Phoenix9 From Canada, joined Aug 2007, 2546 posts, RR: 8 Posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 17591 times:
Quote:
KINSHASA, Congo - A passenger plane overshot the runway Thursday, landing in hardened lava surrounding an airport in eastern Congo and injuring 20 people, a U.N.-run radio station reported.
The plane was flying from Kinshasa to Goma, and passengers had warned the crew that there were heavy clouds, Radio Okapi said.
An official from the U.N. mission in Congo, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he does not have permission to speak with media, said there were 117 passengers aboard. They included the governor of North Kivu province, who was not hurt.
The plane was operated by CAA (Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation).
Western727 From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 579 posts, RR: 4 Reply 1, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 17369 times:
Is it me or does this sound ridiculous or like ever-unreliable media reporting of aviation incidents? I'm no pilot but I would think the crew would be much more aware of the weather than even the most knowledgeable pax.
Gr8Circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2987 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 17162 times:
Technically, lava refers to rock in molten (ie. liquid or semi liquid) condition......so, there is no such thing as hardened lava....if it's hardened, it should be called rock! Every rock on this planet was lava once upon a time.....
Correct me if I'm wron, but I'm making this point because on reading the title, I instantly got the impression of a plane floating in molten lava.....
Flyorski From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 978 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 17112 times:
Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 6): Technically, lava refers to rock in molten (ie. liquid or semi liquid) condition......so, there is no such thing as hardened lava....if it's hardened, it should be called rock! Every rock on this planet was lava once upon a time.....
Actually, lava creates igneous rock. Only igneous rock is former lava, other kinds of rock such as sedimentary have never been lava, and are formed with other methods..
"None are more hopelessly enslaved, than those who falsly believe they are free" -Goethe
I mean, if you read the headline, it would seem the plane fell into a pit of hot, steamy, melted lava. The fact is that the lava has been sitting there for a few years already.
While I know the surface of that lava field might be pretty rough -as it seems the plane is a writeoff-, I bet the situation would have been much more serious if that lava was fresh.
Tropical From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2008, 81 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 17043 times:
Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 6): Technically, lava refers to rock in molten (ie. liquid or semi liquid) condition......so, there is no such thing as hardened lava....if it's hardened, it should be called rock! Every rock on this planet was lava once upon a time.....
Correct me if I'm wron, but I'm making this point because on reading the title, I instantly got the impression of a plane floating in molten lava.....
And that would be really bad news indeed for those on board, to put it mildly!
Phoenix9 From Canada, joined Aug 2007, 2546 posts, RR: 8 Reply 13, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 16920 times:
Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 11): No problem....my comment was aimed at the news article, not you....I should have clarified that
Quoting Mestrugo (Reply 12): Same here! I don't know, but either the news agency hadn't the concept of lava too clear or they just wrote it like it to add a sensational touch.
No worries guys
Its probably a combination of both, with the latter being in higher proportion.
Life only makes sense when you look at it backwards.
Emseeeye From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 507 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 16738 times:
Quoting Phoenix9 (Reply 13): Its probably a combination of both, with the latter being in higher proportion.
Ahhhh journalism at its finest. Now, had the headline said: "Plane Overshoots runway, hits pile of rocks" would anyone have cared as much?
Western727 From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 579 posts, RR: 4 Reply 16, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 16694 times:
Quoting Emseeeye (Reply 15): Ahhhh journalism at its finest. Now, had the headline said: "Plane Overshoots runway, hits pile of rocks" would anyone have cared as much?
N14AZ From Germany, joined Feb 2007, 2314 posts, RR: 25 Reply 17, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 16560 times:
Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 6): Technically, lava refers to rock in molten
I don't know how you use the word Lava in English but in German we also use the word Lava for the cold and solidified stone. So, I don't think the headline is completly wrong.
4holer From United States of America, joined Feb 2002, 2846 posts, RR: 10 Reply 18, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 16274 times:
Quoting N14AZ (Reply 17): I don't know how you use the word Lava in English but in German we also use the word Lava for the cold and solidified stone. So, I don't think the headline is completly wrong.
