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Greek airliner disaster
- Thread starter JesseJames
- Start date
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njmac said:It is always sad when there are no survivors. Air travel is still the safest way to go, but when it does happen it must be a terrifying way to go
Exactly - it is very safe, but when there is an accident or problem, the events are usually catastrophic in nature - there's no in between.
Tragic story. I heard about one man who realized the pilots were unconscious due to the depressurization, and text messaged a firend of his on his cell phone saying a final farewell. I can't even imagine being in that type of a situation and what was going through those people's heads.
dubbz said:
it was on autopilot circling until it ran out of fuel, then it crashed into the mountainside.
highres said:
I read a (fiction) book about a similar scenario. It was called Mayday by Thomas Block and my favorite author Nelson DeMille.
I highly reccomend it. Its creepy and entertaining.
OT personal thought
The article says: "US investigators were on their way to Athens to help with the inquiry."
/*edit too political argument before*/
Let's hope there are no hidden agendas and this was really an accident, this war on terror has made the whole world frightened.
The article says: "US investigators were on their way to Athens to help with the inquiry."
/*edit too political argument before*/
Let's hope there are no hidden agendas and this was really an accident, this war on terror has made the whole world frightened.
I was very saddened by the news when I heard it last evening. Can't even imagine what they went through. Heard that one passenger sent a text message to a relative. Realized the situation, death was coming. My prayers go out to the victims, families, and friends. I have actually been saying prayers.
They (you know, "they") were saying on the news at noon that the fellow who claimed his cousin had text-messaged him from the doomed plane was a big fat liar. This CNN story has some more information about it (starting about six paragraphs in).~Shard~ said:
My condolences to everyone affected by this.
I guess I just don't understand why such a thing happened. I'm assuming that the pilots new the plane had lost cabin pressure. If the plane was getting freezing cold why couldn't they drop the plane down to a lower altitude? Were they above some very tall mountains making it impossible. Did they not know that they didn't have oxygen until they were about to pass out? Or was it from loss of pressure?
It just seems that if you knew you didn't have pressure or oxygen you would take the plane closer to the ground. Anyone with any piloting experience know why they didn't or couldn't do this?
Sorry if my facts are a bit off. I haven't really had a chance to get all of the news stories on the subject yet.
I guess I just don't understand why such a thing happened. I'm assuming that the pilots new the plane had lost cabin pressure. If the plane was getting freezing cold why couldn't they drop the plane down to a lower altitude? Were they above some very tall mountains making it impossible. Did they not know that they didn't have oxygen until they were about to pass out? Or was it from loss of pressure?
It just seems that if you knew you didn't have pressure or oxygen you would take the plane closer to the ground. Anyone with any piloting experience know why they didn't or couldn't do this?
Sorry if my facts are a bit off. I haven't really had a chance to get all of the news stories on the subject yet.
~Shard~ said:Alirght then, fair enough. I guess that makes him My Big Fat Greek Liar.
.... not the best time to joke about an airline crash. At least give it a week or two.
geese said:
Lacero said:
I wasn't cracking a joke about the airline crash whatsoever - where did you get that idea from?
I was making a joke about a lying fraud who was trying to cash in on a senseless tragedy for his own personal gain and 5 minutes of fame.My apologies for making fun of a heartless bad guy if that offended anyone, as I totally respect the nature of the incident. As you can plainly see, my comment had nothing whatsoever to do with the accident itself - I would never joke about such a thing.
Easy on Shard people.. its obvious he has a sense of humor and was just trying to lighten up the situation a bit.. and his comments had nothing to do with the tragedy or the people involved.
I guess we will never know the full story.. they haven't recovered the pilot's body yet, then they claim that someone was there in the cockpit making a last minute attempt to save the plane. If the plane flew for an hour or more on autopilot.. at 34,000 feet with a depressurised cabin,etc.. how the heck did that person stay alive.. and more importantly conscious.. to make a last minute attempt to prevent the plane from crashing?
Logically, I would think that as the plane spiralled down .. from 34,000 feet.. to say 15,000 feet..there was enough oxygen at that height and someone might have regained consciousness and tried to do something.. BUT .. the report said that the autopilot was 'disengaged' and then the plane started losing control. So someone has to disengage the autopilot mode at 34,000 feet.. because autopilot mode holds the plane at a steady altitude and gps heading.
