luoto
6th Nov 2006, 09:18
seen this on the risks digest and haven't seen a thread here. Does seem rather odd !
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:17:53 -0700
From: james hughes <[email protected]>
Subject: Computer failure causing A320 PA not to work... [Video]
I was on UA 914 from SFO to IAD on October 16th 2006 occupying seat 1B. This
is an A320 with a plaque that reads it is the 500th airbus built, with the
names of the people that accepted the plane from Airbus to United.
At FL39 approaching Denver, the weirdest thing happened.
It was like a 'B' horror movie.
All of a sudden all the lights in the cabin, including things like seat belt
lights, smoking light, call buttons etc. started randomly flashing. The
audio system went bonkers also changing channels, alternating static and
music, etc... The attached video was taken with my palm cell phone. While
this is looking forward, it was even weirder in the back with all the
flashing lights.
In the video you can see the lights flashing and the flight attendant trying
to get into the cockpit. The PA system flight attendant to cabin and cockpit
to cabin did not work. I suspect communications to the cockpit was a problem
to judging on how the flight attendant was constantly "ringing the bell" to
get the flight crew to open the door...
This went on for 10 minutes. The plane did not descent, turn or otherwise,
and even though Channel 9 was not coming through clearly, the chatter on the
radio was normal.
After it was over, the pilot said later that he was trying to turn off the
evacuation alarm(!) which he said was unbelievably loud and sounding in the
cockpit (although I did not hear it). He explained that he had never heard
this in flight before (good thing) and this was something that they heard in
training.
During that 10 minutes he had been in contact with the UA maintenance
people.
The explanation was that the passenger control system had failed. He said it
was the system that controls the "creature comforts" in the back of the
airplane including the lights and toilets (and a bit more I might add! I am
a little surprised that the PA, and crew to cockpit communications can be so
easily trashed.)
The pilot claimed to have been flying the A320 for 8 years and was taken
totally off guard by this.
My kudos to the crew for taking care of this. False alarms are at least
distracting, which can contribute to larger issues.
At the end the video, unbelievably, a passenger just had to get up and go to
the bathroom really bad. I told him to sit back down, but after the end of
the video he went anyway, right in the middle of this mess.
[Video omitted here. Contact Jim to view it. PGN]
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:17:53 -0700
From: james hughes <[email protected]>
Subject: Computer failure causing A320 PA not to work... [Video]
I was on UA 914 from SFO to IAD on October 16th 2006 occupying seat 1B. This
is an A320 with a plaque that reads it is the 500th airbus built, with the
names of the people that accepted the plane from Airbus to United.
At FL39 approaching Denver, the weirdest thing happened.
It was like a 'B' horror movie.
All of a sudden all the lights in the cabin, including things like seat belt
lights, smoking light, call buttons etc. started randomly flashing. The
audio system went bonkers also changing channels, alternating static and
music, etc... The attached video was taken with my palm cell phone. While
this is looking forward, it was even weirder in the back with all the
flashing lights.
In the video you can see the lights flashing and the flight attendant trying
to get into the cockpit. The PA system flight attendant to cabin and cockpit
to cabin did not work. I suspect communications to the cockpit was a problem
to judging on how the flight attendant was constantly "ringing the bell" to
get the flight crew to open the door...
This went on for 10 minutes. The plane did not descent, turn or otherwise,
and even though Channel 9 was not coming through clearly, the chatter on the
radio was normal.
After it was over, the pilot said later that he was trying to turn off the
evacuation alarm(!) which he said was unbelievably loud and sounding in the
cockpit (although I did not hear it). He explained that he had never heard
this in flight before (good thing) and this was something that they heard in
training.
During that 10 minutes he had been in contact with the UA maintenance
people.
The explanation was that the passenger control system had failed. He said it
was the system that controls the "creature comforts" in the back of the
airplane including the lights and toilets (and a bit more I might add! I am
a little surprised that the PA, and crew to cockpit communications can be so
easily trashed.)
The pilot claimed to have been flying the A320 for 8 years and was taken
totally off guard by this.
My kudos to the crew for taking care of this. False alarms are at least
distracting, which can contribute to larger issues.
At the end the video, unbelievably, a passenger just had to get up and go to
the bathroom really bad. I told him to sit back down, but after the end of
the video he went anyway, right in the middle of this mess.
[Video omitted here. Contact Jim to view it. PGN]