Southwurst Airlines over the top video, almost

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Just thought the forum would enjoy this, they do know how to have a good time.

(Mods, please move this thread to the appropriate forum if you feel it does not belong here)

 

[Chock 17,769]

That's awesome. It's actually a really great way to get people to actually watch the safety briefing too.

[W2DR 1,859]

You gotta love it. Who the heck listens to these "instructions". If the "stuff" hits the fan nobody is going to remember any of it anyway. I just flew home on Virgin America (LAX-MCO and, yes, Hawaii was great as always) and the safety video was a work of art. A real attention grabber. But, I still don't think anybody listens to it..........Doug

[Chock 17,769]

1 hour ago, W2DR said:

I still don't think anybody listens to it...

I absolutely always do listen to safety briefings, and I always read the little safety card too, I always check where the life jacket is, and I always count how many seat backs I'd have to hand-over-hand past to make it to the nearest emergency exit. I do the same sort of checks when in hotels; i.e. where and how far to the emergency exits, could you make it out of the window, does it open, what could you throw through it to break it if it doesn't open, are there things in the room you could tie together to make a makeshift escape rope etc, etc. People can laugh all they like about me doing that (and have done so when they've seen me making those checks), but they can laugh away, because one day that sort of thing could save your life.

You are on the aeroplane for an hour at least and so you might as well take some of that time to do so, similarly, if a hotel was on fire and the lights were out and it was smokey, you'd be glad you'd checked all the potential escape routes when you checked in too.

In an emergency, when you cannot breathe properly because of panic and possibly smoke, after about 15 seconds of breathing difficulty, you start to really panic, adrenaline starts to flow, which makes you quite strong, so you are able to do things such as force jammed doors open better and that sort of stuff, but your thought processes suffer, and so any 'drilled in stuff' is critical at that point as it becomes an automatic process to aid in survival. For example, lots of people have been killed in ditchings by having inflated their life jacket whilst still in the aeroplane in the foolish belief that it might provide some padding for the impact. Cabin crew absolutely do tell you not to do that, but when people have, it's caused them to float up to the ceiling when the aircraft was filling up with water and they couldn't then make it down to the underwater exit door and make it through because of that lifejacket. And these are people who have survived the tough part - the crash ditching - only to be killed by being stupid in not listening to the briefing.

I know that kind of drilling of information for an emergency or undesirable problem has served to save me once or twice when flying an aeroplane; Drilled in actions kick in and ensure you do the right thing automatically when the pucker factor goes up. Here's an example, I was flying a glider once, and having just took off on a winch launch, the cable broke at a really very awkward moment (cable breaks happen, so it's not entirely unexpected, but capable breaks at exactly the worst moment are really unlucky), which was when I was pitched up steep, passing through about 300 feet. This was more or less exactly at the point where there wasn't enough airfield left in front of me to land ahead and be sure of stopping before plowing into the stone wall and tree-covered cliff top at the edge of what is a hilltop airfield with no suitably large fields ahead either, but I was a bit low for turning back to the field if I had just leveled off and went into a turn too. In that circumstance, drilled in stuff kicks in quickly: I did two tugs on the release lever to make sure the cable was away clean, whilst using what remaining speed I had from the launch (it was about 75 knots when the cable broke) to coast up as high as I could until about 5-10 knots off where it would stall (about 30-35 knots in that type), then I got the stick forward smoothly and put the thing into a dive, gaining as much speed as I could until about 200-150 feet off the deck, by which point I had just passing 85 knots on the clock, so I pulled the nose up and did a really steeply-banked chandelle with smooth rudder control to turn me 180 degrees back facing the field, all without risking an asymmetric lift induced spin, owning to the steep bank angle and high airspeed (i.e. whilst flying at about three times the level stall speed and with both wings at similar AoA because of the steep bank angle, I knew I could do that safely). This put me right for a downwind landing back on the field. The wingtip was not far above the tops of some trees on the airfield perimeter as I completed that turn back (that maneuver is sometimes referred to as 'the impossible turn' since it has killed many pilots when they've panicked and got it wrong by doing things such as trying to edge the aircraft round with the rudder when at low speed, or trying that turn without enough height and speed instead of landing ahead regardless of the terrain, which is asking for a spin to develop). But if you know your aeroplane and what it can do safely in the right envelope and with enough speed and height and you keep calm and fly right, which I did, it will do what it is capable of doing. All of that was because I'd drilled myself to make the correct decision quickly if the sh*t ever hit the fan, and trust in that ability to do well-drilled procedures right, by not letting panic take over absolutely does work, just as it would in an emergency on an airliner evacuation.

