What is your closest encounter with an airplane crash?

Captain_Crash · 18-06-2018 01:30PM

razorblunt wrote: »

That post.
THAT username.

Haha! I see the irony lol...

Although thankfully username's nothing to do with aviation. It's a Bon Jovi reference:p

chosen1 · 18-06-2018 02:47PM

Was on a flight back from Spain and while looking out the window I saw another plane whizz by in the opposite direction. Was similar to watching a car on the opposite lane of a motorway if I recall and I remember thinking it was the fastest thing I ever saw moving.

Thought nothing of it until I told another guy at work about the speed. He said that planes like that should be nowhere near each other and that it would have been classified as a near miss!

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 02:55PM

@chosen1, "guy at work" hasn't got a clue and is completely wrong, Also your aircraft is doing about 400+ NMPH and so is the other one, so the passing speed is fast.

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 02:55PM

............

Ciaran_B · 18-06-2018 03:08PM

smurfjed wrote: »

41000 feet above the Indian Ocean, we see a TRAFFIC ADVISORY meaning that another aircraft was close to us (these are extremely common), this changed to a RESOLUTION ADVISORY that basically means that we had 25 seconds before a possible impact between the two aircraft unless we immediately did something.

Does this alert tell you where the other plane is? Is it above you or in front etc?

QueenMTBee · 18-06-2018 03:16PM

The closest one (that I know of) was about 16 years ago on a flight from Frankfurt to Tampa. The plane flew into a lightning storm just as it approached the airport They attempted landing a few times - by which time everyone was nervous as hell - but then just as the wheels were about the touch the ground it pulled up practically vertically. I honestly thought we were all going to die. Turns out there was another plane on the runway which hadn't moved out of the way in time due to the storm and we were about to land on top of them. I had a panic attack when trying to check in for the return leg. They had to give me a free flight the next day because I refused to get on the plane and was freaking out all the other people in the airport.

_Dara_ · 18-06-2018 03:19PM

chosen1 wrote: »

Was on a flight back from Spain and while looking out the window I saw another plane whizz by in the opposite direction. Was similar to watching a car on the opposite lane of a motorway if I recall and I remember thinking it was the fastest thing I ever saw moving.

Thought nothing of it until I told another guy at work about the speed. He said that planes like that should be nowhere near each other and that it would have been classified as a near miss!

Aaaahhhh, that’s a load of shite. Flying back from Berlin recently, I saw four or five planes. Some lower, some that “looked” to be on our level. I put that in inverted commas because they probably were at a slightly different altitude and likely a very safe distance away. It’s an optical illusion that they are very close. It’s not at all unusual to spot other planes whizzing by, especially on busy air routes. I love spotting them.

Should have seen how close we were to other planes while all doing a figure of eight over London while waiting for landing clearance into Heathrow a few years back.

Graces7 · 18-06-2018 04:45PM

_Dara_ wrote: »

Aaaahhhh, that’s a load of shite. Flying back from Berlin recently, I saw four or five planes. Some lower, some that “looked” to be on our level. I put that in inverted commas because they probably were at a slightly different altitude and likely a very safe distance away. It’s an optical illusion that they are very close. It’s not at all unusual to spot other planes whizzing by, especially on busy air routes. I love spotting them.

Should have seen how close we were to other planes while all doing a figure of eight over London while waiting for landing clearance into Heathrow a few years back.

Watching youtubes of Heathrow and first thing there are dozens of planes waiting to land, all circling .

Junkyard Tom · 18-06-2018 04:50PM

akasudonim wrote: »

there was a cat on the runway!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBdo2fT-mJQ

foxy farmer · 18-06-2018 04:52PM

Die Hard 2 comes to mind.
https://youtu.be/PJv69QOq6xI

BrokenArrows · 18-06-2018 04:55PM

I've been on a plane. I guess thats the closest ive been. haha.

Nothing eventful has ever happened on the couple of hundred or so flights ive been on. But tell that to the wife who hears a slight squeak and immediately assumes that the plane will fall apart at any moment.

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 05:27PM

Does this alert tell you where the other plane is? Is it above you or in front etc?

