Again, Joe on safety at the Island Airport
Hello All,
I've been thinking about this latest incident at the TCCA and how CAIR has tried to spin it as demonstration of it being a dangerous airport.
I've already noted that this unfortunate incident could have happened at any other airport. In fact, had it happened at Buttonville or Oshawa, the pilot would not have WATER at the end of the runway to greet them.
Remember the US Air crash in New York City a few months ago where the Pilot KNOWINGLY CHOSE to land in the Hudson River when his engines died after hitting some Canada Geese? Ask any pilot and they will tell you that a forced landing in water is preferred over buildings.
Unfortunately, accidents can and will happen. Sadly, I get the distinct feeling that CAIR is simply sitting by their keyboards WAITING for the next accident so they can say "see, this airport is dangerous" AGAIN. Well, I suppose if you wait long enough, you might see another accident at the TCCA.
Porter might even be involved - who knows. The bottom line is that although we don't hear about the vast majority of them, these unfortunate events happen almost every day around the world. These incidents occur along with the other hundreds of thousands of safe flights EACH DAY but nobody acknowledges this fact.
CAIR would like everyone to believe that the runways at the TCCA are unsafe and inadequate for the Q400. Furthermore, since a small plane overshot the end of the runway, this must obviously prove the point.
Well, it doesn't prove anything and here is why - you can have a 3 kilometer long runway to land on but that length is useless to the pilot if the runway is covered in ice, if they are landing too fast or if they touch down too far down the runway. Just ask Air France about their landing at Pearson where the aircraft skidded off the end of a 9000 ft runway. That aircraft only touched down 1/2 way down the runway leaving them just over 4500ft to stop. The findings of that accident were pilot error with significant contributions made by the severe thunderstorm during the attempted landing.
You can read about Q400 specifications issued by Bombaridier that state a certain amount of runway is required but you must also understand that Porter has already taken this into account by flying shorter flights and ,if necessary, restriciting the number of passengers on board. As a former Air Canada employee, this is not specific to Porter, every airline deals with the same issues every day.
At the end of the day, I want people opposed to the airport to inject some actual day to day reality into their opinions. Porter safely operates nearly 500 flights per week at the TCCA. The control tower safely manages to mix Porter flights, training flights and the Air Ambulance every single day. The new condominuims, nearby schools and other points of interest are nowhere near the flightpaths used at the TCCA.
Take Care!
Joe
I've been thinking about this latest incident at the TCCA and how CAIR has tried to spin it as demonstration of it being a dangerous airport.
I've already noted that this unfortunate incident could have happened at any other airport. In fact, had it happened at Buttonville or Oshawa, the pilot would not have WATER at the end of the runway to greet them.
Remember the US Air crash in New York City a few months ago where the Pilot KNOWINGLY CHOSE to land in the Hudson River when his engines died after hitting some Canada Geese? Ask any pilot and they will tell you that a forced landing in water is preferred over buildings.
Unfortunately, accidents can and will happen. Sadly, I get the distinct feeling that CAIR is simply sitting by their keyboards WAITING for the next accident so they can say "see, this airport is dangerous" AGAIN. Well, I suppose if you wait long enough, you might see another accident at the TCCA.
Porter might even be involved - who knows. The bottom line is that although we don't hear about the vast majority of them, these unfortunate events happen almost every day around the world. These incidents occur along with the other hundreds of thousands of safe flights EACH DAY but nobody acknowledges this fact.
CAIR would like everyone to believe that the runways at the TCCA are unsafe and inadequate for the Q400. Furthermore, since a small plane overshot the end of the runway, this must obviously prove the point.
Well, it doesn't prove anything and here is why - you can have a 3 kilometer long runway to land on but that length is useless to the pilot if the runway is covered in ice, if they are landing too fast or if they touch down too far down the runway. Just ask Air France about their landing at Pearson where the aircraft skidded off the end of a 9000 ft runway. That aircraft only touched down 1/2 way down the runway leaving them just over 4500ft to stop. The findings of that accident were pilot error with significant contributions made by the severe thunderstorm during the attempted landing.
You can read about Q400 specifications issued by Bombaridier that state a certain amount of runway is required but you must also understand that Porter has already taken this into account by flying shorter flights and ,if necessary, restriciting the number of passengers on board. As a former Air Canada employee, this is not specific to Porter, every airline deals with the same issues every day.
At the end of the day, I want people opposed to the airport to inject some actual day to day reality into their opinions. Porter safely operates nearly 500 flights per week at the TCCA. The control tower safely manages to mix Porter flights, training flights and the Air Ambulance every single day. The new condominuims, nearby schools and other points of interest are nowhere near the flightpaths used at the TCCA.
Take Care!
Joe
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