# My Flashback



## oldman (Oct 31, 2019)

Earlier this week, I was watching the TV program called “Air Disasters.” In this episode, a chartered Canadian jetliner was flying a large group of passengers that had made their pilgrimage to Mecca and were now flying home to I believe one of the African countries. As the plane made its way down the runway for t/o, a tire exploded and the wheel was exposed to the runway and it became red hot.

After t/o, it’s only normal for the pilot to raise the landing gear. The rim of the blown tire had become red hot. When the gear is raised, they normally will fold under the wings, which is exactly where the fuel tanks are located. This caused the plane to catch fire; first to the underbelly or flooring, which in turn, caused passengers to begin falling out of the plane while still belted into their seat.

It took a few minutes before the pilots understood the severity of the problem. I think they understood the problem because many of the hydraulics and electric wiring run through the flooring. All of a sudden, the pilots no longer have control of their plane. BTW, they did start to return to the airport that they t/o from. Obviously, they never were able to return and crashed about two miles from the airport killing everyone.

My flashback was that I had a similar occurrence back in the early 2000’s. We were flying down to Miami from Newark in the early evening in a Boeing 757 with about 225 souls onboard. The F/O was doing the flying while I manned the radio and instruments. Just as we lifted off, we both heard a sound like a gunshot. We looked at each other and almost at the same time said, “Blowout!” I radioed the tower and told them that we just blew a tire, but were climbing. The ATC asked if we wanted to return. I thought about it for a moment and decided that we would deal with in Miami.

Once we began our decent into Miami, I advised the ATC that we had a blown tire on one of our undercarriage bogies. She asked if we were declaring an emergency. I told her no. We landed without incident and proceeded to our gate. The difference between our blowout and the one in the TV program was that on the other plane, they continued down the runway for a short distance after they heard the tire blow allowing the tire to chew off the rim and then heat up the rim to becoming red hot. Our tire blew out just as we lifted off.

Had the pilots realized that the noise they heard was a blown tire and not raised the gear, they may have been able to save their plane. Talk about hindsight.


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## Grampa Don (Oct 31, 2019)

This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder whether pilotless aircraft will ever be safe.  Would a computer hear the tire pop?

Don


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 31, 2019)

Oldman, Did the passengers hear the noise you heard? If so,did anyone question it and what did you tell them? I was just wondering how you keep people calm in a situation like that.


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## Keesha (Oct 31, 2019)

That’s quite the story. How many years did you fly?
What’s the toughest flight you ever had?
I’d make a horrible pilot. I spook far too easily. 
Omg! The tire blew. We’re all gonna dieeeeee.


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 31, 2019)

oldman said:


> My flashback was that I had a similar occurrence back in the early 2000’s. We were flying down to Miami from Newark in the early evening in a Boeing 757 with about 225 souls onboard. The F/O was doing the flying while I manned the radio and instruments. Just as we lifted off, we both heard a sound like a gunshot. We looked at each other and almost at the same time said, “Blowout!” I radioed the tower and told them that we just blew a tire, but were climbing. The ATC asked if we wanted to return. I thought about it for a moment and decided that we would deal with in Miami.
> 
> Once we began our decent into Miami, I advised the ATC that we had a blown tire on one of our undercarriage bogies. She asked if we were declaring an emergency. I told her no. We landed without incident and proceeded to our gate. The difference between our blowout and the one in the TV program was that on the other plane, they continued down the runway for a short distance after they heard the tire blow allowing the tire to chew off the rim and then heat up the rim to becoming red hot. Our tire blew out just as we lifted off.


That's scary stuff Oldman, glad you're still with us to talk about it.  You've had a very fulfilling career, I know you miss it dearly.


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## Pappy (Nov 1, 2019)

I love oldmans  flying stories. Look forward to them.


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## oldman (Nov 1, 2019)

Grampa Don said:


> This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder whether pilotless aircraft will ever be safe.  Would a computer hear the tire pop?
> 
> Don


Have you ever heard the old joke where an announcement was made over the PA system in the plane:

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen: You are flying on the only pilotless aircraft flying at this time in history. The plane is totally computerized. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Remember; nothing can go wrong, can go wrong, can go wrong, etc.


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## oldman (Nov 1, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Oldman, Did the passengers hear the noise you heard? If so,did anyone question it and what did you tell them? I was just wondering how you keep people calm in a situation like that.


Yes. About 10 minutes into the flight, we received a call from the Purser telling us that some of the passengers were asking what the loud pop was on t/o. I told her that I would speak with the passengers as soon as we reached our cruising altitude. In a very calm voice, I told the passengers that some of them may have heard a loud pop on t/o, but it wasn’t any of the crew popping the champagne. We did blow a tire on t/o, but not to worry, we still have seven more under us, plus two on the nose gear. You won’t notice any difference on landing.
Everyone seemed good with it. We did make a nice landing in Miami.


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## oldman (Nov 1, 2019)

Pappy said:


> I love oldmans  flying stories. Look forward to them.


Gee, Pappy, I didn’t think anyone cared. Thank you.


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## oldman (Nov 1, 2019)

Keesha said:


> That’s quite the story. How many years did you fly?
> What’s the toughest flight you ever had?
> I’d make a horrible pilot. I spook far too easily.
> Omg! The tire blew. We’re all gonna dieeeeee.


