Dane Cook and the day

At work today they did not need us to simulate any traffic around Vaernes airport, as the new air traffic control cadets was only going to get familiar with the system and look at screens and push buttons. They only needed us to start and stop the excercises on the systems. So me and a friend were training on instrument approaches on Microsoft Flightsimulator. We have a really nice setup with the latest computer, yoke and pedals, and two LCD-screens. I need to show you some pictures, maybe on wednesday, after my camera has been to a quick cleaning at the local photostore. The amount of dust inside it is unbelieveable, yet I have tried everything to get it removed. There`s a good chance the rumblings I hace done inside it has made things even worse.

We flew a 737-600 (PMDG) from Salzburg to Innsbruck, at night and in fog. A nice challenge. Then I flew from Roros to Trondheim in 600 meters at night, in rain. I learned really well to fly using the Flight Director, while still mantaining manual flight.

I got a nice recommendation to you also, if you haven`t heard it yet. You need to buy the cd by Dane Cook¹, Retaliation:Need. It`s something about Dane Cook, I guess you either hate him or love him. Who doesn`t love him? Retaliation:Need, listen to it. In fact, I am listening to it now, and I smile everytime and say to myself; that Dane Cook is a crazy m* f*.

Yesterday I wrote about the 747 that snap in two during take-off. It seems I may have made a mistake there, because the aircraft that lost its engine mid-flight proved to be its sister aircraft, N709CK, and not N704CK. Anyway, something about the maintenance issue that keeps coming to my mind about that airline. A small digression but, lucky for us they only carry cargo.

¹. Dane Cook, official site.

747 down at Brussels

A 747-200 cargo from Kalitta Air crashed at the end of a runway and split in two while trying to take off Sunday at Brussels airport. Four of the five crew members on board the Boeing 747 were slightly injured and were hospitalized according to CNN¹.

Speculations are as one might expect soaring the different aviation forums on the web, suggesting structural failure or fatigue, or something went very bad after the airplane had an aborted take-off for any reason.

The most probable cause is that the 747 had to abort take-off and ran over the runway hitting a few bumps. The runway it used, RWY20, is 2800 metres long. A required runway length for a 747 like this, with maximum take-off weight is 3200 metres. That leaves little margin for errors. The fuselage would most likely suffer some damage, and would look something like this Kalitta 747 does today.

But then again, this aircraft is also known for having lost one of its four enginges in mid-flight². It was on its way from Orlando to New York when they had to make an emergency landing in Detroit. The engine was later recovered somewhere in Michigan.

Update 19.03.2010: The final report on this accident is now out, click here to download the pdf.

¹. Article, CNN. For more pictures, visit this.

². Kalitta Air 747 lost one engine, Planepictures.