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Delta flight hit by firework while landing at Midway Airport on Fourth of July
- comrade1234 4mo ago[flagged]
- rjsw 4mo agoLater wars too [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/190th_Fighter_Squadron,_Blues_and_Royals_friendly_fire_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/190th_Fighter_Squadron,_Blues_...
- cowsandmilk 4mo agoHow is this relevant? No one shot at the plane.
- ceejayoz 4mo ago> No one shot at the plane. It's hardly outside the realm of possibility here.
- inigyou 4mo agoYou've never seen Berlin on New Year's Eve then. Residents are recommended to keep all windows tightly closed or a firework may slip inside!
- zamalek 4mo agoI loved playing with fireworks as a kid, and surprisingly have all appendages and senses intact, I even considered pyro as a job - so I definitely get the appeal. I just think it's time that we left it to the professionals. Unless you are engaging in science or physics, I don't see the value in letting them off yourself. ~~It's also weird that America's birthday is celebrated using a Chinese invention.~~ Edit: bad point, I stand corrected.
- consensus1 4mo agoFell free to leave it to the professionals then. That has always been your right.
- buu700 4mo agohttps://youtu.be/YPX__g3LpUY?t=9 https://youtu.be/YPX__g3LpUY?t=9
- stevage 4mo agoYou literally just explained the value.
- dullcrisp 4mo agoThat’s such a strange thing to say. Should we only use things invented in the last 300 years on the 4th of July?
- netsharc 4mo agoNow I wonder who invented wheat, or sugar (used to make cake)? Also hotdogs are made with Wiener sausages, which are from...
- onionisafruit 4mo agobeef or pork if you’re lucky
- davrosthedalek 4mo agoDas Auge ist (man) mit.
- Isamu 4mo agoI tried tofu dogs for the first time on the grill, they were pretty good.
- RALaBarge 4mo ago
- bluedino 4mo agoThey really should be controlled a lot more - a nearby house was hit by some sort of Roman candle thing and completely burned down the other night. There was at least a lot less "illegal fireworks" when people had the drive two states away to buy them.
- SoftTalker 4mo agoYeah not sure why that changed, when I was a kid you could only get sparklers and small stuff that stayed on the ground. Today I could get everything for a near-professional show if I wanted to spend the money.
- andrewinardeer 4mo agoCapitalism. Get rich or die trying.
- Loughla 4mo agoWhen I was a kid you could get actual m80's that were like a quarter stick of dynamite. Now you can only get little firecrackers that don't even blow up little green army men. It's really dependent on your state laws. My state allows fireworks, so you can get most things but they are very limited in size and explosive content. What it amounts to is that most cities/counties don't enforce their existing laws in this area because people would have a shit fit, and they would arrest so many people that it's kind of impossible. Something something banning things doesn't really work to do anything but make criminals out of every day people.
- jtbayly 4mo agoM80s were more like 1/8th of a stick, I think. My uncle bought quarter sticks of dynamite one time. Wow. Quite a bit bigger and louder than an M80, and M80s were LOUD! My dad's cousin blew off most of his thumb and parts of several fingers with one. It was old, and it had a flash fuse. He was planning to toss it, but it went off instantly. (Don't hold fireworks when you are lighting them.) A couple of years ago my brother got some flat triangles from a guy on the side of the road. First thing I've seen in years that was like an M80. We put a flat soccer ball over one, and it went 50 feet in the air. Very fun.
- cogogo 4mo agoOff topic but I went to a local town’s medium-sized professional fireworks show this weekend and there were none of those small flash really loud fireworks that shake you to the core. Not even in the grand finale. Oddly they are what I enjoy most. Have they gone out of fashion or do they mess too much with pets?
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4mo agoI miss those too. I remember as a kid one display that shot a bunch of really bright white flare-like fireworks that were blinding and hung in the sky followed by dozens of those small but loud ones and it was memorable.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- consensus1 4mo agoThey sure haven't gone out of fashion on the streets of SF. My ears were ringing!
- pylua 4mo agoYou mean mortars ?
- AnimalMuppet 4mo agoI believe those are called "salutes".
- nozzlegear 4mo agoThat's what I know them as too. We used to go out to a family friend's farm for a fireworks show he'd put on every 4th, and he'd always have a bunch of those interspersed. They used to be my favorite growing up, because of the anticipation between when it launched and when it would explode.
