Mile High Club

[Cassandra32FF]

The plane could've flown for a lot longer had the fatigue checks been done properly. That crack should've been spotted and repaired. A passenger boarding the flight that day spotted the fatal crack as she was entering the aircraft(eye level and to the right of the main cabin door). However she failed to inform anyone. Less than 30 minutes later that crack tore the top part of the fuselage wide open.

 

[davidjh7]

Yeah I miss the DC-10s and L10s myself.

They were pretty comfortable planes. I think my favorite memory of an L1011 was riding in the very back, in the center section, where the seat basically straddled the main aisle. When the plane was climbing out, and leveling out, I watched the flex of the fuselage....I could literally see the front part level out while the back end was still climbing. Made me really realize just how long that plane was!

 

[Andre80]

Twice. Last week on my company's Gulfstream V, and a year ago or so in my private canard pusher flying to Chicago. Autopilot, greatest invention. Ever.

Yes, I have a ticket, Private, single engine IFR rating.

 

[ClaireTalon]

The plane could've flown for a lot longer had the fatigue checks been done properly. That crack should've been spotted and repaired. A passenger boarding the flight that day spotted the fatal crack as she was entering the aircraft(eye level and to the right of the main cabin door). However she failed to inform anyone. Less than 30 minutes later that crack tore the top part of the fuselage wide open.

If I remember correctly, Aloha only owned 4 737's, and after the crash in question, one went straight to the blowtorch, three were examined, and of those, two more got the acetylene kiss, and one turned out to be so badly in need of repair that she was written off too.

This accident is one of the exemplary cases for how things can go wrong if airlines don't handle their equipment properly.

 

[Bigwoodie]

Does jerking off in an airplane toilet count? lol

 

[Cassandra32FF]

...I could literally see the front part level out while the back end was still climbing. Made me really realize just how long that plane was!

Now imagine how that sensation looks and feels riding on a 777-300.

 

[Cassandra32FF]

This accident is one of the exemplary cases for how things can go wrong if airlines don't handle their equipment properly.

Exactly.

 

[Honey_Grrrl83]

I believe it's a 36 hour filght from where I live to Mumbai,India,so I may well become a member:tongue:

 

[headbang8]

Useful intelligence on 777s. (Just spent 13 hours cooped up in one, as it happens) In the middle of the economy cabin, there was a slightly larger lav designed for handicapped passengers. Just the ticket.

@Claire: I share your distaste for Airbuses. Tinny, noisy, and from a passenger's impression, they feel kinda gutless. The Minivan of the skies.

And who can forget the story of the AA Airbus which was, I understand, knocked out of the sky over Long Island by the wake of the JAL jumbo in front?

That said, I've flown A340s on Virgin and Cathay a lot. Much smoother and quieter than a jumbo, IMHO. Then again, I've never flown aft of the engines on one.

 

[dong20]

First airplane I flew on was a Vickers Viscount and the most recent a B737-800 a few weeks ago. Both have small toilets, some things change slowly.

My Favourites from experience:

In my heart - B747. For me it's an icon.
For performance - toss up between the early DC9's and esp a nearly empty B757 take off roll at full chat wow!! Though I was impressed by the raw guts of a BA L1011 when after two missed approaches at Edinburgh airport :biggrin1:
For good looks - B747-400
For ugliness - CASA 212 (Paraguay Airforce)
The most interesting - An old TU154 from Cancun to Havana, smooth as silk.
The most 'scary' - TU134 from Bangkok to Phnomn Penh it was creaking like an old schooner!
For discomfort - Dan Dare Comet 4 ...man it was camped and noisy
For overall comfort - A340 Virgin and Cathay for me too as it happens.
For sound - Jet; Anything with a Trent variant of the RB211 TP; the RR Dart.

Claire, I agree the A380 is pretty ugly but I'm curious as to why you think airbus is shit professionally or personally? I was just hypothesising about potential toilet size and as a passenger I could care less how the aircraft looks from the outside :smile:

 

[Irish]

I'm skinny and all, but I still take up a lot of room - fairly broad shoulders, really long limbs, 6'3", etc. I just don't see it being a comfortable situation at all. Also, I don't fly much and the last time I was on a plane was on the way to Philmont (largest Boy Scout camp in the world) so I was with a bunch of guys.


If the oppurtunity presents itself one day, though... I'd probably try it out.

 

[Cassandra32FF]

As for cabin noise try the last few rows of a DC-9. As for engine noise outside, the BAC 1-11 or the venerable VC-10.

 

[dong20]

As for cabin noise try the last few rows of a DC-9. As for engine noise outside, the BAC 1-11 or the venerable VC-10.