Trust me, you should take the time to really absorb those safety briefings, because one day it might save your life. That's why the video of that Flight Attendant doing that stuff is so great, people might actually remember some of what he demonstrated when they are panicked, and anyone who isn't at least a bit panicked in an emergency is not human lol, but drills can overcome that tendency to do stupid stuff when you are panicked.

[skelsey 765]

47 minutes ago, W2DR said:

Who the heck listens to these "instructions". If the "stuff" hits the fan nobody is going to remember any of it anyway.

Well, like Alan, I certainly do. I also keep my passport, wallet and keys in my shirt or trouser pocket, wear sensible shoes which stay on my feet, and make a point of physically locating the life vest under the seat.

Because airline flying is generally so safe, many of the general public are incredibly desensitised to the inherent hazards associated with flying at 600mph in a pressurised tube however and would rather listen to their iPod. I'd like to see how the types that take off their shoes and socks immediately they sit down fare in an emergency evacuation on to an icy ramp.

Personally I would rather take a minute or two to take in, or at least attempt to take in, some information that may save my life. It's very unlikely I will ever have to use it, but in the event that I did I'd rather not be wishing I'd paid more attention in that moment.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I tend to agree, pressurization is very hard to the ears.  That's why some can summit Mt. Everest without Oxygen.  They decompress on the way up, or whatever you want to call it.  Oxygen under pressure, especially in the dryer aircraft, is very hard on the body.  The body begins to bloat and fights that pressure.  I have always come home that way from commercial trips.  I believe we are flying way too fast, people used to sleep on aircraft.  I can only doze on aircraft, on one flight in 1987 I had water pressure in my ears, it was a long haul from Dallas into Frankfurt.  I learned to adapt, until my very last trip into and from Europe.  British Airways advertised premium Economy, supposedly a step above regular economy.  You are still crammed in, you pay twice as much for a lie.  You only get a little extra elbow room.

Airlines want cattle and sheep, they don't want the passengers to move out of their seats, they simply have developed this superior attitude--we're pilots, we're flight attendants.  But I don't fault them, they are also suffering from sleep deprivation, thank goodness for autopilots.  And the ATC handoffs are incessant, they literally cram the pilot's ears.  When I flew LSA, I did not want to continue, I did not like the ATC.  They have this attitude that they are better than the pilots in the sky.

I hold the pilots acceptable for airline safety, not the ATC.  After the strike in the 80's, Reagan fired some real professionals.  What has been in their place is much worse.  I respect pilot's eyes, I was taught how to get my word not allowed out of instrument scans and to watch the skies.  That's why I like the 337 especially, because of the lines of sight, same goes for the Cessna Citations.  Most airlines have a lot of blind spots, but they are beginning to learn about this.  I believe eventually except for ground ATC, we will have to accept the GPS and onboard traffic systems over ATC.  Pilots do not have to be browbeaten all the time.  Look at Sully, he finally said in his own way, shut up, I am taking it into the Hudson.  I still won't fly in command ever again, not even a trike, because diabetes can cause seizures.  I realize some flaws in Part 103, drone flying, and LSA, it takes pilots way past their reflex zones, I read about many LSA crashes, especially the Zenair XL where the wings would fold under stress.  Zenair sold them as legal LSA's, I feel the families of those lost are owed a lot of money by whoever certified them as airworthy.  I find annuals very suspect, it is a big scam, and pilots are driven out of flying.  Only the very rich can fly, and I feel eventually we will all lose our ability to fly, it is an inflated industry.  It's a serious warning, there is something wrong with ATC and ACARS.

