Litz From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1745 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 4140 times:
Wow, what a ride ... DL 373, MD80 (ship 902, btw), from St. Louis to Atlanta ...
Slightly delayed (45mins or so) due to traffic holds, no surprise on a weekday afternoon to atlanta ... we were lined up for our landing when right about the time the landing gear would come down, we start hearing from the cockpit "Whoop! Whoop! PULL UP!" over and over, and the engines spool up.
We overflew the airport at altitude and the pilot announced he didn't like the looks of a rainstorm and we were going to circle around and try again ...
So we did ... 2nd try, we came on down and right before touchdown, the warning went off again, over and over ... we were slightly right of center and suddenly just slipped to center and sat down - not a hard landing, but a "firm" one ... I'm guessing maybe crosswind and we sideslipped a bit to line up before touchdown?
It was a pretty nice bit of flying, albeit a bit disconcerting with that warning blaring through the cockpit door. If it was THAT loud in row 3, I can't imagine how loud it must have been on the other side of that nice FAA approved reinforced door ...
And lemme tell you, not halfway through the rollout, the skies opened up.
Rain so hard you couldn't see the little lights on the metal stands that mark the taxiways. Constant lightning and thunder. I think we were the last plane down.
Ramp was closed for a good 30mins before we could pull into the gate, and by the time I got my bags (there were only 10 flights listed on the arrivals board!) it had opened up again even WORSE than when we landed - constant lightning all around the ground transportation area, and no planes moving on the tarmac at all ...
I feel for anyone who wasn't as lucky and got to visit somewhere else this evening ...
Airline Delta Air Lines
Flight Number 373
Departure City (Airport) Saint Louis, MO (STL)
Departure Time 08/23/2005 03:47 PM
Arrival City (Airport) Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Arrival Time 08/23/2005 05:44 PM (6:25pm @ the gate)
Remaining Flight Time 00:00
Aircraft Type McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Series
Current Altitude 0 feet
Current Groundspeed 0 mph
Flight Status Arrived
NightFlier From United States of America, joined May 2004, 284 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 4104 times:
WOW glad everything thing turned out alright.
NF
Airplanes are only as good as the people who fly&fix them.
Litz From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1745 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 4064 times:
Flairport From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 3971 times:
sounds like that woop woop PULL UP might have been a mech issue as it seems like it was ok to land...unless the computer was reading a microburst somehow!
Litz From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1745 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 3918 times:
Quoting Flairport (Reply 3): sounds like that woop woop PULL UP might have been a mech issue as it seems like it was ok to land...unless the computer was reading a microburst somehow!
I'm guessing microburst - we were literally seconds away from getting inundated (the storm hit while we were halfway through the rollout) so I'm sure the winds in the area were blowing all over the place.
Had we been 30 seconds later landing, the runway conditions would have been akin to what the Air France A340 encountered in Toronto.
Evan767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 2957 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 3870 times:
You have some guts. I would have crapped my pants if I heard the "Whoop Whoop pull up" alert throughout the cabin.
The proper term is "on final" not "on finals" bud...
Litz From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1745 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 3822 times:
Quoting Evan767 (Reply 5): You have some guts. I would have crapped my pants if I heard the "Whoop Whoop pull up" alert throughout the cabin.
Well, everyone up in First was kinda leaning out into the aisle looking at the cockpit door, that's for sure. It was clearly audible. I had 3D, which is a window seat, and it was very clear looking outside we weren't out of control or anything ... or, for that matter, sinking at an alarming rate.
Goldenshield From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5417 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (7 years 8 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 3593 times:
With the MD-80's, it's hard not to hear any computer noises from the cockpit. The computer voice is no more loud than a TV at moderate volume, but having no engine in first class makes it seems louder than it really is. I'm sure that you heard the altitude callouts, too.
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
FinnWings From Finland, joined Oct 2003, 640 posts, RR: 3 Reply 9, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 3321 times:
Sounds like a very interesting experience, Litz! I'm glad that you didn't have to divert!
Quoting A319114 (Reply 8): As far as I know, GCAS (Ground Collision Avoidance System) can be overridden and turned off by the crew in case of a false warning, or am I wrong?
There is a possibility that you can ignore the warning but I would be EXTREMELY cautious to even consider such a thing. The correct action would be to react immediately for a warning by leveling the wings and initiate a maximum gradient climb to safe altitude using full thrust. It is more like reflex and at that point you don't start to think what might have caused the warning. Go around and analyze the situation later when there is more time.
Quoting Flairport (Reply 3): sounds like that woop woop PULL UP might have been a mech issue as it seems like it was ok to land...unless the computer was reading a microburst somehow!
Most likely it was strong downdraft which caused the aircraft to descend too fast. The EGPWS will give you "WHOOP WHOOP PULL UP" warning in all these circumstances:
1) Excessive descent rate
2) Excessive terrain closure rate
3) Proximity to terrain and gear not locked down
There is also a lower level alert of all those above when the situation isn't so critical yet. The aural warnings for those three examples would be:
1) Sink Rate!
2) Terrain Terrain!
3) Too low gear!
Travatl From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 2172 posts, RR: 11 Reply 11, posted (7 years 8 months 3 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 3055 times:
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings were a mess for diversions.... lots of planes to Chattanooga, Knoxville, Huntsville, etc. etc. etc....
On Tuesday my flight from MCI to ATL circled over BNA, then circled over Rome, GA. With four minutes to go before diverting to CHA, we were cleared to ATL. On Wednesday, working FNT to ATL, we were held on the ground for nearly two hours due to flow control. Then held en route to ATL, did two turns, then cleared in...
I don't think I have seen flow control delays in ATL like I've seen this summer. We're talking EVERY DAY for 1, 2, 3, 4+ hours..... I've been warning friends who live here... "Get all of your flying done before 2PM. If you're gonna fly after that, don't make any plans close to scheduled arrival time. In fact, just wait until late September to fly."