Yes, we can see a small little symbol for every equipped aircraft with its height and climbing/descending. With TCAS II, it will tell who which action to take as in climb or descend and it also reverse the instruction of needed, this was an advancement due to the crash of Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 with a DHL 757. Latest versions of this such as on the 787 will actually give you all the same information as FlightAware as in flight number, type, destination, you can also track a specific flight, its quite cool.
Most of the world now operates with Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum Airspace (RVSM) that allows aircraft to fly opposite levels 1000 feet apart, so 30000,32000,34000,36000 ft etc going one way, 31000,33000,35000,37000 ft going the other, considering that some aircraft are about 200 feet wide/long, they can look a lot closer at a distance of 1000 feet.

_Dara_ · 18-06-2018 05:36PM

smurfjed wrote: »

@chosen1, "guy at work" hasn't got a clue and is completely wrong, Also your aircraft is doing about 400+ NMPH and so is the other one, so the passing speed is fast.

Yeah, don’t we all have that know-nothing-know-it-all at work?

Graces7 · 18-06-2018 06:04PM

smurfjed; I am totally and utterly in awe of you. Watching the Heathrow youtubes and reading your posts...stay safe!

Paddy Cow · 18-06-2018 06:31PM

QueenMTBee wrote: »

The closest one (that I know of) was about 16 years ago on a flight from Frankfurt to Tampa. The plane flew into a lightning storm just as it approached the airport They attempted landing a few times - by which time everyone was nervous as hell - but then just as the wheels were about the touch the ground it pulled up practically vertically. I honestly thought we were all going to die. Turns out there was another plane on the runway which hadn't moved out of the way in time due to the storm and we were about to land on top of them. I had a panic attack when trying to check in for the return leg. They had to give me a free flight the next day because I refused to get on the plane and was freaking out all the other people in the airport.

The worst crash in history happened in Tenerife in 1977 in foggy conditions. Due to a number of errors, the Captain of a KLM flight thought he had clearance and took off. A Pam Am flight was just turning off the runway and they collided, killing nearly everyone

_Dara_ · 18-06-2018 06:41PM

Paddy Cow wrote: »

The worst crash in history happened in Tenerife in 1977 in foggy conditions. Due to a number of errors, the Captain of a KLM flight thought he had clearance and took off. A Pam Am flight was just turning off the runway and they collided, killing nearly everyone

So many factors.

The necessary transfer to the smaller airport that couldn’t handle the traffic. The heavy fog. Pan Am missing their allotted turnoff the runway (I think they assumed it couldn’t be that turnoff because the angle was too sharp). Poor, unclear communication between the control tower and the pilots. The KLM captain’s impatience. Take away any one of these and it would have been averted. At least the Pam Am pilot turned at the last minute though. He saved sixty odd lives with that action.

Lustrum · 18-06-2018 06:50PM

smurfjed wrote: »

41000 feet above the Indian Ocean, we see a TRAFFIC ADVISORY meaning that another aircraft was close to us (these are extremely common), this changed to a RESOLUTION ADVISORY that basically means that we had 25 seconds before a possible impact between the two aircraft unless we immediately did something.

Was there a limitation on RA's above any altitude on whatever type you were flying at the time? (based on previous posts I'll assume it was something very fancy that probably had a ceiling another 10000ft or so above that!)

On my current type RAs are inhibited above 34000ft - if we got something at 41000ft the only direction we could manoeuvre is down!

Grandeeod · 18-06-2018 07:10PM

I'm following the thread and not entirely sure if my particular story counts. Apart from GA's on lots of airlines and one particular experience of severe turbulence on a British Midland flight, where I witnessed a few eejits hit off the over head bins (didn't follow the advice to buckle up) its all been good.

So if anyone remembers the Spanair flight 5022 crash in 2008, well I flew on that particular plane on three occasions. Obviously thousands of people did and do on any other plane that has crashed. But from a personal point of view it was a shivering moment when it went down.

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 07:11PM

@Lustrum, our RA was CLIMB, his was DESCEND. Our Ceiling is 45,000ft.

In your case, if both same type at 34,000 feet, you can't both go down?

lurker2000 · 18-06-2018 07:17PM

A few turbulace shake abouts and a re take off after nearly landing is all. But a friend survived a major air crash back in the 80s in the States - most people were killed. He later became an airline steward just to prove to himself he had the balls.

thebull85 · 18-06-2018 07:21PM

2003 coming back from Ibiza, on a comedown. Flew through a bad storm i never experienced turbelence like this in my life and ive travelled a lot. Was sitting at the very back row of seats.

Fairly unpleasant.

