UKC

As in Foreign Object Damage:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/06/bored-raf-pilot-sent-187-passeng...
I find it hard to believe that somebody of this man's age and maturity and a commissioned officer undoubtedly with many, many hours flying experience could have acted so irresponsibly.
Not only did he apparently overlook one of the most basic rules of flying about loose objects in the cockpit but he then compounded the matter by falsifying his reports and lying to the Inquiry.
I imagine his RAF career is over.

In reply to FesteringSore:

There are lots of loose items in an airliner cockpit from food and drink to bags, clothes, breathing apparatus, folders and charts. Accidents happen. The alleged cover up and perjury is a different matter.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

Agreed but I know from having done a bit of flying, that you do whatever you can to ensure that they do not finish up where they are not meant to. Most of the items that have to be in the cockpit are usually stowed "safely". It would have seemed prudent to me to have had his camera secured by a strap around his neck.
Rightly so.

In reply to FesteringSore:


You do but it does happen. I've had a water bottle behind the elbow prevent me pulling the gear up before now. Easily fixed and harmless in that instance but also unforeseen.
jk

In reply to jkarran:


When I was a kid I saw a De Havilland Rapide crash during a show at Audley End. This was because a long cable on the pilot's headphones tangled in the control stick. It doesn't take much for a loose object to really spoil someone's day. I also recall being a passenger in a car where a metal sweet tin got stuck under the brake pedal - I am now fastidious about keeping loose objects out of the passenger compartment of my car.

One stand out thing iin the article is the talk of the pilot, co-pilot and some passengers being pinned to the ceiling. It's worrying if the squaddies in the back are being incautious about their restraints, but it seems criminally negligent for the pilot not to be strapped in regardless of his tendency to dick about. The co-pilot had just gone for tea so they probably have a good reason.

In reply to FesteringSore:
I thought FOD was Foreign Object Debris, not Damage. (Turns out it's both.)

Looked it up to check and found this - I'm posting it here because we all love an owl don't we?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Screech_Owl_named_Fod_found_on_USS_Harry...

In reply to FesteringSore:

I remember a story about Kevin Keegan getting into his car in the Anfield car park, and driving straight into a wall.
Apparently his flared trouser leg was trapped in his door, accelerated OK, but when he tried to brake...

In reply to deepsoup:

Something is wrong with that link, try this:
http://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=56578

In reply to EddInaBox:

Thanks.
(No idea what's going on there though, the wikipedia link works fine for me.)

In reply to FesteringSore:



Nah, his career aint over, he's an officer, it will be a medal, a payrise and new posting!

In reply to Fredt:

I got one of those zip pull thingies on outdoor trousers stuck in the seatbelt buckle on my car - it got trapped when I did up the seatbelt without noticing the pull thingy was in the way. Couldn't pull it out, and wouldn't have been able to get out of the car in an emergency. After a couple of minutes of wondering if I was going to have to wriggle out of my trousers in the front seat of my car, I remembered I had one of those emergency seat-belt slicers attached by the driver door, so sliced the zip pull off.

Easy to get caught out by rubbish, though bit different when you're flying a passenger jet!

In reply to Bootrock:

Don't look now, but there's a huge square cut piece of deep fried potato on your shoulder.

In reply to EddInaBox:

I think anybody not blinded by class prejudice knows that this officer won't just get away with it.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Rather than loose objects it seems more like the ability to sit still and do what's important rather than fiddling about with gadgets (especially when on your own on the flight deck of a big jet).

In reply to Tim Davies:


Both really. At 49 and obviously qualified to fly complex aircraft I would have expected him to have been more self discipline on both aspects; ie loose objects and concentration.
No doubt flying a modern aircraft like the AirBus is tedious at times what with automation.

In reply to Fredt:

This is the only single reason why I don't wear flared trousers

In reply to FesteringSore:
A relative tried to get an intelligent person working for them as a part of their doctorate to not follow his goal of becoming an airline pilot, likening it to being an airborne taxi driver - compared to figuring out engineering conundrums.

I don't know enough about either to say if that's fair comment.

In reply to Bootrock:


Well if you had a degree...

In reply to EddInaBox:

Nah its called a sense of humour....



Whats the most dangerous thing on the battlefield? An officer with a map.

In reply to FesteringSore:

49 seems quite old for a Flt Lt.

Wouldn't someone of that rank normally be in their late 20s/30s?

In reply to Trangia:

I think there are quite a few in that category and they're referred to (I think) as specialist aircrew. They prefer flying real aircraft to the prospect of flying mahogany bombers in Whitehall and are prepared to accept limited promotion prospects.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Having a degree has nothing to do with it.

Just because you have a degree in basket weaving doesn't mean you will get past the OASC, Sandhurst or the Admiralty Board. Or the initial training, specialised training or even the medical selection.

The Army Air Corps have non-commissioned pilots and Not to mention the Officers out there who have worked up through the ranks. Passing selection for inservice Commission.

In reply to Bootrock:

I was just trying to wind you up and you've scuppered my attempt by responding with restraint and good grace.

No fun whatsoever.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Just because I can give multiple orgasms to the furniture just by sitting on them, doesn't mean I don't know what's going on here.

And have a like.

In reply to FesteringSore:
This happened when I was 18, riding in a friend's Triumph Herald in the centre of Newcastle; he swung "briskly" round a corner and his road atlas slid across the dashboard, wedging itself between the door and a spoke of the steering wheel, preventing him from straightening up. The car carried on in a curve and by the time he'd got his foot on the brake we had bounced over the pavement and ended up in the doorway of the fire station. A pedestrian in our path would have been run over.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

a friend of my father's did this in a landrover with a loaded shotgun! Its discharge made a mess of the door only, mercifully. Always thought that was one of the silliest things I'd ever heard of

In reply to wercat:

i bet his discharge made a mess of the seat..

In reply to Dred:

I should point out that he was a farmer on his own land, not on his way to the post office or bank.