Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 Feet—

Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

trafficinsight said:
RDoug? care to comment? Welcome to Jetcareers :)
Click to expand...

Thank you, TrafficInSight (may I shorten that to just "Tally Ho?"). Comment given to BoonDr's question. I took advantage of the recent headlines to draw traffic to the blog and used the situation as an excuse to show off two chapters from an unsold book. To be perfectly honest, while I enjoy blogging the primary purpose of that blog is to sell my self-published works (one on sale currently; three more upcoming later this year). What can I say? I'm a businessman.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

RDoug said:
Hello, BoonDr. Under what user name do you access the NATCA BBS?

As for your question it's the latter. I plead guilty as charged. The title for the blog is an attention grabber to take advantage of the current headlines and to drive web traffic to the site. The titles of the two chapters being reproduced are included on the blog:

Chapter Two
Why Inspectors Inspect Airplanes—
Death and Near Disaster Over Maui
​

and:

Chapter Five
Why Inspectors Don’t Inspect—
Unlawful Retaliation at the FAA
​
Click to expand...

Thanks BTW love the photography stuff I've been using it the last few months.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

boondr said:
Thanks BTW love the photography stuff I've been using it the last few months.
Click to expand...

Great. Glad you're enjoying the photo tips. Up until this week's three-part series, those were my most popular blogs.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

Thank you, Screaming Emu. Love the "Captain Stig" look. Very cool.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

RDoug said:
No. I am a retired Air Traffic Controller with 34 years, five months total service—seven years, five months in the U.S.A.F. and 27 years with the Federal Aviation Administration. I entered service on April 4, 1975, and retired on September 3, 2009. During my time with the F.A.A. I also spent ten years as a Quality Assurance & Training Specialist (QATS) at KELP, during which time I was responsible for accident/incident investigations, standardization of procedures, and overall training. I also served for about five years evaluating and testing the F.A.A.'s Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). I am the published author of The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 © Rosen Publishing, 2002, and the self-published author of a murder mystery, Decisions © R. Doug Wicker, 2010. I"m also the unpublished author of three action/thrillers dealing with aircraft sabotage (which should be self-published later this year) and the nonfiction title The Tombstone Agency, excerpts from which have been the topic of this thread.

My areas of expertise, hobbies, and interests include photography, travel, food & wine, bridge, astronomy, reading & writing, movies, and aviation.
Click to expand...

If we were meeting face to face you'd know by my inflection that I'm kidding when I ask, "So... is that all you got?" :D

I was steered to your blog by my friend and former co-worker at ZTL, Don Brown. Good reading... thanks.

Welcome to JC!
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

OOOooo. A former center controller. And you used to work next to the famous Don Brown? I'm truly impressed.

Yeah, Don gave me quite a boost this week with that ITYS posting of his. That was nice of him.

Thank you for the welcome. Now, where the heck is Fedvul Jawja? Is that a town in Georgia, by any chance?
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

Enroute for only the final four years. Terminal for the first 21. That's how I got to know Don... I worked opposite him while I was at Charlotte and Asheville for several years before we finally met doing the NATCA organizing stuff. I took a nine year vacation in Florida then wound up working in the area next door to him at the big house in Hampton.

Fayetteville, Georgia. The place is crawling with airline pilots. :D
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

That close to Hartsfield-Jackson, it's no wonder. ;)
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

I just wanted to thank everyone here for not only this discussion, but also for dropping by and reading this week's series. Part III, the final installment, went up last night, and this week has resulted in shattering all previous records for my blog. Indeed, so successful was this three-part series that I might very well repeat it in the coming months with different excerpts from my book.

Once again, many thanks. And I will be dropping by from time to time for some expert advice on various aviation topics. Indeed, if anyone here knows of any Avionics mechanics with experience on the G4, I could really use some technical expertise on one of my novels coming out later this years.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

Funny! this thread ended up reminding me of Caneman.......remember?

Welcome Rdoug!
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

So, are you out to get SWA, or any airline that isnt highly scrutinized by the FAA? I understand that there are a lot of people who would like to put the screws to them, but theres just nothing to back it up. If their planes were literally coming apart, then they wouldnt be operating.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

cmill said:
So, are you out to get SWA, or any airline that isnt highly scrutinized by the FAA? I understand that there are a lot of people who would like to put the screws to them, but theres just nothing to back it up. If their planes were literally coming apart, then they wouldnt be operating.
Click to expand...
The fleet isn't falling apart. But as a nerdy airline guy who keeps up with all this kind of stuff, I can tell you in recent years Southwest has been affected more than the others when it comes to this decompression and holes in the airplane stuff. That being said, they do have a huge fleet of airplanes and opperate a crap ton of segments everyday with those airplanes and have yet to have an airplane ever crash(if you don't count a few over-runs). I'm sure the planes get more beat up than they do at some other airlines but like you said, if the mx was poor the planes would be crashing and the airline would be shutting down. Doesn't seem like that is the case.

Welcome RDoug, glad to see a new face with much to offer here!
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

Mariano, ChasenSFO, thanks for the welcome. Really appreciate it.


Cmill, I am not "out to get" Southwest Airlines, and I most assuredly did backup everything I said with names (some withheld), dates, and specifics. As for their airplanes not coming apart, can you think of any other airline that has had two instances of fuselage failure above 30,000 feet in less than 21 months? Most people would be hard pressed to find an airline that has had even one such occurrence. Ever. Throughout their entire corporate history. And, I'm sorry, but when that is put in the context of SWA officials pressuring FAA management to remove certain FSDO inspectors for pointing out fatigue cracks and other problems, well . . . I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say made their own bed on this one.

Is airline travel in general and is SWA specifically safe? You betcha. I fly them all the time. But the real problem, and the crux of my book, is that the FAA under Marion Blakey failed miserably in conducting it mission requirements, and many of the managers responsible for those failures are still in positions of responsibility throughout the Agency to this day. For instance, because of totally inept leadership and an attempt at union busting, the number of fully certified controllers in this country fell in 2008 to the lowest numbers since 1992. Mandatory six-day work weeks and ten-hour shifts are now the norm at many facilities across the nation, and yet we wonder why controllers are falling asleep while on duty.

Sorry you didn't like that three-part series. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this subject and move on.
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

sorry if it came off as a personal assault, but i just dont see the evidence. yes, there have been some fuselage holes, but how many deaths have there been beside the over run at Chicago? In the end thats all it really comes down to, isnt it?
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

Well, to quote my book:

"At any rate, an absence of death is not an indicator of safety. Safety is not a statistic; it is a culture based upon dedication to a principle. A helmetless motorcyclist may go an entire lifetime injury-free but not many would classify the rider as being ‘safe.’ Likewise, in response to this long period of relative accident-free operation, airlines could today remove all seatbelts and emergency oxygen systems to save weight and reduce fuel costs, but there are safety reasons they are not allowed to do so. More simply put, safety doesn’t just happen. Rather, it is a condition which requires constant investment lest it prove fleeting. FAA air traffic controllers, aircraft inspectors, certification engineers, and others understand and appreciate this. FAA management does not."
Click to expand...
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 
Re: Why Southwest’s Boeings Keep Coming Apart Above 30,000 F

I dont disagree, but you would be regulating the industry into the ground. Theres an associated risk with any form of travel. Airlines are no different. And SWA has the safest record out there. As long as theres human error, there will be accidents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top