Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Everybody saw this coming.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Consistently wrong since 2002

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: It Be Raining Plane Parts In My Hood

Open Thread: It Be Raining Plane Parts In My Hood

by | 140 Comments

This post is in: 

I was offline until Adam texted me that plane parts were falling in CO. Serves me right for unplugging for the day.

This is about 3-4 miles and on the flight path of my old neighborhood. I actually texted friends to see if any parts showed up at their house.

So I’m morbidly fascinated by it all. And since (so far) no injuries have been reported, and the plane landed safely, we can all stop and gawk at the spectacle.

Just to the north of this house is a huge neighborhood park, soccer fields, dog park, walking paths, where a lot of debris fell. It was about 50 degrees when this happened, so a lot of people were out and about.

I think those are the highlights…I’m sure there will some fun interviews on the news tonight.

And I’m sure you’re thinking what I’m thinking…what were 231 folks doing flying to Honolulu during a pandemic?? Or maybe that’s just me.

Consider this an open thread

 

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  4. 4.

    Jerzy Russian

    I recall several years ago a 747 either leaving or approaching Hawaii developed a large hole in its side.  Apparently those planes can “safely” fly with such damage, although I would not like to test that.

  7. 7.

    RaflW

    The guy who got the front cowl (huge aluminum ring at the intake) in his yard, just feet from his door and roof. Wow.

    And while an uncontained engine failure is less likely at cruise, lucky this didn’t happen halfway thru the overwater 5 hours – though of course 777s are designed to fly many hours on one engine, it woulda been much more stressful for all aboard. And it may be a while before we know if any shrapnel caused damage to the wing, systems, etc.

    Congrats to the pilots for doing their jobs well! Some career paths tolerate incompetence less than, say, politics.

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    Good news: planes can fly on one engine without too much trouble.

    The bad news: the pilots were smart enough to cut the engine but as you can see from the tweet with the engine blown apart there’s still a HUGE amount of heat in that engine. Any stray fuel gets in there and that plane could turn into a fireball.

  9. 9.

    CaseyL

    @Jerzy Russian: There are a lot of redundancies built into jets – but you’ve got to maintain them properly.  A lot of airlines economize by cutting down on maintenance.  Plus, smaller airlines often build their fleet by buying older jets from larger airlines – and are even less likely to spend the money to maintain them properly.

    So I guess we should consider ourselves lucky this doesn’t happen more often.

    Can’t imagine how I’d feel if I looked out the window and saw the engine on fire.

  10. 10.

    randy khan

    And I’m sure you’re thinking what I’m thinking…what were 231 folks doing flying to Honolulu during a pandemic??

    Hawaii is one of the best states in the country for COVID-19, with just 42 deaths, and very low infection levels, and does require pre-arrival testing or post-arrival quarantine for anyone coming from out of state.  It may be the safest state in the country, actually.  So if you were picking a state to go to during the pandemic, Hawaii would be pretty high on it.  Also, you know, it’s Hawaii.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    @randy khan: 

    So if you were picking a state to go to during the pandemic, Hawaii would be pretty high on it you should be slapped with your own skeleton. Also, you know, it’s Hawaii punched in the pelvis.

    Fixed.

  17. 17.

    Shana

    We have friends whose family has had timeshares for ages and take some time in February every other year to go watch whales, among other things, in Hawaii. We were supposed to join them this year but backed out. You need a negative covid test within 72 hours of landing in HI or quarantine on arrival for 10 days. They’re currently there, spending a whole month since he just retired at the end of 2020.

  18. 18.

    Punchy

    As I was Beoing to say, it takes some engine-uity to figure out those were plainly engine parts raining down.

  20. 20.

    Ruckus

    That pickemuptruck is looking a bit worse for wear.

    Looks like new truck time to me. Also looks like it might be a work truck.

  21. 21.

    RaflW

    @CaseyL: It’s a fine line. Skimp on maintenance, and a machine with a $24,000,000 list price blows up and has to be replaced. Or maybe you loose an entire aircraft.

    Maintenance nowadays is also much more sophisticated, with computer monitoring that is often live data-linked back to airline maintenance shops.

