U.S.A. Delta Flight Loses Nose Wheel While Taxiing At Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

[Webster]

Per the conservative news site Twitchy....

We Are Watching the DEI Demise of Airlines Happening in Real Time and It Is Terrifying AF

twitchy.com

 

[Mark]

“Doesn’t appear the plane was aware it’s wheel came off.”

HOW?!

I’ve never flown before, or piloted, but even as a passenger in a car I can tell you if one of your tires is a little low.

 

[Kat]

“Doesn’t appear the plane was aware it’s wheel came off.”

HOW?!

I’ve never flown before, or piloted, but even as a passenger in a car I can tell you if one of your tires is a little low.

They aren't under much force just taxiing around. It's the equivalent of driving around a parking lot, and there's another wheel right next to it. I'm sure it would've become apparent during the takeoff roll though, yikes.

 

[Kat]

I'm surprised you posted this one but not the more dramatic aviation incidents that have happened recently.

I'm sure you've all heard about the Alaska flight that lost a door plug while in the air. I'm SO glad I didn't end up booking the Alaska flight at the end of this month that I was considering. It was on a Max plane and will no doubt be cancelled because they're all grounded now (thank god. Hopefully Alaska quits buying the damn things).

Then there's the cargo plane in Miami that had, uh, they called it "engine trouble," but that seems like an understatement.



Yep, that's fire. Link with video: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna134666

 

[VashTheStampede]

Got a flight in a couple weeks. Super jazzed about this thread.

There was also the guy on the Virgin flight from the UK to the US that noticed the wing was missing a bunch of screws and let the flight crew know and the flight got grounded.

 

[Kat]

Got a flight in a couple weeks. Super jazzed about this thread.

There was also the guy on the Virgin flight from the UK to the US that noticed the wing was missing a bunch of screws and let the flight crew know and the flight got grounded.

It's worth noting that nobody was seriously hurt in any of these incidents, and the only reason they make the news is because air travel is so incredibly safe. If you aren't worried about the drive to the airport, then don't worry about the flight.

To really put it into perspective, for the past couple of decades, the number of people who die on commercial flights in the USA per year is typically zero. It's occasionally one person, out of millions of flights. You'll be fine, I promise.

 

[Webster]

I'm surprised you posted this one but not the more dramatic aviation incidents that have happened recently.

I'm sure you've all heard about the Alaska flight that lost a door plug while in the air. I'm SO glad I didn't end up booking the Alaska flight at the end of this month that I was considering. It was on a Max plane and will no doubt be cancelled because they're all grounded now (thank god. Hopefully Alaska quits buying the damn things).

I thought about doing it; posted it on another forum I'm on instead.

 

[Webster]

To really put it into perspective, for the past couple of decades, the number of people who die on commercial flights in the USA per year is typically zero.

And that what made me spit coffee out when I read about the nose wheel thing; have we become so lax with regard to maintenance issues that we're starting to gamble on people's lives?

 

[Zell 17]

It's worth noting that nobody was seriously hurt in any of these incidents, and the only reason they make the news is because air travel is so incredibly safe. If you aren't worried about the drive to the airport, then don't worry about the flight.

To really put it into perspective, for the past couple of decades, the number of people who die on commercial flights in the USA per year is typically zero. It's occasionally one person, out of millions of flights. You'll be fine, I promise.

There was an incident in September 2001 that really fucked up our averages, I dunno if anyone here remembers it

 

[Kat]

There was an incident in September 2001 that really fucked up our averages, I dunno if anyone here remembers it

Yeeeah, there's a reason I picked the time range I did. Still, even in September 2001, more people died from being in a car than from being aboard a plane.

 

[VashTheStampede]

There was an incident in September 2001 that really fucked up our averages, I dunno if anyone here remembers it

At least we can attribute those failures to user error

 

[Mark]

And that what made me spit coffee out when I read about the nose wheel thing; have we become so lax with regard to maintenance issues that we're starting to gamble on people's lives?

Same as automotive manufacturers, profits over people. Are the risks associated worth the overhead costs of litigation and settlements? Yes? Put her in the air.

There was an incident in September 2001 that really fucked up our averages, I dunno if anyone here remembers it

 

[VashTheStampede]

From what I understand, landing with a missing front wheel is one of the least dangerous situations in plane malfunctions.

 

[Kat]

From what I understand, landing with a missing front wheel is one of the least dangerous situations in plane malfunctions.