It could be that the officials feared this was a terrorist attack.. or they thought the plane would eventually run out of fuel and crash in Athens.. or in a populated area..and the F-16s were given the order to shoot it down while it was flying over an unpopulated hilly terrain? Just my take on it..
I guess we will never know the full story.. they haven't recovered the pilot's body yet, then they claim that someone was there in the cockpit making a last minute attempt to save the plane. If the plane flew for an hour or more on autopilot.. at 34,000 feet with a depressurised cabin,etc.. how the heck did that person stay alive.. and more importantly conscious.. to make a last minute attempt to prevent the plane from crashing?
Logically, I would think that as the plane spiralled down .. from 34,000 feet.. to say 15,000 feet..there was enough oxygen at that height and someone might have regained consciousness and tried to do something.. BUT .. the report said that the autopilot was 'disengaged' and then the plane started losing control. So someone has to disengage the autopilot mode at 34,000 feet.. because autopilot mode holds the plane at a steady altitude and gps heading.
It could be that the officials feared this was a terrorist attack.. or they thought the plane would eventually run out of fuel and crash in Athens.. or in a populated area..and the F-16s were given the order to shoot it down while it was flying over an unpopulated hilly terrain? Just my take on it..
Music_Producer said:
I can think of few times that weren't oppotunities for a good laugh. As tragic and as sad an event is you have to be able to laugh. Although I agree that you don't go laughing in the faces of those directly effected, I'm pretty sure someone grief stricken over this loss will have other stuff to be doing than reading these forums.
Music_Producer said:
I'd guess that in that situation there'd be immediate addmission of the order and the reason behind it which if it was to save a greater tragedy would be accepted.
Music_Producer said:
Thanks Music_Producer (you too mpw) - it seems like some people like to overreact (calling it tasteless is a bit excessive, as you eluded to).
Understandable with a tragedy of this nature, but as I said, I was not making a joke about the tragedy, so I don't see what the big deal is.Music_Producer said:
Very interesting, I wasn't aware of all of those details. It will be interesting to find out what really happened - if we ever find out. Your theory of shooting the plane down is intriguing, I often wonder if this was the real situation with that last plane on 9/11. Fighters took it down and then played up the angle of "American heroes" onboard taking back the plane.
I don't believe that someone who earlier referred to the airplane as a "frozen tombstone" is really the one to decide what is or isn't tasteful.~Shard~ said:
When I read "frozen tombstone," I immediately thought of frozen pizzas. Which, I suppose, will be highly meaningful to my psychoanalyst.
mkubal said:
If you don't get enough oxygen you don't realise this untill it's too late, and you feel your fingers tingling. Then you'll pass out. A bit the same effect with alcohol, if someone puts it in your drink and you don't realize it, you only realize it when it's too late with more alcohol about to enter your system.
Pilots actually are trained to recognize this. A common test is one where they are put into a room to solve kids puzzles. When oxygen is taken out of the air the amount of time to solve the puzzle will become larger but for the subject time seems to go faster so he doesnt realise it untill he can't think straight anymore and it's too late already. It's very likely these pilots didnt realise in time they did not get any oxygen through their masks.
Lyle said:I don't believe that someone who earlier referred to the airplane as a "frozen tombstone" is really the one to decide what is or isn't tasteful.
Well said, thanks Lyle.
The people responsible for this crash are looking to be the airline itself. The effects of cost cutting on one of few private airlines of Cyprus has proven to offer cheap tickets but EXPENSIVE safety. The boeing 737 is a very popular jet used by many cost cutting airlines all over the world (JetBlue, Southwest, etc.) I hope this is the last of this kind of problem.
These guys should go to jail, whoever made the decision to keep flying this POS after so many previous problems. Sorry I come across too strong, but the plane crashed near homes belonging to family members. My prayers go out to all the families affected.
By the way, the title of the thread is wrong, it was a Cypriot Airliner that crashed in Greece, not a Greek airliner. Not that anyone including all the major media outlets cared. (that's the equivalent of a Canadian airliner crashing in the US and calling it a US airliner disaster.)
These guys should go to jail, whoever made the decision to keep flying this POS after so many previous problems.
Sorry I come across too strong, but the plane crashed near homes belonging to family members. My prayers go out to all the families affected.By the way, the title of the thread is wrong, it was a Cypriot Airliner that crashed in Greece, not a Greek airliner. Not that anyone including all the major media outlets cared.
(that's the equivalent of a Canadian airliner crashing in the US and calling it a US airliner disaster.)