#NTSB gives conflicting accounts on seriousness of Obama's plane problem
4114 Dead
Carrier Says Safety of Obama's Plane Was Not in Question
July 07, 2008 3:59 PM
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that it is
investigating what caused Senator Barack Obama’s plane to make an
unexpected landing today in St. Louis.
The presumptive Democratic nominee for president was traveling from
Chicago to Charlotte when the pilot's first officer announced that
they were experiencing controllability issues with the pitch of the
MD-80 series aircraft.
Those on board were told the issue was a "minor little problem," and
the plane remains in St. Louis this afternoon for maintenance. In
statements today, the NTSB called the incident "an uneventful
precautionary landing" and Midwest Airlines, the carrier that runs the
charter plane, said "there was never an issue as to the safety of the
flight."
The carrier said an emergency slide in the tail cone of the plane had
inadvertently deployed in flight. The Federal Aviation Administration
said today that a slide deploying in flight does indeed happen from
time to time, and could cause flight control problems.
Indeed, on Monday NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker called this a "serious
incident."
"It is extremely serious in this particular case," Rosenker said.
"There are hydraulic lines back there. There are control cables that
deal with the elevators and other areas of control surfaces for the
aircraft, and could potentially make it extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to fly the aircraft."
MD-80s series planes are some of the oldest aircraft that U.S.
airlines are flying today, and their age means they're more likely
than newer planes to require maintenance. The same type of plane was
at the center of this spring's mass flight cancellations, when Delta
and American cancelled thousands of flights to reinspect wiring on
their MD-80 series aircraft.
The Air Transport Association has approximately 470 MD-80 series
aircraft registered to their member airlines, the vast majority of
which are operated by Delta and American. According to John Eakin,
aviation safety consultant and president of Air Data Research in
Helotes, Texas, MD-80 planes actually encompass a number of different
aircraft models. Douglas manufactured several variations of the DC-9
as early as 1966. He added that when the company was taken over by
McDonnell, their aircraft became known as MD planes of various types.
-Matt Hosford, Kate Barrett and Sunlen Miller
--
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government
talking
about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order.
Nothing has
changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists,
we're
talking about getting a court order before we do so"
-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com
For news feed, http://yahoogroups/subscribe/zepps_news
For essays (please contribute!)
http:yahoogroups/subscribe/zepps_essays
--
What do you call a Republican with a conscience?
An ex-Republican.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=8827 (From Yang, AthD (h.c)
"Prosperity and peace are in the balance," -- Putsch, not admitting that he's against both
Putsch: leading America to asymetric warfare since 2001
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
For the finest in liberal/leftist commentary,
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com
For news feed (free, 10-20 articles a day)
Zepps_News...@yahoogroups.com
For essays (donations accepted, 2 articles/week)
Zepps_essay...@yahoogroups.com
a.a. #2211 -- Bryan Zepp Jamieson