Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

"Mr. Luddite" Wrote in message:


What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.




Down here it's the trains that are doing the killing.
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Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.



===

Those engines have a very good safety record however so maybe there's
something to it. Commercial aviation in general is one of the safest
forms of travel although I dislike the hassles involved. Private
aviation, not so much.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-safest-aircraft-54428



---
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Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On 4/17/2018 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.



===

Those engines have a very good safety record however so maybe there's
something to it. Commercial aviation in general is one of the safest
forms of travel although I dislike the hassles involved. Private
aviation, not so much.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-safest-aircraft-54428


No question the safety numbers are impressive. It's even more
impressive when modern aircraft can lose half it's engines and
still fly and land successfully. Hard to do in a Cessna 172.

The original 737 had Pratt engines that looked like this:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Boeing_737-200_%28Brasilia_Air_Base%29_JT8D.jpg

They were eventually replaced with CFM International engines
(a joint venture of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France)
and have the odd looking, non-circular intake:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/CFM-56_Lauda_737.jpg

A new engine is being introduced for the 737, again built
by CFM International, that looks like this:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Boeing_737-9_MAX_CFM_LEAP-1B_PAS.jpg

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:56:16 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



No question the safety numbers are impressive. It's even more
impressive when modern aircraft can lose half it's engines and
still fly and land successfully. Hard to do in a Cessna 172.

Yeah, those little Buddy Holly planes are many times more dangerous
than flying commercial but you do get to dodge the TSA lines.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On 4/17/2018 8:14 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:56:16 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



No question the safety numbers are impressive. It's even more
impressive when modern aircraft can lose half it's engines and
still fly and land successfully. Hard to do in a Cessna 172.

Yeah, those little Buddy Holly planes are many times more dangerous
than flying commercial but you do get to dodge the TSA lines.



I don't think the Cessna itself is more dangerous. They damn near
fly themselves under normal circumstances.

Engine failure immediately on takeoff could be a bitch but
as long as you keep your head, "fly the plane" and can find a spot
to put it down, an engine failure in flight may be stressful but isn't
overly dangerous.

I think most accidents are due to a pilot screw up.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:04:54 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.


If you watched 60 Minutes Sunday it makes you wonder how much
maintenance anything gets.
It is amazing what people will skimp on to save a few bucks.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

Wrote in message:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:04:54 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.


If you watched 60 Minutes Sunday it makes you wonder how much
maintenance anything gets.
It is amazing what people will skimp on to save a few bucks.



Now you've done it. You've shamed me into changing the oil and
filters in my generator. I'm going to slide it out of its
compartment right now to serve as a reminder. Hey, that's a
start!
--
x


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:05:00 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.

Having worked in many airports on the ramp level (which required going through a training class and being badged at each airport), I can tell you that they take FOD (Foreign Object Damage) very seriously.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

Its Me wrote:
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:05:00 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.

Having worked in many airports on the ramp level (which required going
through a training class and being badged at each airport), I can tell
you that they take FOD (Foreign Object Damage) very seriously.


I did not work often on the flight line, but we all got FOD training. Plus
not to write with a lead pencil on the airplane. made a battery.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

On Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 12:18:21 PM UTC-4, Bill wrote:
Its Me wrote:
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:05:00 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.

Having worked in many airports on the ramp level (which required going
through a training class and being badged at each airport), I can tell
you that they take FOD (Foreign Object Damage) very seriously.


I did not work often on the flight line, but we all got FOD training. Plus
not to write with a lead pencil on the airplane. made a battery.

I didn't actually work on the flight line, but in many cases I had to pass through restricted areas including the flight line, so the badge and training were needed.

Why I don't fly commercial anymore
 

Its Me wrote:
On Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 12:18:21 PM UTC-4, Bill wrote:
Its Me wrote:
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:05:00 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 4/17/2018 7:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:04:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



What's up with all these jet engines exploding or disintegrating in flight?

Seems like there's a report of a failure about every month.

Reminds me of a visit I made to the Pratt & Whitney jet engine plant
in West Palm Beach years ago. I was given a tour of the facility
and in one room a group of people were sitting at tables inspecting
turbine blades used in the engines. The Pratt engineer
I was with explained that they were all blind and inspected the turbine
blades for imperfections by feel. He said their sense of "feel" was
greatly enhanced due to their loss of sight.


You have to wonder if they are ingesting small birds or other foreign
objects that ding up a blade without breaking it and then it goes
later. They said they just inspected that plane recently for bad
turbine blades.



Could be. The foreign objects could be small rocks or debris on the
runways. Airports are so busy now-a-days I wonder about the general
maintenance runways get.

Having worked in many airports on the ramp level (which required going
through a training class and being badged at each airport), I can tell
you that they take FOD (Foreign Object Damage) very seriously.


I did not work often on the flight line, but we all got FOD training. Plus
not to write with a lead pencil on the airplane. made a battery.

I didn't actually work on the flight line, but in many cases I had to
pass through restricted areas including the flight line, so the badge and
training were needed.


I fixed airborne radars most of my time in the USAF. Rarely had to go out
to the flight line to help remove a radar or radio.