@Cougar139tweak Not cool. The 707's designers admitted that they would have had exactly the same issues with metal fatigue (and overrotation) had the Comet investigation not happened. Alas, sometimes being the first is a curse as much as an achievement.
@turricaned Good point, sorry,..... limeys get my blood boiling with that kind of talk. You're right, also in post war they were in a rush to get out new technology before it was properly tested.
@Cougar139tweak Well, it was tested, but it was tested in sections rather than as a whole - perfectly reasonable given the knowledge at the time, but not enough when pushing the envelope as they did. Also FWIW I'm a limey - the fact is that the UK at the time did have an R&D lead on the US in aviation terms. However even if the Comet had been a success we lagged severely in terms of mass production techniques.
@turricaned Also you guys were still recovering from the war so I think you guys would be allowed a bit of a "mulligan".In all actuality the Comets failure probably saved 100's of lives. It was the "America Bashing" in the video that got my blood boiling. Had 3 family members that joined up in WWII that joined because of Pearl Harbor and got sent to Europe and not the Pacific front. One came back in a bodybag so I apologise for my coarse wording.
Oh my God, they should make the decision makers that say no to stupid fire detectors walk through the little bits and pieces that has once been an aircraft loaded with passengers
That ValueJet crash was probably the most horrific ever - fire onboard, burned money, alligators, swamp, nothing but little pieces. Awful beyond words - and totally preventable - what moron would fly dangerous cargo with passengers??
they could not see the engines from the cockpit and had very few hours in the new plane they were flying i'd explain more but i don't want to sound like a smart-ass
I can't imagine it would be too much of a problem to devise a warning system for that kind of scenario. I can't believe there aren't failsafes for that kind of thing.
Hey Titanic, you're not a smart-arse just because you state facts bro :) If I remember right, part of the problem was that the engine instruments were a different layout than the pilots were used to?
@camilleri63 Yes, it was among the first aircraft with a glass cockpit- the instruments are digital and are shown on a computer screen rather than being seperate analogue dials like the dashboard of most cars.
The pilots were used to the earlier version of the plane and had not been required to retrain for the new glass cockpit version. And the glass cockpit engine vibration instruments were small and difficult to read at the best of times.
@camilleri63 I remember that Comet crashes were due to decompressions due to metal fatigue or a square window collapsed because of it's square scheme at an edge.
@camilleri63 This was in an A320, I think it was a digital meter which was showing the angle of landing. Pilots confused and set up speed instead of angle.
Leave behind America hey old boy? from 30 000ft to 0 in a matter of seconds.
Cougar139tweak 1 year ago
@Cougar139tweak Not cool. The 707's designers admitted that they would have had exactly the same issues with metal fatigue (and overrotation) had the Comet investigation not happened. Alas, sometimes being the first is a curse as much as an achievement.
turricaned 1 year ago
@turricaned Good point, sorry,..... limeys get my blood boiling with that kind of talk. You're right, also in post war they were in a rush to get out new technology before it was properly tested.
Cougar139tweak 1 year ago
@Cougar139tweak Well, it was tested, but it was tested in sections rather than as a whole - perfectly reasonable given the knowledge at the time, but not enough when pushing the envelope as they did. Also FWIW I'm a limey - the fact is that the UK at the time did have an R&D lead on the US in aviation terms. However even if the Comet had been a success we lagged severely in terms of mass production techniques.
turricaned 1 year ago
@turricaned Also you guys were still recovering from the war so I think you guys would be allowed a bit of a "mulligan".In all actuality the Comets failure probably saved 100's of lives. It was the "America Bashing" in the video that got my blood boiling. Had 3 family members that joined up in WWII that joined because of Pearl Harbor and got sent to Europe and not the Pacific front. One came back in a bodybag so I apologise for my coarse wording.
Cougar139tweak 1 year ago
This is one of the best programmes Channel Four has ever produced. It's both fascinating and frightening.
TheMightyHartley 1 year ago 2
@TheMightyHartley I hope that the rest of the episodes will be uploaded.
hrbear 1 year ago
Oh my God, they should make the decision makers that say no to stupid fire detectors walk through the little bits and pieces that has once been an aircraft loaded with passengers
MilliVanilli2007 1 year ago
If only the Comet had been made with round windows, the entire history of aviation would be different!
antimatterXXXIII 2 years ago
That ValueJet crash was probably the most horrific ever - fire onboard, burned money, alligators, swamp, nothing but little pieces. Awful beyond words - and totally preventable - what moron would fly dangerous cargo with passengers??
antimatterXXXIII 2 years ago
@antimatterXXXIII I think they call those people Management.
Cougar139tweak 1 year ago
they could not see the engines from the cockpit and had very few hours in the new plane they were flying i'd explain more but i don't want to sound like a smart-ass
titanic5577 3 years ago
I can't imagine it would be too much of a problem to devise a warning system for that kind of scenario. I can't believe there aren't failsafes for that kind of thing.
textthing 3 years ago
Hey Titanic, you're not a smart-arse just because you state facts bro :) If I remember right, part of the problem was that the engine instruments were a different layout than the pilots were used to?
camilleri63 2 years ago 2
@camilleri63 Yes, it was among the first aircraft with a glass cockpit- the instruments are digital and are shown on a computer screen rather than being seperate analogue dials like the dashboard of most cars.
The pilots were used to the earlier version of the plane and had not been required to retrain for the new glass cockpit version. And the glass cockpit engine vibration instruments were small and difficult to read at the best of times.
fightingtemeraire 2 years ago
@camilleri63 I remember that Comet crashes were due to decompressions due to metal fatigue or a square window collapsed because of it's square scheme at an edge.
hrbear 1 year ago
@camilleri63 This was in an A320, I think it was a digital meter which was showing the angle of landing. Pilots confused and set up speed instead of angle.
hrbear 1 year ago
that sucks, the wrong engine was shut down
Honeymouu 3 years ago