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Lotus

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If Boeing suddenly make a specific change to the planes or if, God forbid, another one drops out of the sky, they are going to have trouble sticking to their "story".

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Ho hum...another day in Pilatus land

 

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Driving past the Pilatus factory today, I almost did not see the red light....

Pilatus be like minibus taxi - skip red light and stop in road to pick up pax.

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It is amazing, the Lateral accuracy is also so good that you pass in opposite directions directly one above the other.

I have heard stories that doing an auto land is also so accurate that the planes are landing on the exact same spot every time and stuffing the runways up. How true is this?

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It is amazing, the Lateral accuracy is also so good that you pass in opposite directions directly one above the other.

 

I always try and get a window seat. On a trip Jhb to Harare at cruising altitude just north of the border I was idly gazing out and thinking how empty the sky was and what were the odds of seeing anything (at the time - 2014 -there were not a lot of flights going to or from Harare). Another jet just streaked past underneath at what seemed ludicrously close distance and gave me a hell of a startle.

 

I often wondered why the air corridors need to be stacked up quite like that - everyone wants the exact same shortest route? There was the US Starlifter and German plane that collided over Namibia going in opposite directions back in 1990's if I recall.

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I always try and get a window seat. On a trip Jhb to Harare at cruising altitude just north of the border I was idly gazing out and thinking how empty the sky was and what were the odds of seeing anything (at the time - 2014 -there were not a lot of flights going to or from Harare). Another jet just streaked past underneath at what seemed ludicrously close distance and gave me a hell of a startle.

 

I often wondered why the air corridors need to be stacked up quite like that - everyone wants the exact same shortest route? There was the US Starlifter and German plane that collided over Namibia going in opposite directions back in 1990's if I recall.

 

1997.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Namibia_mid-air_collision

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I am certainly no aviation expert, but I have followed this incident with interest.

 

This report does not sit comfortably with me. It appears to have been written with an agenda - put maximum blame on the pilots and minimise the blame on Boeing (but leave a little bit in to create the appearance of impartiality).

 

As with most air accidents it is normally not just one event that caused the accident but several.

 

  • Boeing released a new aircraft and pulled a few shortcuts wrt the handling of the aircraft.
  • Pilots ought to be trained to handle the new aircraft and it is fairly obvious that that is not in place.
  • The Pilots (under stress) also made mistakes in trying to get the aircraft under control (propper similation training could have helped prevented it)
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I always try and get a window seat. On a trip Jhb to Harare at cruising altitude just north of the border I was idly gazing out and thinking how empty the sky was and what were the odds of seeing anything (at the time - 2014 -there were not a lot of flights going to or from Harare). Another jet just streaked past underneath at what seemed ludicrously close distance and gave me a hell of a startle.

 

I often wondered why the air corridors need to be stacked up quite like that - everyone wants the exact same shortest route? There was the US Starlifter and German plane that collided over Namibia going in opposite directions back in 1990's if I recall.

Useless information, If all the planes in the world were on the ground at once there would not be enough surface area for them to park. 

 

Shortest, most economical route as you said is probably a very good guess I would say.

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I have heard stories that doing an auto land is also so accurate that the planes are landing on the exact same spot every time and stuffing the runways up. How true is this?

This I have not heard, however, we aim for the piano key marks and to touch down in the touchdown zone, within the first 300m of the runway. You will see the accumulation of rubber in this area from aircraft landing, wheels going from zero kts to anywhere from 100 to 140 ( 185 kph to 260). It has to be cleared up periodically as it can lead to viscous hydroplaning.

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I always try and get a window seat. On a trip Jhb to Harare at cruising altitude just north of the border I was idly gazing out and thinking how empty the sky was and what were the odds of seeing anything (at the time - 2014 -there were not a lot of flights going to or from Harare). Another jet just streaked past underneath at what seemed ludicrously close distance and gave me a hell of a startle.

 

I often wondered why the air corridors need to be stacked up quite like that - everyone wants the exact same shortest route? There was the US Starlifter and German plane that collided over Namibia going in opposite directions back in 1990's if I recall.

Check out Flight Radar app. It is fascinating to see how busy parts of the world are. The route structures were originally built around ground based navigation aids. As GPS has developed along with all the space based navigation and associated hardware/software, the requirement is for saving fuel, time and money. Route structures have developed to this end, trying to be as direct as possible but there are constraints. There are various areas of Restricted Airspace in countries. These could be for any number of reasons, not always military and the routes would go around them.

If you are interested to learn more, Skybrary.com has a ton of info.

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That was always a good pub-quiz question:

" over which country did the last downing of a USAF plane by the Luftwaffe take place"

:D  :clap:

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That was always a good pub-quiz question:

" over which country did the last downing of a USAF plane by the Luftwaffe take place"

 

Brilliant  :clap:  :clap:   Only problem is the answer would not be Namibia as it was over international waters of the Atlantic.

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