MindPilot's airplane bouncy

[Ralph Wiggum]

MindPilot(1000+ posts)
Mon Jun-15-09 06:20 AM
Original message
Get this @^$%(*& homophobe off this *&#@%(% plane!
   
My g/f and I climb aboard the Southwest flight Friday afternoon along with the rest of the revelers headed to Las Vegas. A male flight attendant is entertaining us singing a catchy little ditty about the joys of flying Southwest to the tune of "My Girl". A little lame perhaps, but cute and creative, and after the waiting and TSA searches (They took our sunscreen because it was 5 onces; I refrained from sarcastically thanking the the TSA agent for making the world save for democracy.) I'll take anything to relieve that tension.

A few rows behind me a I hear someone loudly add their own words to the tune, "...and you are SOOOOOO GAY!" Yep some drunk assholes are on board.

About an hour later we are just touching down at McCarran in heavy crosswinds when a strong gust pushes the aircraft violently to the right, off the runway. I thought for sure we were going to have at least a blown tire, but the pilots handled it perfectly, getting the plane back in the air before anything got broken.

Almost at that very same instant, while you can almost smell the adrenalin because everyones' brain is screaming "HOLY ****ING SHIT! ARE WE CRASHING?!", the very same douchenozzle yells out "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? THERE ARE FAGGOTS ON THE PLANE!"

I inferred from his comment that he believed god was smiting the plane because of a gay flight attendant.

I'm still mad at myself for not saying anything--no one else did either, at least not that I heard--but I really thought at the time it was better to not start an altercation aboard an aircraft, especially during what had just turned into an in-flight emergency.

My trip to Vegas was a surprise retirement gift from my g/f and that gay-bashing asshole managed to put a serious damper on my fun.

Of course not forgetting the poor guy whose job is to be nice to these assholes even as he has to hear their slurs.

 

Mari333 (1000+ posts)
Mon Jun-15-09 06:23 AM
Response to Original message
1. wonder what people would do
   
Edited on Mon Jun-15-09 06:26 AM by Mari333
if someone had yelled 'there are n****** on this plane?'
demeaning homophobic insults need to be dealt with as vociferously as any other slur. he should have been pounded by the other passengers AND personnel.

Isn't this the vociferous anti-death penalty chick?

MindPilot(1000+ posts)
Mon Jun-15-09 06:30 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. I wonder if someone sitting closer to him said anything.
   
I never actually saw the guy so I'll never know, but perhaps someone quietly and firmly told him to STFU.

So you never saw the guy?  More reasons for me to believe you completely made up the story.

A DUmmy also is questioning the encounter:

The Stranger  (1000+ posts)
Mon Jun-15-09 10:02 AM
Response to Original message
20. It amazes me how many DUers encounter bigots, never say anything, then run here to tell us.
   
I'm not sure. Should we thank you for not speaking out?

glitch (1000+ posts)
Mon Jun-15-09 09:29 PM
Response to Reply #20
34. If they get enough positive reinforcement here, perhaps next time they'll speak up. nt

The rest of the thread is interesting as well.  MindPilot claims that he actually wrote a letter to Southwest retelling the bouncy story:

MindPilot (1000+ posts)
Tue Jun-16-09 06:06 PM
Response to Reply #29
45. Excellent suggestion!!
   
Here's what I just sent:

On the afternoon of Friday June 12, my girlfriend and I boarded Southwest flight 923 from San Diego to Las Vegas. As we waited for the remaining passengers to board, a male flight attendant is entertaining us singing a catchy little ditty about the joys of flying Southwest to the tune of "My Girl". A little lame perhaps, but cute and creative, and after the waiting and TSA searches we enjoyed the lighthearted attempt to relieve that tension.

A few rows behind me I hear someone loudly add their own words to the tune, "...and you are SOOOOOO GAY!" Yep, some drunks are on board.

About an hour later we are just touching down at McCarran in heavy crosswinds when a strong gust pushes the aircraft violently to the right, off the runway. I thought for sure we were going to have at least a blown tire, but the pilots handled it perfectly, getting the plane back in the air before anything got broken.

Almost at that very same instant, that same someone yells out "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? THERE ARE FAGGOTS ON THE PLANE!"

I inferred from his comment that he believed god was smiting the plane because of a gay flight attendant.

I wanted to shout a response in defense of the flight attendant, however I thought at the time it was probably not a good idea to start an altercation with another passenger on an airliner especially during what had just become an in-flight emergency, so I held my tongue.

