They were flying over the San Francisco bay.
I think we all know where that laser beam came from.

 

Kudos to the CPSC. I had a no-notice family medical issue pop up. Called to see what my options were and they completely rearranged my x-days for the rest of the month so I get the time off I need and don't lose any pay. I couldn't have asked for a better response.

 

I bet every 777 operator, up coming 777 passenger, flight crew member, Boeing, GE or RR don't mind knowing the airplane was working just fine.

Sure that directs attention towards the flight deck but so what? On the flip side of the coin should the NTSB have a gag rule imposed such that the engines had not responded properly the NTSB would vow to say nothing pending the completion of a 12+ investigation? What if another 777 crashed in a week in a similar manner?

 

Put it this way, we now know a slide deployed inside the cabin. I bet every airline out there with a conscious might take a second look at their safety equipment soon. It's not a bad thing to know.

 

Where did I say IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION should be withheld? You're just being silly. I'd expect an emergency grounding like the 787 if they knew this kind of information. I said the truth should be released, but with contextual information. The BA plane had RR engines and this has P&W. Either way both engine manufacturers had time to look and fix the issues. I'd expect an uproar from the NTSB and FAA if there was an icing rollback issue, but there wasn't. The FDR data is not a substitute for an engine teardown and that's why the engines are flying home to Connecticut to be inspected. The probability is that the FDR data is correct and the engines worked as they were intended but the NTSB said they appeared to do so. The engine manufacturer won't be cleared until the engine is inspected and there may still be an issue. The press isn't doing due diligence and that hurts us as professional aviators. All for truth just not happy about the press focusing in on the soundbites provided directly by the NTSB.

 

Was it the one attached to this door?

 

Wonder if the aircraft was FOQA equipped?

 

Interesting fact that ICAO has mandated FOQA but the FAA has not.

The 777 does have Quick Access Recorder or QAR which may provide more information than the FDR if it wasnt damaged in the crash. The QAR was missing data in the BA crash the QAR but had data the FDR did not like the position of the Fuel Metering Valves. This is why I'm not a big fan of partial information. The QAR has data that the CVR and FDR do not.

 

Understood and agreed. You seem to have a greater than average understanding of the process and information.
Can you advise:

• Are the pilots IFALPA, or affiliated some way to our association?
• Is ALPA a party to this investigation?
• What dog do we have in this?

It would seem, unless ALPA has an affirmative duty, that they would avoid creating hostilities with the Board. Further, as ALPA battles the influx of cheap foreign carriers which may not be operating on the same standard as US Carriers, why wouldn't we let them sit in the proverbial hole they dug?

If you review the Board's work on the Gulfstream G650 accident, the Board went beyond the actions of the crew to the complete lack of a safety culture at Gulfstream. The Board was unusually critical of program management at the senior levels of the organization ... the Board, on the basis of objective data went beyond the "what" of the accident to the "why."

This Board, more so than in the past, is a friend of pilots. If the pilots were some how deficient, we should want to understand why, identify the patterns and seek corrective actions applied also.

Many industry insiders have opined the culture at these carriers undermines safety. Cheap, unqualified, pilots are promoted. Those who seek a higher standard are fired. Seems like ALPA would be all for shining a flashlight in this corner.

 

Interesting fact: the ICAO cannot mandate anything. They can only set a SARP recommending contracting states make regulatory actions to mandate some action or equipment.

GF