And Thats Why I Don't Fly...

[pauldarkside]

Glide Bob, glide!

Or there's good old Jimbo

[Stewart]

Jimbo... JIMBO... JIMBO... - JIM-BO-O-O!

Jimbo > Super Ted.

[Wh@l3fish]

They have redundant battery backup, if the engines fail there is enough left to allow the pilot to get the aircraft in to a safe attitude and bring it down.

I understand that they have redundant power systems, although it's the talk of electronics failure that puzzles me!

I have just read that the 777 has a mechanical control system backup, so that explains that!

Don't really know about Jimbo though...

[TeePee]

They do still glide!

Gimli Glider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Actually the 777 has a 'RAT' or Ram Air Turbine which automatically deploys to provide hydraulic power for the flight controls in the event of both engines failing.

I have no idea what the cause here is, (my guess would be fuel related) but I'd be ready to bet the first words of the NTSB report are 'The pilot's failure to...'

[yamangman]

Actually, international civial aviation guidelines suggest that the 777 has to perform particularly well in a gliding situation, due to it being one of a rare few long -haul aircraft with 'only' 2 engines.

I find it hard to believe that if the power (engine I assume) and electronics went, as is stated in the BBC, that the pilot would be able to glide the plane down. The 777, unlike other Boeings, is fly by wire, and although it has redundant systems, they can't operate without electricity. Also some of the passengers said everything was 'normal' until it crashed, so maybe something else happened? I guess we'll find out later

[HSK]

they are really lucky, i live near heathrow and know the runway approach this one managed to land at...a very busy main road and houses before that. could of been really bad.

[G4Z]

Or there's good old Jimbo

I wonder, could Jimbo take off from a treadmill?

[iranu]

Where's that ASCII face in hand art when you need it for the OP. I'm sure you're either trolling or have a fear of lying. If you had any knowledge or worked in any aspect of aviation design you would realise that this is an advertisement for air travel and it's safety rather than not.

The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed.

This would suggest that electronics as well as engine power had failed. Don't forget that alot of engines these days are controlled by FADEC (Fully Authority Digital Electronic Control) systems. So if you have a full FADEC system (one with no manual backup) then if FADEC fails the engines fail (but as has been noted by Teepee there are systems available for producing power for control etc). I've not read enough to find out the exact details, but it sounds like they lost engine and electronic power on the approach therefore would have had very little time to initiate procedure to get the engines back online and made a decision to cope the best they could with the back up systems.

I'd much rather rely on an experienced, trained pilot commanding a CAA/FAA certified, well maintained civil airliner than take my chances on the road. The stats show that air travel is the safest form of transport per mile covered. If you've got the leg room, sit back and enjoy the ride. When was the last time you did 550mph in an aluminium tube 35,000 feet above the earth where the temperature a few feet away is -50°C? whilst drinking free booze

I read today (Torygraph) that an A319, again BA, lost power for 90 seconds or so in Oct 2005 on a flight to Budapest. Flight landed safely and 13 recommendations were made. So it does happen.

[MD]

As someone who flew out to China two weeks ago on a 777 and has to fly home this Sunday back to the UK from my current location in Shanghai (the view from this 35th floor is stunning ) I am not bothered by the events of yesterday - these things happen.

I am really touched though by the number of people who know I am out here who checked I wasn't on the flight.

For me to fly on Sunday isn't a problem, for example, for those who have witnessed Chinese driving in real life I am more likely to get run over outside my hotel that experiencing a problem in a plane.

I just wanna get home now, thats all, I am not bothered by the plane issues and stuff, I am FAR more bothered by people who think its funny to send me MSN or email saying 'have you seen the news, don't die now will you heh heh' THAT really winds me up.

If you want to discover the world you have to fly, I have now been to each zone of the globe more than once and would gladly visit again and again.

p.s. the 777 is a nice plane, even if the BA service is totally and utterly owned by the offerings from Virgin and Singapore airlines...

Matt

[CMC]

I wonder, could Jimbo take off from a treadmill?

Jimbo was soo cool, and of course he could take off from a treadmill, Jimbo could do anything he wanted to, thats just how cool he is...


I love flying, I'm one of these weirdos that loves a bit of turbulence as well, on my way home from Vancouver in Sept 06, the flight go quite bumpy, they stopped serving hot drinks, overhead compartments opening and stuff fallling out, children crying etc... everyone seemed to be holding their chairs very tight, but i was relaxing and loving it...

[directhex]

I love flying, I'm one of these weirdos that loves a bit of turbulence as well, on my way home from Vancouver in Sept 06, the flight go quite bumpy, they stopped serving hot drinks, overhead compartments opening and stuff fallling out, children crying etc... everyone seemed to be holding their chairs very tight, but i was relaxing and loving it...

can't sleep on a smooth flight

[MD]

Cattle Class I agree, I can't sleep on the plane, but I rarely travel cattle now - airline points etc etc mean if you plan it right business class and better is within reach...and sleeping is easy. BY far the best two seats are Virgin and Singapore business class.

BA is awful, even in first class...

M

[Howard]

Yes.

And I want it on record my fear of flying pre-dates Bin Laden and his chums. I was scared to fly long before 9/11.

Its the fact that sometimes planes don't work that bothers me, not terrorists.

Take the case of Air New Zealand Flight 901 for instance, everything was fine until it CRASHED INTO A VOLCANO, KILLING EVERYONE.

Into a volcano! That can't be much fun.

But slightly more fun than BOAC Flight 911, which was flying along fine, until it simply disintegrated... AND THEN CRASHED INTO A VOLCANO KILLING EVERYONE.

As someone with an accute fear of flying, I really shouldn't read reports of jumbojet \ volcano incidents really. If I'm honest, it just makes things worse.

Maybe United Airlines Flight 297 will make me feel safer, because that also crashed, killing everyone aboard, but it wasn't onto a volcano, it crashed into a Swan.

This worries me. A Volcano lives on the ground, and you can see it from miles away. Its unreasonable to expect a plane to be able to crash into it and not come out the loser. But Swans live in the air, so if the plane is going in the air, it needs to be able to hit one without falling to the earth.

What about Oceanic flight 815? The people that were on that flight are still on an island somewhere!

[tiggerai]

I love flying, I'm one of these weirdos that loves a bit of turbulence as well, on my way home from Vancouver in Sept 06, the flight go quite bumpy, they stopped serving hot drinks, overhead compartments opening and stuff fallling out, children crying etc... everyone seemed to be holding their chairs very tight, but i was relaxing and loving it...

You're in good company!

The first ever flight I took was a long haul to florida and encountered the mother of all storms on the way back. My sister didn't like it, but I was loving it!

It wasn't until we got off at the other end that Dad had said that was one of the hairyest flights he'd been on... and he's flown, a lot. (commute to brussels/dubai/hong kong in his day)

I love flying, i just feel so relaxed when I'm in the air.

[directhex]

i feel safer in a plane than on tall buildings or bridges

[Agent]

FLY WITH US, LAST TIME, EVERYTHING WENT COMPLETELY TITS UP, AND BY SOME MIRACLE NOONE WAS KILLED IN A FIREBALL OF ENGINE FUEL AND METAL DEATH, LOL! SO FLY WITH US NEXT TIME PLZ.

Do we have to have a ZOMG PLZ!11one outburst in every thread?

Same as the others really, I prefer to fly.
In fact, I did the initial RAF stuff as I wanted to be a pilot. Sadly I could never be a pilot due to medical grounds and I had little interest in the engineering side of things back then.