- PyWoody 4mo agoMy town of <1k population had their fireworks tonight. I want to say at least half of the fireworks rattled your bones and jimmied your organs.
- ButlerianJihad 4mo agoFun fact: “Midway” is also the name of an American manufacturer of video and pinball games, and a Pacific theater of war in World War II, the most important victory in US Naval history. (The airport took this name in July 1949, according to the English Wikipedia.) https://web.archive.org/web/20080414001228if_/http://www.flychicago.com/news/pdf/MDWVisitorsGuide2005Revised.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20080414001228if_/http://www.fly... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_Soccer_(pinball) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_Soccer_(pinball) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Tigers_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Tigers_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampage_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampage_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_2:_Judgment_Day_(arcade_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_2:_Judgment_Day_(ar... It’s also the name of a district/neighborhood of San Diego which takes its name from Midway Drive, particularly where it intersects with Rosecrans St. Okay, “Midway” is a lot of things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway
- OsrsNeedsf2P 4mo agoAm I the only one who thinks the risks are worth the reward? People are celebrating, kids are having fun. Yes a few people blow their hands off, but are we going to remove everything, one by one, in the name of safety?
- anon7000 4mo agoCome on, it’s not a choice between complete anarchy and complete restriction. It is very, very fair for society to be like “hm I think X activity is easy to abuse in a way that hurts innocent bystanders,” and then limits the activity to people with licenses and training or things like that. Like no, it’s totally not cool to give a free pass to people who are putting other people’s lives and homes at risk. How would you feel if your house burned down because your neighbor did something stupid? I don’t care if it’s just your own life at risk. But you’re essentially saying that people should be free to play around with explosive devices in dense city neighborhoods. Fuck no, it’s fucking concerning to have an explosion rattle your windows. The people most likely to do this shit in the streets have no clue what they’re doing.
- fc417fc802 4mo agoYou are arguing against a straw man. It was never claimed or even implied that society can't or shouldn't regulate activities that cause harm. The cost benefit tradeoff in this specific instance was called into question and the broader implications of a consistent application of the same bar across all of society was inquired about. > you’re essentially saying that people should be free to play around with explosive devices in dense city neighborhoods. Fuck no, it’s fucking concerning to have an explosion rattle your windows. This is nothing more than emotional grandstanding. You could construct similar rants against a canister of gas or bottle of starter fluid. Obviously how you use the thing is important. Lest you miss my point or think I miss the mark there are video footage of clueless people nearly killing themselves and others through entirely avoidable mishaps with gasoline abound. The question is the amount of knowledge and judgment required, the likelihood of mishap, and the size of the consequences when one inevitably happens. Regulation needs to balance these things against utility and personal freedom.
- userbinator 4mo agoDelta said Sunday a post-flight inspection showed no damage to the aircraft. Not surprising, as a firework is designed to disintegrate and the outer surface of a plane is not flammable. Bird strikes are probably a higher risk.
- 7bees 4mo agoMany fireworks are designed to explode at altitude. The biggest risk is probably if the firework is ingested into an engine (also a major risk for bird strikes).
- lazide 4mo ago99% of them also don’t have enough explosive force to do more than damage a hand.
- fc417fc802 4mo agoGiven the sheer quantity of energy that's already being continuously released in an engine would a small firework actually pose more danger than a bird? There's no bones in a firework after all.
- userbinator 4mo agoEven small bird strikes are usually a non-event, as the engines are designed to withstand them (there's a very well-known YouTube video of frozen chickens being fired into one, and those are already a lot bigger and harder than most birds they'll encounter.) It's the big ones that make the news.
- linzhangrun 4mo agoAnti-aircraft artillery...
- msisk6 4mo agoI recently moved to the St. Louis area for a software job at Boeing. I'm actually in a nice quiet neighborhood in St. Charles right under the flight path for planes landing at Lambert Field. The fireworks last night were insane. All around me folks were setting off commercial grade fireworks bursting hundreds of feet in the air. The house was shaking, my dogs were freaking out, one of them had a seizure. The air was filled with smoke and smelled of gun powder. It was one of the craziest things I've ever experienced. Next year I'll definitely be planning an out-of-town vacation for the 4th to some location with firework restrictions. I don't know what the planes were doing; I didn't hear or see any landing with all the smoke and noise.
