There is one news"flash" that happened about a grade crossing event, the car was hit , and the brilliant news person asked"Why didn't the train swerve out of the way of the auto? This happened last year. WOW!! No Silver apple award there.
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
zugmann GN_Fan You can't put together a one hour show about a train going 80 into a 30 MPH curve. Five or 10 minutes maybe, but not an hour. They've done hour long shows about planes that crashed because they ran out of fuel.
GN_Fan You can't put together a one hour show about a train going 80 into a 30 MPH curve. Five or 10 minutes maybe, but not an hour.
They've done hour long shows about planes that crashed because they ran out of fuel.
Now that you mention it, after being drafted during the Nam era I spent some time in NJ flying in the OV-1, the Mohawk, and there were 2 instances where that was a REAL POSSIBILITY, altho a documentary of either would hardly last an hour. I was an aviation crew chief attached to FT Monmouth but stationed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ. I was attached to the signal corps and we were flying "projects" related to night stereo photography with both visable and IR strobe lights.
One day I was to fly observer with a major that came out of Tea Neck, NJ to pilot an OV-1 that was being flown in from Aberdeen Proving Ground and ferry it to Twentynine Palms, CA, pick up another plane and ferry it to China Lake, CA, then fly commercial back. The pilot that ferried it in to Lakehurst wrote up that circuit breakers were popping all the time. Page Aircraft, the civilan contractorat LNAS could not find anything wrong.
The next AM we took off in broken clouds and ascended to 8,000 ft and everything appeared normal. Somewhere over MD the master caution panel came on -- aft boost pump failure -- one of 2 fuel pumps. I pushed the breaker back in and it popped again. A few minutes later another warning came on -- forward boost pump failure. We now had NO FUEL PUMPS but the OV-1 would gravity feed under 6,000 ft, but we were at 8,000! Not to worry I thought.
Because the intercoms didn't work either, I had to shout to the pilot "decend to 6K and avoid a nose low attitude" which he did. he also decared an in fllight emergency and told me to watch the fuel flow meters. If they went to zero I was to eject -- not a good scenario to say the least --zero to 60 in 3' and momentarily pull 20+ g's. Those 55 mm cannon shells in the seat do a good job, but it's scary as hell. I thought the hell with the flow meters and listened to the engines -- running just fine! We got clearance to come straight into BWI in Baltimore with an uneventful landing. Mo one ever found out what the electrical problem was.
The second time I was flying with another major but in a plane that was stationed at our base at Lakehurst Naval Air Station (LNAS.) Painted white with red trim, the 60744 was special to me. Flying right seat again, we were on a training flight around NJ and flew over Asbury park and then down the coast to Atlantic City. We turned inland and flew for a bit when the Master Caution panel lit up again -- a 20 minute low fuel warning light popped on.
The log book had a writeup about that -- it said that the fule gauge read 700 pounds low. I read it and concluded that we had 20 minutes plus 700 pounds. I passed the log book to the pilot and asked if he concured. He did. We did three touch and go landings at McGuire AFB then returned to LNAS for an uneventful landing.
As crew chief it was my duty to refuel the aircraft, so i called the Navy to get a load of JP-4. They put 285 gallons into a 295 gallon tank, leaving us with about 6 minutes of fuel! It would not be cool to run out of gas and have a flame out over NJ, believe me. As soon as I got back to the hangar I reported the incident and the *** hit the fan in about a half a micro-second. I had to "red X" the plane in the log rendering it unflight worthy, call the Navy and have it defueled, then recalibrate the fuel gauge.
As it turned out, the fuel gauged did NOT need recalibration as it was spot on. This revelation made it's rounds around both Page Aircraft and the pilots. It didn't take long before a pilot hit me up -- lets see that log book entry. I showed it to him. He asked "where's the rest of it?" That's it I said. That's all there is. He got really huffy and asked who wrote this up? I said XX did. And where the hell is he? he screamed. He's gone, he got out!
In any case, in the end the missing part of the entry was reintroduced -- The fuel gauge read 700 pounds low WHEN DRAWING FUEL FROM THE TIP TANKS. We were flying without tip tanks and using the main tank. We really did have 20 minutes of fuel left, but luckily landed after 17 ninutes -- 3 minutes early!