It's used to refer to hardened lava as well, unless it has the word "molten" in front of it.
Here in the SW US there are many "lava beds" that can be tens of thousands of years old. Kilauea in Hawaii, and the Big Island as a whole for that matter, have areas that are surfaced in hardened lava.
Edit, Merriam-Webster dictionary says ": molten rock that issues from a volcano or from a fissure in the surface of a planet (as earth) or moon; also : such rock that has cooled and hardened" I'll say that more ancient flows, often that have cooled slowly and fractured vertically, are often referred to as basalt.
Anyway, to the thread topic. Is this the airport that has the lava flow that crossed the runway and trapped an older airliner on the apron?
PW100 From Netherlands, joined Jan 2002, 1983 posts, RR: 10 Reply 19, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 15976 times:
Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 6): Correct me if I'm wron, but I'm making this point because on reading the title, I instantly got the impression of a plane floating in molten lava.....
Technically then, you meant molten rock . . .
Immigration officer: "What's the purpose of your visit to the USA?" Spotter: "Shooting airliners with my Canon!"
Egcarter From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 159 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 15872 times:
As one who lives amongst the lava here on the Big Island of Hawaii (I can see the ongoing eruptions from my house), we call the ubiquitous, cooled, hardened stuff lava as well.
AVLAirlineFreq From United States of America, joined Jun 2008, 788 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 15480 times:
Quoting BigGSFO (Reply 2): Not to make light of this, but when I read the title it sounded like a plotline from 2012.
I thought the same thing.
Death by lava seems like it would be a bad way to go.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, RR: 24 Reply 23, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 15083 times:
Quoting 4holer (Reply 18): Anyway, to the thread topic. Is this the airport that has the lava flow that crossed the runway and trapped an older airliner on the apron?
Yes, a DC-8. They built a new taxiway around the lava a few years later but by then the DC-8 had been abandoned.
ThegreatRDU From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2274 posts, RR: 3 Reply 24, posted (3 years 6 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 14966 times:
Big deal this happens in the DRC every 3 weeks or so....
Our Returning Champion
25 Spacepope: Actually basalt is a specific type of igneous rock that is classed not only by the crystal size ( in this case small due to relatively rapid cooling)
26 ThegreatRDU: I don't know....maybe because it's the DR Congo.... this sort of thing happens frequently, the one's in Goma are well publicized because the UN is ve
27 SEPilot: How much work would it take to restore it? I know DC-8's are not really in much demand any more but I would think that this one would have some value
28 Viscount724: Considering all the retired DC-8s stored in more accessible parts of the world (and no doubt in much better condition) I doubt there's anything of va
30 Pellegrine: I think we here on A.net like to believe the crew are all capable and knowledgeable, and like to look down on pax and media. In this case we cannot s
31 Trystero: This material comes from the largest lava lagoon in the world, up in the mount Nyiragongo, about 20km from the city of Goma. It's size is variable acc
32 SEPilot: True, but because it was in flying condition when it got isolated I would think it would have been in better shape than those other hulks you refer t
33 Contrails: No kidding. CNN would have interrupted programming for the rest of the day to report on it. I hope the injuries aren't serious. This could have indee
34 JHCRJ700: Anyone else find the paint scheme to be hideous? Or is that just me.
35 TrnsWrld: Glad to see no one was killed however im sad to see yet another ex-TWA bird bite the dust. I have been on N957U when it was flying in its better days
36 SW733: Hideous yes but cheap and light also...think AA
37 ThegreatRDU: No Airline in the DRC has the money that's for sure sigh* Obviously you haven't been to Africa...because that's very naive of you Cheap to paint...th
38 Lindy Field: Here's a pair of airport overviews so that you can see the hardened lava at the end of the runway. Truly amazing.
39 Western727: What kind of rock were you born under? You're effectively saying a non-pilot pax sitting in 6F or 12A will know more about the weather than a cockpit
40 Sevenheavy: I am assuming your travels to central Africa are frequent and far reaching? That is the only possible explanation for such a condescending response.
42 SEPilot: Thanks for the pictures; I did not realize that the lava had cut off the runway completely; I thought it was just one end of it. So was the airport c