- greggoB 4mo ago> one of them had a seizure It's insane to me how much dogs are supposedly loved by such a large chunk of the pop, and yet people proceed to go apeshit with fireworks fully knowing how badly this affects them.
- xeromal 4mo agoMy guess because we just read of the seizure stories online but 95% of dogs are ok with it. Mine is. There's a limit to dealing with edge cases that most people have. Not saying this is how I feel or act though.
- nozzlegear 4mo agoWe have three dogs of different breeds and ages, none of them handle fireworks well. They don't have seizures, but one of them turns into a quivering, shaking mess and the other two try to hide under couches and beds. I wish they were okay with it, but my wife and I have to plan our 4th around the dogs because of how they react.
- mikeocool 4mo agoI think you’re probably right about people’s feelings on the matter. Though in my experience dogs that are ok with fireworks are the edge case.
- SilverElfin 4mo agoI see way too many trashy people setting off commercial grade illegal fireworks in the middle of crowded cities and neighborhoods. It is incredibly disruptive and damaging. Vets are traumatized. Dogs are traumatized. And sleep deprived parents have to repeatedly put babies back to sleep. It is insane that police do not enforce laws against these criminals.
- colechristensen 4mo ago[flagged]
- trollbridge 4mo agoAnd hence why lots of people don’t want to live in dense cities, and then we end up with NIMBYs who want strict housing codes so they don’t have to live near people who set off fireworks. Living in a city shouldn’t have to mean tolerating lawlessness.
- AngryData 4mo agoPlenty of places people can move without others around. I might feel a bit of empathy for someone living surrounded by farmland and having a city built up around them, but that is incredibly rare and even in that case that only makes their property far more valuable to sell and move to another cheap rural area. If someone moves into an expanding suburb or right on the edge of a city and complains about the city expanding, zero empathy, they should of thought about that when they bought the property.
- eBombzor 4mo agoGet rid of fireworks, replace with drone shows. Sick of fireworks and the resulting pollution that comes with them.
- smohare 4mo ago[dead]
- petre 4mo agoWhen clowns are in charge the country looks like a circus.
- monksy 4mo agoThis is more of an issue with operating during the week before and after 4th of July in Chicago. As I'm writing fireworks are going off. Fireworks (display) kinds are illegal in Illinois and there are absolutely no fireworks shot off the before and after 4th of july. Nothing happens nothing to see here.
- ggm 4mo agoFlying into London on November 5 a decade or so ago I was struck by how similar things looked to WW2 bombing run photographs, except it was in colour. A moment of pause. (The Australian War memorial has a museum with the nose of a Lancaster bomber, and they run footage inside it (or a mock up, they have a lot of stuff) projected onto the floor and forward view taken by bombing observation film crews during the raids on Germany)
- khurs 4mo agoTimes have changed in UK. We all grew up doing our own bonfires and fireworks, but now it's mostly organised large displays at public parks and other venues.
- ljf 4mo agoMy children's school ran a great small bonfire and fireworks night that was well attended and received (and raised funds for the PTA/school). Sadly after a conversation with the school's insurance company, we haven't been able to run one since due to the cost of cover. Given the incident widely reported incident here in the UK, some years ago, I think people are more aware of the risk that running one of these events entails: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash#:~:text=Police%20stated%20that%20a%20fireworks,the%20time%20of%20the%20crash. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash#:~:text...
- anshumankmr 4mo agoShould ideally have an exclusion no fireworks/drones zone near airports esp. on such a day IDK that is just me.
- xeyownt 4mo agoThe amount of downvoted posts here is quite indicative.
- jacinda 4mo agoLast night some neighbors set off some illegal fireworks a few blocks from our house. My husband was out on a walk when the paramedics arrived because one of them had burned off half his face and another his arm.
