irrational fear of flying

[gregl]

So this is interest. While awaiting my handlebar from Italy (via CDG and Memphis), I looked up whether there's a direct flight between MEM and MKE

It turns out that not only is there a direct service by FedEx to MKE, there's also a 1-stop flight that has a layover in Madison before making its way to MKE, and it's on a wide-body A300 freighter, too.

Kinda interesting that the regional airport gets regular service by a modern-ish wide-body, albeit a freighter. 20 minutes between the cities, with the A300 never higher than 12,000 ft.

FedEx does a lot of those short hops. They are typically "sweep" flights that pick up the last packages from multiple airports before flying the final leg to a hub (typically MEM, but also EWR and IND for the east and midwest). You can see on FlightAware that the flight you referenced continued on to MEM after an hour on the ground at MKE. We see similar patterns here at SYR.

[echappist]

I can’t imagine these short hops on wide-bodies to be very efficient. It’s like me starting my 2.0t engine for a 10 minute drive, and the engine hasn’t even properly warmed up before shutting down.

Do these at least have decent load factors?

Similarly, a 2-hr (if that long) hop btwn MKE and Louisville (in the case of UPS, though on a cool old school trijet) or btwn MKE and MEM on a 767F seems a tad wasteful unless they can fill up that cargo space.

[vertical_doug]

I can’t imagine these short hops on wide-bodies to be very efficient. It’s like me starting my 2.0t engine for a 10 minute drive, and the engine hasn’t even properly warmed up before shutting down.

Do these at least have decent load factors?

Similarly, a 2-hr (if that long) hop btwn MKE and Louisville (in the case of UPS, though on a cool old school trijet) or btwn MKE and MEM on a 767F seems a tad wasteful unless they can fill up that cargo space.

Well, considering that managing a logistic network as efficiently as possible is basically the business of UPS/FDX and others, they are probably efficient given the variables they are optimizing for.


On a side note, American Airlines and Google are looking at contrails.

https://blog.google/technology/ai/ai...limate-change/

How AI is helping airlines mitigate the climate impact of contrails
Aug 08, 2023

2 min read

We worked with the airline industry to use AI and satellite imagery to reduce the warming effects of contrails

(No idea if it acutally works, but still pretty cool)

[bcm119]

When I visit my brother in the Hudson Valley, I see Kalita cargo 747s landing at Newburgh (SWF) from LAX. If you don't know they fly big aircraft into that small airport, it can be a little startling to see such large planes flying low, nowhere near a hub airport. Newburgh serves as a military air base and it has a very long runway, but the commercial airline presence there is very small.

[rwsaunders]

Ended a few days on a client site with a go-around on the approach into PIT…always a nice way to end a smooth flight on a clear Summer evening.

[echappist]

Ended a few days on a client site with a go-around on the approach into PIT…always a nice way to end a smooth flight on a clear Summer evening.

What caused the go-around? High cross-wind speeds? I'm more used to hearing about this in really windy locales (AMS level of windy).

I think you fly a lot, was this a first time situation for you?

Glad to hear that everything did turn out well.

[Saab2000]

A go-around is not an emergency or emergency maneuver. It’s a standard thing that can happen for a lot of reasons. A big focus in the industry for the past decade or so is insistence upon what is called “Stable Approach Criteria”. This is at final approach speed, configuration and glide path at, latest, 1000’ above ground level. If these criteria are not met, a go-around is required. I assume this is the same at all airlines.

It could be for an airplane that was late getting off the runway, or just too close spacing or a last minute runway inspection due to suspected debris on the runway. Could be almost anything.

Go-arounds are practiced in the simulator sometimes because they are actually pretty uncommon in daily operations for us, but they can happen. Our instructors like to refer to them as a “Slow Around” because it’s not an emergency and while not done all that often, we should treat it like a regular maneuver and do it slowly, like we do a takeoff maneuver.

Slow and methodical.

[Scott G.]

Exclusive pic of Saab practicing a go around, BITD.


BodyEnglishTitle2.jpg

[rwsaunders]

It could be for an airplane that was late getting off the runway, or just too close spacing or a last minute runway inspection due to suspected debris on the runway. Could be almost anything.

Once we leveled off, the pilot came on the speaker and told us that another plane was too close for comfort on the runway and that ATC called them off.

[rwsaunders]

PSS...that's my 6th go-around in 4 years and I'm not even a pilot! The most unique involved a flight in 2019 from Heathrow to Venice, where we first aborted the landing to be diverted to Bologna, then we aborted the landing in Bologna and eventually landed in Milan. We were told that the water on the runways was a result of aqua alta; seasonal flooding. When we landed in Milan at 1am, British Airways couldn't provide an answer as to how we were actually going to get to Venice, "just come back tomorrow at 8:30am and we hopefully will have an answer". We decided to book a train from Milan to Venice.

[rwsaunders]

Recent NYT article about “close calls”, air traffic controller shortages and the lack of collision an avoidance systems…always a great topic to read about before a flight.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...smid=url-share

[echappist]

Recent NYT article about “close calls”, air traffic controller shortages and the lack of collision an avoidance systems…always a great topic to read about before a flight.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...smid=url-share

Thanks for sharing the article

Sobering stats re: understaffing. Perhaps given that the primary beneficiaries of a competent ATC system are private companies engaged in aviation, the fees levied on such companies ought to be raised.

[j44ke]

Lesson #1 - Don't get on a plane if you have angered Putin at some point in your life.

Lesson #2 - See lesson #1 .

[caleb]

Lesson #1 - Don't get on a plane if you have angered Putin at some point in your life.

Lesson #2 - See lesson #1 .

Per the WSJ,

Social-media channels close to Wagner said Russian air defenses shot down the jet, an Embraer Legacy 600. Video footage posted by onlookers showed what looked like the trail of a missile and the plane falling from the sky with one wing missing.

Of course there's video.

[j44ke]

Per the WSJ,

Of course there's video.

Tragic accident photographed from all angles.

[Clyde]

Strange how the cockpit looked intact when the plane falling appeared to be a lawn dart.

[echappist]

Lesson #1 - Don't get on a plane if you have angered Putin at some point in your life.

Lesson #2 - See lesson #1 .

I mean, Moscow Centre has oodles of creative ways to "get this done". Polonium, umbrella tip injection system, defenestration, icepicks, etc. A safe room might seem like a good idea, but just wait until Moscow Centre gets a hold of the utility lines and do mischief.

This guy's mistake was going after the king but didn't carry out the coup de grace. Shoulda skedaddled far out afterwards but didn't.

[rwsaunders]

I like the theory that he and his co-founder staged their own deaths. Either outcome makes Putin look good, as he doesn’t have to address the man anymore. They’ll find him 10 years from now running an espresso counter in Malta.

[BBB]

I mean, Moscow Centre has oodles of creative ways to "get this done". Polonium, umbrella tip injection system, defenestration, icepicks, etc. A safe room might seem like a good idea, but just wait until Moscow Centre gets a hold of the utility lines and do mischief.

This guy's mistake was going after the king but didn't carry out the coup de grace. Shoulda skedaddled far out afterwards but didn't.

Any post in a bike forum with defenestration in it gets a like from me!

[j44ke]

I like the theory that he and his co-founder staged their own deaths. Either outcome makes Putin look good, as he doesn’t have to address the man anymore. They’ll find him 10 years from now running an espresso counter in Malta.

Would be ironic if a Russian anti-drone battery took the plane out thinking it was Ukraine in-coming and there was no Putin involvement.