    From Forbes:

    Airline aircraft engine monitoring systems are used to check the health of the aircraft engines to avoid costly repairs, especially the time and cost of removing engines prematurely. Aircraft engines are the most expensive components on an aircraft and can cost as much as $20 million. Repairs are also extremely expensive, especially when an engine is taken out of service. Before engine monitoring systems, engines had to be removed more frequently for repairs, at times in places far from repair facilities, necessitating the time and expense of transporting replacement engines and taking the aircraft out of service for longer periods of time.

  22. 22.

    ColoradoGuy

    About 10 miles away from where I am now. Wow. The suburbs north of Denver are in the flight paths of the big birds that we see all the time, both approaching and departing DIA and the transcontinental flights high overhead.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    So, if you were on that plane, would you get back on another plane to Hawaii or would you decide maybe you didn’t want to go to Hawaii after all?

  33. 33.

    Baud

    Gotta blame it on something (gotta blame it on something)
    Gotta blame it on something
    that was fallin’ fallin’
    (Blame it on the stars) that did shine at night
    Whatever you do don’t put the blame on you
    Blame it on the plane (yeah yeah)
    You can blame it on the plane.

  35. 35.

    J R in WV

    Many years ago we were flying a charter flight back to WV after WVU played in the SuperDome in NOLA (They lost, so sad, but after the game we were in New Orleans on New Years Eve!!).

    Anyway, not long after taking off from Louis Armstrong Airport, the jumbo jet went THUMP really loudly, and followed that up with a major shimmy you could feel as your seat was moving back and forth.

    Charter pilots put us down at the nearest airport in the flight path, which was a USAF base in central Louisiana. They found that a small access hatch had not been properly secured, it had popped open which was the thump, and the open hatch door caused the shimmy by hanging out into the slipstream. So they shut that puppy harder, and we flew on back to WV. No one but perhaps Crew even got off the plane…

    Was years ago now. We still fly. Shit happens, even on airplanes, and you’re more likely to die in a traffic accident than on an aircraft. Glad this incident worked out well for everyone involved, even the folks making sandwiches in the kitchen when aircraft debris came through the roof!

  36. 36.

    Wag

    Friend’s daughter was playing soccer in the park when the debris began to fall. Scary afternoon.  Glad everyone is ok.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Before jet travel was common I traveled on a least three commercial prop airliners which had an engine go up in flames while aloft. IIRC each time we turned around and the pilot dumped fuel, leaving enough (with an extra margin) to make it.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    @TaMara (HFG): I remember.  :-(

    ABQ Journal:

    During the first half of the NTSB hearing Wednesday morning, questions focused on the testing that titanium fan blades undergo and the engine casing’s ability to contain a catastrophic event. The NTSB documents note that, for pieces of the inlet, which directs air into the engine, and cowling to break free due to the fan blade failure was unexpected, as was the damage to the window. The safety agency took testimony from officials from Southwest, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration, and CFM International, the engine’s manufacturer. Southwest officials stated during the hearing that the CFM56-7 engine on Flight 1380 did not need to undergo intensive testing under the standards at the time of the incident.

    The story has a couple of pictures of the damage to the engine. It’s superficially (to these untrained eyes) similar to that event.

    InFlightNews:

    Two highly similar incidents also occurred with United Airlines in 2016 and 2018. Both cases involved a serious failure of a Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine on Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

    It’s still too early to be speculating, but I’m sure the investigators will be looking to see what’s similar and what’s different compared to those earlier failures.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    @Wag:

    Friend’s daughter was playing soccer in the park when the debris began to fall.

    Making this my next short story opening sentence.

  40. 40.

    RaflW

    @RaflW: A little looking around, the halon fire suppression bottles are inside the aircraft, but the plumbing runs down inside the engine mount so who knows what happens when the entire cover and a bunch of guts blow off?

  44. 44.

    A Ghost to Most

    Denver is seldom boring. Sometimes terrifying shit falls from the skies, but usually it’s hail.

  48. 48.

    Sloane Petersons knee therapist

    Ted Cruz is understandably relieved that it wasn’t his plane returning from Cancun that fell apart.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    Happened to be on the road and not far from the airport when the plane on which part of the roof peeled back landed on Maui.

