View Full Version : Aussie Journalists - "sensationally" the best on the planet
Captn Rex Havack
21st Jan 2023, 09:21
The South Coast News
By Garry Duggsley
A Cessna Piper Warrior made a dramatic emergency turnback to Merimbula airport today, sparking fears of an aviation disaster. The Cessna Piper Warrior took off from Merimbula just after mid-day, and shortly after the pilot declared a Panmaydayemergency call to Merimbula control tower. The Tower air traffic control gave the Cessna Piper Warrior permission to dump fuel out over the ocean prior to landing back at Merimbula.
Aviation EXPERT Geoffrey Thomas said a Panmaydayemergency call is normally only reserved for Qantas aircraft which are about to crash. The Cessna piper Warrior was able to use this call by saying to Merimbula control tower that he was “Qantas Cessna Piper Warrior Alpha Jango Puppydog.”
After circling over the water for 20 minutes dumping fuel, the Cessna Piper Warrior returned to Merimbula and landed successfully at 1235. Airport fire engines and other guys with hi vis vests in white utes with flashing orange lights followed the aircraft to the parking area and were pissed off when it didn’t catch fire and explode.
The plane had a pilot, a flight attendant and one passenger on board. The passenger, Mrs Bloggs said after landing that she was sure she was going to die after the aircraft suddenly and dramatically plunged from 1,000 feet down to 900 feet in the space of just 180 seconds. She said she sent text messages to family, friends and work colleagues saying “this is it, we’re going in…………” She then prayed for the remainder of the traumatising event.
Mr Thomas, aviation EXPERT, speaking from the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge in Perth, said the pilot, Grant (apparently Mrs Bloggs' husband) must be lauded and knighted for bringing the aircraft safely back to land on only one engine. He said the aircraft seems to have suffered a pressurisation failure as it passed through 600 feet climbing out of Merimbula which would have placed enormous stress on the pilot. He praised the Captain for deploying the aircraft’s oxygen masks, which no doubt saved their lives, and commencing a rapid descent to 900 feet. Mr Thomas also said a single engine landing always poses significant challenges to pilots, and the Captain would have been under immense pressure during the approach to land.
Mr Thomas, a personal close friend of the Captain, said he has over 67,000 flying hours, including 34,000 hours flying a single engine Decathlon aircraft, and this had equipped him well to handle this single engine emergency. When asked why, so early on, and prior to any formal investigation of this incident, he was so quick to come forth and praise the Captain, Mr Thomas said he suspected that at some stage in his life, the Captain had probably flown on a Qantas aircraft, and that was “good enough” for him.
Had a complaint from a poster that the names cited for pilot and passenger may have not terribly obliquely identified real folks. As to whether those folks were on the aircraft, I have absolutely no idea. However, I have muddied the connection a bit - hopefully not having varied the OP's main post thrust ? - JT
Ascend Charlie
21st Jan 2023, 09:27
Fortunately, when the aircraft plummeted from 900 feet to 800 feet, it missed the school only 9 miles away, and avoided hitting the nearest high-rise building, in the town 20 miles east. GT called it "a miracle."
Lead Balloon
21st Jan 2023, 10:03
In order to assist the post-emergency investigation, GT re-enacted the dramatic sequence of events in the Cessna Piper Warrior simulator. “This confirms to me that a pressurisation failure passing about 600’ into rotation is the most likely cause of this near-disaster. I anticipate that the Transport Safety Bureau will be looking very closely at cabin pressurisation valve maintenance records. It would not surprise me if CASA issued a directive requiring an urgent inspection of all of these valves on the Cessna Piper Warrior.”
Seabreeze
22nd Jan 2023, 05:16
This is all a very plausible story, and an astute GT could easily pick it up and run with it as his own.
Bull_Shark
22nd Jan 2023, 06:17
I don’t know what makes me cringe more.
Slightly erroneous articles about aviation incidents or pilots trying to be funny writing ‘satirical’ piss takes after every bad newspaper report.
WingNut60
22nd Jan 2023, 06:51
What I do not understand is why aviation people think that aviation reporting is worse than any other category.
Fremantle party boat hits marker sending 30 birthday ... (https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/fremantle-party-boat-hits-marker-sending-30-birthday-passengers-overboard-c-9519234)21 hours ago — The impact of the smash saw dozens of passengers flung into the water — who were told be prepared to swim to safety — in what was a dramatic end ...
vs
Party charter boat slams into buoy in Fremantle Harbour (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11662257/Party-charter-boat-slams-buoy-Fremantle-Harbour.html)
5 hours ago — Dozens of partygoers were thrown off their feet after their charter boat crashed about 2km from shore in Fremantle Harbour on Saturday as ...
In both instances the italics are straight from the newspaper.
I'm not sure what they hit or where they got the 2km from, but there is nowhere in Fremantle harbour that is much more than 100m from shore
Captn Rex Havack
22nd Jan 2023, 19:52
Bull Shark - sticking my fingers in a running blender makes me cringe................... so I don't do it.