I flew for 33 plus years. I had a few tough flights. One was when we flying out of a O’Hare during a snowstorm. They were talking about closing the airport due to not being able to keep the runways clear, but we got out after being de-iced for the third time. A lot of passengers become nervous when they see we are being de-iced, so after three times, we ended having two people become very nervous to the point that they had to be reseated to the rear of the plane and have a F/A sit with them. On that flight, we were flying to Honolulu, so yeah, we wanted to get in the air. On another flight, we were going to LAX from Washington, D.C. After being in the air for about two hours, we had a heart attack victim. Luckily, we did have a Physician’s Assistant onboard. I asked her if I needed to land, but I already knew the answer. We ended up being an hour late when we took off again, but arrived in LA only fifteen minutes behind schedule. Having a blown tire is no big deal, if when the tire blows none of the pieces of the tire strikes the aircraft and causes damage. Flying today with all of the automation onboard makes things a lot more simpler than just twenty years ago.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 1, 2019)

oldman said:


> Gee, Pappy, I didn’t think anyone cared. Thank you.


I like these stories also,they give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes and what it takes to get everyone safely to their destinations. Not many people would be up for that task. After 33 years I can see why you miss flying so much.


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## fmdog44 (Nov 1, 2019)

On of my most nervous episodes flying occurred in Ontario many years ago. Every flight was cancelled due to bad a winter storm. After a while of laying on the floor with thousands of others it was announce my flight to Houston was going to take off regardless.
So we got on the plane and I had a window seat over the right wing.  I saw a person with a large hose pouring glycol (or something similar all over the wing. This was to prevent freezing. One passenger said they had never seen so much poured before. Now I am thinking this flight is leaving in this storm because this plane is _really _needed in Houston for some reason. So now the plane bugs out to the runway and quickly takes off. Away we went with no issues. I was staring at the wing for the first few minutes of flight thinking "dont freeze!" I have flown maybe 1000 times and despite some scary "puddle jumper"flights (small crafts over mountainous regions) I have always enjoyed trouble free flying.


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## oldman (Nov 2, 2019)

fmdog44 said:


> On of my most nervous episodes flying occurred in Ontario many years ago. Every flight was cancelled due to bad a winter storm. After a while of laying on the floor with thousands of others it was announce my flight to Houston was going to take off regardless.
> So we got on the plane and I had a window seat over the right wing.  I saw a person with a large hose pouring glycol (or something similar all over the wing. This was to prevent freezing. One passenger said they had never seen so much poured before. Now I am thinking this flight is leaving in this storm because this plane is _really _needed in Houston for some reason. So now the plane bugs out to the runway and quickly takes off. Away we went with no issues. I was staring at the wing for the first few minutes of flight thinking "don't freeze!" I have flown maybe 1000 times and despite some scary "puddle jumper"flights (small crafts over mountainous regions) I have always enjoyed trouble free flying.



As much as you like reading my stories, I also like reading stories of people's experiences. 
There are four types of deicing fluid. Depending on the severity of the build up determines which fluid is being used. Like you already stated, it is sprayed on the plane with pressure through a hose. Each airline is billed for the amount of fluid used. You are also correct that it is important for the plane to get to it's next destination because that plane may be needed to take passengers onto another destination. Airlines do not have spare planes sitting at other airports to be used as backups. The fifteen minutes we were late into LA may be made up by the pilots on the next flight if they are able to divert using a shorter route, or if they are approved to fly at a faster speed than what their flight plan calls for. If they can make up that loss of the fifteen minutes, that would put the plane back on schedule.


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## oldman (Dec 4, 2019)

This morning when I finally walked out to the great room, I looked out and saw that we received our first snowfall of the year. A whopping three inches That reminded me of the time when we were flying from LA to New York. Early morning in LA and the temp was a cool 56 degrees. That’s about right for January. We were given the latest weather report for New York. Temp: 22 degrees, Winds: 17 knots, Forecast: Snow around noon.

As we began our decent into Kennedy, the weather had changed slightly. Temp: 20 degrees, Winds: 15 knots, Forecast: Light snow falling.
I kept my ear to the radio and heard that a 747 flown by China Air had reported sliding on touchdown. The First Officer (F/O) asked me what I wanted to do. I told him that we would be landing. We had an anti-skid protector on the plane, so I planned on engaging that just before landing.

As we got to Kennedy and we were in short-final for landing, we were told that the snow intensity had picked up and that they were putting down de-icing fluid. An Airbus A-320 landed in front of us and reported no issues. We followed and no issues, even the braking was normal. The Purser told us that there were some passengers praying while we landed and a few had their Rosary beads in hand as they left the plane.

We heard a lot of “Thank you” while we were still sitting in the cockpit finishing paperwork and the passengers were deplaning. People are grateful when they find out that their worries were needless.


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## Butterfly (Dec 5, 2019)

Oldman, above, you mentioned you were watching the Air Disasters program.  I watch those, too.  It's quite fascinating to me how complicated it all is to keep the plane ion the air.  I remember in particular one about a clogged "pitot (sp?) tube" and how amazing it was that such a small piece of equipment could bring down a whole plane.


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## oldman (Dec 5, 2019)

Butterfly said:


> Oldman, above, you mentioned you were watching the Air Disasters program.  I watch those, too.  It's quite fascinating to me how complicated it all is to keep the plane ion the air.  I remember in particular one about a clogged "pitot (sp?) tube" and how amazing it was that such a small piece of equipment could bring down a whole plane.


I probably watched the same story, but can't remember the significance of the Pitot tube in that episode. There are many instruments that are crucial when flying, especially if the pilot is flying per IFR or Instrument Flight Rules. It is usually crucial that pilots know the speed of their aircraft, especially if they are taking off, landing, or turning. Too slow of a speed and the plane may stall. This is never good. As a pilot, you never want to hear the Master Alarm sound.

I used to thank Elmer Sperry everyday for inventing the Autopilot.


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