AA / Blackhawk Crash and other Crash and FAA News

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“… Captain Dennis Tajer, spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union of 16,000 American Airlines pilots, says that colleagues have been sounding the alarm for some time.

“Our pilots are reporting the same concerns as the public,” he says. “The system is under pressure.”

Since the pandemic, says Tajer, there’s been a perfect storm: an industry going from “zero to 60” as travel rebooted post-lockdown; increased demand for “revenge” travel; and mass retirements across the industry, many of which were encouraged as a way of saving money for companies while planes were grounded.

The rebound situation has been “unprecedented,” he says.

Couple that with technology not being upgraded, and pressure to get planes up in the air and down again — fast — and, he says, you have a problem.

… Last month, an American Airlines employee was killed at Charlotte Airport when he was hit by a tug, which tows aircraft in and out of the gates. And in 2022, a baggage worker was crushed to death at London’s Heathrow airport while offloading an Emirates jet.

“It’s a serious business, unforgiving if you don’t respect procedures and discipline,” says Tajer.

…
One pilot for a major international airline, who wished to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak on behalf of their company, said that “pilots have to up their game” when flying in the United States. The US handles certain elements of aviation differently from the rest of the world, they said.

For instance, in both the recent Southwest go-around and the DC crash, the aircraft involved were communicating with air traffic control on different radio frequencies, therefore not hearing each other.

“Nowhere else in the world does that,” they said. Elsewhere, aircraft moving onto an active runway must use the same frequency — that of the air traffic control tower, rather than ground control. That means everyone using the runway can hear everyone else scheduled to use it.

Then there’s what the pilot calls a US “obsession to make people ‘go visual’ because of air traffic control capacity.”

In other countries, landings are what they call “positively controlled” — pilots are told the speed, altitude and direction at which to approach the runway.

“I go to [the US], they’ll point me at the airport and say, ‘It’s at 12 o’clock in 10 miles, can you see it?’ And then I’m told to switch to the tower frequency and cleared to land,” they say. …”

 
nycfan said:
“… Captain Dennis Tajer, spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union of 16,000 American Airlines pilots, says that colleagues have been sounding the alarm for some time.

“Our pilots are reporting the same concerns as the public,” he says. “The system is under pressure.”

Since the pandemic, says Tajer, there’s been a perfect storm: an industry going from “zero to 60” as travel rebooted post-lockdown; increased demand for “revenge” travel; and mass retirements across the industry, many of which were encouraged as a way of saving money for companies while planes were grounded.

The rebound situation has been “unprecedented,” he says.

Couple that with technology not being upgraded, and pressure to get planes up in the air and down again — fast — and, he says, you have a problem.

… Last month, an American Airlines employee was killed at Charlotte Airport when he was hit by a tug, which tows aircraft in and out of the gates. And in 2022, a baggage worker was crushed to death at London’s Heathrow airport while offloading an Emirates jet.

“It’s a serious business, unforgiving if you don’t respect procedures and discipline,” says Tajer.

…
One pilot for a major international airline, who wished to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak on behalf of their company, said that “pilots have to up their game” when flying in the United States. The US handles certain elements of aviation differently from the rest of the world, they said.

For instance, in both the recent Southwest go-around and the DC crash, the aircraft involved were communicating with air traffic control on different radio frequencies, therefore not hearing each other.

“Nowhere else in the world does that,” they said. Elsewhere, aircraft moving onto an active runway must use the same frequency — that of the air traffic control tower, rather than ground control. That means everyone using the runway can hear everyone else scheduled to use it.

Then there’s what the pilot calls a US “obsession to make people ‘go visual’ because of air traffic control capacity.”

In other countries, landings are what they call “positively controlled” — pilots are told the speed, altitude and direction at which to approach the runway.

