Ernst Kessler

It's pretty obvious who the captain is in this video. Everybody I know has a story of him trying to turn them in for some reason or another. I saw this video over a year ago, and it didn't make sense, now it does. What's his deal?

Jet Blue pilot tattle-tales on a Jet Blue pilot for a tailstrike.wmv - YouTube

As for a tailstrike, built in protection should virtually prohibit a tailstrike, right?

lolwut

Though everyone hates tattle-tales, I don't really see the problem here. I'd want to know if I had a tail-strike. And its not like this is something that you'd want to cover up or wouldn't be discovered.

USMCFLYR

AMEN!
And this incident wasn't even covered up - just fixed improperly and over time - fatigue failure

China Airlines Flight 611 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

scambo1

I'm a little fuzzy on what the problem is here. You think it is a bad idea to tell the pilots of an aircraft (via atc) that there is a possible breach of the structural integrity of the pressurized vehicle they are carrying passengers in?

I don't.

Softpayman

Won't FOQUA or something similar capture and report a tail strike anyway? I'd rather know now than across the country during a post flight.

hindsight2020

snitches end up in ditches!

/stirpot

Karma

What about the eagle that was coming in on short final with the gear up and Delta was facing the hold short line and didn't say anything or tell them to go around. Is it because they didn't want to tattle-tale? So what is okay to tell on and what isn't? We should make a list.

TonyC

Two things I don't understand. First, for someone who seems to be close to the situation ("It's pretty obvious who the captain is ..."), you seem to be somewhat ignorant about the situation ("As for a tailstrike, built in protection should virtually prohibit a tailstrike, right?") Wrong. So, if you don't know that, how it could be so obvious to you who the Captain is?

Eh, that's the first thing I don't understand, but I don't really give a flip about it.

The second thing I don't understand is different in that I do care about what caused it and how it can be prevented in the future. The pilot who reported the tailstrike called it a tailstrike. When the Tower Controller asked him to clarify whether the strike was a bird or the pavement, the reporting pilot was clear -- the airplane hit the pavement. So, when the pilot of the incident aircraft talked to the departure controller as to whether he might have hit a bird, or even multiple birds, the departure controller made a call and then told the incident pilot that he had indeed had a bird strike -- not a tailstrike. The incident pilot described a sudden veering force, suggesting perhaps he had encountered multiple birds on the landing gear. Still, the correct story wasn't relayed to him.


I guess I'd take a couple of lessons to heart. First, don't count on multiple people to accurately relay a simple message. Just like in the whispering game where a phrase is whispered into a party-goer's ear, and the same phrase is passed around the room whisper to whisper, and we get a big chuckle about how dramatically the phrase at the end has changed, when accurate communication is critical, cut out the middlemen.

And this reinforces the lesson I was taught a long time ago to talk to the tower about what happened on the runway. You may have a lot going on in the cockpit and not want to talk right away (maybe you're looking at a gear problem, or maybe you're silencing a horn and looking at a flashing red light in the engine fire handle), but make sure you talk to tower before you switch frequencies. The tower controller or somebody else on the frequency might have some valuable information to give you. Your right engine is on fire. I saw sparks flying from your tailcone just before you lifted off. A big chunk of rubber fell off your left landing gear. On the other hand, you may have important information to relay to the tower. We had a catastrophic engine failure just before liftoff. Thanks, we'll close the runway and inspect for FOD before we let anybody else use the runway.


Tattle-tale pilot? Are you kidding me? If I had somebody passing me valuable information like that, he'd get nothing less from me than my deepest gratitude.






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N9373M

Agree - I'd want to know.

Arthur: Your arms off!
Black Night: No it isn't.

SurferLucas

Seems like a legit call to me...

Tattle taleing is when another pilot runs off to an ACP to report that you're not in "the complete" uniform...instead of coming to you, like a man/woman...or going to Pro-Standards first.