John

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I am a row counter as well, check my area and surroundings so I am aware in case something happens, for the past few years I have been traveling with my partner and daughter and my daughter is almost 3 now, so you need to be sure to manage her as well in case something happens. Of course if it came down to it my life goes before hers so my actions would be to save her at all costs. Therefore I do run through all these scenarios in my head when seating onto an airplane, and vigilant throughout the flight, mostly for my daughters safety. I am not an overbearing parent but these are those instincts that come natural to you.

Also as we live in the South Pacific therefore we all wear seatbelts through the entire flight unless you have to get up, the South Pacific Jet Stream can strike at anytime. My daughter knows she has to wear it and she is fine with that. 

[W2DR 1,859]

2 hours ago, skelsey said:

Well, like Alan, I certainly do. I also keep my passport, wallet and keys in my shirt or trouser pocket, wear sensible shoes which stay on my feet, and make a point of physically locating the life vest under the seat.

Because airline flying is generally so safe, many of the general public are incredibly desensitised to the inherent hazards associated with flying at 600mph in a pressurised tube however and would rather listen to their iPod. I'd like to see how the types that take off their shoes and socks immediately they sit down fare in an emergency evacuation on to an icy ramp.

Personally I would rather take a minute or two to take in, or at least attempt to take in, some information that may save my life. It's very unlikely I will ever have to use it, but in the event that I did I'd rather not be wishing I'd paid more attention in that moment.

OK. I give. I guess I've just grown hardened to all the airlines "safety" stuff. I'm now 75 years old, got my PPL in1957, have flown a little over 7 million miles (thank you for the perks Delta) and fall into the Grumpy Old Man category. Sigh.....

Doug

[Alan_A 1,650]

A few years ago I had a conversation with a work colleague.  We were all frequent flyers, and this guy was particularly proud of his system for redeye flights, which involved taking an Ambien as soon as he got to his seat so he could maximize the amount of time he'd spend sleeping. 

I asked him, "Do you think that's a good idea?" 

He said, "What do you mean?" 

I said, "Well, if something's going to go wrong on your flight, one of the places that's most likely to happen is during the takeoff run, which means you're really going to want to get out of the airplane in a hurry.  Are you sure you want to try to do that while you're drugged into oblivion?"

He said, "Wow, I never thought of that."

This was somebody who'd spent a couple of years doing PR for, among other things, avionics systems - including one of the early forms of TCAS.  But he'd never put it together.

My own system is, nothing mind- or mood-altering below 10,000 feet.  When the personal electronics go on, the Zzzquill goes in.  Not a minute sooner.

[Freo 83]

I presume that the heading should have read SouthWest Airlines. The last time I looked, a Wurst was a sausage. 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

16 hours ago, Freo said:

I presume that the heading should have read SouthWest Airlines. The last time I looked, a Wurst was a sausage. 

It was meant to be a joke because a lot of people call SWA "Southworst".  As it so happens when I worked for Doubletree Hotels, I was hired by a relation of Southwest's HR Manager, one of the Kelleher's.  They knew I loved flying so much, so they gave me a cubicle that overlooked Sky Harbor airport.  I was Doubletree's nationwide PC Specialist and Lotus Notes Admin.  I flew to their Cincy accounting offices to set up our first email network.  Later they merged with Hilton, i left, not wanting to move to Memphis.  So did my supervisor, we met at Sky Harbor when I was flying out on business and she told me she hated her decision to move to Memphis.  We just prefer the Dry Heat in Arizona.  When I fly alone I prefer Southwest on domestic flights, they have more legroom and more affable flight attendants.  They even let me peer into the cockpit.  They are not so much a cattle service, they are a transportation service.  They have an impeccable safety record because of the commonality of their aircraft.  It's tough on the larger airlines because they have to maintain so many different aircraft.  Still, the aviation safety record continues to improve.  I like that Southwest has stayed true to its business model of one class travel.