Fifth Avenue Forum

I'm always reminded of the story of Michael Wilbon sitting in First Class flying cross country and a large dog, I forget the breed, went to the front of the cabin and took a mountainous ****.

The touch of social anxiety I have centers around being seen/observed by people, so anything that attracts unwanted attention gives me the creeps.

Yeah when I'm on mass traffic the last thing I want to do is 1) Talk to you, 2) Be remembered for being present.

I regard people who use peacocks or ferrets or whatever as 'emotional support animals' to be on the same level of dunce as 95% of people who are 'allergic' to gluten.

Boeing has delivered the first new 737 MAX in 21 months: a 737 MAX 9 to United. Boeing also has a new MAX order for the first time in months, which is a 75-aircraft order from Irish budget carrier Ryanair. Ryanair has an all-737 fleet, and Boeing developed a special MAX version specifically for that airline, so it's no surprise that Ryanair is sticking with the 737.

CCTV video has been released of the Pakistan International Airlines flight PK8303 landing attempt in Karachi. This video proves once and for all that the pilots attempted to land without extending the landing gear.



The worse part about all of this is that if the pilots had just kept it on the runway and scraped to a stop, it's quite likely that the chances of survival for those on board would have been pretty good. By executing a go-around after damaging the engines, however, the pilots set up the eventual crash that killed all but two on board and one person on the ground.

I certainly hope the operator is making jet-engine noises.

I certainly hope the operator is making jet-engine noises.

You know damn well that he is.

Wow. An Avianca Airbus A319-100 flying from Orlando to Bogota, Colombia, collided with what appears to be a fireworks balloon either right before or right at landing on Bogota's runway 13L. The plane ended up just covered with plastic on both wings, both engines, and the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Scary stuff.

Boeing To Pay $2.5 Billion Over MAX Fraud Conspiracy
https://simpleflying.com/boeing-max-fraud-conspiracy/

Boeing will pay a $243.6 million criminal monetary penalty, set up a $500 million fund for the heirs and beneficiaries of those who died in the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents, and pay $1.77 billion in compensation to Boeing’s airline customers for harm incurred as a result of the grounding of the 737 MAX. The settlement agreement ends a DOJ criminal investigation into the MAX crashes. The investigation also concluded that two former Boeing employees (although not senior management) intentionally concealed changes that had been made to the MCAS software. Under the terms of the agreement, the DOJ will defer prosecution of Boeing. But Boeing must abide by the obligations outlined in a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, including implementing enhanced compliance reporting and internal control mechanisms. After that time, the charges will be dismissed.

Boeing 737 With 62 Aboard Missing After Takeoff From Jakarta

A Boeing Co. jet with 62 people aboard is missing after losing contact with Indonesia’s aviation authorities shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.

Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182, a 26-year-old 737-500, was scheduled to depart from the nation’s capital to Pontianak on the island of Borneo at 1:40 p.m. local time, according to FlightRadar24 data, which tracked the plane plunging from 10,900 feet in altitude to 250 feet before it dropped off of the radar. The aircraft is a much older model than the 737 Max that was grounded for 20 months in 2019 after two fatal crashes, including a Lion Air disaster that killed 189 people in 2018.

Indonesian authorities said they have sent a search vessel from Jakarta to the plane’s last known location in the Java Sea. First responders were also deployed to the site to aid potential survivors, local TV reported. Flight SJ182 had 56 passengers on board, including seven children and three infants, along with two pilots and four cabin crew, local media reported.

Really sad. You couldn't pay me enough money to fly commercial in southeast Asia.

Terrible. RIP to those involved.

Odd sounding incident so far. If the flight track is accurate, this aircraft very suddenly pretty much nosedived out of the sky. The last reported sink rate from ADS-B data was something like negative 25,000 fpm, so that's pretty much a nosedive. Nothing from the pilots. The altitude wasn't high enough for a decompression event to have much if any effect, and neither would hypoxia. There was rain and storms in the area, but I don't think they were in bad weather at the time. Icing is highly unlikely given the climate. It's like the aircraft just stopped flying. Reports are that the ocean at the crash site is about 30 meters deep, so

The 737 in question is a 737 "Classic" that was formerly owned by Continental and then United after the two airlines merged. It was delivered in 1994, so that's pretty old aircraft.

Found it.

Really sad. You couldn't pay me enough money to fly commercial in southeast Asia.

We took 4 flights in 10 days on Vietnam Airlines. *shrug*

I flew commercial out of Afghanistan.

Not a military charter. I got on a commercial plane that held about 20 people total and flew to Dubai, with a stop in Kandahar to pick up some folks like a bus route. Ticket was $425.

I guess they're still in business as https://www.dfsmiddleeast.com/default.aspx

Whatever happened, it happened fast.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has announced that it will be publishing an updated airworthiness directive regarding the 737 MAX next week, which will authorize the aircraft to resume flying in the EU. Transport Canada has also issued an updated airworthiness directive for the MAX, which permits it to return to flight. Both authorities are following the FAA is requiring new hardware, software, and training requirements for the MAX.

In other aviation news, Norwegian Air Shuttle has announced that as part of its restructuring efforts, it would be abandoning its long-haul fleet in order to focus exclusively on European routes. Norwegian was one of the few low-cost carriers that was trying to operate long-haul international flights. It will be either selling or returning 37 Boeing 787s to the lessors. Demand for widebodies is in the crapper due to Covid and the near-shutdown of international flying, but this would be an opportunity for some other airline to pick up some barely-used Dreamliners for cheap.

I think the first 7-8 I ever saw in person was NA at SFO.

Norwegian operated its long-haul offerings through a number of subsidiaries, each of which had a separate call sign. One of them, Norwegian Air UK, had one of the best call signs out there: REDNOSE.

So anybody hear anything on that Indonesian flight

The FDR was found and is being analyzed. The casing for the CVR was found, but the guts were missing, and they're still looking for the memory modules containing the actual data, so we don't have the voice records yet. A few initial reports are that both engines were running all the way to the ocean, and the ADSB data showing a steep plunge is correct. Nothing further has been released.

Suicide by pilot?