Another story of paths crossing....

When I was a kid growing up in New York City I was very lucky to have really great people in my neighborhood who gave me all kinds of fun opportunities.  One man who lived down the block from me had a four-seat airplane and took me for a ride when I was 13.  He let me fly the plane and I was hooked on flying for life!  I went on to become an airline pilot for almost 40 years.

But because this is a story about crossing paths, there is more to the story.  Another neighbor was a cameraman for Fox Movietone News.  Whenever you would go to the movies back then there was a 10-to-15-minute film played before the main movie about current news around the world.  Early on in my youth he got me interested in photography. He had a dark room, and he showed me all the things in how to develop and print pictures and slides.  My mother set aside a place in our basement so I could have my own dark room.  In high school we had a wonderful film club and darkroom with 5X7 and 8X10 sheet film cameras. 

My neighbor hired me to assist him by being a “camera caddy” to carry film and cameras and load the film using a black changing bag.  I loved it!  He took me to all kinds of events like baseball games, football games and various news interviews where I would help with the equipment.

I know this is a bit long, but I need to explain what happened one night.  It was November of 1962.  I had obtained my private pilots license and was working on my instrument and commercial rating.  I had just turned 17.  That night the phone rang, and my neighbor called and asked if I could help him with the cameras and go with him to JFK, which was then called Idlewild, where a plane had just crashed in the fog.  Eastern Air Lines Flight 512, a Douglas DC-7B, N815D, crashed during an attempted go-around following an instrument approach to runway 4R at New York International Airport, at 21:45, on November 30, 1962.  Of the 51 persons aboard, 21 passengers, 3 crew members and an additional crew member occupying the jump seat did not survive. Flight 512, regularly scheduled from Charlotte, North Carolina, non-stop to New York International Airport, entered a fog condition near the threshold of runway 4R. A go-around was initiated; however, the aircraft struck the ground with a slightly nose-high attitude and was virtually destroyed by impact and subsequent fire.  I saw the burned bodies, something I will never forget.

Ten years later, I’m in the right seat as co-pilot of a TWA Boeing 727 working a two-leg flight from New York to Saint Louis via Indianapolis.  The captain flew the first leg, and I was flying the second leg from Indy to St. Louis.  There were thunderstorms around Indy and as we were pushing back from the gate, I could see boomers all around.  I used the planes radar to get a better idea of the storms.  As we taxied toward the departing runway I discussed with the captain my idea about delaying the takeoff until the storm that was approaching the airport passes by.  He agreed with me, and we pulled over into a hardstand and shut down the engines and just used the APU until the storm went by.  I made a PA announcement telling the passengers we would delay the takeoff for a few minutes until the storm went by.  As I was making the announcement a USAir DC-9 passed us by and took off into the storm.  A few minutes later the flight attendant knocked on the cockpit door and said a passenger wanted to talk to us.  I invited him in.  Here is where the paths crossed.  Ten years before, he was one of the surviving passengers in the Eastern Airlines crash at JFK that I had also been to.  He thanked us profusely for not taking off during the thunderstorm out of safety precaution.

I have another path crossing tale that I will post here at a later time.

Be safe!
Have fun simming.

Lou

A pilot story from a few years ago...

Back in the late 80’s I was flying as copilot on a TWA 767-200.  We had arrived in MXP - Milan Malpensa Airport for a one-day layover.  I always wondered about the name Malpensa which means “bad thoughts” in Italian.  Anyway, our inbound 767 arrived on time but after landing could not get the left engine out of reverse.  The mechanics opened the cowling and fussed for a while trying to see what was wrong.  They decided they could not fix the problem and manually cranked the reverser back to closed and “pinned” it in forward thrust.  In the cockpit they wired the left reverser lever so it could not be used.  The captain, who was my check pilot years ago, agreed that it would be okay for operation with the reverser pinned closed.  It was my leg.

The flight from MXP to JFK was around 9 + hours and we had plenty of fuel since the JFK weather was very nice.  The first 9 hours of the flight were normal and since we had a third pilot we are in good shape and ready to land and go home.  (BTW we called the relief pilot the “eater” since all they did was eat! 😊)
As we departed Boston center and changed over to New York center we were told “best forward speed” since we were leading the pack into JFK.  We had just started our descent over Long Island Sound at near barber pole when we saw this message just below the two thrust levers and on the top engine screen…REV ISLN
We both looked at each other trying to remember what it meant.  I reached over to my right and pulled out the flight handbook.  There was just one paragraph containing two sentences.  REV ISLN (reverse isolation) was telling us that the engine was trying to move into reverse, but the system was designed to keep that from happening.  After a short discussion, I placed the FHB back where it belonged.  All of a sudden, there was a really loud bang and the plane shook.  I grabbed the two thrust leavers and slowly moved them to idle.  Both engines looked normal.  I yelled to the “eater” to go back and see what happened.  In a few seconds he returned and said, “it’s gone!”   Hun, what’s gone?  The cowling is gone!  What???  I turned to the captain and said, “you want the controls?”  He smiled and said you fly!  I said I wanted to go back and have a look, so the “eater” took my seat.  Holy Crap!  The entire cowling in front of the reverser sleeve was ripped off. Both sides were indeed gone.  The saving grace was that the two pieces went under the wing not over or the tail could have been ripped off.

It seems that the pin that was installed on the reverser sleeve was not done properly.  During the descent into JFK the reverser sleeve was trying to move aft, and the REV ISLN was trying to do its job.  The main cowling was “apparently” not closed correctly either and when the reverser moved just a little bit the high-speed airflow did the damage.  I made a PA announcement, and I bet EVERYONE listened!  Just about that time New York center asked us why we were slowing down.  We explained our problem and that we would need to make a low pass so mechanics could get a look at the plane before we moved the flaps or gear.  JFK was using the 13’s so we did a low pass down 22R and the mechanics said there was damage to the gear doors and the flap track canoes.  As we slowly climbed back to pattern altitude the captain and I discussed what we should do.  We decided all we needed was the landing gear, so we put the gear down.  No problem, three greens!   I’d like to try the flaps, and he agreed so I slowly extended the flaps.  All worked just fine!  I made one of my BEST landings ever!  The mechanics were standing by on the taxiway and we shut the left engine down.  I asked the mechanic if he wanted to tow us into the gate and his answer was: “You flew the thing in; you can taxi it to the gate by yourself.”  😊

So, just another day of flying and the old quote: Flying is hours and hours of pure boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror!

Just one of many stories.  I'll add more in time.
Thanks for reading and be safe!