topic Re: 133 on board - all safe in Community Chat

133 on board - all safe

straykatz — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 14:42:28 GMT

Seems we always hear of the planes that go down with all lives lost...but rarely does a hard landing with everyone safe make the major headlines. Over the weekend a plane went down in Halifax, NS and thankfully no one was killed. 133 passengers were on board.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/29/americas/air-canada-halifax-incident/

Re: 133 on board - all safe

straykatz — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:41:21 GMT

not even thank goodness or a wow or how lucky for these people?

Re: 133 on board - all safe

CANDLEQUEEN — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:43:07 GMT

Thank goodness! You are right-we never hear much about those close calls!!!!!Thanks for posting!

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Disneylandfan — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:28:46 GMT

Wow! Can you imagine getting out of the plane and seeing what it looked like? That's amazing all walked away.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

BellaPaprika — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:58:23 GMT

Happy that people were only injured and not killed but the cause is to be investigated. Very concerning.The aircraft, an Airbus A320, touched down about 1,100 feet short of the runway, said Mike Cunningham, a regional manager of air investigations at the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. From there, it hit an antenna array that's part of the airport's landing system and severed a power line.

1100 feet short of the runway? Where was the pilot? I heard the other day, when they were talking about the plane in the Alps, that it's quite common for jet liners to land robotically with the pilot doing nothing. So was this computer error and why didn't the pilot override the system when he saw they were landing short - or was he off having coffee? Seems as if the entire industry needs to take a good look at their pilots and their qualifications. Many of the airlines outside the U.S. do not require pilots and co-pilots to have as many flying hours as the U.S. does.

And, yes, this was all over the news the night after it happened. Obviously a story where there is loss of life will get more press.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Cakers1 — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:15:22 GMT

straykatz: I didn't hear about this and just signed on a few minutes ago. Thanks for posting this - it's nice to see a happy ending to what could have been another terrible tragedy.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Lucky Charm — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:21:57 GMT

Landings are the worse. Even good landings freak me out. I'm so glad this one turned out to be okay.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Lilysmom — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 20:14:17 GMT

Starykatz, thanks for posting. I live in Halifax. There was a very bad snow storm the night this happened. The plane circled the runway for an hour before attempting to land. The choice is the pilot's to make about landing. The pilot before him diverted to another airport, in fact two airports,, before he landed safely.

Officials are calling this a 'hard landing' as opposed to a crash which is media speak in an effort to downplay the event. These passengers were indeed very fortunate. There was almost no fuel on the plane as it circled so long. I believe all but one passenger was released within 24 hours.

. LM

Re: 133 on board - all safe

LucyGoose — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:04:04 GMT

..... This was a very, very fortunate situation.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Canada61 — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:16:18 GMT

On 3/30/2015 BlueCollarBabe said:
Happy that people were only injured and not killed but the cause is to be investigated. Very concerning.The aircraft, an Airbus A320, touched down about 1,100 feet short of the runway, said Mike Cunningham, a regional manager of air investigations at the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. From there, it hit an antenna array that's part of the airport's landing system and severed a power line.

1100 feet short of the runway? Where was the pilot? I heard the other day, when they were talking about the plane in the Alps, that it's quite common for jet liners to land robotically with the pilot doing nothing. So was this computer error and why didn't the pilot override the system when he saw they were landing short - or was he off having coffee? Seems as if the entire industry needs to take a good look at their pilots and their qualifications. Many of the airlines outside the U.S. do not require pilots and co-pilots to have as many flying hours as the U.S. does.

And, yes, this was all over the news the night after it happened. Obviously a story where there is loss of life will get more press.

I did some checking on Air Canada's safety record. It is considered one of the safest airlines in the world. They have not had a fatal crash in over 20 years. Of the 4.75 million flights since its inception it has had 3 fatal accidents. Rated 7 stars out of 7 by airlineratings.com which looks at many factors.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

straykatz — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:20:01 GMT

I can't imagine the fear these passengers must have felt.

Lilysmom.....I'm orginally from Truro, NS...and when I fly home I fly into Halifax.....even on good days the weather is so unpredictable there due to fog over Kelly's Lake - many of my flights have been delayed due to fog. Better delayed than be sorry. I have been on flights where the fog was so bad you could see nothing not even runway lights when looking out the windows ...then before you know it the plane hits the ground...it's a very scary feeling.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

straykatz — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:22:28 GMT

Yes...Air Canada has a very good safety record.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

dooBdoo — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:23:53 GMT

straykatz, Nice to see you here, long time no see!

Thank you for taking the time to share this good news! Wonderful, encouraging thread.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

Lilysmom — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:38:41 GMT

Starkatz, yes Halifax Airport gets some of the worst fog in the area. I spent many years for my work flying in and out of Halifax Airport in all kinds of weather. This one was a close call. There is a lot of media coverage on this locally and the main runway is out of service while Transportstion Safety Board does their investigation so delays are common. Very very fortunate people. Some wonderful Good Samaritan stories as well which will come as no surprise to fellow Nova Scotians. LM

Re: 133 on board - all safe

KellyS — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:48:05 GMT

Thanks for the good news straykatz. Don't know why the pilot ended up short of the runway, but he did a good job with the hard landing.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

sunala — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 15:58:59 GMT

One of the passengers stated that this was a crash, not a "hard landing."

It must have been terrifying. Thankfully everyone seems to be okay.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

LilacTree — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 16:06:37 GMT

The world's fleet of aircraft is getting old, and ours is the oldest. Stop making war weapons (we have plenty) and start replacing our old commercial fleet with new planes!! That goes for other countries as well. As usual, our priorities are all backwards.

Re: 133 on board - all safe

BellaPaprika — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 16:49:58 GMT

On 3/31/2015 Ford1224 said:
The world's fleet of aircraft is getting old, and ours is the oldest. Stop making war weapons (we have plenty) and start replacing our old commercial fleet with new planes!! That goes for other countries as well. As usual, our priorities are all backwards.

So true and also our country's infrastructure which is crumbling. Roads and bridges in very dangerous condition. There's even a government website now where you can check on how many bridges in your area are "deficient".