Traffic_Is_Er_Was
23rd Jan 2023, 03:18
trying to be funny
I think this one was successful.
Alpha Whiskey Bravo
23rd Jan 2023, 03:57
Why didn't the pilot just autorotate it? That's what I would have done if I was in his shoes! :ok:
Mr Approach
23rd Jan 2023, 04:03
What made me chuckle was the journalists deciding that "PAN" was an acronym meaning "Probable Assistance Needed"
PS: It is apparently French for breakdown "panne"
vne165
23rd Jan 2023, 04:26
It's missing the key journalistic phrase de jour, "reeling"...e.g. onlookers were left reeling after watching the horrific scene unfold.
AerialPerspective
23rd Jan 2023, 07:49
It's missing the key journalistic phrase de jour, "reeling"...e.g. onlookers were left reeling after watching the horrific scene unfold.
Unless it's referring to something that might happen or is about to happen, then it's "onlookers are bracing......."
I put it in the same loose category as, for example, when QEII died and along with the wall-to-wall 24hr coverage repeating the same stuff ad infinitum, ad nauseam, we had repeated statements that "The world is in mourning" or "Australia is in mourning". No, it's not. Individuals might mourn and many likely didn't give a rats.
When I hear "The Palace has said" or "The Whitehouse has said" it always takes me back to my childhood and HR Puffin-stuff where the buildings and even the trees talked.
Add to standard phrases the media love; 'slammed', 'cohort', 'the xxxxxxx space' (strangely, when talking about NASA, they never say 'the space space'), 'It comes after.......' and my favourite where aviation is concerned "It's ageing fleet of......." Any aeroplane more than a few years old is ageing. Fact is, the moment an aircraft rolls off the assembly line, it is ageing.
Pinky the pilot
23rd Jan 2023, 08:13
journalists deciding that "PAN" was an acronym meaning "Probable Assistance Needed"
Must admit to rolling my eyes at that one but afterwards reluctantly conceding that your average Journo, who would never let the facts get in the way of a good story, would most likely reach that decision.:rolleyes:
And only because they simply do not know any better, other than to make it up as they go along.:mad:
Lead Balloon
23rd Jan 2023, 08:18
And, after all, it’s too hard and time consuming to google: “What does PAN mean in aviation?”, and read and comprehend the results.
AerialPerspective
23rd Jan 2023, 10:43
Must admit to rolling my eyes at that one but afterwards reluctantly conceding that your average Journo, who would never let the facts get in the way of a good story, would most likely reach that decision.:rolleyes:
And only because they simply do not know any better, other than to make it up as they go along.:mad:
I would put money on the fact they just simply made it up. I see evidence in all reporting of journalists not knowing what something is or stands for so they just make it up. It's shameless especially when it takes 2 seconds to look something up. It's shameless because they bank on the fact that most people won't know any better.
It's just another example of how the media is vacuous nowadays. Everyone who executes a landing on one engine is a 'hero'. Imagine someone picking up a check in error that could have caused a delay or double-checking a ULD before loading to make sure it doesn't get loaded in the wrong place, is that person a 'hero' as well?
Not a surprise though, I know in some companies now people get motivational awards for just doing their damn job. "Congrats Bloggs, you turned up on time 7 days out of 10, best effort ever, here's an award. You're a hero".
Don't get me started on the other side, how everything is 'epic', 'awesome' and 'totally, 100%'.
WingNut60
23rd Jan 2023, 11:58
It's missing the key journalistic phrase de jour, "reeling"...e.g. onlookers were left reeling after watching the horrific scene unfold.
Aaw com'on ...... No 1 is "horror".
Horror RTA, horror landing, horror deviation, horror birthday party. Nothing is so benign that it can escape the "horror" tag.
Australia2
23rd Jan 2023, 12:29
WAToday ref Virgin :
The airline’s order of 30 Max-8s are due to commence flying this year and have a capacity of about 2000 seats, giving the airline the ability to explore less-travelled routes with high yields without the pressure to fill as many seats.
I guess they only have to fill 500 ?!
Well I took the bait and G00gled "pan pan pan" as used in aviation.
What does Pan-Pan Pan mean in aviation?Pan-Pan calls (pronounced “pahn-pahn”) are used for urgent situations that are not life-threatening such as your pleasure craft is broken down, out of gas, or lost in fog.
your pleasure craft??????????????
FakePilot
23rd Jan 2023, 16:50
Why can't you just use speed brakes until the aircraft stops? Such an unnecessary crash into the cemetery. I heard there were hundreds of bodies at the crash site.
PiperCameron
24th Jan 2023, 01:10
Well I took the bait and G00gled "pan pan pan" as used in aviation.
your pleasure craft??????????????
Yeah.. You don't fly for pleasure? And you didn't know you were allowed to make a Pan-Pan call when said pleasure craft's BBQ runs out of gas?!??
(That's okay.. I didn't either. Americans are funny.)
