Captain Al Haynes

[BlueStar 323]

From NPR, Al Haynes the pilot of UAL Flight 232 that crashed at Sioux City, IA has passed away.

When you think about great pilots and aviators his name is among the best. 

Grace and Peace, 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Jim Young
Changed title to add Captain

[John_Cillis 2,406]

4 hours ago, BlueStar said:

great pilots and aviators his name is among the best. 

Grace and Peace, 

Indeed, responsible for the "Miracle on the Prairie"

[Murmur 3,941]

The great Al Haynes. Rest in peace.

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Folks,

And this guy was put into a far more desperate situation that required far greater skill than "Sully" ever thought about being in - yet had little notoriety - but I guess that was before the 24 hour news cycle and social media...

RIP - sir...

Regards,
Scott

[Jim Young 2,356]

Watched it live on TV.  All three pilots were heroes in my mind but Captain Haynes was in command.  So many lives saved!  Rest in peace!

 

[Jude Bradley 659]

I'd no idea he was still alive. It's one of my favorite stories. (I have a small library of airline disasters and UAL232 is duplicated in a few of my books.

 

[BillW 210]

A friend of mine was on that flight. He is very thankful for this pilot's skill. He thought his life was over.

 

Bill W

[188AHC 2,138]

I believe the accolade "Hero" Is overused but in this case, Captain Haynes and his crew truly deserve the title. RIP Captain. 

[Bob Scott 7,721]

1 hour ago, scottb613 said:

And this guy was put into a far more desperate situation that required far greater skill than "Sully" ever thought about being in - yet had little notoriety - but I guess that was before the 24 hour news cycle and social media...

RIP - sir...

Notoriety really isn't the right word here..."fame" perhaps?

I'm not sure comparisons serve any purpose...suffice it to say that both Sullenberger and Haynes excelled as pilots when it counted in the face of critical, life-threatening situations...Sullenberger's emergency required less innovation, but he had to sort it out under much more intense time pressure.  I have never considered superior piloting "heroism" per se.  In an emergency, a pilot is engaging in self-preservation--he will be the first to arrive at the scene of the crash, after all.  That said, the amazing airmanship he displayed that day certainly is testament to the lifetime of work he put in to develop that great skill and expertise.  And during the tens of thousands of hours he was in command of thousands of other less eventful flights, he taught several generations of pilots that same kind of airmanship. 

It's sad to note his passing.

 

 

[scottb613 1,188]

35 minutes ago, w6kd said:

Notoriety really isn't the right word here..."fame" perhaps?

 

Hi Bob,

LOL - sorry - I had intended noteworthy... Must - have - more - coffee - before typing...

Regards,
Scott

[tttocs 301]

Hero is, as noted earlier, an often overused word and Al Haynes himself hated to be referred to that way, but Capt. Haynes was absolutely one of my personal heroes.  What he and his crew did (for it was truly the performance of the entire crew that drove the final outcome) in the face of an almost impossible situation was simply astonishing.

Scott

[John_Cillis 2,406]

11 hours ago, w6kd said:

 In an emergency, a pilot is engaging in self-preservation--he will be the first to arrive at the scene of the crash, after all....

It is true to note this, but most pilots, if not all, have had to go thru the rigors of military training, and/or being checked for proficiency very often, which takes a special breed of man and woman (and having worked for American on their crew scheduling software upgrade it applies to all crew on board).  Pilots are and crew are the captains and royalty of their ship, and the last to leave their post, which I consider indeed heroic since they are saving lives before them, whereas some "heroes" just want to attract fame or prove to their pax they can get them home "on time" without taking the due diligence of calculating the risks.

Especially in those rare instances pilot incompetence or crew mismanagement, which was proven in the Tenerife disaster or in other pilot caused disasters where an unhinged pilot has brought an aircraft down, they are not heroes, which is obvious, but may be victims of the pressure brought to bear on flight crew or flight staff--which happened in the instance where a former and fired gate agent passenger brought down a BAE 146 over California some years ago, an early and forgotten precursor of 9/11 which also proves that foreign crews are not the only ones that cause intentional harm to passengers.

Al Haynes was also in heroic in denying he was one, because he contributed the lives saved to teamwork, regretted those lives lost, and also took the flak as the FAA was in the case of TWA 800 for discovering a serious flaw in a flawed airliner.  I still believe the conspiracy theories which arose by TWA 800 were driven by Stakeholders in Boeing, as were the theories blaming the flight crew for the two recent 737 crashes abroad, claiming they would not happen on our soil.  A MD jackscrew crash proved that mechanical issues can happen, in the same aircraft I had flown eight years earlier with my two nephews from SFO to Socal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Southwest_Airlines_Flight_1771

[jbcallender 53]

The "Air Disasters" segment on this incident highlighted what a humble man he was.  Doubtless, the lives saved were the result of his skill and efforts and that of the crew.  So sorry to hear this.

Jeff Callender

 

[Paul Deluca 164]

A shame about the news. I remember the incident very well. One man who came to mind is Capt.  John  Testrake [TWA] in Lebanon with the hijacking. I checked to see if he is still alive, and could not find any information.

[Christopher Low 5,353]

What scares me the most about this story is that this crash happened thirty years ago!! I am still trying to get my head around that.....