- vasco 4mo agoJust a few days ago HN assured me nobody ever got injured from fireworks https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48711981 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48711981
- 14 4mo agoWhat is sad is that a few irresponsible people are always what end up ruining something that most can manage to do without endangering others. Growing up it was a yearly thing where my family would go somewhere safe away from public and set off fireworks. Fireworks are a lot of fun. Sure not everyone's thing but many enjoy them and can manage to use basic safety and not endanger anyone. I just can't believe a firework going off right at an airport was not intentional. I believe someone was most likely thinking "I'm gonna lite this off right by a plane for all to see my awesome show!". Not trying to hit the jet but rather just look at me people isn't this awesome!? No it is not. This is the type of thing that ends up getting fireworks banned or more controlled for the rest of us. Reminds me of the idiot who flew his drone over an active forest fire while crews were actively fighting it causing the helicopters or water bombers to have to disengage the fire until the drone was gone. Then drone rules get tightened for the average guy just wanting to have fun responsibly.
- cucumber3732842 4mo ago>What is sad is that a few irresponsible people are always what end up ruining something that most can manage to do without endangering other This only happens because we (you, plural) let it. You can simply not let it be ruined despite the irresponsible people.
- seanmcdirmid 4mo agoWhen I lived in Beijing (10+ years ago), CNY would be constant fire crackers and fire works (but more bang bang than flashy lights) from 9PM to 3 or 4 AM. And I don’t mean just constant fire works, I mean what it must have felt like being bombed by multiple fleets of bombers in WW2. You should just hear constantly fire work shrapnel hitting your window. I flew in once on CNY and could see constant flashing all below during our descent into Beijing capital. The whole country side looked like it was exploding, and the villages were nestled on mountains or in mountain valleys to great effect.
- rimworld 4mo agoBan celebration for everyones safety ffs
- Gravityloss 4mo ago[dead]
- waltbosz 4mo agoMy uncle's house is under the landing path for Midway Airport. His whole house shakes when a plane comes by. From his front yard you can easily read the numbers on the plane's body. Parts of the fence surrounding the airport is across the street from a neighborhood. You can sit and watch planes landing not too far above your head. I'm not surprised a consumer grade firework was able to hit one of those planes.
- rbanffy 4mo agoI am a bit surprised someone with a house placed like your uncle would feel it’s ok to light up fireworks under an airport approach path.
- waltbosz 4mo agoFrom his house, no I don't think a consumer mortar could hit a plane. The planes weren't that low. But the area surrounding the airport is very densely populated. Given all those people, I'm not surprised some dumb kid (or adult) lit fireworks near the airport. Also, most fireworks are illegal in Illinois. But it's only a 30 minute drive from Chicago to Indiana.
- aidenn0 4mo agoI haven't lived in Indiana in over 20 years, but is the law for mortars still: Legal to posses Legal to buy and sell Not legal to use That was always a bit silly to me. Stores would even have you sign a waiver that you weren't going to use them in Indiana.
- waltbosz 4mo agoThere is a fireworks store near me in Pennsylvania that is off I-95 at maybe the first exit over the Delaware line. When you enter the building, you go into an atrium with two doors that go into two separate sub-stores divided by a wall. In the atrium, they check your driver's license. If you have a Pennsylvania license, you have to enter the store that only sells non-explosive, non-aerial fireworks (no rockets, mortars, firecrackers, Roman candles, etc). If you have a Delaware license, you can go in the other part of the store that sells the good stuff. It's illegal to possess explosive and aerial fireworks in Delaware. They also have a waiver to sign that agrees you will use the fireworks legally. I guess in Pennsylvania it's illegal to sell the good stuff to PA residents, but not to out of state visitors.
- DamnInteresting 4mo agoHere in Salt Lake City, a prolonged drought has made it a tinderbox. Home fireworks are prohibited, and there's signage up all over the place warning of the danger. And yet, the firework stands popped up in grocery store parking lots like they do every year, and people lined up. Bananas. Luckily no new fires started around here, but we also have the local "Pioneer Day" on July 24 that starts up a fresh round of pyrotechnics.
- fy20 4mo agoAs a European reading these comments I never would have expected fireworks in the US to regulated at all. In my country you can buy whatever you want. The most popular time to use them is at New Year, and even in supermarkets they have popup stalls selling then. If you go out at midnight you can see fireworks in every direction. I live in a capital city thats surrounded by forest. I've never heard of any forest fires caused by them, but I guess it's because winter - we often have snow that time of year. It definately has a big effect on air quality though, the smell of gunpowder lingers until the next day. We are far from the sea so there is little wind that time of year, and the cold temperatures cause the smoke to stay close to the ground (same issue with wood burning stoves which are common in older houses).