The whole point of telling the story is to say THANK YOU to the entire crew of flight 923. The pilots who turned a potential catastrophe into a minor inconvenience and the flight attendants who endure the bigoted alcohol-fueled abuse day after day deserve our sincere appreciation. Their professionalism is admirable.

Again, thank you and we will continue to fly Southwest whenever our travel plans allow it.

[The Village Idiot]

How often does an airliner get pushed off the runway and keep flying as if nothing happened?

[Duke Nukum]

How often does an airliner get pushed off the runway and keep flying as if nothing happened?

They were landing in Vegas when it was blown off, according to the story.

[Chris_]

If the aircraft would have left the runway at landing speed we would have heard about it on the local news.All the while the NTSB would be picking through the pieces.

[Chris_]

How often does an airliner get pushed off the runway and keep flying as if nothing happened?

If the aircraft would have left the runway at landing speed we would have heard about it on the local news.All the while the NTSB would be picking through the pieces.

And if it had "gone into the rough" at even a moderate taxi speed, the airliner would have wound up in a hanger for a minimum of a month while they went over every part with a fine toothed comb.

[Carl]

About an hour later we are just touching down at McCarran in heavy crosswinds when a strong gust pushes the aircraft violently to the right, off the runway. I thought for sure we were going to have at least a blown tire, but the pilots handled it perfectly, getting the plane back in the air before anything got broken.

Is it even possible for a plane to be touched down (wheels on the runway) and be able to retakeoff?

I know the whole story is BS but just asking if this is within and planes ability given the speed it has to have dropped to to make landing possible and the speed it would have to accelerate to for it once again to be in the air.
Even if actual ground contact had not been made but was that close is it doable?

[Crazy Horse]

Bondia and D6 y'all are just homophobic racist poopy heads for potig out little facts.

I flew into San Diego once and just as we were about to touch down I was pushed back into my seat.  The pilot came on right then to tell us...."We are heading over the ocean in a big circle...........not all the lights or right lights (whatever it was shit 15 years ago........**** i'm getting old) came on for the landing gear and the tower was unnable to confirm it was down that first try. We flew by agian low so the tower could see and went back into that big ass circle (did I mention the flight originated in the Queen City of Charlotte NC) Well third time was a charm. Landed and during this whole time nobody blurted out anything............made any comments....etc.

So a crosswind blew a plane off the runway aftr touchdown and they just righted the aircraft???? Did I get that right??


 

[Chris_]

Is it even possible for a plane to be touched down (wheels on the runway) and be able to retakeoff?

Yes.  It's one of the things we have to be able to demonstrate before the FAA will give any pilot a ticket.  Doing it from "the rough" is usually a problematic proposition, but if you are able to keep the plane alligned with the runway, it has a pucker factor of 0.  Just throw the throttle(s) to the stops and ease back on the yoke.

[Carl]

Yes.  It's one of the things we have to be able to demonstrate before the FAA will give any pilot a ticket.  Doing it from "the rough" is usually a problematic proposition, but if you are able to keep the plane alligned with the runway, it has a pucker factor of 0.  Just throw the throttle(s) to the stops and ease back on the yoke.

Okay thanks,just curious.
I didn`t know if there was a point of no return where no matter what the baby was going to be on the ground in some way,shape or form.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Wow.  I totally skimmed over the airplane going off the runway part.  I thought the supposed homophobe story was the true bouncy.  Now the secondary and actually more b.s. bouncy has been identified.

Y'all have done a great job in picking apart the entire story.

[Chris_]

Okay thanks,just curious.
I didn`t know if there was a point of no return where no matter what the baby was going to be on the ground in some way,shape or form.

There is a point of no return for every airliner, but most airport runways are designed to provide about double the takeoff distance that the largest aircraft operating from it would need under nominal conditions.  (Take off runs are always longer than landing runs) Conversely, most airliners are designed so as to fit a take off run into half the length of the nominal airport runway it's intended to be used at.  The magic about "half" is that it permits the pilot to run the aircraft up to take off speed, develop a problem, and be able to pull the throttles back down, apply the brakes gently and abort the take off while remaining on the runway.

The thing that screams "Bullshit" to me, is the claim that the Southwest pilot had GOTTEN THE PLANE DOWN and THEN the gust of wind blew the plane off the runway.  Once you get a 737 down on the runway, there's nothing short of hurricane force winds that will get those tires unstuck from the concrete again, especially coming across the long axis of airplane, as yon DUmbass is suggesting.  Crossing another airliner's jet blast will rock the cabin, and give the passengers a rough trip up to the jetway, but unless the pilot slept through the landing and wasn't paying attention at all, even that wouldn't push a 737 off the runway and into the rough.