I guess you could stretch these instances to an hour but it would be a real stretch. Except for the electrical nightmare on the first plane, things were pretty straight forward. Those projects usually had a beginning (in the cockpit) and an end (in the project), but when the project concluded, the ends were removed but the wiring was left in place. Well, live and learn, I guess. All I know is that an ejection is NOT FUN!! I went thru a 1/4 charge ejection during training and pulled 9 g's and almost broke my neck!! It's not something you want to do every day.
Yep, The December 28, 1978 crash of United Airlines Flight 173, which happened only 2 miles from my Home, would be a pefect example.
Due to an issue with a landing gear condition indicator light, the crew flew around for an hour, trying to remedy the trouble, they mentioned the fuel state a few times, but never gave it the priority it deserved.
Eventually the plane simply ran out of fuel, and the laws of gravity were enforced, it was one of the leading cases in implementing CRM (Cockpit Resources Management)
It was surprising that the casuality list was as small as it was , only 10 Fatalities with 24 injured among 179 survivors, with NONE killed on the ground. This happened in a Heavily wooded neighborhood, with large Douglas Fir Trees. An apartment building was damaged and several houses destroyed. One story reported of a homeowner getting an urge for Planters Peanuts, who went to the store to buy some, and came home to a destroyed house, I imagine that he bought stock in Planters after that.
One of the saddest parts of the story was that, the landing gear was SAFE, and that a damaged micro-switch caused the issue leading up to the crash.
The story was aired on the TV Show "MAYDAY" and aired in 2012, on the "Focused on Failure" episode.
A Sad story, that Fortunately didn't turn out any Sadder than it did, it could have been much worse.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
zugmann They've done hour long shows about planes that crashed because they ran out of fuel.
Yes, and sometimes it works out. The Gimli Glider episode is one of the better ones.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Salena Zito appears to be one the remaining old school reporters, having spent 2016 driving across the US talking to people while reporting on the Presidential election, rather than being part of the herds covering the candidates. Since she is close to my age, her journalism training dates back at least 3 decades, i.e. "what-when-where-why-who" approach to reporting.
One other bright note was the high school journalist's interview of SecDef Mattis, asking some insightful questions.
More than likely. "Uncle Walter" and his colleagues were of the generation of journalists who came up the hard way through print media and the old "what-when-where-why-who" philosophy of reportage. You made sure all those blanks were filled in or your story didn't get printed.
In a way, remembering some of the interviews I saw with Cronkite towards the end of his life I'm pretty sure he saw what was coming, although he wasn't in a position to do anything about it.
Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Edward R. Murrow, Howard K. Smith, Bob Trout, Harry Reasoner, we'll never see their like again I'm afraid.
"Wild Bill" O'Reilly on Fox News came close before he disgraced himself. Got too big for his britches I suppose. What a shame.
After all those fine folks in the news crafting get their "degree for news broadcasting" , I wonder if Mr. Cronkite is turning over in his grave ??
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
By the time you put together information about the line upgrade, why it was chosen, etc, the events leading up to the crash, and then a detailed review of where the cars went, where the casualties were located, etc, it would be easy to fill up an hour. If you want to add dramatizations, you might make it to two.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
rrnut282Things got so slow in the world of airliner crashes, they started to breathlessly report close calls. They may have coined the term near-miss at this time. Well, I hope they miss, that's what they are supposed to do everyday everytime. 2017 air travel was fatality-free, so it's not a bias, just literally nothing to report. Rail wasn't so lucky in 2017. If a train derailment blocks a street crossing, then it's news.
2017 air travel was fatality-free, so it's not a bias, just literally nothing to report. Rail wasn't so lucky in 2017.
If a train derailment blocks a street crossing, then it's news.
Need to qualify that as US air travel. There have been numerous accidents that resulted in death among many foreign carriers - including some that service the US but the flights that had incidents didn't originate or terminate in the US on those incidents.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Things got so slow in the world of airliner crashes, they started to breathlessly report close calls. They may have coined the term near-miss at this time. Well, I hope they miss, that's what they are supposed to do everyday everytime.
