AA/PSA 5342 crew coming home thread

killbilly said:
I did not intend this when I listed but I’m commuting on CA Campos’s final flight. I watched them load his remains.

As I type this, there is a very large group who came out to the ramp to stand and pay respects. PSA, AA, DL, a few RPA and SWA and even a couple of B6 folks. Lots of inflight, too. Others I probably can’t identify.

His family is on board, seated up front as they should be. It’s very somber.

I don’t feel right taking pictures of it (lots were) but I’m sure you’ll see some in the news.
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I would have been there if I could, and I would like to think that's the prevailing sentiment. Everyone I fly with has felt the same.

I've got to be honest, pilot culture is a unique thing, and we need to fight to keep it.
 
JordanD said:
It’s been the same for me. I think also because it’s the first major accident at a US airline since I became an airline pilot, so having that inside perspective makes it hit harder for me. It’s easy to take “I’ll be on the 5:00pm commute home, what are we doing for dinner?” or that kiss goodbye leaving the house for granted. It was a reminder for me to let the small stuff go. As safe as this job is, coming home isn’t guaranteed. That could equally apply to the drive to and from the airport, but something about it being this tragic and with so many lives makes it more poignant for me.
Related note, whenever I work on or around 9/11, it’s on my mind a little more too than it used to be. Just realizing they were all heading out for a normal trip, just like us. Also like you said, something about getting older myself just makes me realize how fragile life can be.
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These things happen unfortunately. You could be doing everything right, and stil die. Being a military pilot, this was seen a lot more than was seen in my civilian days; and sadly, that numbs you when these kinds of fatal accidents happen, even when you know the pilot involved. Just a matter of it being higher risk operations day to day, and thus more understood and more accepted as something that can occur, to you just as easily as anyone else. Even when you’ve done everthing right.

Off the top of my head, I can remember several guys I knew who did everything right, but still paid the price. One guy, doing a low-level shallow laydown of heavyweight live bombs, had the fuzes on two of the 500lb bombs malfunction, to where the bombs detonated the second they separated from his jet after he pickled them off, about a foot or two below it, blowing his jet and him inside it, to bits in an instant in the explosion. Another one had his jet hit by another midair. His jet caught fire and he ejected, but the parachute package had also caught fire from the detonation of the forward fuel cell, and when his parachute deployed, the risers burnt up and he fell 9000 feet to the desert floor. Another had a high speed aborted takeoff for an unknown issue; dropped his tailhook to catch the departure end arresting cable. Hook skipped the cable and the jet headed for a high speed overrun. Ejected successfully, but the jet smacked into the localizer antenna off the departure end and caught into a massive fire. Wind carried his parachute right down into the pool of burning fuel of the jet. Lived for about a week. Another one, had an engine failure due to a malfunction, wouldn’t restart. Made a controlled ejection, straight and level, as benign as could possibly be. As the parachute pack deployed from the seat, a riser wrapped around his neck and snapped his skull off of his spine internally, dead instantly.

Do the job long enough, and things like this happen. More than any of us would ever want, but they unfortunately do. Our number could easily be up somewhere down the road, and we’d never know it. By the same token, we could potentially have averted death, and never know it.

Just think, in this tragic accident, if timing-wise, the CRJ had been closer-in on final to RW 1, so when tower asked if they wanted to circle to 33, the crew would’ve likely said no, would like to continue to RW 1 due to being on nearly short final……
 
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MikeD said:
These things happen unfortunately. You could be doing everything right, and stil die. Being a military pilot, this was seen a lot more than was seen in my military days; and sadly, that numbs you when these kinds of fatal accidents happen, even when you know the pilot involved. Just a matter of it being higher risk operations day to day, and thus more understood and more accepted as something that can occur, to you just as easily as anyone else. Even when you’ve done everthing right.