    Drove around the back way to the ass end of the airport, where it either taxied or was towed to, to gape at it where it sat, maybe 50 yards away from the fence. Airport didn’t have any fancy-schmancy jetways back then*, everyone exited down staircases onto the tarmac, so that same spot might have been where the passengers left it too.

    *Terminal was a funky single story building, with a large banyan tree growing up through a hole cut in the roof. Luggage claim was a series of wooden racks outside the building, albeit partially under an overhang.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    I hate when WaPo tries to emulate the NYT.  Didn’t click.

    Biden’s low-key approach to Texas storm wins praise but courts risks

    Biden Disaster Texas Washington Post: Breaking News, World, U… / by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Eva Ruth Moravec / 55min

  53. 53.

    Baud

    Clown show next weekend.

    Trump Schedules Address Before CPAC Next Sunday

    NYT > Top Stories / by Maggie Haberman / 1h

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    “Low-key approach.” As in not loudly bleating about how great he is and how it’s the bestest emergency response in the history of the universe?

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Plane parts keep falling on my hood,
    And I shouldn’t hang around, I ought to leave, I should.
    I can’t look away,
    Those plane parts are falling on my hood, they keep falling.

    They fell right through someone’s kitchen, and a truck,
    Fell in a city park. I heard a guy yell “DUCK!
    Here they come for you!!”
    Those plane parts are falling on my hood, they keep falling.

    But there’s one thing I know,
    The FAA won’t settle
    ‘Til the metal is analysed —
    Inspection dudes are in fine fettle.

    Plane parts are falling on my hood,
    And that’s not a thing you want to hear, it can’t be good,
    Flying’s not for me
    ‘Cause I’m never gonna stop the plane by complaining
    I’m safe and sound. Here at home on the ground.

  60. 60.

    JMG

    @Baud: Dole and Biden served together for a quarter century in the Senate. I have no idea how they really felt about each other, but that’s a true bond.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Class act.

    Biden keeps doing what he’s doing and Republicans and pundits keep looking like small-minded dopes.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    Wow, the 777 has [checks notes] two engines, total. That’s a [spins up calculator] 50% loss of engines. Can’t wait to get inside scoop from our pilot friend who’s flown 777s for United. Loves the plane, BTW, now flies 787s.

  67. 67.

    CaseyL

    @TaMara (HFG): He’s gonna have fun filing that homeowner’s insurance claim, and the insurance company is gonna have less fun going after the airline for subrogation.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: ​
    Have only been to the New Modern Improved 21st Century Maui airportlet but it’s still pretty charming. Better is the rental car shed, featuring hosts from the Maui Chicken Brigade. :-)

    I remember the 737 that had its skin peel away. Too many take-off/land cycles or somesuch. Kind of expected with island-hops.

  69. 69.

    JustRuss

    @CaseyL:

    There are a lot of redundancies built into jets – but you’ve got to maintain them properly.  A lot of airlines economize by cutting down on maintenance.

    Just curious, does Texas have their own version of the FAA?

  75. 75.

    Mike J

    @CaseyL:  A lot of airlines economize by cutting down on maintenance.

    Now you have airlines flying to Paraguay or some such to do all their maintenance because they don’t like the idea of paying a professional union mechanic.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    What, no G&S?

    I’m a pilot without peer,
    Scoff at giving in to fear,
    When strikes emergency;
    I am never known to quail
    At the shudder of a tail,
    And I never, never drop debris!
    .
    What, never?
    ‘
    No, never!
    .
    What, never?
    .
    Hardly ever!
    .

  78. 78.

    Mike J

    @trollhattan: Wow, the 777 has [checks notes] two engines, total. That’s a [spins up calculator] 50% loss of engines.

    There was an A-330 (also 2 engines) that lost both 100 miles short of the Azores and glided in.

  82. 82.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @JMG: ​
     
    I think Dole may have been he last decent Republican who ran for President. I could be wrong… but when I remember hearing of him, it was only rarely in defense of the indefensible. Of course, I didn’t *care* about him, so I could have missed a lot.

