Earlier quoted context omitted.
>One of my favorite station IDs was an independent local analog UHF channel 56 with call letters WLVI. Bangor, ME has an ABC affiliate WVII broadcasting on VHF channel 7.
Rochester NY has WXXI for a PBS station on channel 21. It is also curiously reused as the call sign on local AM and FM NPR radio stations. For whatever reason that is allowed.
Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
171–180 of 302 posts
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#172Non-USA resident here. Can someone explain all the four-letter news station names to me? Why not brand them with something more memorable / locally nuanced?
WRC-TV - NBC Washington
similar to...
KIAD - Dulles International
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
The other thing that might not be obvious to non-residents is that K is for West of the Mississippi, and W is for East. It must be weird to live near the Mississippi and get a mix of K and W station call signs!
W is for East. What a country!
As for why K and W, nobody is sure why those two letters, but it might be related to Morse code.
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to nitpick, this landing technique is something every pilot has to demonstrate to an FAA designated examiner to get their first pilot certificate (or, the private pilot license). So it's kind of like saying "Wow, you did the thing every pilot has to do!". I get what you're saying though - there's an emotional difference between doing this when everything is fine and when you have a real emergency.
I suspected it wasn’t required for every pilot since most initially licensed pilots will train on airplanes that don’t have retractable landing gears in the first place. But I guess the technique isn’t much different than if your nose tire blew, which might be included in all training? Looks like flying with a retractable landing gear is a separate “complex aircraft endorsement” that “has no corresponding check ride…
This is the same technique the delta pilot used, and by other pilots that had an abnormal nose-wheel deployment.
[1]The airmen certification standards: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/training_testing/tes...
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'd gain nothing, they can already see it with their eyeballs, and they don't require anything else like faster response or a different viewpoint. You'd lose in terms of putting another hole in the aircraft and maintaining another system, and you'd still need the manual procedure in case the camera didn't work.
>and you'd still need the manual procedure in case the camera didn't work. And presumably if the camera doesn't work as part of the pre-flight checklist for whatever reason, you're not going anywhere until it's fixed/replaced.
part of it is that there's a backup for most everything required.
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is an algorithm for everything in aviation. If you suspect your landing gear is not functional, you typically fly by a tower and have them make visual confirmation. Then you have another algorithm (they call them procedures) for how to land without gear. The airport likewise has a checklist of everything to do in this case. All of these procedures are hard won, the NTSB uses every hull failure and fatal acciden…
> There is an algorithm for everything in aviation This is how I got my commercial pilot's license, and I'm a senior software engineer. It just "clicked" with my brain to follow specific procedures ("algorithms") for absolutely everything. Checklists, strict rules, "flows", handling emergencies. It all felt natural to me. They will throw random stuff at you during checkrides. Pull the power back on one of the engines…
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#177Did they know in advance that they were having problems? Edit: Answer: Yes ... the crew initiated a go around due to a unsafe nose gear indication, climbed to 4000 feet and entered a hold to work the checklists. After working the checklists the crew declared emergency and requested emergency services on stand by. The aircraft performed a low approach to runway 36L, positioned for another approach to runway 36L and la…
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-a-wwii-spitfire-he...
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#178Wow! Phenomenal piloting skills. In the 2nd video on the page taken by a passenger during landing, you can hear the plane balanced on the rear wheels for 12 seconds before touching down the nose. Impressive!
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#179How does a plane lose its front landing gear?
I have seen (on one of the YouTube ATC channels) a comercial jet (747, IIRC) that DID lose one of its main landing gear on take-off. Another pilot (in another jet) saw the wheel bounce across the runway.
That plane continued on its way and landed normally. It was just one wheel of a four-wheel truck/assembly (of which a 747 has 4 sets).
Re: Delta flight lands in Charlotte without front landing gear
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is an algorithm for everything in aviation. If you suspect your landing gear is not functional, you typically fly by a tower and have them make visual confirmation. Then you have another algorithm (they call them procedures) for how to land without gear. The airport likewise has a checklist of everything to do in this case. All of these procedures are hard won, the NTSB uses every hull failure and fatal acciden…
> There is an algorithm for everything in aviation This is how I got my commercial pilot's license, and I'm a senior software engineer. It just "clicked" with my brain to follow specific procedures ("algorithms") for absolutely everything. Checklists, strict rules, "flows", handling emergencies. It all felt natural to me. They will throw random stuff at you during checkrides. Pull the power back on one of the engines…