2014 Gulfstream crash uncovers scary trend

a reply to: F4guy

Which is why you customize it to work with aircraft that have aircraft that have some kind of recorder, like this one. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: F4guy

Which is why you customize it to work with aircraft that have aircraft that have some kind of recorder, like this one. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

What exactly do you customize? And according to flighttracker.com, there were 96,000 flights yesterday. With CVRs limited by law to 2 hours of data, there simply aren't enough inspectors to verify checklist usage. You would have to station inspectors at each of the 15,633 airports in the US. And airports like Hartsfield would need hundreds of inspectors to cover the 2,700 flights per day there. And inspection would be worthless regarding preflight checks for the 50% of all flights that last more than two hours. Finally, a major part of the preflight check takes place outside the aircraft during the walkaround inspection, where you look for things like leaking fluids, missing pieces of metal, gust locks still in place, unrepaired bullet holes, etc. On the radial engine stuff I flew, you wanted to make sure there WAS a puddle of oil under the engine. If it wasn't there, that meant it was empty of oil.

a reply to: F4guy

So we should just stick with the status quo and let pilots keep half assing things? Something needs to be done before more flights end up like this one.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: F4guy

So we should just stick with the status quo and let pilots keep half assing things? Something needs to be done before more flights end up like this one.

I would put my money on increasing the professionalism of flight instructors. There was a huge difference in the professionalism of the flight instructors I had from the early "Let's get in and go." of my early training and the rigorously professional training for complex turbojets. With the complexity of modern complex multiengine turbojets, you're likely not able to get to the departure runway or takeoff without following the steps in the checklist. For example, if you ignore the listed % of rpm in the checklist for opening the fuel valve by advancing the thrust lever, you probably won't get a successful engine start. You can get either a "hung" start or a "hot" start. The idea that you can just "Kick the tires and light the fires" in something like a 747-400 is a screenwriter's fantasy. One example of a 747 normal ops checklist is at freechecklists.net.../Boeing+747-400+Checklist.pdf. In addition, there are multiple emergency checklists.