    I was actually somewhat let down when I heard him speaking in defense of the Florida “let’s just say our guy won, and not worry about who voted for who” BS. I felt like he chose to side with the obvious bad guys (in any election, anyone who doesn’t want everyone, who is eligible, to vote, and doesn’t want every vote counted, is one of the obvious bad guys), just because of the R after their name.

    But the fact of the matter is, it’s entirely possible he just shined with decency and humility next to the newt&co, which, I mean, talk about your low bars to clear. They were worse than Limbaugh, because they took an entertainment schtick and used it to try to govern. At least Limbaugh only tried to line his pockets “honestly” (in the sense of, he spread hateful lies in ways that brought in advertiser dollars).

  83. 83.

    dmsilev

    @rikyrah: It’s a standard requirement. Planes are supposed to be able to fly with one engine out and make it to the nearest airport, even if the failure happens over the middle of the ocean. The current regulation goes by the catchy name ETOPS 180, which basically means you have to be able to fly for 180 minutes with an engine out, and routes have to be planned so that there’s always an emergency landing option within the distance.

  84. 84.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @trollhattan: Yeah, but if the odds of an engine failure on a flight is 1 per thousand, the odds of both engines failing is now literally once in a million chances. (And I assume that the odds of a minimally maintained engine failing is probably far less than one in a thousand, based on the assumptions of flight frequency, versus engine failure.)

    I grant you, I’ve often wondered what it’s like flying a plane with an engine on just one wing, but I’ve also heard it repeated so often that they can handle the loss of an engine that I guess it must be no worse than “kinda weird”.

    @CaseyL: Yeah, but not as much fun as the guy making a claim over having his car destroyed by a chunk of exploded whale.

    (To be honest, that might have been far less fun than one might imagine, but with the distance of time, I think we can at least laugh hypothetically about it.)

  86. 86.

    No name

    @NotMax: OT but may I ask about the yellow cake with raisins you and Watergirl were discussing in the previous post?  Link to recipe would be appreciated.

  87. 87.

    RaflW

    @rikyrah: How many other planes can continue to fly after losing one engine?
    Any passenger plane certified to fly in the US, EU, Canada, etc.

    And pilots practice engine-out takeoffs, landings, in-flight shutdowns, etc on full motion, very realistic simulators.

  91. 91.

    JanieM

    @WaterGirl:

    @Amir Khalid:  

    I was supposed to fly from Boston to London one night in 1997, and though nothing like a disabled plane got in my way, there was a pilot’s strike, and an adventure with my luggage being taken without me, and a sleazebag desk agent surreptitiously erasing a reservation (this was pre-internet, long story), and a bunch of other unpleasant things. Eventually I was offered a flight a day late, to a different airport from where my luggage had been taken, and I kept going back and forth between “The universe is giving me a sign that I’m not supposed to go” vs “The universe is testing my determination to push through obstacles.

    This is to say nothing of the IRA bomb threats that met my plane when it landed.

    I really did end up having a nice trip, though.

  92. 92.

    RaflW

    @dmsilev: These days, it’s ETOPs 330. Yes 330 minutes endurance on one engine, overwater.

    I hope to go to New Zealand some day. The flight gives me slight heebe jeebes.

  94. 94.

    SteverinoCT

    @A Ghost to Most:

    Sometimes terrifying shit falls from the skies

    Airplane toilet holding tanks will sometimes leak, forming a substance called “blue ice” on the fuselage formed of water, waste, and the blue disinfectant. Large chunks of this can break off and fall. As Spider Robinson pointed out, this means you don’t have to live near a strategic military target to be hit by an Icy B.M.

  95. 95.

    Mike J

    @RaflW: The 777 is certified to fly anywhere they’re within 330 minutes (5.5 hours) of an airport.  Earlier planes had to fly within 120 minutes of an airport, then it was extended to 180, then 240. Now done on a plane by plane basis.

    ETA: or what you said at 92

  96. 96.

    Mike in NC

    There’s an old saying in the Navy that a helicopter consists of “18 thousand parts flying in close formation”.

  99. 99.

    James E Powell

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    I think Dole may have been he last decent Republican who ran for President.

    Nah, the last decent Republican was Bill Clinton [ducks] – kidding kidding! It was common joke in the 90s.