A local TV reporter was in our building doing some story or other, and I asked him about some other current local issue, and he told me, "Oh I don't know anything about it, I just report." Another local news anchor did a story about some nature area and identified some spokespeople as from the "Autobahn Society". It isn't just rail troubles.
The last death on a US commercial airliner was 9 years ago. That might account for never seeing any coverage in the news. Nothing has happened to cover.
Norm48327 Firelock76 There's one thing media coverage of train and plane crashes has in common, those doing the reporting do a pretty good job of showcasing their ignorance regarding both modes of transportation. BINGO!
Firelock76 There's one thing media coverage of train and plane crashes has in common, those doing the reporting do a pretty good job of showcasing their ignorance regarding both modes of transportation.
BINGO!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=38UQtjhXalk
dknelsonThere is a temptation for us to feel that rail or transport is uniquely mis-handled by the media. I suspect it is handled no better and no worse than just about any other serious topic.
Trust me, the media doesn't do much better with the fire service...
Some larger fire departments even go so far as to run "mini-academies" so the press (and political leaders) can find out exactly what the whole business is about.
Foresic Files on HLN about Sunset Limited Amtrak going off bridge into Bayou
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3512380/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
Firelock76There's one thing media coverage of train and plane crashes has in common, those doing the reporting do a pretty good job of showcasing their ignorance regarding both modes of transportation.
I worked for 36 years in a large financial based industry (not transportation) and can tell you that the ignorance was pretty nearly total about that as well, by general as well as so called "business news reporters." And it was as bad for "favorable" stories as it was for negative or damaging stories, which of course they liked to write much more. Even when they were spoon fed with a PR release it would often be utterly botched by the time it saw print. And the corrections would be botched too.
There is a temptation for us to feel that rail or transport is uniquely mis-handled by the media. I suspect it is handled no better and no worse than just about any other serious topic.
Dave Nelson
Plus it was a pretty spectacular event, with cars dangling over the highway, with high death toll. I don't see any undue media bias.
There seems to be a fair amount of media coverage over bus plunges like the one in Peru recently. Only buses plunge, for some reason. Newspaper editors must like that phrase.
Airline fatalities, in the US at least, are so rare anymore it's difficult to gauge media reaction.
Norm
IIRC, the tapes were released pretty quickly after the Asiana Flight 214 incident in SFO.
There's one thing media coverage of train and plane crashes has in common, those doing the reporting do a pretty good job of showcasing their ignorance regarding both modes of transportation.
I used to read a lot of aviation mags like "Flying", "Plane and Pilot", and "Sport Aviation." Their mutterings over media ignorance matched perfectly with what you'd read here from our frequent posters.
Plane accidents usually don't have 911 calls as people's phones are supposed to be off or on airplane mode.
The Cascades wreck occured during a slow news week, so it got a lot more coverage than it otherwise might have.
I would hardly say that airline incidents get to fly "under the radar." Serious aircraft incidents are usually catastrophic, taking out all the occupants of the aircraft and sometimes people on the ground. And they are all over the news, for at least one news cycle. A major crash may carry over for several days.
It's been in the news within the past few days that the airline industry has had a very good year, incident-wise.
General aviation incidents usually only garner local coverage, as do minor derailments. If a derailment doesn't affect the community, it may not be news at all.
Curiously, two movies making the rounds of the premium channels right now are "Sully" and "Unstoppable." One is more or less factual, the other is "based on a true story." One is air, one is rail.
Many times airline wreckage is in remote difficult or impossible to access locations. In some cases no wreckage is found (MH370). In other cases where wreckage is found, the remains are of such small pieces as to be unrecognizable.
We are accustomed to air line crashes - but since 'trains don't run anymore'; when there is a incident it is news, especially in the local area of the incident.
Intresting that 911 calls were relesed so soon, It would take months for air crashes to do the same. We see wreckage on the Cacades where life was lost we almost never see airline wreckage on the news where life was lost. I say that airlines have better PR and attorneys and that Airlines spend more $$$$$ on TV and Print so if someone saw the carnage after a airline wreck no body would fly again.
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