Discussion on recent aviation mishaps.
Two things jump out at me:
- Thatâs a very smooth go-around. Chapeau, pilot.
- âA statement from Southwest Airlines confirming the incident said Flight 2504 landed safely Tuesday morning at Midway Airport âafter the crew performed a precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway.ââ That sounds remarkably anodyne after watching the video.
Context, that is, why more âincidentsâ will happenâ
Regarding their FAA cuts, Musk and the Trump White House have tried to argue they skipped over anyone whose role might be considered safety-critical. âItâs a bunch of bullshit,â one current FAA worker tells Rolling Stone. âThe definition of âcriticalâ can be fucked around with as much as theyâd like. We were already an underfunded and understaffed agency.â
Editorâs picksWhile air traffic controllers were supposedly immune from the purge, some air traffic control support workers were terminated, the FAA worker says. Rolling Stone separately spoke with a fired FAA employee whose job involved ensuring flight paths account for hazards like cranes and new buildings, as well as another terminated FAA staffer who ensured that pilots are medically able and cleared to fly. No one wants their plane to cross paths with a crane, of course, but the latter role is important, too, given the nationâs ongoing pilot shortage.
One particularly confounding round of firings last week â one that confused even agency personnel who were anticipating a Trumpian bloodletting â included several attorneys who work to ensure that licensed pilots in the United States arenât putting the broader public in danger or hiding criminal records, health concerns, or serious addictions, according to the sources.
This work in the Aviation Litigation Division involves investigating flight schools that improperly or negligently train pilots; potentially suspending the licenses of private or commercial-airline pilots who get DUIs and other relevant criminal charges that would suggest it is unwise to allow them to fly planes full of passengers; dealing with commercial pilots if theyâre caught engaging in reckless or unsafe behavior, or lying about a drinking problem or an illicit drug dependency; and addressing reports that drone operators are breaking FAA rules and regulations.
Across the country, the FAA employs just dozens of these types of lawyers who handle this kind of enforcement. Last week, Trump and Musk abruptly got rid of several of them, which some estimated to be upwards of 10 percent of an already overworked legal team. This was handled so chaotically by the Trump administration and Muskâs DOGE that some of these fired lawyersâ bosses were caught off guard entirely by the news.
Time to update my suggestion:
Add âmedical checks for pilotsâ to the list for Transport Canadaâs new program.
The âhow did that just happen?â question from the pilot to ATC was one with philosophical depth that might not have been intended in the moment.
Huh. A couple hours earlierâŚ
When I saw the thread name, I wish I didnât think âoh, another one huh?â.
Makes sense since Tramp is doing his best to normalize them.
âŚlike rfk jr and measles.
âŚand barely adult computer twits with questionable backgrounds all up in our data, whipped into Adderall-addled 90-hour weeks of clueless hacking by ketamine-cranked Tech Support Elno.
Zackly!!!
[âŚ]
The cabin crew had trouble moving her body through the aisle to the business class section because âshe was quite a large ladyâ, Mr Ring said.
[âŚ]
While Ms Colin was invited by another passenger to sit beside her across the aisle, Mr Ring said the planeâs staff did not offer to move him elsewhere even though there were vacant seats around.
[âŚ]
Makes me wonder what kind of person this Mr Ring might be, and how he had interacted with the cabin crew prior to the incident. Not that Iâm insinuating anything, mind you, but sitting for four hours next to a dead body because you havenât been offered another seat seems⌠odd?
Or maybe the other passengers didnât want to have Mr Ring sitting next to them, I donât know.
Anyway:
According to the guidelines by the International Air Transport Association on dealing with deaths on board a flight, the deceased person should be moved to a seat, preferably one with few other passengers nearby, and covered with a blanket or body bag up to the neck. The body could also be moved to another area that does not obstruct an aisle or exit.
Upon landing, the association recommends that other passengers disembark before the body is attended to by local authorities.
Seems reasonable to me. I mean, itâs not like, say on a cruise ship where they can put a deceased passenger in one of the freezer lockers for the duration.
I would suggest the reasonable response would be to ask the couple to move (and there were vacant seats) and then put the body in the vacated row.
I meant the IATA guidelines in general.