    TBH Dole was always an asshole with the standard corrupt ways. Google Bob Dole & Gallo wines.  I think the last decent Republican nominee was probably William Howard Taft.

  100. 100.

    Stuart Frasier

    @LongHairedWeirdo: With an engine out, the plane will have asymmetrical thrust.  The pilot has to apply rudder to counteract yaw and aileron to counteract roll.  All commercial pilots are trained to deal with the situation, but it’s a common cause of accidents on twin-engine general aviation craft.

  101. 101.

    Poe Larity

    Delta uses GE and Rolls Royce engines. The RRs have had some failures, not sure about the GE 90.

  103. 103.

    NotMax

    @No name

    Bread machine recipe found online.

    -1-1/3 Cups – Water (room temp)
    4 Tablespoons – Butter (sliced, softened to room temp)
    1 Teaspoon – Salt
    4 Tablespoons – Sugar
    1 Cup – Yellow Cake Mix
    3 Cups – Flour
    1-1/2 Teaspoons – Yeast
    .
    Bread Machine settings – 2 pound loaf, light color and basic bread setting

    Tips – Bread Machine – Cake Bread

    You can also try our recipe with other cake mixes (i.e. vanilla cake mix or lemon cake mix).
    If you add more cake mix than what is called for in this recipe, this bread may have difficulty holding its shape when cut for sandwich slices. It becomes too “crumbly”. Stick to the recipe’s 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of cake mix for a bread that will more effectively retain its shape when sliced for sandwiches or toast.

    As stated previously, added in raisins this time and much prefer that change (did reduce the sugar by maybe a half spoonful as the raisins add their own sweetness). Wouldn’t recommend it for sandwiches but as snackage or with a spread or jam works out nicely as a change of pace.

  115. 115.

    Ken

    @NotMax: 1-1/3 Cups, not -1-1/3 Cups, obviously.

    You remind me of “Subtraction Stew” from The Phantom Tollbooth. The more you eat, the hungrier you get.

  117. 117.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SteverinoCT: As Spider Robinson pointed out, this means you don’t have to live near a strategic military target to be hit by an Icy B.M.

    Herbert Gold’s 1961 short story “The Day They Got Boston” begins**:

    Even before the missile struck, Their Leader went on the air to apologize:

    “First,” he said, “have you heard the one about the constipated Eskimo with the ICBM? But seriously, folks…”

    And it gets worse from there.

    ** Paraphrased from memory. Can’t find a fair copy on the Net, & while I actually have an old Dell paperback copy here somewhere of the 1963 SF short story anthology 17 x Infinity (Groff Conklin, ed.) wherein this little bit of thermonuclear-apocalyptic slapstick was reprinted, goddamn if I can find it, but take it from me, this is damn close.

  120. 120.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Booger: You don’t have to tell me, friend; I was just trying to show how redundancy is far better than one might expect.

    The odds of the engine “just failing”, where we won’t know cause until the engineers figure it out, is probably close to independent; and there, 2×1-per-thousand does become one in a million. But the odds of each engine failing isn’t always independent. Obvious example: if the same maintenance crew works on both engines, if they make a mistake, the odds they made the same mistake on both engines means we can’t assume independence of failures.

    But I was responding to someone who called out what sounded to me like “only two engines” – and there’s a reason redundancy provides a surprising amount of protection.

    @Stuart Frasier:  That’s more or less what I figured, though I had no idea of *what* controls would be used, nor what those controls do. (I could have guessed “rudder” but never would have gotten aileron – I’m a ground-lubber, or whatever flyers use that’s akin to landlubber and sailors. )

    @Ken: And here I thought it was clever to have two large rutabagas in my chili making workstation. “What on earth are those for?”

    “Improving the chili.”

    “HOW???!!!”

    “By leaving them out.”

  121. 121.

    Starboard Tack

    @Ken:

    You remind me of “Subtraction Stew” from The Phantom Tollbooth. The more you eat, the hungrier you get.

    Not one of Chuck Jones’ best works, but he was constrained by the book.

  122. 122.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Baud: 
    Oh, I disagree. They work. They just don’t fly.

    They beat the air into submission. They work very well at doing that. Usually.

  124. 124.