Lead Balloon
24th Jan 2023, 01:17
Most of these procedures, like the rules of the air, have their origins in the maritime world. The term 'pleasure craft' is just another description for a 'boat'!
Shark Patrol
24th Jan 2023, 04:57
Most of these procedures, like the rules of the air, have their origins in the maritime world. The term 'pleasure craft' is just another description for a 'boat'!
Could be applicable to aircraft (depending on what you get up to in the crew rest). 👍👍😀👌😏
BuzzBox
24th Jan 2023, 06:35
In today's West Australian:
Jandakot plane crash: Pilot walks away after aircraft hits ground on landing (https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/jandakot-plane-crash-pilot-escapes-death-after-aircraft-collides-with-ground-on-landing-c-9544611)
The article was first published under the headline "Pilot escapes death after aircraft collides with ground on landing". :rolleyes:
WingNut60
25th Jan 2023, 02:38
In today's West Australian:
Jandakot plane crash: Pilot walks away after aircraft hits ground on landing (https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/jandakot-plane-crash-pilot-escapes-death-after-aircraft-collides-with-ground-on-landing-c-9544611)
The article was first published under the headline "Pilot escapes death after aircraft collides with ground on landing". :rolleyes:
Every now and then I buy a copy of the West............just to remind myself why I don't subscribe.
I must say that the thread starter has written a Classic piece to describe how our so called " journalists " especially our Top of the Mob "GT" write about things Aviation.
Well written indeed and very funny.:ok::D
megan
26th Jan 2023, 01:16
"Pilot escapes death after aircraft collides with ground on landing"Must be Roger Bacon writing about my landings.
Cilba
26th Jan 2023, 02:33
A bit subtle for some, megan!
Captain Dart
26th Jan 2023, 03:53
’A little late on the round-out, Hoskins?’
AerialPerspective
26th Jan 2023, 17:38
Must admit to rolling my eyes at that one but afterwards reluctantly conceding that your average Journo, who would never let the facts get in the way of a good story, would most likely reach that decision.:rolleyes:
And only because they simply do not know any better, other than to make it up as they go along.:mad:
Even Australian Aviation wrote that as the abbreviation. Maybe GT has slipped in undetected as the Editor of AA now?
Fris B. Fairing
26th Jan 2023, 20:23
Even Australian Aviation wrote that as the abbreviation. Maybe GT has slipped in undetected as the Editor of AA now?
It has to be said that Australian Aviation ain't what it used to be.
The aircraft in the Qantas MAYDAY incident was described by one TV reporter as having made "an incredibly safe landing."
AerialPerspective
26th Jan 2023, 22:02
It has to be said that Australian Aviation ain't what it used to be.
The aircraft in the Qantas MAYDAY incident was described by one TV reporter as having made "an incredibly safe landing."
True, I've been around the industry for a long time and have a very good memory for detail and a lot of AA's articles now have errors that any aviation enthusiast or long-termer would spot straight away. Like the rest of the media, they can't even show a pic of the correct aircraft half the time in their articles. I mean, if they're an AVIATION publication that specialises in Australian industry, it says something if they're writing an article about a 737 and can't even be bothered enough to show a pic of the aeroplane, instead any stock photo of an A380 or worse, a 767, will suffice.
Having said that, I emailed the Qantas Webmaster a few years back because they had a 737 labeled as a 767 on their 'images' section. It took 3-4 emails to explain to the drone at the other end what the difference was between a 737 and a 767.
Shark Patrol
26th Jan 2023, 22:20
True, I've been around the industry for a long time and have a very good memory for detail and a lot of AA's articles now have errors that any aviation enthusiast or long-termer would spot straight away. Like the rest of the media, they can't even show a pic of the correct aircraft half the time in their articles. I mean, if they're an AVIATION publication that specialises in Australian industry, it says something if they're writing an article about a 737 and can't even be bothered enough to show a pic of the aeroplane, instead any stock photo of an A380 or worse, a 767, will suffice.
Having said that, I emailed the Qantas Webmaster a few years back because they had a 737 labeled as a 767 on their 'images' section. It took 3-4 emails to explain to the drone at the other end what the difference was between a 737 and a 767.
Several years ago (pre-COVID) an internal document came out in Qantas that clarified to some of their non-operational staff that an A380 was that big aeroplane that had an upper deck going all the way back (so they didn’t confuse it with the still-operational 747s). So even people who actively work in aviation aren’t that cluey sometimes. Maybe those individuals were just there for the macrame classes and yoga sessions in The Street.
Eclan
27th Jan 2023, 01:12
Having said that, I emailed the Qantas Webmaster a few years back because they had a 737 labeled as a 767 on their 'images' section. It took 3-4 emails to explain to the drone at the other end what the difference was between a 737 and a 767.
It couldn't have been that difficult, surely. Maybe he was secretly delighting in causing outrage amongst the aviation nerds with his bumbling fool act?
It has to be said that Australian Aviation ain't what it used to be.
Was it ever?