Yeah, like a disgruntled employee. Well that's a scary thought! I wonder where these investigations will lead and if any of the investigators are thinking like you 911. Too many maintenance issue mishaps lately. Are they not training their techs properly? Carelessness that can cause hundreds to die should not be tolerated.
I'm still stunned at the variety of problems/issues. It's like someone is trying to find something different to sabotage or something.
When the pilot lowers the landing gear, he should get three green lights to let him or her know that all three gears are down and "locked." If even one of the gears don't lock, the plane cannot be landed without following the checklist. For example, maybe the bulb is just burned out. Sometimes, pilots have an extra couple of bulbs and breakers in their flight bag. (I carried a few.) The pilot takes out the bulb not lighting and switches it with a bulb that does light. If the bulb lights and the suspect bulb doesn't light, the pilot can be sure that the bulb is burned out.
I was driving from Indiana to Maine and was on the freeway
If it was the right front tire that blew out...He would have swerved to the right, not into the center median. In any case, you have just made my original point, don't let a 18 wheeler stay next to your vehicle, either pass it or slow down as it passes you. Limit the time you are next to any big truck . Jimb.
I have experienced this a few times. I traveled the turnpike and interstates for 10’s of thousands of miles while on patrol. I can remember twice of it happening. The first time it happened, I thought someone fired a shotgun at my car, but then I smelled the burnt rubber and the all the debris laying on the road in my rear view mirror. I made a quick u-turn and went back to where all the chunks of rubber was laying, turned on my lights and closed the lane until we had removed all the road gators.
While patrolling the Turnpike and the Interstates here in Pennsylvania, I investigated a few accidents caused by tires or wheels with tires striking another vehicle. I probably investigated more accidents caused by vehicles hitting deer. I remember my first deer/vehicle accident. A man driving westbound and about 100 miles from the Ohio line in a Ford van hit a big buck on I-80 killing the man when the deer went through his windshield and the buck's antlers struck him in his face and neck. Not a pretty sight.
It does seem like a lot of these failures are maintenance related either from incomplete or careless service. Or done by poorly trained and yes experienced mechanics. Either that or Boeing is supplying them with things like defective fasteners ie bolts, screws, rivets etc. Wouldn't they have to be rated or higher grade than one finds at the local hardware store?
I spent some time in the hangars during my early years. It would amaze me how intelligent a lot of the mechanics were. If they didn’t know or weren’t sure of what procedure to use to fix a certain mechanical item, they had (even back then) a full array of manuals that showed a step by step guide of how to make the repair. No hesitation on their part o use the manual. It gave me (as a pilot) a lot more confidence that when the plane had just been repaired and flown by an off duty pilot to test out the part repaired a lot more confidence.