[Carl]

There is a point of no return for every airliner, but most airport runways are designed to provide about double the takeoff distance that the largest aircraft operating from it would need under nominal conditions.  (Take off runs are always longer than landing runs) Conversely, most airliners are designed so as to fit a take off run into half the length of the nominal airport runway it's intended to be used at.  The magic about "half" is that it permits the pilot to run the aircraft up to take off speed, develop a problem, and be able to pull the throttles back down, apply the brakes gently and abort the take off while remaining on the runway.

The thing that screams "Bullshit" to me, is the claim that the Southwest pilot had GOTTEN THE PLANE DOWN and THEN the gust of wind blew the plane off the runway.  Once you get a 737 down on the runway, there's nothing short of hurricane force winds that will get those tires unstuck from the concrete again, especially coming across the long axis of airplane, as yon DUmbass is suggesting.  Crossing another airliner's jet blast will rock the cabin, and give the passengers a rough trip up to the jetway, but unless the pilot slept through the landing and wasn't paying attention at all, even that wouldn't push a 737 off the runway and into the rough.

That is the difference here from there....we ask questions and think it through.
They simply take things as they are written because they want it to fit their fantasy world.

[USA4ME]

Yes.  It's one of the things we have to be able to demonstrate before the FAA will give any pilot a ticket.

Is this for a Commercial license?  When I got my private pilots license, I had to demonstrate short field landings, S turns, and that I knew how to slip, but I never had to demostrate crosswind landings.

I'd also point out that even a 737 pilot would have to learn how to do touch-and-go's just in case.  But I agree it would be quite an unusual wind for a commercial airliner to touch down and then feel the need to power back up again and go around.  There are several videos on youtube of commercial airliners that try to land in adverse weather who, in fact, touch down but they can't apply enough rudder to line the plane up and immediately power back up and go around.

.

[djones520]

I cannot even begin to go into how full of shit this person is.

McCarran has two primary runways.  If crosswinds where at levels dangerous enough to push an aircraft off the runway, they would have brough the plane in on the runway that was least affected by the winds.  Given their orientations, there is no way winds where strong enough to do what he claims.

Secondly, if he had been pushed off the runway, there is no way in hell the pilot would have taken off like that.  In order to have enough momentum to even entertain taking off again, the moment he went off the runway the front gear woulda gotten ****ed up, if not completely broken off.

Finally, I doubt the weather even allowed this to happen.  Highest wind speed recorded that day was 25kts.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/getclimate.php?wfo=vef

Boeing 737's, flown by Southwest Airlines, have a X-wind safety limit of 35kts in good braking action conditions.
http://www.b737.org.uk/limitations.htm#Wind_Limits 

There was no observed precipitation that day, so the runway was dry, making good braking action conditions.

So, in conclusion I've got one thing to say.

Eat shit you lying DUmmie.

[Chris_]

Is this for a Commercial license?  When I got my private pilots license, I had to demonstrate short field landings, S turns, and that I knew how to slip, but I never had to demostrate crosswind landings.

I'd also point out that even a 737 pilot would have to learn how to do touch-and-go's just in case.  But I agree it would be quite an unusual wind for a commercial airliner to touch down and then feel the need to power back up again and go around.  There are several videos on youtube of commercial airliners that try to land in adverse weather who, in fact, touch down but they can't apply enough rudder to line the plane up and immediately power back up and go around.

.

The FAA rep who tested me for Private Pilot required that I demonstrate an aborted takeoff and an aborted landing for my ticket back in 1997.  I can't recall a landing - or a takeoff, for that matter - I've ever made, where there wasn't some crosswind element to deal with; and the tester that went up on my test hop was watching how I handled crabbing and slipping to adjust to the crosswind's effects.  I've thought all this time that it was just part of every flight test.  

If it wasn't something you were tested on, maybe it was just something that the tester felt was withing the wiggle-room bounds of his authority to check on.

[USA4ME]

The FAA rep who tested me for Private Pilot required that I demonstrate an aborted takeoff and an aborted landing for my ticket back in 1997.  I can't recall a landing - or a takeoff, for that matter - I've ever made, where there wasn't some crosswind element to deal with; and the tester that went up on my test hop was watching how I handled crabbing and slipping to adjust to the crosswind's effects.  I've thought all this time that it was just part of every flight test.  

If it wasn't something you were tested on, maybe it was just something that the tester felt was withing the wiggle-room bounds of his authority to check on.

