Q: What happens in the cockpit in a crash? In the cabin?

Are you waiting for orders from the Captain? What do pilots do? Flight Attendants? Tower Controllers?

A: a shared philosophy & carefully constructed machine awakes, by command or independently.

A case study 🧵

1/24

https://twitter.com/flightmodeblog/status/1742121079458398505

A foundation of modern aviation safety philosophy is described by the Greek poet Archilochus:

“We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training”

Let’s start in the cockpit w/ a loud bang, lights & alarms as the two aircraft collide.

2/24

Since we’re likely to see a lot of air strike footage in the next few days, here’s a couple things to know:

You may see multiple hits on the same building, first with a small impact, later with a big impact.

If so, the IDF is “Roof Knocking”

1/

jpost.com/arab-israeli-c… “Roof Knocking” is used when civilians may occupy the same building as military combatants/infrastructure.

A low or no-yield munition is dropped first, as a warning to evacuate the building.

2/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roof_knoc…

In 2018, I deployed to the Middle East for (probably) the last time.

My kids were 6 & 4.

To keep connected, I asked if I could take their favorite stuffed animals. They agreed.

I sent pictures of our adventures nearly everyday & we discussed in our calls:

1/9 I decided they’d get into frequent trouble.

Kids loved that the stuffies were mischievous, so I’d invent stories.

Like when Tigre took control without authorization & tried to head home…he missed my 6 year old, but eventually understood he had a duty & he’d be home soon.

2/9

We’re likely to get some stories about hot weather grounding flights soon…it’s a regular occurrence around this time of year.

So…why can’t the planes take off?

Let’s take a quick look…🧵

1/9

cnbc.com/2017/06/20/the… It’s all about air density, which we call “Density Altitude”.

As it gets hotter, the atmosphere expands, meaning air molecules are farther apart from each other.

“Less air for the engines & wings” is a decent way of thinking about it.

2/9

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_a…

#Chemtrails:

A global geo-engineering conspiracy, or conspiracy theory?

There are a LOT of otherwise reasonable people (up to 40%!) who believe it's the former.

In a way, that's understandable.

But...here's why it's the latter:
(Caution: replies section may get wild)

1/ @Gnomosapien @american4sense @Aerys1221 Sorry - 8 seconds

This story – of a pilot incapacitation – is making the rounds on covid twitter (from both sides).

As you may expect, it can be used to spin whatever you want to spin.

I’ve got a few hours to kill on Field Standby, so let’s investigate…

1/25

https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1638658450925273090

The claims seem to center around three main ideas:

1) The situation was so dire a non-Southwest pilot was brought in

2) This either didn’t happen before covid, or is happening much more often after, and

3) The FAA knows something, but is hiding it.

Let’s begin…

2/25

RUNWAYS

Why are the lights different colors? What is that white cone thingy? How thick is the concrete? What are the stripes for?

Ready to learn something? Let’s answer, in three parts! First up:

PART 1: Design & Construction

1/27 The basics:

Whenever possible, runways are built heading into the historically prevailing wind; headwind increases lift at lower ground speeds, reducing takeoff & landing distance.

We can accept tailwind, but no more than ≈10 knots.

Terrain decides, though.

2/27

Watching Twitter Public Health ‘experts’ melt down over the last two days reminds me of a problem we used to have in aviation: unchecked authority & ego.

We worked VERY hard to get rid of it. Some may wish to take notes…a 🧵

1/13 It used to be that an Airline Captain was a God-like figure.

His decisions were final & not to be questioned…

…even when they were obviously wrong. The Captain was someone to be feared & respected.

2/13

6 MONTH UPDATE: What happened after Airline Mask Mandates ended?

ALL the data, from cases to flight cancellations. Looking at the USA, UK, AUS & CAN w/sources.

Keeping the thread as short as possible: still no evidence to #BringBackMasks Starting w/ USA airline data for context...

PASSENGERS:

TSA numbers nearly back to 2019 levels; on a few days, they exceed 2019 numbers.

403.7M passed through TSA since mandates ended. No apparent deterrence.

Source: tsa.gov/coronavirus/pa…

CO2 Sensors on Airplanes: A thread on why they are pointless.

We can start by asking a very simple question to illustrate the issue…

https://twitter.com/JimRosenthal4/status/1578025528124063744

Would the sensor read the same if:

1) Everyone is masked?
2) Nobody is masked?
3) Everyone has covid?
4) Nobody has covid?
5) Plane’s filters are on or off? (Trick question)
6) It was inside his mask?
7) It was 2019?

The answer to all is: Yes, it would get the same result.

Update: 5 months after removal of the airline mask mandate...how is it going?

339M passengers have now gone through TSA since the US' mask mandate was struck down on April 18th.

We are still not seeing any effect. A short thread w/the data...

1/12 First up: Cases.

Comparing the same time period from 2021 & 2022, there is no apparent effect, despite a 19% increase in passengers in 2022.

TSA traveler numbers for Apr 18 - Sep 18:
2021: 275M
2022: 339M

2/12

The pilot shortage is real & there are a lot of ideas about the cause.

The thread below is gaining enough attention that it may be worthwhile to dispel a few of the inaccuracies.

There are quite a few.

https://twitter.com/bgolus/status/1567256510300037121

Before we start, though, it’s important to note that pilots have been talking about the shortage for a long time. The first I heard of it was 2006.

Industry has known this was coming for well over a decade.

Pandemic slightly exacerbated it, but only by a year or two.

How it’s going in CA today: 3 tweets, 15 minutes while waiting to pick daughter up from dance

1) Yay! We’ll be spared. 2) Damnit. We aren’t spared.

Long covid theory incoming in 5…4…3…

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1566059709785948163

Never happened before. Never.

rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…

Let’s talk about this for a moment. Specifically, the claim that “air systems aren’t on during boarding/deplaning”.

That’s false.

https://twitter.com/j_g_allen/status/1544976856482553858

Air is provided be either the ground, Auxiliary Power Unit (APU - small turbine in the tail for electric & pneumatic) or the engines.