They probably would've noticed during takeoff and aborted before they even got into the air. Worst case either way is probably the plane goes off the runway, but even that isn't too likely IMO. I agree, it's not overly dangerous.

Same as automotive manufacturers, profits over people. Are the risks associated worth the overhead costs of litigation and settlements? Yes? Put her in the air.

Delta markets themselves as a premium airline. It's not worth it to them to be in the press for cutting corners on maintenance.

It doesn't benefit Boeing in the long run either, but their current management is too stupid to see beyond short-term profit.

 

[Mark]

Delta markets themselves as a premium airline. It's not worth it to them to be in the press for cutting corners on maintenance.

It doesn't benefit Boeing in the long run either, but their current management is too stupid to see beyond short-term profit.

You got me stumped, then. This really could just be a case of gross negligence. It’s hard to believe that it’s not calculated within their margin for error, considering what I’ve seen the FDA and USDA allow in foods and what various DPW’s and environmental agencies consider “passable” levels of contaminants, but one can only hope the FAA would be stricter.

 

[Kat]

You got me stumped, then. This really could just be a case of gross negligence. It’s hard to believe that it’s not calculated within their margin for error, considering what I’ve seen the FDA and USDA allow in foods and what various DPW’s and environmental agencies consider “passable” levels of contaminants, but one can only hope the FAA would be stricter.

Yeah, multiple people definitely fucked up. Some equipment isn't required to be working for a plane to fly, e.g. you don't legally need lights to fly during the day, but there's no allowance for runaway wheels. They check them before every flight for air levels, tread, brake pads, etc.

Every aviation incident is investigated by the NTSB, so if you're really curious about the root cause, you can go check their report after it comes out.

 

[VashTheStampede]

Yeah, multiple people definitely fucked up. Some equipment isn't required to be working for a plane to fly, e.g. you don't legally need lights to fly during the day, but there's no allowance for runaway wheels. They check them before every flight for air levels, tread, brake pads, etc.

Every aviation incident is investigated by the NTSB, so if you're really curious about the root cause, you can go check their report after it comes out.

Do you work in the industry? You seem very knowledgeable about this.

 

[Kat]

Do you work in the industry? You seem very knowledgeable about this.

I wish! I'm just a bit of an aviation nerd who studied for a private license for a bit. And I find aviation incidents really interesting because usually sooo many unlikely things had to go wrong for it to become a problem that it can become comical (assuming no injuries, of course), so I read about them a lot.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I went down a rabbit hole a bunch of years ago (maybe back in the old GW days?) where I listened to a bunch of recovered black box recordings.

I don't recommend going that route.

 

[Kat]

No kidding. My ground school instructor made us listen to some. One was an Air France that flew into an intense storm, had severe icing which messed with the instruments and turned off the auto pilot, and the confused pilots kept pitching up which caused the plane to stall and fall out of the sky. The saddest part is one figured it out and was trying to fix it, but the other pilot was pushing the yoke the other way when he should've had his hands off the controls, and they didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

Even still, look at all the things that had to go wrong for that plane to crash:

• Flew into weather they should've avoided
• Deicing systems couldn't keep up with the ice (IIRC it wasn't previously known that ice could build that fast and has since been addressed)
• Pilot pitched up for no reason while trying to correct the plane rolling to the side
• Pilots didn't listen to the stall alarm
• Pilot who didn't have control was still trying to control the plane, and neither noticed the alarm indicating such
• Recovering from a stall is literally one of the first and most important things they teach you as a pilot!!!

On that note, Air France still has issues with their pilots trying to simultaneously control the plane and not communicating well. A year or two ago they claimed the rudder on a plane was malfunctioning, but it turned out it was just two guys both trying to land it at the same time. I wouldn't ever fly them, personally.

Some incident reports are pretty funny though. I remember one that involved two small planes on the ground with nobody in them. It got windy, and one wasn't tied down well enough and got loose. It bumped into a plane near it, and hit the propeller. Normally that'd be end of it, but did you know you can start a prop plane by spinning the prop by hand? And it just so happened the pilot left the throttle open and the fuel fully rich, and the collision was just right that it started and the fuel settings let it run. So now you have one plane banging around in the wind, and another has managed to start itself with nobody in it... I don't remember the exact resolution, but nobody was hurt (though their dignity was undoubtedly bruised).