Duct Tape Deliriousness

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This morning I woke as usual, earlier then I’d like though, checked my Facebook, emails and Twitter account like the good social media ‘internet personality’ that I am. Before going to bed last night I tweeted the link to my article on Examiner.com which has pictures of an aircraft incident in Charlotte, N.C. yesterday in which two US Airways airplanes clipped each other, cancelling both flights, and grounding both airplanes.

This morning I awoke to a tweet from @250Joules with a link to an article on Canada.com about a flight the author had on Russian Airline “S7,” or also known as OJSC Siberia Airlines. Here’s a quote from his experience flying into Sochi:

The flight attendants  nonchalantly handing out barf bags just before we took off might have twigged most people to the idea that this was going to be a rough flight.

But I’d already had fair warning. As I took my seat I looked up to see several ceiling air vents askew, and others held up with duct tape.
http://goo.gl/qomu

There’s a few things wrong with this paragraph in my view. Number one, talk about instilling fear in those that don’t fly often, have a fear of flying, or even those seasoned travelers when during boarding the Flight Attendant’s are passing out barf bags (sick sacks). In America a flight crew doing this would probably make the news, or at least YouTube, because of how out-of-the-ordinary it is. As the article goes on the author makes mention that he’s flying with another passenger who says that he wouldn’t fly Aeroflot anymore, after a few rough flights into Sochi, and he thinks the “green machine” is better. So, this brings on two more points: 1) It’s usually pretty bumpy into Sochi if he’s experienced it on another airline and the Flight Attendants on S7 are prepping for a flying tube of HazMat and 2) Is the “green machine” really better?

Apparently not. The aircraft the author was flying on was an Airbus A310, of which, the airline retired seven in their fleet but are still operating one after an accident on July 9, 2006 when an A310 failed to slowdown, over ran the runway, and crashed into a concrete barrier. The A310 still in operation was originally delivered to Hapag Lloyd Airlines on October 9, 1989 and has been with the S7 fleet since January 1, 2006. Needless to say.. it’s showing it’s age and it’s time to retire.

Courtsey of Canada.com | click to enlarge

The author posted this picture during boarding of the A310 to Sochi. If you look closely you’ll notice a few of the air vents are hanging from their hinges, and closer to the left, a few are duct taped together. Needless to say, they weren’t kidding about it being a bumpy flight, but I say, kudos to the Flight Attendant’s for agreeing to work that “monster” in the shape it’s in. I’ve worked on many aircraft which a ton of maintenance issues and flown though quite a lot of turbulence.. but, from the looks of it, the combination of both turbulence and this particular aircraft would have prompted me to not go to work or call in sick.

As the plane landed in Sochi, the author writes that the cabin erupted in applause. Sure it did. Leading the conga line was the flight attendants, I’m sure.

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