Birdseye

I don't think the abbreviation Affirm was and is correct . As I said, it's affirmative. These PROCEDURES are used for standardization and clarity taking into account  having word misheard. What you say at the PUB  or the table has nothing to do with it. You are lucky English is the international standard.  You emphasize the first bit. IF you all make it up to suit yourselves its not helping. . Flying to be safe, requires discipline and rules. .I think R/T procedures are worse than ever these days. and with increasing traffic they need to be better not worse..  Nev

Roger is alive and kicking, but note that these days it only means you have received the last message, not that you have understood it! Affirmative is abbreviated to 'Affirm' to avoid confusion with negative in the case of clipped transmissions.

hard drives will fail without warning if they aren't in regular use

Did they have attitude instrumentation? Did they have Air speed indication? If the answer is yes, then the pilots could have worked out that the automation was at fault. But Boeing say that the pilots had all the info to fly safely. It looks to me as if Boeing was remiss in not pointing up how the system works and the pilots had very little time to recover the plane even if they made the correct diagnosis, Having heard several cockpit voice recorders where the pilots are asking each other "what is it doing" I expect that will be what they find here.

No I was not, I was saying that a navigation aid does not detect an aircraft, but a radar can. As to whether the entire suggestion in the article was total bollocks is another issue.

'Illuminate' was not ( I don't think ) a term used in that era. . .but I could be wrong here,. . ( I often am ) 

Anyway, were the German 'Navigation Beams' not called 'Knickebein', or something like that ?,  if so, their Nav beams were only to direct pilots to a target area, they were Transmitters only and did not have the capability of  receiving 'Return' signals like Radar. . . Not only this,. . . large number of them were 'Jammed' or otherwise interfered with by the Brits when they were used over the UK Mainland. .

 

I think there is a techno mix up here . . .  But then, I didn't write the article,. . I just Borrowed it with the full permission of Mr. Blown Periphery.

" a powerful German omnidirectional radio navigation beam locked on to the Dutch aircraft."

Presumably what they actually mean is that an axis radar illuminated them.

Not wishing to be rude but people either don’t read or don’t listen, the Trident 3b had a boost engine which was shut down after take-off as well as an APU!!!

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Re-education camp?

Possibly a better article:

FAA follows Boeing’s 737 safety alert with an emergency directive

I have very fond memories of seeing the CV990 of Spantax operating out of Brum Airport . Lovely aeroplane .

Old man is right, we are both wrong! But myPoint was you can smell a drunk, and it’s not the same smell as simply smelling spilt whiskey. It’s the smell of a drunk. I don’t drink much myself, so perhaps it’s easier for me to spot?

I have known some real alcoholics, the sort that consume half a bottle of Scotch before I'd have my morning coffee, and I couldn't have picked them from appearance or smell at any normal distance.

An incorrect assumption. The breath test measures the alcohol level in expelled air from the interaction with the blood and the lungs, not from vapours introduced by drinking. Somebody that smells of the alcoholic drink (after all alcohol itself is virtually free of any smell) will have consumed it relatively recently (or have spilled it down their jacket perhaps).

If he was smelling of alcohol, then he had drunk some much more recently than the night before.

High angle 'skip' using the occasional enhancement of the 'E' layer known as 'Sporadic E' can have effect into the VHF range. It renders very strong signals, but generally does not last long at the higher frequencies. I have used it on the amateur 144mHz frequencies, achieving distances in excess of 2000 kms. Atmospheric ducting can also work very well at VHF frequencies. However the OP has already said that it was only his equipment that was receiving the signals.

Conditions are not that conducive to Sporadic E so early in the summer.

Is this only happening at or near one particular location or wider afield?

I dunno about that...The Seppo's lost 3000 people in the WTC attacks. They also lost somewhere near 42,000 people in road accidents that year - with nary a peep. Australia had more people killed on the roads last Christmas holidays than have been killed by terrorists in Australia since Federation...The security muppets at airports are there because we tolerate the Government telling everyone "Security to ensure your safety", when all it does is pass the risk elsewhere. Trains, public gatherings, etc...

Much of the inconvenience put up with by pax and aircrew could be resolved by effective profiling of pax, but that just isn't PC......

I love the line: "and surly, bearded, tattooed and ostentatiously over-armed police strut through the terminal, "

Probably pining for his aeroplane, but feeling pretty spruce

The LHS takes up a lot of real estate. Maybe dump that now?

I'd be interested to see it done in a real environment, i.e. with air flowing over the wing at real speed.

Another reason not to buy your airline ticket based on price alone.

>SNIP< A clever deer in the headlights is no good to anyone.

Having now downloaded and briefly read the actual report, the main issue appears to be with the operation of the ATC unit and ingrained practices, more than that of the individual. However, it does raise a question as to whether the competence of this controller had come into question previously and if so, why had nothing been done about it before this check?

I challenge the comment above about anyone with half a brain. It requires a certain kind of brain to do the job well, from experience more a practical one that is able to make quick and reasoned decisions, rather than an academic one, but certainly much more than half of one.

The link was actually on the MSN and Yahoo home pages.