If jetBlue flew taildraggers...

Fallguy · #1 09-21-2005, 07:51 PM

...they would never have made the news.

Seriously though, I am glad that everyone is OK. Kudos to the flight crew. I thought that the news kinda went overboard a bit.

LettersFromFlyoverCountry · #2 09-21-2005, 08:07 PM

I have no clue what this refers to. Is there some incident that this is about?

DeltaRomeo · #3 09-21-2005, 08:10 PM

Just on CNN, Bob.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/21/air....ap/index.html

Jamie · #4 09-21-2005, 08:27 PM

If Jetblue flew taildraggers...

They'd be flying DC-3's...last manufactured in the 1940's.

Seriously though, the Jetblue captain did an absolutely fantastic job. My wife started ribbing me...

"See...he even landed on the centerline with a bad nose gear. What's your excuse?".

Ironflight · #5 09-21-2005, 09:47 PM

(If you are flying a nose-dragger), try not letting the nose gear touch at all - it will give you a wonderfully precise ability to control pitch, and you'll know exactly what it felt like to be that guy. Well, maybe not EXACTLY - he had to do it in front of TV cameras with a three-hour build-up!

Now that can ruin anyone's concentration - but not his!

Paul Dye
Nassau Bay, TX
Waiting on Rita to hit.....

Fallguy · #6 09-21-2005, 09:49 PM

Just curious if you were worried about it.

Ironflight · #7 09-21-2005, 11:04 PM

I had a very, very tough choice to make, and the one I chose was to call my insurance broker and put a not-in-motion policy on the brand new, ready to fly (but not inspected!) -8, cross my fingers, and pray. I not only had to deal with shutting down Mission Control and getting eveyrone out safely, but I am one of the senior officers in our local fire department, so once I got Work squared away, I had to move into my other role.

The RV-8 is in a decent hangar, 44 feet above sea level, and it looks right now like Rita is going to hit down the coast far enough that we will see high tropical storm winds right here on the south side of Houston. I can only hope. It's insured for what I have in it - materials-wise, not sweat and emotion. Not much I can do about that now. We are working to get all the people out of the way of the storm first.

For those interested (and I know there are many RV owners in Houston, and I hope you are getting in a safe posture!), the county emergency plan has all of us staffing our local fire and EMS posts until it appears that we are going to get overwhelmed, at which time we retreat to the Astrodome with our apparatus, to preserve our capability to serve after the storm has passed. That is when the real work begins!

At least in this position, I will be able to get back into the area and see how the hangar survived before most people. I have the four-wheeled RV parked squarely in front of the hangar doors as a debris block.

In the Fire Service, we have the equipment, training, and protection to ride out a storm like this - as well as a plan, communications, and resources. If there is anyone in the path of Rita that is contemplating riding it out on their own, please reconsider, unless you have all of the above in your favor.

Good luck to everyone on the Texas coast!

Paul F. Dye
Nassau Bay Volunteer Fire Department
RV-8 owner - now and in the future - you gotta have faith!

N941WR · #8 09-22-2005, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SERV Member & Jet Blue pilot

It wasn't me, and anybody could have done the same thing. The press as usual was making a big to do about nothing. The aircraft is designed to have the nose wheel steering mechanism center the gear at liftoff. If it does not center, the system will turn the wheel 90 degrees on purpose. All this is to keep the nose gear from being cocked at say 45 degrees which would be a much bigger problem. Airbus knew what they were doing. Although this should probably be a one in a million event, it has happened twice before with the same result. Still a great job, but a very anticipated outcome. I'm glad it wasn't me though, because the Captain is going to be writing letters and answering questions for a very long time. As to ending the career, I'm looking forward to the usual boredom of airline flying. RV's are much more fun and usually more exciting.

The above was sent out the SERV list last night. Just thought I would share it. Name was changed to protect the guilty.

Man, that guy did a good job. I wonder if he didn't touch his brakes or deployed the thrust reversers in an effort to keep weight off the nose.

(Ironflight, good luck with the storm. I hope you and all of TX make it through w/o too much trauma.)

LettersFromFlyoverCountry · #9 09-22-2005, 10:21 AM

//The press as usual was making a big to do about nothing.

Granted I' m a member of the press so I'm extra sensitive. But I get tired of this "making a big deal out of nothing" nonsense. The definition of news is "recent events and happenings that are notable or unusual."

As near as I can tell, this stuff is considered unusual. And you know how I know that? Because you guys are talking about it.

LettersFromFlyoverCountry · #10 09-22-2005, 11:17 AM

By the way, you guys missed the best part of this story. When all was said and done and the tires had burned away and the metal had all scraped .

Did you notice where the nose gear was sitting?

Right on the centerline, baby. Right on the centerline!