Gatwick go-around
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steamchicken, I hadn’t read your post when I wrote the post below, but see you’ve pretty well said the same as I have in your post of 7 April.
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The FACT is, the ‘Sun’ journo (or ‘journo’ [sic] as many of you would have it) achieved absolutely EVERYTHING he attempted to achieve with the article in question and his editor will be congratulating him for it – and the proof of that is in the ‘n’ outraged posts it has attracted on this thread.
He writes for a tabloid publication that makes no pretense at being high literature. His job – his JOB – particularly on a ‘slow news day’, is to turn the most mundane event into a four inch headline that will sell newspapers.
If he’d turned in a factual, (read ‘boring’) account of the event that has us all so outraged, his editor would have thrown it back in his face and told him to sensationalise it – or far more likely, mark him down for the chop in the next staff cuts. And the ‘hack’ knows this.
It ain’t perfect, in fact, it’s frequently annoying as hell to see what we know to be the norm beat up into ‘seconds from death’ bullshyte, but sadly, it’s what sells newspapers, particularly (at the risk sounding smug and middle class) to those among our population who buy publications like ‘The Sun’.
The most important lesson we should all take to heart from this is to treat any story on any other topic on which we don’t have inside knowledge with healthy skepticism – but at the same time, thank God we don’t live in a society where we only get to read what the Government deems we should and should not read.
And yes, a newspaper will put whatever ‘spin’ fits its political or other agenda to any story that crosses its editor’s desk. I love the old yarn from Australia in the 70’s about the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who had (and continues to have!), shall we say… a rather high opinion of himself. The word was that, urged on by his adoring disciples, he (He?) stepped out and walked across Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin. The newspapers next morning were full of this astounding news – except for Rupert’s flagship (Rupert had decided by this stage that GW was no longer the flavour of the month). Rupert’s headline? ‘Whitlam Fails In Bid to Swim Lake Burley Griffin!’
********
The FACT is, the ‘Sun’ journo (or ‘journo’ [sic] as many of you would have it) achieved absolutely EVERYTHING he attempted to achieve with the article in question and his editor will be congratulating him for it – and the proof of that is in the ‘n’ outraged posts it has attracted on this thread.
He writes for a tabloid publication that makes no pretense at being high literature. His job – his JOB – particularly on a ‘slow news day’, is to turn the most mundane event into a four inch headline that will sell newspapers.
If he’d turned in a factual, (read ‘boring’) account of the event that has us all so outraged, his editor would have thrown it back in his face and told him to sensationalise it – or far more likely, mark him down for the chop in the next staff cuts. And the ‘hack’ knows this.
It ain’t perfect, in fact, it’s frequently annoying as hell to see what we know to be the norm beat up into ‘seconds from death’ bullshyte, but sadly, it’s what sells newspapers, particularly (at the risk sounding smug and middle class) to those among our population who buy publications like ‘The Sun’.
The most important lesson we should all take to heart from this is to treat any story on any other topic on which we don’t have inside knowledge with healthy skepticism – but at the same time, thank God we don’t live in a society where we only get to read what the Government deems we should and should not read.
And yes, a newspaper will put whatever ‘spin’ fits its political or other agenda to any story that crosses its editor’s desk. I love the old yarn from Australia in the 70’s about the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who had (and continues to have!), shall we say… a rather high opinion of himself. The word was that, urged on by his adoring disciples, he (He?) stepped out and walked across Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin. The newspapers next morning were full of this astounding news – except for Rupert’s flagship (Rupert had decided by this stage that GW was no longer the flavour of the month). Rupert’s headline? ‘Whitlam Fails In Bid to Swim Lake Burley Griffin!’
Last edited by Wiley; 9th Apr 2002 at 04:28.
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A while ago I produced a training simulator package for non-aviation journalists writing about aviation. Here it is.
NARROW ESCAPE IN JUMBO JET EMERGENCY
Penguin knocks out air safety radar
An Air New Zealand British Aerospace 737 jumbo jet narrowly escaped disaster on a Christchurch to Wellington flight this afternoon. The incident started when a Little Blue Penguin crossed the runway at Wellington, forcing air traffic control to halt all flights for five minutes.
This forced the Air New Zealand 767 to abandon its approach at the northern tip of the South Island and go round in a huge circle. “We don’t do this very often these days,” said an Airways Corporation spokesman, “Our new flow control software means that it is very rare to put aircraft into a holding pattern.”
Air New Zealand told reporters that the procedure was ‘just routine’, but Marlborough farmer, Wayne McDougall, who was mustering sheep on his property when the stricken A.340 began its circuit, disagreed. “You could see it was in trouble,” he said, “the whole time I watched one wing was lower than the other.”
Some passengers became distressed. Airline management consultant John Taverner noticed that his sauvignon blanc was at an angle in its glass for at least two minutes. “What was even more worrying,” he said to our air correspondent, “was the sun. One moment it was shining in my eyes, then it disappeared completely, and a moment after that it appeared outside the window on the other side of the plane.” Taverner also said that when he looked out of his window he could see the sea.
