one who does the NRT/KIX-DTW routes).

This shouldn't be too big of a problem. If you feel inclined, do track any inconsistencies involving 19/20. The problems should even themselves out soon.

You are right. And this can affect both NW20 and NW19.

Has anyone ever done a water landing? I've only seem it in movies.

Can't say I have.

Uh... Northwest doesn't have just two 744s, either. They have sixteen of the big birds, all showing as active. One or two of those may be spares, I dunno. Anything between DTW, MSP or LAX and Japan has to be a 744. So they're constantly rotating through, and the next time this one has an overnight sit somewhere, I bet it'll be swarming with mechanics.

".. ever done a water landing?"

Yeah .. on floats. and even that can give you a pretty good jolt.
Ditching gives a whole new meaning to 'slam-dunk'. Not exactly on MY Bucket List.

from TFA: registration N666US ...
/.

Well, if it's the last thing on the list...

I've spoken with pilots about potential water landings. Trust me, they laugh (nervously) at the safety video which shows the plane nicely floating in the water. Apparently, it would be very difficult to do an actual water landing where people survived.

IIRC, there was a water landing about 10 years ago and there was actually video of it taken by someone. I bet it's on youtube somewhere.

Exactly. Water landing = Many, if not all dead. If you watch the video of the hijacked Nigerian? 767 as it ran out of fuel and attempted a "water landing" you will note that water is much like concrete at 120mph.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqV1byLOmNc

You're talking about the Ethiopian Airlines hijack that ended up in a water "landing." It's a miracle that people actually survived that accident.

Yeah, that was the end of a hijack drama involving a 767 off the African coast. The aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched. This was the incident that pretty much put the lie to the idea of the pillow-soft, no-worries water landing as depicted on the emergency card. Calm sea, no wind, full daylight, fully controllable aircraft, and still everything went to hell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV7yE4hK2hI

Now try it at night in a rolling North Atlantic sea.