    Yutsano

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    Yeah, but if the odds of an engine failure on a flight is 1 per thousand, the odds of both engines failing is now literally once in a million chances. (And I assume that the odds of a minimally maintained engine failing is probably far less than one in a thousand, based on the assumptions of flight frequency, versus engine failure.)

    You could also lose all four engines because of the rank incompetence of your flight crew. This was a terrible situation in many regards, especially the aftermath.

  125. 125.

    Yutsano

    @Baud: 

    Helicopters shouldn’t work.

    Neither should bumblebees. Yet here we are….

    Side note: the ability to start in visual is maddeningly random.

  126. 126.

    Ruckus

    @RaflW:

    13 hrs from LA to Aukland. 2 meals, plenty of sleep. And it’s a different day when you arrive.

    It was fun, I recommend NZ whole heartedly. Amazing place.

  127. 127.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ruckus: I did LAX-MEL one time. 15.5 hours. You just have to relax and go with the flow.

    But, yeah, NZ is lovely. I’d go back in a minute, if they’d let me.

  128. 128.

    L85NJGT

    This happened with much more frequency in the reciprocal (piston) era. Internal combustion is more mechanically complex and less reliable than turbines. So they needed four props and a flight engineer. There were Coast Guard weather ships on station over ocean routes for weather, communications, and to fish passengers out of the drink.

    Redundancy is the point of multi engine planes, some have caveats under certain conditions, but the idea is to climb out and land on one if there is a failure on takeoff.

  129. 129.

    danielx

    There were lots of documented case of B17s landing with two engines out during WWII.

    Three? start looking for someplace to set it down immediately.

  131. 131.

    RaflW

    Before the pandemic, we were looking at various options. I haven’t been to Australia either, but my partner has. He also has less free time.

    So I was considering doing both, and maybe meeting up in Auckland? Now seems like it’s a couple years off in the future at least.

    I still don’t even know when I’ll take my first domestic flight. Surely after my second shot(with know known time for even the first). I consider myself lucky to be able to do road trips this year!

  133. 133.

    TS (the original)

    @CaseyL:

    Can’t imagine how I’d feel if I looked out the window and saw the engine on fire.

    Happened to me once – in the 1990s. We were c. 20 minutes out of Sydney (Australia) on a flight north. I just went dumb & tapped the arm of the passenger next to me.

    Shortly thereafter the engine was shut down & the pilot announced we were returning to Sydney – would land in precisely 19 minutes and please do up your seat belts.

    First and only time I ever flew directly into Sydney airport without any type of hold up –  first and only time I was in a plane surrounded by fire engines on landing & first and only time I was on a plane that flew with total passenger silence then screaming, laughing and clapping when it landed.

    We were plied with drinks at the airport lounge – I think to get us all brave enough to get back onto another plane!

  135. 135.

    Suzanne

    Arm is still sore and I have been tired and draggy all day. Ordered some new underwear on Amazon. Livin’ large.

  137. 137.

    Chris T.

    @Ruckus: 13 hrs from LA to Aukland. 2 meals, plenty of sleep.

    You can sleep in those seats?!

    (I did get an upgrade once. That was lovely.)

  140. 140.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Chris T.: You can sleep in those seats?!

    Depends on how packed the plane is & how indulgent the cabin crew. A friend whose peripatetic fambly ended up back here in Bawlmer spent nearly 3 decades university teaching in Japan & 2-3x yearly flew Air Nippon HND-IAD-HND, 14 hrs direct each way. The flight was usually empty enough that she could find 3 coach seats in a row to flip up the armrests & stretch out for some shuteye.

    I started looking for similar opportunities on my yearly Yerpeen hauls & in the Good Old Pre-Pandemic Transatlanic Flying Era & often found them. It helped some. Dog only nose we’ll probably be flying Air Sardine once the vaccination chime chimes & we’re once again free** to move around the planet.

    ** Not free – not nearly free – but relatively speaking a frackin’ bargain. My most recent trips across the Pwnd cost about half in constant $$$ what my first did in 1980.

    O/t: Twice in a row I got a working Visual window! Ooo-rah! Now all I need is a date for my Fauci Grauci & I’ll be in Paradiso dei Porci!

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