There was little panic according to Hilda Blowhard, another passenger. “It was the ANZAC Gallipoli spirit,” she said, “that Kiwi capacity to remain phlegmatic in the face of certain death. Most passengers just went on reading their magazines, although one or two looked a bit irritated when the captain told us that we would be delayed.”
Those awaiting loved ones and relatives at the airport were critical of airline staff. “They didn’t tell us anything,” said a woman who declined to be named for fear of airline reprisals to her Air Points account, “The plane was due at half past four, but nothing happened at all. After five minutes I went up to the Air New Zealand woman at the gate and asked her what was happening. She just grinned and pointed at the runway, and said ‘there it is now’. As I watched, the plane’s wheels hit the ground and a huge puff of smoke came out. But the airline woman just ignored it and pretended nothing had happened.”
Air New Zealand claimed that the flight crew were fully trained and adequately experienced, but some passengers reported that one of them only had three rings on his sleeve and looked very young. Despite the acknowledged presence of alcohol on the plane the crew managed to walk up the jetway in a straight line, although others had noticed earlier that the penguin had been ‘waddling’ when it crossed the runway.
Air New Zealand also denied last night that the aircraft involved was old and suffered from mechanical problems. However last month the company announced that it was replacing all its domestic TU 134 jets with Embreech 1900D’s. Industry insiders told us that Embreech, a Brazilian company, had established its place in the airliner market with the assistance of a lot of bandits.
NARROW ESCAPE IN JUMBO JET EMERGENCY
Penguin knocks out air safety radar
An Air New Zealand British Aerospace 737 jumbo jet narrowly escaped disaster on a Christchurch to Wellington flight this afternoon. The incident started when a Little Blue Penguin crossed the runway at Wellington, forcing air traffic control to halt all flights for five minutes.
This forced the Air New Zealand 767 to abandon its approach at the northern tip of the South Island and go round in a huge circle. “We don’t do this very often these days,” said an Airways Corporation spokesman, “Our new flow control software means that it is very rare to put aircraft into a holding pattern.”
Air New Zealand told reporters that the procedure was ‘just routine’, but Marlborough farmer, Wayne McDougall, who was mustering sheep on his property when the stricken A.340 began its circuit, disagreed. “You could see it was in trouble,” he said, “the whole time I watched one wing was lower than the other.”
Some passengers became distressed. Airline management consultant John Taverner noticed that his sauvignon blanc was at an angle in its glass for at least two minutes. “What was even more worrying,” he said to our air correspondent, “was the sun. One moment it was shining in my eyes, then it disappeared completely, and a moment after that it appeared outside the window on the other side of the plane.” Taverner also said that when he looked out of his window he could see the sea.
There was little panic according to Hilda Blowhard, another passenger. “It was the ANZAC Gallipoli spirit,” she said, “that Kiwi capacity to remain phlegmatic in the face of certain death. Most passengers just went on reading their magazines, although one or two looked a bit irritated when the captain told us that we would be delayed.”
Those awaiting loved ones and relatives at the airport were critical of airline staff. “They didn’t tell us anything,” said a woman who declined to be named for fear of airline reprisals to her Air Points account, “The plane was due at half past four, but nothing happened at all. After five minutes I went up to the Air New Zealand woman at the gate and asked her what was happening. She just grinned and pointed at the runway, and said ‘there it is now’. As I watched, the plane’s wheels hit the ground and a huge puff of smoke came out. But the airline woman just ignored it and pretended nothing had happened.”
Air New Zealand claimed that the flight crew were fully trained and adequately experienced, but some passengers reported that one of them only had three rings on his sleeve and looked very young. Despite the acknowledged presence of alcohol on the plane the crew managed to walk up the jetway in a straight line, although others had noticed earlier that the penguin had been ‘waddling’ when it crossed the runway.
Air New Zealand also denied last night that the aircraft involved was old and suffered from mechanical problems. However last month the company announced that it was replacing all its domestic TU 134 jets with Embreech 1900D’s. Industry insiders told us that Embreech, a Brazilian company, had established its place in the airliner market with the assistance of a lot of bandits.
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As much as p-one-sses us off to see drivel in print about all things Aviation, Wiley’s got a point. The Tabloid journo’s job is to sell papers, certainly not to provide ‘hard’, accurate news – at least since the likes of Rupert, Maxwell and way back as far as Randolph Hearst got their grubby mitts into the “news”paper business.
As for a particular newspaper always providing its own ‘slant’ on a news item, y’all oughta see the ‘unbiased, disinterested, give-both-sides-of-the-argument’ reporting on a certain crisis just East of Amman in my local paper over here in the Sandpit – (which I suppose provides a balance to CNN’s ‘unbiased, disinterested, give-both-sides-of-the-argument’ (!) reporting from the opposite perspective).
Oh, and I enjoyed your ‘training package’, Rongotai. A bit too close to the bone.
As for a particular newspaper always providing its own ‘slant’ on a news item, y’all oughta see the ‘unbiased, disinterested, give-both-sides-of-the-argument’ reporting on a certain crisis just East of Amman in my local paper over here in the Sandpit – (which I suppose provides a balance to CNN’s ‘unbiased, disinterested, give-both-sides-of-the-argument’ (!) reporting from the opposite perspective).
