Maestro, get an international subscription to The Times, problem sorted, does the US not have any quality dailies?
And in a country as small as the UK this is pretty big news, not least because half of our busiest airport is now shut. The hign I like most is that apparently they didn’t tell the passengers before hand, and some thought it was just a rough landing until the oxygen masks dropped.
They obviously have the WRONG guy.
Anyone can see by the photo, that’s not Steve Wright.
Brian, BurnerDave, and Monkey, (and you too, Nao!) thanks for the laugh!
Billy
Can I say you make weak beer that tastes like water?
Sorry, that was a rhetorical question, of course I can say it, Some people may disagree but that’s ok.
As for the plane crash, one of the busiest airports in the world has a major accident like this and has half of the airport effectively closed and people don’t care.
I can be honest and say I don’t either, it hasn’t effected me in any way. It is still a big story though. I still tend to only pay attention to local news as that is what is most likely to affect me directly.
I still miss the happy news stories that we used to get, stuff about pandas breeding in captivity rather than all these daily terrorist threats that the government announce.
Plumsie.
…
Not big on news.
Who knows anymore. Newspapers used to be independently run entities, although they often drew their stories from the same sources (AP, Reuters, etc).
Now there are media “tycoons” who have been buying out radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, etc. and consolidating their businesses. As a result, the quality of said media is becoming poorer and poorer.
I get the San Jose Mercury at work, not a world class paper, but SJ is the 10th largest city in the US, with a population of almost 1,000,000, and quite a mix of eastern and western cultures at that. By that you’d expect the paper to cover a broad range of interests, but instead you get a rag that covers the Mayor’s mistresses, spats between local politicians, and traffic snarls on the local highways.
Meh, I say, meh!
I often visit my neighbor just to read his latest copy of the Economist… I find that to be a bit more enlightening. I’ve never read the Times… perhaps I shall check it out at the library. Thanks for the recommendation.
Read their homepage and you might change your mind 
(in case it changes, the top story is about the plane crash)
I sorta agree with Maestro
About how the media tries to distract us with crap. Ooops Britney did it again, why is Dr. Phil talking, do you agree with him etc. That is front page stuff now, and it is indicative of how far we have fallen as a culture.
However, a plane has dropped to soon from the sky. A previously flawless product with a 15 year record of excellence. Crashed expertly by a veteran pilot of exemplary record who says 2 Rolls Royce engines went crap suddenly.
As the world turns tomorrow, many thousands of people will ride identical equipment. An answer must be found. So this story is almost the definition of valid news coverage.
My guess (I don’t know crap really), is that the pilot may have mental problems. The odds of all engines failing at once seems tiny. Many redundancies have been built into these planes. It is a great and important mystery.
And the co-pilot, who was actually flying when the engines went out?
Well, statistically speaking, the chances that both engines had problems at the same moment is vanishingly small. MTBF squared. I doubt that the pilot was suggesting the Rolls Royce engines were “crap”. I don’t know the cause but it seems more reasonable to assume that something that controlled both engines did not work, a cockpit area wiring problem maybe, or else there was a pilot error.
Pilot errors will always occur occasionally, all you can do is train against them. But if it was an error or failing of the control system, then we certainly need to find out exactly how it happened, and whether it might happen again. Latest I read is that there was no response to a signal to increase power to both engines. I assume that with the flaps extended for landing, and a high angle of attack, that it is usual to wind up the power.
Nao
My dad who is a pilot laughed out loud when he saw this story on the news.
In a Boeing 777 the engine(s) shutoff switch(es) are right next to the landing gear lever or button. 
I’m still glad no one was hurt, but it was definitely pilot error.
[QUOTE=plumsie]
Can I say you make weak beer that tastes like water?QUOTE]
True True, dnt be a pussy, grab a stella and beat up ur wife!!
LMAO the reall piolet is keeping that shumfff!!!
Well, I’ll tell them not to waste time checking the flight recorder then.
Nao
That would be potentially dangerous spot to put the engine shutoff switches. Even if the engine shutoff switches are there I would expect that there would be some other control that would prevent them from being shut off accidentally.
One of my industrial engineering professors specialized in human factors research. Much of his research was on human factors that contribute to pilot error in airline crashes or incidents. Pilot error is a catch-all term and it’s not always right to blame the pilot for an error that can be traced back to poor ergonomic or human factors design in the cockpit.
There is an interesting Times review of the flight: Hunt for fatal flaw of Flight 38
It’s going to be interesting to find out what the ultimate cause was after all the investigation is done. A software flaw? Computer glitch? Failed sensor combined with something else? Contaminated fuel from China? Pilot error?
I wonder what the odds makers are saying?
Extract from:
The type of jet involved in the near catastrophe at Heathrow has a history of onboard fires causing power failure.
The Standard has learned that Boeing 777s have been involved in at least 12 serious incidents when electrical systems became dangerously overheated during or immediately prior to flights.
On at least four occasions this caused “major damage” to power panels containing vital circuits that control the plane.
This may or may not be a factor in the Heathrow crash. Either way it is worrying. A dozen incidents of overheating of the wiring, and apparently no root cause found to date? Dangerous overheating suggests poor connections, overly thin wiring, close presence of other hot material, or inadequate cooling…and wiring should not really be designed so as to need any specific cooling.
(A neighbour nearly set fire to his house recently. He powered a 3 kilowatt electric fire via a coiled mains extension lead. The insulation of the extension cable melted. They are designed to take that sort of current, but only if unwound from the reel. Insufficient cooling. )
Makes us reconsider various statement made about the 777’s reliability. When I read “major damage”, “vital circuits” " a dozen incidents", I find myself thinking that the 777 is lucky not to have had several crashes.
Lets hope that the potential seriousness of this crash, and the good availability of the evidence will lead quickly to a clear and definite solution.
Nao
Anyone remember that old Gary Larson cartoon?
The one where there’s a guy on a plane and he’s sitting next to a giant button marked ‘MAKE WINGS FALL OFF’.
Really? I bet the authorities are kicking themselves for not thinking of this.
Why go to all the trouble of an expensive systematic investigation when
you can just point the finger with such absolute certainty?
My neighbour is a witch and should be burned. Definitely.
Al
I’ll be there in a mo’.
Are you supplying pitchforks or is it BYO?
Don’t you remember the ‘bit’?
“We played poker with Tarot cards last night.
I got a full house and four people died.”
BYO. Would you like me to specify which neighbour, or will any neighbour do? 