Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Misc. Forums > Spectators Balcony (Spotters Corner)
Reload this Page >

Coffee spilled on centre console

Wikiposts
Search
Spectators Balcony (Spotters Corner) If you're not a professional pilot but want to discuss issues about the job, this is the best place to loiter. You won't be moved on by 'security' and there'll be plenty of experts to answer any questions.

Coffee spilled on centre console

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 11:19
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: 50'11N 004' 16W
Posts: 282
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Coffee spilled on centre console

I have killed numerous laptops with the slightest drop of a miss-handled brew or beer. Has spillage on a centre console ever caused an incident / emergency or seriously messed up a flight?
Anyone here ever experienced a spillage and things had then "stopped working"?

Cheers.
ex_matelot is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 11:43
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Berkshire, UK
Age: 79
Posts: 8,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Place I worked had press button telephone keyboards set into the control desks. On several occasions, cups of coffee were tipped onto them causing considerable concern!!
HEATHROW DIRECTOR is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 11:58
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Essex
Posts: 677
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
When I was stationed in RAF Germany in the late 80's, we were put on standby to receive a Monarch aircraft after one of the pilots had dropped a cup of coffee in his "gentlemen's area". A lot more serious.....
Double Hydco is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 13:08
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: FL510
Posts: 910
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm aware of a case of case of coffee spilled onto the thrust levers of a citation. Lost thrust control. Had to switch off an engine to descend.
safelife is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 16:48
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Kingdom of Scotland
Age: 83
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
See " Fate is the Hunter" !
popstar is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 17:47
  #6 (permalink)  
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 18,579
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A DanAir 734 had an orange juice bath and mucho bits did stop working. (Luckily we had pilots on board and not systems operators)
BOAC is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 21:08
  #7 (permalink)  
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Derbyshire, England.
Posts: 4,095
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Cabin crew were briefed that drinks had to be passed round the back of the pilot, arriving by the left ear of captain and right ear of FO, never over the centre console.
parabellum is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2014, 21:29
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: glendale
Posts: 819
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
popstar I'm sure means to watch the FILM , "Fate is the Hunter". You will enjoy it and your question will be answered.

I know someone who spilled coffee near the gearshift of a mercedes (car) and he then couldn't shift above first gear for awhile.
glendalegoon is offline  
Old 24th Oct 2014, 05:44
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: London, Monte Carlo and Bermuda (I wish!)
Age: 80
Posts: 119
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Drenched!

We were sat on this almost full Ryanair at Dinard about to close doors when this older lady came on board in a fluster with a large bag and took a spare seat right up at the front next door to a young chap busy on his laptop. Her bag was stowed overhead but some way behind her. On take-off she was first for the drinks trolly and got a coffee in the usual large paper cup. She stood up holding it tightly in one hand but realised that her bag and money were behind her with the trolley between. Uncertain what to do she turned quickly and dropped, almost threw, the hot coffee all over the young man and his computer. Chaos ensued. Luckily the young man was not burnt but he was saturated as was his lap-top. We did feel sorry him sat in his wet clothes and his computer ruined, and often wondered how it all ended.
Mr Oleo Strut is offline  
Old 24th Oct 2014, 07:23
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: I wouldn't know.
Posts: 4,499
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Cabin crew were briefed that drinks had to be passed round the back of the pilot, arriving by the left ear of captain and right ear of FO, never over the centre console.
We got the same SOP after some incidents. However that is simply not practical on the 737, so we still get them over the centre pedestal. And yes, sometimes coffee gets spilled, but surprisingly just a few drops usually do not cause any harm, a full cup on the other hand does. On the A320 there is enough space on the flightdeck to pass the cups around the outside of the seat, on the A330 it never was an issue to begin with.

On a hot summers day the flightcrew left the windows open, advised the engineers who took over the aircraft of that fact and went home. The engineers did their usual 24 hour check, while a thunderstorm moved into the area and drove home without ever entering the aircraft when it began to rain. Was quite a ruckus to sort out who was responsible that everything electrical inside the flightdeck had to be replaced.
Denti is offline  
Old 24th Oct 2014, 08:28
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: East Anglia
Posts: 759
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
The tone of a Hadley Box was markedly improved by a soaking in a "Standard NATO"
FantomZorbin is offline  
Old 25th Oct 2014, 08:04
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: USA
Age: 66
Posts: 2,183
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Drinks were banned anywhere near the console in my last ATC post. Numerous people spilled hot and cold drinks over things like the telephone and frequency pads. Usually it was the high sugar content which gummed the works up.
eastern wiseguy is offline  
Old 25th Oct 2014, 08:23
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: A place in the sun
Age: 82
Posts: 1,269
Received 48 Likes on 19 Posts
After the failure of the autopilot on a BOAC VC10, the engineering report put the cause down to a 'sugary nutriment' being found in the autopilot control panel on the centre pedestal. The cause was obvious!
Bergerie1 is offline  
Old 25th Oct 2014, 08:56
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: East Anglia
Posts: 759
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
E W


Very wise sir ... very wise! But I am going back 50yrs or so when elastictrickery was still regarded as a pretty cute idea where I worked!!
FantomZorbin is offline  
Old 25th Oct 2014, 17:25
  #15 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: USA
Age: 66
Posts: 2,183
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh Mr Z ...believe me when I say that some of the equipment I was working with was WAAAAY over 50 years old 😄. There were a lot of cigarette burns which would have been there for years....cigarettes and coffee used to be the principal food groups for controllers back in the day. My last task was to help introduce VERTICAL voice switching kit.....limited drinks allowed NEAR the kit . Actually it might have been easier to replace the spillee's 😜.....or use Tommee Tippee cups .
eastern wiseguy is offline  
Old 25th Oct 2014, 18:41
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Usa
Posts: 133
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Many years back I was on j/s of a transatlantic 707

Extra crew were visiting cockpit and during the crowded melee a soft drink was spilled on the floor. Some minutes later the craft at FL390 suddenly developed a serious 'dutch roll' and the surprised crew did not get us s&l till 14000 ft

Was a long quiet hand flown all nighter after that....
gooneydog is offline  
Old 26th Oct 2014, 04:45
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 361
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Of course it will cause an emergency; you've got no ruddy coffee!
Otto Throttle is offline  
Old 26th Oct 2014, 20:12
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Teesside
Posts: 508
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm in the IT/Telecomms industry these days, and food and drink are prohibited from many equipment rooms. I'm amazed that cockpit procedures have not tightened up.

On the other hand, in the days of jump-seating, I was given a full meal service in the cockpit on a number of occasions, which was a little tight on a DC9/MD80. Me sipping champagne on the way back from Copenhagen must have been torment for the crew.

And on the general "whoops" theme, I used to work for Mercury, who supplied radio pagers to the CAA, and the folks at LATCC were famous for dropping them down the toilet.
Midland 331 is offline  
Old 27th Oct 2014, 06:33
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: england
Posts: 274
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Windows Left Open.

Just curious Denti, which a/c type was that?
yotty is offline  
Old 27th Oct 2014, 14:00
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: I wouldn't know.
Posts: 4,499
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A 737 classic, and it was both windows left open...
Denti is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.