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  • Pilot counts votes on flying home

    A pilot asked nearly 300 British passengers to put their hands up if they wished to fly home after he had repaired the aircraft.
    The tourists had waited for seven hours at Minorca in Spain while the pilot fixed a faulty warning light on the Boeing 757.

    Thirteen refused to fly home on the MyTravel flight back to Leeds-Bradford airport on Friday, a MyTravel spokeswoman confirmed.

    The light had indicated the plane was airborne when it was still on the ground.

    After repairing it, the plane's captain stood on a chair in the terminal to explain the situation, the Times reports.

    Families were apparently told they would have to make their own way home if they refused to fly.

    Johnathon McMillan, 36, told the paper his wife Fiona, 34, and six-year-old son, Ross, started crying when a passenger said he feared the plane could crash.

    Mr McMillan said he paid £350 for his family to fly home with another airline the next day.

    He told the Times: "I've never had to make a decision like that in my life before.

    "If the truth be known, we thought it was a decision between life and death.

    "The prospect of being in a plane which doesn't know whether it's in the air or on the ground is terrifying."

    'Normal procedure'

    A MyTravel spokeswoman confirmed 13 out of nearly 300 passengers refused to board the plane, which she admitted was "understandable".

    "We had a problem with an indicator in the flight deck which meant a light was on when it should not have been on, she said.

    "It is normal procedure for the pilot to be involved in correcting a fault, along with engineers.

    "The pilot would never be allowed to fly an aircraft with a technical fault of any nature that would cause a potential danger.

    "In this case, he was confident that it was simply an indication error and, once he rectified that, he was happy to take passengers home."

    The aircraft landed safely at Leeds-Bradford shortly after

  • #2
    What light would that be?
    I have nvr heard of the "In the Air" light.
    Try to catch me flyin dirty...

    Comment


    • #3
      There is a switch on the landing gear that indicates contact with the ground when the gear compresses. On most planes the gear cannot retract while this switch is "on." Many planes also use this switch to disable features like full spoiler deflection until the gear is compressed.

      Comment


      • #4
        Awesome. Never knew that.
        Try to catch me flyin dirty...

        Comment


        • #5
          Mike, it's called the weight on wheels switch. Freight is correct. It does a lot more then what he mentioned though. From the info in that story, it could have been any number of indications or warning lights, not only the WOW.

          Learn the plane, not just how to fly it.

          Jeff

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          • #6
            I just researched it a bit more seems like it is very common in the military to prevent munitions being fired on the ground and to prevent radar from scaning on the ground. My question now is: Are there WOW switches on all RG aircraft? Haven't flown an RG so I haven't read the POH to one.
            Try to catch me flyin dirty...

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            • #7
              Not sure if ALL rg ac have it or not as I am not familiar with all ga ac. I can say that I have never seen a military plane without one. And yes, used extensively for weapons/radar/afcs systems.

              It is a very simple circuit and is a "downer" when it is broke or mis-adjusted. Requires a "drop check" after it is adjusted or replaced.
              From the story, it could have been the gear position indicator which is not the same. Gear position tells the ac that the gear is down and locked, in transition, or up and locked. Could have been a barber pole.

              Jeff

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              • #8
                Originally posted by mikecweb
                My question now is: Are there WOW switches on all RG aircraft? Haven't flown an RG so I haven't read the POH to one.
                Mike, yes, most GA RG types have such a switch. On the average GA aircraft it only serves to prevent accidental gear retraction while on the ground. However this is usually not a 100% fool proof method since the gear picks up a lot of grunge and the switches are notorious for sticking and not working as they should. When you begin to move up to retractables you should always include checking the switch for cleanliness as part of your preflight. On retractable Cessna singles you will find the switch on the nose gear near the steering linkage. Other GA types choose to mount them in different locations but most built in the last 35 or 40 years will have one.

                As Jeff said they are tied to a lot of other circuits on military aircraft. On an airliner the same switch may also activate the reverse buckets or cascades. It varies according to models. Most do not however put the radar to standby as they would on a military aircraft so the civilian pilot must remember to do so before taxiing in. It's generally an item on the "Clearing the Runway" checklist. Civilian pilots also have to remember to safety all weapons on their own.

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                • #9
                  I wouldn't call them idiots Kev. They just were prolly afraid of flying as it is and this prolly put them over the edge.
                  Try to catch me flyin dirty...

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                  • #10
                    maybe i didnt under stand this and im wrong but i think they definetly took it a littel to seriously. "it was a matter of life and death" said one caption. um so its a matter of life and death when ur sitting on a taxiway and a dinky little light is f**ked up
                    frist is my last name, not a type-o

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                    • #11
                      Could be.........if the Fire Warning light is inop, and you have an engine fire, then explosion, I'd say that could be life or death...... You?

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by fristclass
                        maybe i didnt under stand this and im wrong but i think they definetly took it a littel to seriously. "it was a matter of life and death" said one caption. um so its a matter of life and death when ur sitting on a taxiway and a dinky little light is f**ked up
                        No see the pax who were afraid had no problem with it sitting at the gate. Just when they wanted to fly with that plane is when they had a problem. ahhhh if flying isn't life or death what is? Grant it is safer than most forms of travel alot of people are very scared to fly.
                        Try to catch me flyin dirty...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          [quote="mikecweb"]
                          Originally posted by fristclass
                          maybe i didnt under stand this and im wrong but i think they definetly took it a littel to seriously. "it was a matter of life and death" said one caption. um so its a matter of life and death when ur sitting on a taxiway and a dinky little light is f**ked up
                          No see the pax who were afraid had no problem with it sitting at the gate. Just when they wanted to fly with that plane is when they had a problem. ahhhh if flying isn't life or death what is? Grant it is safer than most forms of travel alot of people are very scared to fly.[/quot true alot of people dont know that flyin is one of the most safest ways to trave
                          frist is my last name, not a type-o

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                          • #14


                            Jeff, what is the full form of these?
                            AEC(AW)MTS
                            Just wanted to know.

                            Tanuj.

                            "The Director also sets the record straight on what would happen if oxygen masks were to drop from the ceiling: The passengers freak out with abandon, instead of continuing to chat amiably, as though lunch were being served, like they do on those in-flight safety videos."

                            -- The LA Times, in a review of 'Flightplan'

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Tanuj,

                              That is just my old Navy title. The AEC means I was an Aviation Electricians Mate Chief, or to put it more logically, a Chief Aviation Electrican. The AW signifies I qualifed as an Air Warefare Specialist. The MTS stands for Master Training Specialist, a very difficult qualification to achieve. Something like one tenth of one percent of all Navy Instructors attain that qualification.

                              Thanks for asking!

                              Jeff

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