Lustrum · 18-06-2018 07:45PM

smurfjed wrote: »

@Lustrum, our RA was CLIMB, his was DESCEND. Our Ceiling is 45,000ft.

In your case, if both same type at 34,000 feet, you can't both go down?

I suppose it could be a DESCEND and a MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED.....ideally I'd prefer to not be getting a RA a up there though!

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 07:54PM

MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED

Are you still using TCAS 7.0?

smurfjed · 18-06-2018 07:59PM

Friend was part of our airline SAFETY-GO-TEAM, the biggest accident that he ever had to attend to was in Delhi where a B747 and Ilyushin Il76 collided killing 349, this was and still is the worlds worst midair crash. His job was to investigate the accident which resulted in him spending a couple of weeks walking around the wreckage.

This was a role that I later moved into, but luckily I only had to investigate minor incidents.

lurker2000 · 18-06-2018 08:03PM

A few turbulace shake abouts and a re take off after nearly landing is all. But a friend survived a major air crash back in the 80s in the States - most people were killed. He later became an airline steward just to prove to himself he had the balls.

bear1 · 18-06-2018 08:27PM

The Tenerife one is very interesting to watch, the utter impatience of the klm pilot was their downfall.

18-06-2018 08:29PM

akasudonim wrote: »

Coming into Dublin one night a few years back, just about to touchdown - like almost level with the terminal lights - when full power back up at a serious climb and v steep angle, then quickly turned to go round again.
Gang of stag lads fairly full who'd been singing etc for a while immediately shut up, as did everyone - captain came on afer a few minutes to say there was a cat on the runway!! I still think it must have been something else, but it gave me a serious land!!

this happened to me two months ago landing in dublin from krakow. Pilot came on and said there were birds flying about the runway. Was scary, but I dont think it's that uncommon.

Worst thing for me was I was burstin for a p*ss and had to wait about an extra half hour to get to the jacks!

18-06-2018 08:32PM

Grandeeod wrote: »

I'm following the thread and not entirely sure if my particular story counts. Apart from GA's on lots of airlines and one particular experience of severe turbulence on a British Midland flight, where I witnessed a few eejits hit off the over head bins (didn't follow the advice to buckle up) its all been good.

So if anyone remembers the Spanair flight 5022 crash in 2008, well I flew on that particular plane on three occasions. Obviously thousands of people did and do on any other plane that has crashed. But from a personal point of view it was a shivering moment when it went down.

wasnt this the one that the musician deadmouse missed by seconds, only to see it crash just after take off?

Paddy Cow · 18-06-2018 08:48PM

_Dara_ wrote: »

So many factors. The necessary transfer to the smaller airport that couldn’t handle the traffic. The heavy fog. Pan Am missing their allotted turnoff the runway (I think they assumed it couldn’t be that turnoff because the angle was too sharp). Poor, unclear communication between the control tower and the pilots. The KLM captain’s impatience. Take away any one of these and it would have been averted. At least the Pam Am pilot turned at the last minute though. He saved sixty odd lives with that action.

bear1 wrote: »

The Tenerife one is very interesting to watch, the utter impatience of the klm pilot was their downfall.

There were so many factors in this one but ultimately the pilot of KLM was at fault. Apparently he was highly regarded in his field and had a huge ego complex. When he wanted to refuel and his subordinates questioned his decision he basically shot them down by saying "I'm the Captain, I'm in charge". When they were taking off, the flight engineer wasn't sure the other plane had cleared the runway but he was shot down by the Captain. The Captain's arrogance cost the lives of nearly 600 people.

The only saving grace in this tragedy is that none of the passengers could have seen it coming. They thought they were making a normal take off and ....

WildWater · 18-06-2018 09:56PM

Last year, flying Ryanair Knock to Stansted, over Irish midlands.

I had a window seat on the left side of the aircraft. I'm looking out the window when I see another plane whoosh past. It would have come from our ~2 O'Clock position and crossed to about our ~8 O'Clock position.

Now I know ATC maintain minimum separation and that planes are fitted with collision avoidance systems etc but this was much, much, much closer than anything I have ever witnessed before. It was so close that the other plane looked massive and even though I only saw if for a second, maybe less, I could easily make out the distinctive tail livery. It was a Continental Airlines plane. It definitely wasn't below us and logic tells be that it couldn't have been at the same level as us but it sure did look like it was.

Maybe all was kosher but it sure gave me a chill.

What is your closest encounter with an airplane crash?

Comments