Oh, and I enjoyed your ‘training package’, Rongotai. A bit too close to the bone.
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A selection of comments about (and in some cases by) journalists:
"[Journalism] is full of lying, cheating, drunken, cocaine-sniffing,
unethical people. I love it." -- Piers Morgan, Editor, Daily Mirror
"[Journalists are] a lower quality of human being, who'll do anything for a story. (...) At press awards they jeer, boo, fight, get pissed, and that's just the cream." -- Max Clifford, in an interview for the Radio Times
"I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it--a low trade and a habit worse than heroin, a strange seedy world full of misfits and drunkards and failures." -- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"Facing the press is more difficult than bathing a leper." -- Mother
Teresa
"Somewhere along the line, many Americans relegated the media to a notch on the morality scale only slightly above that of child molesters." -- Gregory Kane, Baltimore Sun, 1997
"A journalist is a reporter out of a job." -- Mark Twain
"Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." -- T. S. Eliot
"In terms of ravenous egos, sensitive ambition and backstabbing, the atmosphere was actually diluted compared with the behaviour of most foreign correspondents." -- Anthony Loyd, The Times
"To a newspaperman, a human being is an item with skin wrapped around it." -- Fred Allen
"No wonder the newspaper is rotten. We need more drunkards." -- Edward G. Robinson in "Five Star Final"
"If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist." -- Norman Mailer
and my personal favourite:
"Everywhere I go, I'm asked if the universities stifle writers. My
opinion is that they don't stifle half enough of them." -- Flannery O'Connor
"[Journalism] is full of lying, cheating, drunken, cocaine-sniffing,
unethical people. I love it." -- Piers Morgan, Editor, Daily Mirror
"[Journalists are] a lower quality of human being, who'll do anything for a story. (...) At press awards they jeer, boo, fight, get pissed, and that's just the cream." -- Max Clifford, in an interview for the Radio Times
"I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it--a low trade and a habit worse than heroin, a strange seedy world full of misfits and drunkards and failures." -- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"Facing the press is more difficult than bathing a leper." -- Mother
Teresa
"Somewhere along the line, many Americans relegated the media to a notch on the morality scale only slightly above that of child molesters." -- Gregory Kane, Baltimore Sun, 1997
"A journalist is a reporter out of a job." -- Mark Twain
"Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." -- T. S. Eliot
"In terms of ravenous egos, sensitive ambition and backstabbing, the atmosphere was actually diluted compared with the behaviour of most foreign correspondents." -- Anthony Loyd, The Times
"To a newspaperman, a human being is an item with skin wrapped around it." -- Fred Allen
"No wonder the newspaper is rotten. We need more drunkards." -- Edward G. Robinson in "Five Star Final"
"If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist." -- Norman Mailer
and my personal favourite:
"Everywhere I go, I'm asked if the universities stifle writers. My
opinion is that they don't stifle half enough of them." -- Flannery O'Connor
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Well, as a pilot who regularly (monthly, maybe?) sees go-arounds from about 200' at Heathrow, I just think "Oh look, they've gone around, then." And then watch to see whether they follow the missed approach procedure and raise their landing gear. The two things that are the easiest to forget....
Yes, it does look impressive, but pilots are taught it from the time they have about 6 hours flying experience, so it's hardly a big deal. I daresay the pilots in the go-around in question probably had a hunch from about 1000' that they weren't going to be landing off the approach.
Yes, it does look impressive, but pilots are taught it from the time they have about 6 hours flying experience, so it's hardly a big deal. I daresay the pilots in the go-around in question probably had a hunch from about 1000' that they weren't going to be landing off the approach.
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KK Go Around
I can't believe all the fuss about a go-around! Heathrow Director was right (05 Apr 02) We were rather amused at KK by the newspaper report, particularly, "We drew our breath in" and "I was waiting for the explosion." 
Of course it wouldn't be worth putting in the papers if the headline was more reflective of the real world, "Nothing unusual happened at the Airport today!" As most of you know, go arounds are initiated by ATC or the pilots for safety reasons, so it can be irritating, but understandable, when the general public experience what they think is near disaster! Almost as irritating as when you tell someone what you do and you know that the next thing they will say to you is, "Oh, that's a stressful job isn't it?" or "Are you moving to that new place at Southampton soon?". I imagine, (appreciating different opinions!), that it would be quite hard to collide a couple of aircraft what with TCAS and the runway incursion systems we have these days. (Unless you were that way inclined of course!)
Take it easy!
Of course it wouldn't be worth putting in the papers if the headline was more reflective of the real world, "Nothing unusual happened at the Airport today!" As most of you know, go arounds are initiated by ATC or the pilots for safety reasons, so it can be irritating, but understandable, when the general public experience what they think is near disaster! Almost as irritating as when you tell someone what you do and you know that the next thing they will say to you is, "Oh, that's a stressful job isn't it?" or "Are you moving to that new place at Southampton soon?". I imagine, (appreciating different opinions!), that it would be quite hard to collide a couple of aircraft what with TCAS and the runway incursion systems we have these days. (Unless you were that way inclined of course!)
Take it easy!
