The miracle on San Andres Island

[zack]

Around midnight last Sunday night a Boeing 737 carrying 131 passengers took off from Bogota but crash landed on San Andres Island. It broke into pieces but almost everyone survived. People are calling it "The miracle on San Andres Island."

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/08/17/miracle_in_colombia_jet_crash_1_dies_130_live/

[mudd]

yep saw that yesterday, cant imaging being in the seat where the plane split apart, looking down going " holy [snip]"  i have flown that route before, but was on old MD80 from avianca, scary when a newer Boeing 737  cracks apart. ever seen the old video footage of WW2 Boeing B17 bombers, man those planes could take abuse, unlike the recycled beer cans of new jets today.

[mudd]

yep saw that yesterday, cant imaging being in the seat where the plane split apart, looking down going " holy [snip]"  i have flown that route before, but was on old MD80 from avianca, scary when a newer Boeing 737  cracks apart. ever seen the old video footage of WW2 Boeing B17 bombers, man those planes could take abuse, unlike the recycled beer cans of new jets today.

[zack]

Yes, scary to think that we landed on that runway.

What is amazing is that the only death was probably caused by a heart attack. Makes me wonder how so many people could survive in the seats where the plane came apart. I'm sure that the heavy rain controlled the fire but it is still amazing that nobody died from traumatic injuries.

[Dave H]

Miracle or safer planes...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wol1PRzHYU

Now if they can just get the pilots to stop texting their novias until they are safely docked at the gates...

[Dave H]

"Pilot Texting" just came to mind...it seems that it and laptop use has caused problems before! http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/commercial-airline-pilot-investigated-for-texting-while-flying-a248493

[kojak]

I remember on one of my trips to San Andres we had a delay of over 4 hours at the airport on the return flight to Cali. Remember thinking to myself how old that charter plane looked and what type of  maintenance this old flying dinosaur required.

I remember telling myself that one of this days one of this charter planes was going to be in a major accident, karma.   time to retire that old fleet, you can only use so much duck tape to patch up this old gals!!

[Dave H]

I remember telling myself that one of this days one of this charter planes was going to be in a major accident, karma.  time to retire that old fleet, you can only use so much duck tape to patch up this old gals!!

Hey Kojak,

I prefer the new jets...you usually go quicker. I used to think that I might die in slow motion in one of those old Lockheeds or a Douglas! Old cargo planes from Miami don't retire...they go back into service in Latin America carrying all kinds of passengers, from people to chickens!  

I was told that Duck tape (or if you prefer Duct tape) is fine on non pressurized airplanes, but looks better if you use different colors.  
 


Silver is always fashionable on women.


Dave

[Dave H]

Nothing quite like sitting in a DC3 before take off, listening to the engines starting up, hearing an engine misfire, seeing a bright flash, and watching a huge flame shoot out of the exhaust clear past the tail fin!!!  

 I am always amazed at how much better and smoother the old planes sound on youtube than the ones I can remember back in the day!  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoYg3YMEMQY&feature=related

Sweet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUJIC6I7ic&feature=related


Super Connies are always Super Cool, especially at night!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pMHZaMFw9c&feature=related

[kojak]

Just like what they use to do with the old american school buses  from 70's and 60's H. sell them in latin america. Google and see how many bus accidents happen each and every year that kill hundreds if not thousands of people in latin america, crying shame I tell ya

Same sh*t with the charter flights in latin america save a few bucks fly old soviet 60's, 70's era aircraft, most people are oblivious to that fact. Wondering if is like that in the Philippines?

I shouldn't generalize though, not all Latin countries are like that.

[Bob_S]

Silver is always fashionable on women.

That had to be painful when it came time to peel it off.  -ouchie!

Nothing quite like sitting in a DC3 before take off, listening to the engines starting up, hearing an engine misfire, seeing a bright flash, and watching a huge flame shoot out of the exhaust clear past the tail fin!!! 

 I am always amazed at how much better and smoother the old planes sound on youtube than the ones I can remember back in the day! 

Catalina Airways still runs a DC3 daily shuttle between Long beach Airport and Catalina Island every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlIyn9T0-qY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8qnLj0HrLQ

Amazing to see it come in over Skylinks Golf Course for a landing, then take off again over north Long Beach.  How old is it?  65 years?

[JimD]

Accidents happen. Could have been anywhere in the world. This one turned out pretty well unlike most. I say kudos to the piloto.

[Dave H]

Just like what they use to do with the old american school buses  from 70's and 60's H. sell them in latin america.

Hey kojak,

Nothing like going to LA and seeing your old fire truck or meat wagon!   I wonder how they cleaned all of the blood out of the cracks and crevices (especially from the Cocaine Cowboy days)...we never could!  

Google and see how many bus accidents happen each and every year that kill hundreds if not thousands of people in latin america, crying shame I tell ya

Same sh*t with the charter flights in latin america save a few bucks fly old soviet 60's, 70's era aircraft, most people are oblivious to that fact. Wondering if is like that in the Philippines?