“I go to [the US], they’ll point me at the airport and say, ‘It’s at 12 o’clock in 10 miles, can you see it?’ And then I’m told to switch to the tower frequency and cleared to land,” they say. …”

Click to expand...
“…
They call the US approach a “shift of responsibility” allowing stretched air traffic controllers to increase capacity while each pilot takes responsibility for “terrain clearance and not bumping into other planes.” That’s similar to Tajer’s claim that pilots are being treated as the only, not the last, line of defense.

The international pilot singles out the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as particularly challenging. “There are multiple runways pointing in the same direction, all close together. You could have [multiple] aircraft landing abreast, and they want you to go visual because they can’t maintain separation,” they say.

Sometimes, they say, international pilots instigate a go-around when they see other airplanes too close for comfort at a US airport, surprising local air traffic control.

“They’ll say, ‘Why are you going around? You can see it!’” they say. “I’ll guarantee you that there’ll have been zero visual approaches at European airports today, for example. These are the kinds of things that don’t happen anywhere else in the world.” …”

——
Am I scheduled to fly to Phoenix next week? Sure am!
 
nycfan said:
“…
They call the US approach a “shift of responsibility” allowing stretched air traffic controllers to increase capacity while each pilot takes responsibility for “terrain clearance and not bumping into other planes.” That’s similar to Tajer’s claim that pilots are being treated as the only, not the last, line of defense.

The international pilot singles out the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as particularly challenging. “There are multiple runways pointing in the same direction, all close together. You could have [multiple] aircraft landing abreast, and they want you to go visual because they can’t maintain separation,” they say.

Sometimes, they say, international pilots instigate a go-around when they see other airplanes too close for comfort at a US airport, surprising local air traffic control.

“They’ll say, ‘Why are you going around? You can see it!’” they say. “I’ll guarantee you that there’ll have been zero visual approaches at European airports today, for example. These are the kinds of things that don’t happen anywhere else in the world.” …”

——
Am I scheduled to fly to Phoenix next week? Sure am!
Click to expand...
“… In January’s DC crash, the aircraft involved were relying on visual maneuvering at night — a technique forbidden by most European airlines.

US air traffic control also clear aircraft to land while there are still other aircraft approaching or on the runway, they say — again, in contrast to other countries where only one plane has clearance to land at any time.

In other countries, says the pilot, “I don’t get clearance from the tower until I’m number one to land and the runway is clear. In America, I could be number seven in a stream and they say ‘You’re clear to land on that runway.’ Now it’s up to you if you want to land or not. Air traffic control is negating responsibility for the airplanes in front of you… they put the onus on the pilot.

“I’m not saying it’s wrong — it’s different. You up your game [flying to the US].”

The pilot also cites America’s “liberal view on aviation” which sees light aircraft, private jets, military aircraft and commercial airliners all using the same airspace.

“I’ve been in a 747 [jumbo jet] departing behind a Piper Archer [a two- or four-seater light aircraft] at JFK,” they say. “I find it quite refreshing that they allow that, but you’d never get that anywhere else. That causes complexity.

“When you mix military traffic operating on night-vision goggles with civilian traffic with a guy in a Piper Archer who’s got 40 hours of experience, and just one air traffic controller, you can see why they get overwhelmed and put responsibility on the pilots.”

Another element particular to the US is the difference between state and federal jurisdiction. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, for example, got its first “ramp control system,” which directs aircraft around the airport apron, in 2024. Before this, aircraft had to organize their own movements. The airport is owned by the city but operated by the Department of Aviation.

“It was a free for all,” says the pilot. “The federal Air Traffic Control would take you to the entrance of the ramp and say, ‘good luck.’ It was f***ing chaos. There were a few instances where planes went head to head and couldn’t turn around.”

The pilot is at pains to stress that none of this is a criticism of US aviation.

“It’s just a difference in procedures,” they say. …”
 




Shut up about the planes (but agree POTUS will almost never have any blame for a small plane crash unless he was the pilot or owner who failed to do the maintenance or AF1 runs over it)
 
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