When Things Go Wrong At 35,000 Feet

It is something we think will never happen to us. It is safer to fly now than ever. But is it really? Those of us who work the industry knows there can be sever turbulence which can cause severe injuries. We pray that we see that aircraft back from it's flight. We worry about the passengers and crew getting to their destination safely. We worry about the children flying alone and no one to cling to in scary moments. We have had some scary moments the last several years involving aviation disasters or near disasters.

Several years ago a woman was partially sucked out of a Southwest Airlines airplane mid flight. There were paramedics onboard, but the woman passed away. Luckily the captain was able to get plane landed without further incident. This is one of the most famous ones, Captain Sulley landing his Airbus 320 with no engines. Everyone says that was difficult and had to be precise. You are partially right, Captain Sulley also has a hang gliders license. He can fly a hang glider so that was like flying one of those to him. Into the Hudson they landed and everyone survived.

July 19,1989, Captain Al Haines and crew are leaving Denver for Philadelphia, stopping in Chicago. Al is flying the United DC-10-10 series aircraft. He has over 29,000 hours of flying time. As they are around 35,000 feet they develop problems with engine number two, which causes them to have no control over the aircraft. There are 285 passenger and 11 crew on board. They check the manual and there is no procedure in the book. The aircraft is controlled by ailerons and they have lost control of them, so they can only turn the airplane by manually manipulating the ailerons. They end up landing by tumbling and cartwheeling in a cornfield in Iowa. The death toll that day was 110 passengers and one crew member. They all called this a miracle landing., The procedures that Al Haynes did was added to the procedure book. There was a wing fan that broke off cutting all the hydraulics and the ailerons, the crew was just trying to get the aircraft down. I say remarkable job.

April 1988, an Aloha Airlines flight 243 is flying between the islands at 24,000. It was flying from Hilo to Honolulu when it suffered an explosive decompression while sucking out flight attendant CB Lang. She was the only casualty. Picture is shown below, again I say the captain did a superb job on this.

https://youtu.be/sBxe4cQzUIY Imagine you take off going to a tropical vacation. You look out the window as the right engine is on fire. Your captain announces you are returning to the airport. You get rebooked for later in the afternoon. You thank God for the pilots experience and his mercy for not letting you die. You think of what might have been. You look around and your eight your old son has a broken arm, but he is still alive and so are you. Maybe others weren't so lucky and you feel guilty because you will be tucking in your child, but she will be burying hers. It is a sad reminder.

What happens when you hit a microburst? That type of crash is not survivable, you are lucky to find the airplane. A microburst can and has pulled planes out of the sky. A microburst is a downdraft (sinking air) in a thunderstorm that is less than 2.5 miles in scale. Some microbursts can pose a threat to life and property, but all microbursts pose a significant threat to aviation. ... In fact, wind speeds as high as 150 mph are possible in extreme microburst cases. I love flying to get to where I want to go, but whenever severe turbulence hits, I am like the majority I turn into a whit knuckle flyer.

The parts of the airplane that has a higher rate of survival are the tail of the aircraft, over wings and the bulk head area of the plane, the one with the wall. There are some crashes that no one survives and those are the ones shot down by military aircraft. In 1983, Korean Airlines had a jet shot down by Russian war planes because they accidentally strayed into Russia. Pan Am was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland. No one survived that one either.

Remember flying is really safe, but you always want a good experienced pilot in the cock-pit.