A bit concerned that all of the layoffs, forced retirements, and cost reductions in the airline industry have reduced the safety of commercial flights. There have been so many near incidents lately and they have all been unforced errors either by pilots or air traffic controllers who are either undertrained or overworked.<p>It seems especially crazy today where one could imagine much of the process could be heavily assisted by computers if the investment were to be made.
Originally reported by The Air Current here - <a href="https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/united-maui-dive-ua1722-close-call/" rel="nofollow">https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/united-maui-dive-u...</a><p>"The aircraft quickly recovered, but not before descending below 775 feet. Two people familiar with the incident said the climb produced forces of nearly 2.7 times the force of gravity on the aircraft and its occupants as that steep descent transitioned to an 8,600 foot per minute climb. The entire incident appears to have stretched no more than 45 seconds and in between radio calls with air traffic controllers in Maui, according to LiveATC recordings reviewed by The Air Current"<p>Later on in the article it states that no mention of the incident was made to Air Traffic Control and the flight continued on as normal.
I am surprised that the plane did not return back to its departure due to having exceeded manufacturing spec for maximum 2.3 G force to inspect for cracks in wings and fuselage.<p>Hopefully, that plane will be taken out of service in SFO.
The verbs here are a bit alarmist - descended from 2200 to 800 feet over 45 seconds sounds less horrible - though this should have been reported even if just to NASA.
This is eerily similar with this recent incident: <a href="https://avherald.com/h?article=504d75c7&opt=0" rel="nofollow">https://avherald.com/h?article=504d75c7&opt=0</a><p>In the Qatar case, they mentioned that the pilot insisted on manually taking off and lost his bearing. The conditions look similar here and I wonder if it’s the same story.
I fly back and forth from Australia fairly often and it always gets bumpy south of Hawaii -- the worst was a thousand-foot drop that threw people around the cabin. I always keep my seatbelt on when transiting that area!