I love the VC10...very elegant. I've not flown on one but from the outside....wow what a racket. I like the DC-9 cos it's got lots of grunt but noisy in the back...may drown out the groans of passion though :tongue:

The noisest plane I remember being on was a Comet...was just behind the wings

 

[thirteenbyseven]

Great aircraft. Those GE90s or RR Trents give you quite a kick in the seat on takeoff.

Our Boeing 777's have the PW4000's (various series) and have the distinction of having flown the longest ETOPS diversion, 192 minutes on March 17, 2003 (from engine shut-down to landing in Kona, Hawaii.) Note: The EEC only showed 177 minutes.

Say Miss Cassandra, your Avatar picture has been replaced with a photo of an old Braniff International BAC-111. In this thread you and Claire discuss the convertible Aloha Boeing 737-200 - well there was a girl F/O onboard that day over Maui. This thread is starting to look like an airline industry thread. Between the two of you I'd love to see some CRM on a trip. :smile::smile:

 

[ClaireTalon]

Our Boeing 777's have the PW4000's (various series) and have the distinction of having flown the longest ETOPS diversion, 192 minutes on March 17, 2003 (from engine shut-down to landing in Kona, Hawaii.) Note: The EEC only showed 177 minutes.

Say Miss Cassandra, your Avatar picture has been replaced with a photo of an old Braniff International BAC-111. In this thread you and Claire discuss the convertible Aloha Boeing 737-200 - well there was a girl F/O onboard that day over Maui. This thread is starting to look like an airline industry thread. Between the two of you I'd love to see some CRM on a trip. :smile::smile:

CRM, that's wussy stuff. We'll handle it like this: You've got the hardware, Cassandra and me have the software, so you do the job on us, okay, understood, Mr. First Officer?

No, really now. CRM has been invented by the air force long before it became fashionable in civil aviation. If I'm a Captain, and a Major is on board of my plane, doors closed, engines running, and he tries to hurry me or fiddle with my decisions, I can fully legally give him the finger. Well, that's the bad kind of CRM. The better one is if I tell him in a low, soothening tone that there are no parachutes for passengers.

By the way, you're right about the female F/O. My Alma Mater, ERAU, has the full NTSB accident report online. It states the names of the crew, Captain Robert Lawrence Schornstheimer (44), with 8,500 h (6,700 on the 737), and F/O Madeline Lynn Tompkins (8,500 h / 3,500h). If you are interested, the full report is here: http://amelia.db.erau.edu/reports/ntsb/aar/AAR89-03.pdf

And to Cassandra, what's your background in aviation?

 

[Andre80]

For performance - toss up between the early DC9's and esp a nearly empty B757 take off roll at full chat wow!!

Hrm, due to noise abatement regulations, I was under the impression that most take offs are not done at WOT, especially with a nearly empty aircraft. There is a formula (I believe) commercial heavies use to calculate optimum take off thrust performance. Airlines lose departure slots at major airports for violating noise reg's.

 

[brummyboy69]

I am sort of in the mile high club, but did not have full blown sex. On a kinda quiet flight (50%) my boyfriend got a bit frisky and decided to give me a hand job in my chair... I think the guy in the next aisle noticed something was up with the blanket bobbing up & down. Risky, but god it gave me a boner!!!

 

[dong20]

Hrm, due to noise abatement regulations, I was under the impression that most take offs are not done at WOT, especially with a nearly empty aircraft. There is a formula (I believe) commercial heavies use to calculate optimum take off thrust performance. Airlines lose departure slots at major airports for violating noise reg's.

Well yes, you're quite right of course,but remember the DC-9 has been around for almost 40 years and the 757 over 20 years and Noise Abatement rules were not always so stringent (remember Concorde?). You assumed I was talking about recent flights to and from major airports in countries with strict (and enforced) Noise Abatement rules, no offense. Plus being human, flight crews have been known to occasionally 'flex' the rules a little. :tongue:

 

[Cassandra32FF]

Honestly why noise abatement is still around is a mystery. Most airplanes today are weenies when it comes to noise compare to the heavenly noisemakers of yesteryear.:smile:

 

[thirteenbyseven]

Honestly why noise abatement is still around is a mystery. Most airplanes today are weenies when it comes to noise compare to the heavenly noisemakers of yesteryear.:smile:

I agree, those Speys on the BAC1-11 were indeed God's gift to noise. As a kid I remember watching an American Airlines BAC1-11 taking-off and thinking "geez for a small airline jet it was so loud. Even with hush kits I don't believe it could pass today's stringent FAR Part 36 stage 3 noise restrictions. The second noisiest aircraft in the world fleet behind the Concorde. Try being number one for T/O at JFK behind a British Airways or Air France Concorde. It would spool-up, go into re-heat mode (afterburners actually) and our entire cockpit would reverberate from the sound.

Magnificent obsolescence.