I agree that it's very rare that the wind is directly down the runway at most airports, but I think they define a crosswind as being somewhere between 75-90 degrees of the runway heading.  Oddly enough in Asheville, NC where I'm based, it's unusual for the winds to NOT be right down Runway 34 because of where the mountains are in relationship to the valley where the airport is located.  And the guy doing the checkride can vary in what he wants to see, that's for sure, though they must have you do enough to demostrate competency.

I actually had a prop strike in 2000 while trying to land in a crosswind at Myrtle Beach, SC.  I was in my Cherokee 180 and had a direct crosswind of 15 gusting to 25.  Right as I flared I had a gust toss me to the side of the runway and slam me onto the tarmac.  I bounced back up and immediately started porpoising, couldn't control it, so I hit the throttle and went around.  Landed next time, got out and looked over the plane, and sure enough I had bent my prop.  That set me back a dollar or two.

I didn't know you were a pilot, too.  Cool to have another one at CC.  I'm single engine land instrument rated, but I might go for my commercial license one day just to get more proficient.  BTW I got my private in 1999 and my instrument in 2001.

Also, djones posted this:

Finally, I doubt the weather even allowed this to happen.  Highest wind speed recorded that day was 25kts.

I agree.  Even if it were a 25 knot direct crosswind, to a 737 that would be nothing.

.

[Carl]

The whole point of telling the story is to say THANK YOU to the entire crew of flight 923.

Is there anyway to check if there was a difficult landing of any kind for that flight or if it even existed?

[djones520]

Is there anyway to check if there was a difficult landing of any kind for that flight or if it even existed?

Weather conditions that day don't support this guys story.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Is there anyway to check if there was a difficult landing of any kind for that flight or if it even existed?

At least there actually is a Southwest Flight 923 that goes from BWI to Vegas.

[Carl]

At least there actually is a Southwest Flight 923 that goes from BWI to Vegas.

On the afternoon of Friday June 12, my girlfriend and I boarded Southwest flight 923 from San Diego to Las Vegas.

Do flight numbers change randomly or are they the same from airport to airport?

[Chris_]

Do flight numbers change randomly or are they the same from airport to airport?

The flight number is referring to the leg from departing airport to destination airport.  They do not change with changes in aircraft running the flight, and if you're running multiple flights from the same departing airport to the same destination during the course of a day, they will all have that flight number.

[Vagabond]

I agree that it's very rare that the wind is directly down the runway at most airports, but I think they define a crosswind as being somewhere between 75-90 degrees of the runway heading.  Oddly enough in Asheville, NC where I'm based, it's unusual for the winds to NOT be right down Runway 34 because of where the mountains are in relationship to the valley where the airport is located.  And the guy doing the checkride can vary in what he wants to see, that's for sure, though they must have you do enough to demostrate competency.

I actually had a prop strike in 2000 while trying to land in a crosswind at Myrtle Beach, SC.  I was in my Cherokee 180 and had a direct crosswind of 15 gusting to 25.  Right as I flared I had a gust toss me to the side of the runway and slam me onto the tarmac.  I bounced back up and immediately started porpoising, couldn't control it, so I hit the throttle and went around.  Landed next time, got out and looked over the plane, and sure enough I had bent my prop.  That set me back a dollar or two.

I didn't know you were a pilot, too.  Cool to have another one at CC.  I'm single engine land instrument rated, but I might go for my commercial license one day just to get more proficient.  BTW I got my private in 1999 and my instrument in 2001.

Also, djones posted this:

I agree.  Even if it were a 25 knot direct crosswind, to a 737 that would be nothing.

.

Earning a intrument rating is high on my list of goals.  I don't have a liscense yet, but I am studying ground school books while I'm here in the sandbox.

[RobJohnson]

At least there actually is a Southwest Flight 923 that goes from BWI to Vegas.

I just happened to be in Vegas friday afternoon. Wind was not an issue.

It does get windy, very windy, but friday was not one of those days.

[Chris_]

I was on a plane one time when the plane started blowing orange Cheetos dust out of the engines. Everyone was freaking out until one guy yelled out that it must be a DUmmie plane. To make matters worse the pilot couldn't worry about the Cheetos dust because he was having a hell of a time keeping the plane under control. Apparently the plane kept wanting to find planes that worked and take their money.

[USA4ME]

Earning a intrument rating is high on my list of goals.  I don't have a license yet, but I am studying ground school books while I'm here in the sandbox.

Great!  There's nothing quite like it.  Keep me up to date with your progress.

.