Off the top of my head, I can remember several guys I knew who did everything right, but still paid the price. One guy, doing a low-level shallow laydown of heavyweight live bombs, had the fuzes on two of the 500lb bombs malfunction, to where the bombs detonated the second they separated from his jet after he pickled them off, about a foot or two below it, blowing his jet and him inside it, to bits in an instant in the explosion. Another one had his jet hit by another midair. His jet caught fire and he ejected, but the parachute package had also caught fire from the detonation of the forward fuel cell, and when his parachute deployed, the risers burnt up and he fell 9000 feet to the desert floor. Another had a high speed aborted takeoff for an unknown issue; dropped his tailhook to catch the departure end arresting cable. Hook skipped the cable and the jet headed for a high speed overrun. Ejected successfully, but the jet smacked into the localizer antenna off the departure end and caught into a massive fire. Wind carried his parachute right down into the pool of burning fuel of the jet. Lived for about a week. Another one, had an engine failure due to a malfunction, wouldn’t restart. Made a controlled ejection, straight and level, as benign as could possibly be. As the parachute pack deployed from the seat, a riser wrapped around his neck and snapped his skull off of his spine internally, dead instantly.

Do the job long enough, and things like this happen. More than any of us would ever want, but they unfortunately do. Our number could easily be up somewhere down the road, and we’d never know it. By the same token, we could potentially have averted death, and never know it.

Just think, in this tragic accident, if timing-wise, the CRJ had been closer-in on final to RW 1, so when tower asked if they wanted to circle to 33, the crew would’ve likely said no, would like to continue to RW 1 due to being on nearly short final……
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Yikes :( those stories are sad.
 
Inverted said:
Anyone else find that this is hitting them a little harder than they thought it would? I can't tell if it is because I am older, or because it has been so long since we have had an accident like this in the states but the the crew and pax have been on my mind a lot. If I wasn't in CQ I would have flown across the country to be there, and I have never really felt the need to do that in the past.
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Yep! Emotionally I was a mess last week and I couldn’t figure out why especially since I didn’t know any of the crew. They just reminded me of my time at Endeavor and the people I worked with.

There’s a camaraderie in the regional world that I haven’t seen anywhere else. The airline essentially gives you the keys to an airplane and for 3-5 days and you become a pseudo family with several other people you probably never knew before you walked up to the gate. Usually you all are all you got while on the road so you generally take care of each other.

When I seen their faces I seen 4 individuals with different ambitions who were probably having the time of their life. Whether it was building hours to go to mainline, the flight attendant who finally followed their dream of becoming a FA, or the FA who’s been around for a while and still enjoyed what they do.

I think any of us who spend time at the regionals, commuters or whatever you choose to call it can relate to this.
 
MikeD said:
These things happen unfortunately. You could be doing everything right, and stil die. Being a military pilot, this was seen a lot more than was seen in my civilian days; and sadly, that numbs you when these kinds of fatal accidents happen, even when you know the pilot involved. Just a matter of it being higher risk operations day to day, and thus more understood and more accepted as something that can occur, to you just as easily as anyone else. Even when you’ve done everthing right.

Off the top of my head, I can remember several guys I knew who did everything right, but still paid the price. One guy, doing a low-level shallow laydown of heavyweight live bombs, had the fuzes on two of the 500lb bombs malfunction, to where the bombs detonated the second they separated from his jet after he pickled them off, about a foot or two below it, blowing his jet and him inside it, to bits in an instant in the explosion. Another one had his jet hit by another midair. His jet caught fire and he ejected, but the parachute package had also caught fire from the detonation of the forward fuel cell, and when his parachute deployed, the risers burnt up and he fell 9000 feet to the desert floor. Another had a high speed aborted takeoff for an unknown issue; dropped his tailhook to catch the departure end arresting cable. Hook skipped the cable and the jet headed for a high speed overrun. Ejected successfully, but the jet smacked into the localizer antenna off the departure end and caught into a massive fire. Wind carried his parachute right down into the pool of burning fuel of the jet. Lived for about a week. Another one, had an engine failure due to a malfunction, wouldn’t restart. Made a controlled ejection, straight and level, as benign as could possibly be. As the parachute pack deployed from the seat, a riser wrapped around his neck and snapped his skull off of his spine internally, dead instantly.

Do the job long enough, and things like this happen. More than any of us would ever want, but they unfortunately do. Our number could easily be up somewhere down the road, and we’d never know it. By the same token, we could potentially have averted death, and never know it.

Just think, in this tragic accident, if timing-wise, the CRJ had been closer-in on final to RW 1, so when tower asked if they wanted to circle to 33, the crew would’ve likely said no, would like to continue to RW 1 due to being on nearly short final……
Click to expand...
Jesus
 
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