I shouldn't generalize though, not all Latin countries are like that.
 

The SAME! Passing on curves, up hills and mountains, and with oncoming traffic is the norm in the Philippines as well. I am on a bus going somewhere every few weeks (4-7 hours). I see very bad fatal accidents on almost every trip, usually involving trucks and jeepneys. A few weeks ago the highway was completely blocked by an overturned truck. My wife and I hiked several kilometers to the accident sight (no survivors - people also ride on top), up the mountain and around, and to a waiting bus on the other side.

I have seen a few bus crashes, most are caused by driving too fast for conditions (anything over 30 MPH!), poor maintenance, or landslides. It doesn't help that most of the new buses are made in China, so they are  not very good quality to begin with!  (probably made out of recycled bicycles and toilet paper tubes) The ride is so rough, it feels like they don't  have suspension! The buses where I live are painted bright yellow so most people see to get the HELL out of the way when they are coming! I usually sit in the middle in an attempt (probably useless) to avoid being crushed when the front or rear of the bus gets pushed in 10 feet from a high speed impact! The bus my wife's cousin was on got swept off a bridge by a tsunami. Fortunately, she was one of the survivors!

I would rather ride 16 hours on a Greyhound in the US than 1 hour on a bus in the Philippines.

Dave

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23868289-philippines-bus-ravine-crash-kills-35.do

[Dave H]

Traffic laws are more strictly enforced in other parts of the Philippines, especially big cities. Besides walking and bicycles, these are common modes of land transportation in my area:

New Aircon Bus (King Long - China)


Habal Habal


Skylab


Jeepney


Full Jeepney


Jeepney back


Tricycle


Tricycle ride to school



Logging Truck


Logging Motorcycle


Carabao (this one pulling bamboo)


No snow for Santa's sleigh and too hot for reindeers here...so even Santa rides a Carabao here.

[Dave H]

I am saddened to learn that the lovely Miss Philippines International Melody Gersbach was killed yesterday when the Inova van she was riding was hit head on by a passenger bus. "The passenger bus reportedly overtook a motorcycle and failed to return to the right lane, causing it to collide head-on with the beauty queen’s vehicle."

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199098/bb-pilipinas-titlist-2-others-killed-in-car-crash-report

Dave



Even after 20 years on a busy US fire department, I am still amazed at the amount of devastation in many Philippine MVA's! Never much need to extricate.

[thekfc]

I am saddened to learn that the lovely Miss Philippines International Melody Gersbach was killed yesterday when the Inova van she was riding was hit head on by a passenger bus. "The passenger bus reportedly overtook a motorcycle and failed to return to the right lane, causing it to collide head-on with the beauty queen’s vehicle."

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199098/bb-pilipinas-titlist-2-others-killed-in-car-crash-report

Dave

I also read that story yesterday, one of my wife' niece was talking about it & the other accident (the 41 killed in the ravine) on facebook.

These are few of the things that I dislike about driving in the Philippines - overtaking vehicles on a hilltop curve, making a left turn from the far right lane & vice versa, driving on the opposite side of the road (with oncoming traffic), etc.

[throwawaydad]

How sad.

Sometimes you have to "make do" because you have no other options.  But why do people throw caution and common sense to the wind even though they KNOW they're compromised?

You don't need a Doctorate in Solid State Physics from MIT to understand what might be dangerous.  Some of the stories I hear here sound like the root cause is 9 y/o (I have no experience) thinking.

But sometimes I'm also reminded that it's not much better here in the U.S.  We just have MUCH better infrastructure, along with superior emergency response capability.

Like walking down the street; if you feel like you might be in danger...
You probably are.

When I used to fly...we have this thing called Decision Height.  Approach the airport and reach DH...

See the airport?
YES=Continue
NO=Missed Approach

Try again, if still bad, divert to your alternate.  Simple enough.

A couple of months ago, a large city in the U.S. (Milwaukee) had about 7 inches of rain in two hours.

INCREDIBLE.

The system simply could not keep up, so many viaducts were overwhelmed quickly.

But people still "went for it".

There was a point that EVERY Fire Company, every single piece of Fire Department apparatus and personnel were on calls...performing water rescues.

Sometimes I wonder about "common sense".  It's not very common.

[thekfc]

  Sometimes I wonder about "common sense".  It's not very common.

Here is something posted by Jeff S about a month ago.

http://www.planet-love.com/forum/index.php?topic=5495.0

[michaelb]

There was a point that EVERY Fire Company, every single piece of Fire Department apparatus and personnel were on calls...performing water rescues.

That happened in Dallas, when was it? 2002? Big storm. Anyway, every unit they had was assigned and when new calls kept coming in they couldn't respond to them until some unit cleared. Only time that ever happened to Dallas FD.