Back in about ‘94 I took an Alitalia flight from Bangkok to Sydney. The smoking section started the row of seats behind me so the plane pretty much filled with smoke whether you liked it or not
Halfway thru the flight I went to the galley to get a drink of water and as I pulled back the curtain there were two hostesses getting intimate with each other. One flight that I’ll never forget
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I remember flying as a kid. I was seated in the non-smoking side of the plane and was sitting in the aisle seat. The guy sitting on the other side of the aisle was smoking like a chimney, he was in the “smoking” section. I turned to my mum and asked why they thought that was a good idea and would stop the smoke? Complete numpties running the show back in those days.
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One airline I still can’t fathom how they operate.
They have been on the brink many times and with them now being nationalised again I think it’s only a matter of time if they don’t streamline massively. Was a smart move by Etihad to bail on their 49% ownership
I’ve found their short haul Euro flights to have been pretty good having said that
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I still feel 99% safer on any plane in the sky than driving or being a passenger or pedestrian on the roads.
Up until about 4 years ago Macao airport had 2 dedicated smoking rooms, one at each end of the terminal. The problem was the rooms were only partitions abut a metre and a half high, not fully self contained rooms. They finally decided to make them into complete rooms.
So doing a bit of research it appears PK-CLC used to be a CO/UA airframe - delivered 1994.
Sold to current owners 2012.
At the time of sale 45000hrs and 24000 cycles and was on its 5th cycle of the day when it crashed
Is that typical for an aeroplane of its vintage?
I’ve done national flights with them (1 to 2 hrs) over recent years and they’ve been fine.
I’d booked a couple of such flights last April and I got a full refund on both.
Those figures were at the time of sale which was back in 2012. I’m unable to source any records of what the aircraft has done since the handover but I’d guess you can add another 8-12k cycles.
The cycles are more critical than mileage on an aircraft and something in the order of 30-40k cycles is average for a 737 of that vintage.
Just as an aside as of October 2019 Qantas had 33 737s with an excess of 22,600 cycles, Virgin had 19 737s with 22,600 or more:
Cycles vs AFHRs can be relevant in terms of design assumptions, but those cycle numbers don’t sound ridiculous for a 737.
I assume your numbers are the a/c (NG, not classic) that required the pickle fork inspections?
Yes that number is from the pickle fork inspection data
So 1994 would make it a 400 series, is that right ace?
500 series
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Thought US regulations limit cycles to 30000
737’s are designed to last 75,000 cycles yet for various reasons aircraft don’t make it to that. Unless the US regs have changed it used to be 60,000 cycles for all 737 variants but with extra maintenance checks that can be extended however due to costs it is usually easier to scrap them
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Interim report is out on the 737-500 crash.
Auto throttle issues before take off. Apparently corrected.
But reappeared 8000 ft in to the climb. The pilots corrected this.
It occurred again at 10,000 ft - this time the pilots did notice / act on this.
This results in an asymmetric thrust condition and the plan begins to bank.
The situation isn’t rectified and the bank angle gets to a point where the plan plunges out of the sky.
The CVR memory module hasn’t been recovered yet. We have no idea what was happening in the cockpit.
Another situation where a perfectly flyable aircraft crashes.
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tragic
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Another 737 Max gone.
I’d very much doubt it’s a MAX
Most likely a stock standard B737-800 which is a different kettle of fish.
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