"Pilot urges prayers as 'technical issue' forces turnaround"
Quote:
While it's not yet clear what caused the issue with the jet's Rolls-Royce engines, any imbalance inside a rapidly-spinning jet engine can cause violent vibrations that are felt throughout the aircraft. Twin-engine aircraft like the A330 are designed to fly and land safely with only one engine operating.
"It was really shaky, very scary," Stevens said.
Stevens and friend Mitch Jamieson were on their way to Myanmar for a holiday.
Stevens said the pilot asked passengers to pray twice. And passengers were told to hold "the brace position" for about two minutes during the landing, he said, which was smooth.
I don't know if telling the passengers to pray is a good idea. Even if things look bleak, do you really want a plane full of passengers panicking? I was on a Vietnam Airlines flight once that had to turn around and go back (and then circle to burn off fuel) and it was scary enough knowing we "had to go back." The pilot was very calm and matter-of-fact, which I appreciated. Not sure what the problem ended up being in our case. We did all have to get off the plane and wait several hours for a new plane, so it wasn't a quick fix.
Any pilot in a situation like that should take a page from British Airways Captain Eric Moody upon their 747-200 losing all four engines due to volcanic ash near Jakarta, here is the cabin announcement he made:
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."
Any pilot in a situation like that should take a page from British Airways Captain Eric Moody upon their 747-200 losing all four engines due to volcanic ash near Jakarta, here is the cabin announcement he made:
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."
The Mayday for this incident was on the other day, what a crazy flight. They were incredibly lucky the engines were able to purge the ash that collected in the turbines.
Where in the north? I noticed that flights coming in from the east were vectoring south and flying over Sunnyside westbound on approach, before turning back east and landing on runway 11 for a time. So in a sense they were lower than usual and in a place one usually does not see them. However I find once storms roll in all bets are off with published approach paths and ATC just does what they can to get the job done.
Where in the north? I noticed that flights coming in from the east were vectoring south and flying over Sunnyside westbound on approach, before turning back east and landing on runway 11 for a time. So in a sense they were lower than usual and in a place one usually does not see them. However I find once storms roll in all bets are off with published approach paths and ATC just does what they can to get the job done.
They were flying east towards the airport. Looked like they were about to descend to land as they all had their landing gears down. This was going over, I guess over Hamptons and Hidden Valley. I think this was at about 6:00-6:30 in the afternoon. Could really hear them coming in. I had mostly tuned out the sound as I am underneath that flight path, but it's funny how noticeable it is when they change a bit.
Yup, that was because they were on final approach to runway 11, not used much but in the conditions yesterday they were running arrivals on it for a while.
Are there two of those planes out at YYC today? I saw one take off at around 9 this morning and it looks like another is sitting over by the Million Air hanger.
I am not sure if this is the proper thread to ask this question or not, but do any of you have experience with Edelweiss Air flying Calgary to Zurich??
I am looking at doing a trip to Europe in August and my travel agent gave me a few options including Air Canada Rouge (awful for economy) or Edelweiss.
I will be honest in I have never heard of this airline and I am wondering what anybody's experience is with them?
