5 ms·

I can't find it now, but there was an NPR segment that ran about 3 days ago interviewing people in the airline industry. Their general aggregate claim was that

I can't find it now, but there was an NPR segment that ran about 3 days ago interviewing people in the airline industry. Their general aggregate claim was that pilots and maintenance technicians have lost much of their normal routine due to the drastically reduced flying hours, and that this raises the risk of accidents. Though the conclusion was that this is not something to be very worried about, it is uncomfortable to see two incidents like this on the same day.

elevenoh 6y ago
"drastically reduced flying hours" - could anyone clue moi in on what this means/why?
- fredoralive 6y ago
  Because of COVID demand for air travel has dropped rather dramatically. Lots of planes being mothballed, pilots not flying regularly etc.
- arnarbi 6y ago
  There are less flights due to the pandemic. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104036/novel-coronavirus-weekly-flights-change-airlines-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104036/novel-coronaviru...
  - PeterStuer 6y ago
    Not in freight though.
- noneeeed 6y ago
  Covid. There have been significantly fewer flights than usual over the last year. The argument is that pilots and ground crew are less busy, with bigger gaps between work, the result being that they are "rusty" for want of a better word, and so more prone to making mistakes/oversights. This seems plausible, but hard to know.
- jillesvangurp 6y ago
  Not Covid. This was a freighter that was flying back and forth between Maastricht and New York. It did 3 flights on the day before. So it was in active service and being maintained normally. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vq-bwt https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vq-bwt https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-400-vq-bwt-longtail-aviation/rml6oe https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-400-vq-bwt...
  - DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
    > Not Covid. even if so doesn't diminish the point in the argument. there are stories[0][1] that pilots have this problem (and are complaining about it) so it would be obvious that this holds also for all other staff. apart from confusing the routine with changes that have not been tested / practiced there is also economic anxiety affecting them (perhaps even more than other industries). In any case the aviation industry usually keeps good tabs[2] on their employees mental health. _____ [0] Grounded pilots out of practice because of COVID-19 spark airline safety fears https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/05/business/grounded-pilots-coronavirus/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/05/business/ground... [1] FAA issues warning to airlines after a spike of in-flight incidents due to rusty pilots flying emptier planes than usual due to coronavirus https://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-safety-reports-show-new-dangers-of-pandemic-flying-2020-6?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-safety-reports-show-ne... [2] COVID-19 crisis and its effect on aviation mental health https://www.eurocockpit.be/news/covid-19-crisis-and-its-effect-aviation-mental-health https://www.eurocockpit.be/news/covid-19-crisis-and-its-effe...
  - jojobas 6y ago
    Freight planes are not serviced by dedicated freight mechanics. Passenger planes are well below capacity and maintenance companies are as well.
_trampeltier 6y ago
I think it would less because of lost routine, more because of less work / more bored / less concentrated. It's well known, for high quality on work, you should have enough work (not super stress, but no free time to think about to much other things).
kitd 6y ago
A paragraph near the end of the article implies that this may have been a bird strike, or something "sucked into the engine". So maintenance failure would have played no part, and the fact that 2 incidents happened on the same day is just that, "co-incidental".
cromka 6y ago
I speculated 9 months ago this was going to happen, still consider it reasonable to think that any disruption to such tightly operated industry will ignite some butterfly effect here and there. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23016139 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23016139

elevenoh 6y ago

"drastically reduced flying hours" - could anyone clue moi in on what this means/why?

fredoralive 6y ago
Because of COVID demand for air travel has dropped rather dramatically. Lots of planes being mothballed, pilots not flying regularly etc.
arnarbi 6y ago
There are less flights due to the pandemic. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104036/novel-coronavirus-weekly-flights-change-airlines-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104036/novel-coronaviru...
- PeterStuer 6y ago
  Not in freight though.
noneeeed 6y ago
Covid. There have been significantly fewer flights than usual over the last year. The argument is that pilots and ground crew are less busy, with bigger gaps between work, the result being that they are "rusty" for want of a better word, and so more prone to making mistakes/oversights. This seems plausible, but hard to know.
jillesvangurp 6y ago
Not Covid. This was a freighter that was flying back and forth between Maastricht and New York. It did 3 flights on the day before. So it was in active service and being maintained normally. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vq-bwt https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vq-bwt https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-400-vq-bwt-longtail-aviation/rml6oe https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-400-vq-bwt...
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
  > Not Covid. even if so doesn't diminish the point in the argument. there are stories[0][1] that pilots have this problem (and are complaining about it) so it would be obvious that this holds also for all other staff. apart from confusing the routine with changes that have not been tested / practiced there is also economic anxiety affecting them (perhaps even more than other industries). In any case the aviation industry usually keeps good tabs[2] on their employees mental health. _____ [0] Grounded pilots out of practice because of COVID-19 spark airline safety fears https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/05/business/grounded-pilots-coronavirus/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/05/business/ground... [1] FAA issues warning to airlines after a spike of in-flight incidents due to rusty pilots flying emptier planes than usual due to coronavirus https://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-safety-reports-show-new-dangers-of-pandemic-flying-2020-6?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-safety-reports-show-ne... [2] COVID-19 crisis and its effect on aviation mental health https://www.eurocockpit.be/news/covid-19-crisis-and-its-effect-aviation-mental-health https://www.eurocockpit.be/news/covid-19-crisis-and-its-effe...
- jojobas 6y ago
  Freight planes are not serviced by dedicated freight mechanics. Passenger planes are well below capacity and maintenance companies are as well.

_trampeltier 6y ago

I think it would less because of lost routine, more because of less work / more bored / less concentrated. It's well known, for high quality on work, you should have enough work (not super stress, but no free time to think about to much other things).

kitd 6y ago

A paragraph near the end of the article implies that this may have been a bird strike, or something "sucked into the engine". So maintenance failure would have played no part, and the fact that 2 incidents happened on the same day is just that, "co-incidental".

cromka 6y ago

I speculated 9 months ago this was going to happen, still consider it reasonable to think that any disruption to such tightly operated industry will ignite some butterfly effect here and there. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23016139 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23016139