A New Low-Water Mark For Aviation Reporting....doesn't Even Name The Airline!

[Seeker]

Who knows what really happened - sure can't tell from the stellar reporting:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1289920---10-seconds-of-terror-as-plane-hits-turbulence-over-atlantic-dozens-of-passengers-injured

ROME—An airliner flying from Havana to Milan abruptly plunged some 1,000 metres when it hit unusually strong turbulence over the Atlantic on Monday, terrifying passengers and leaving some 30 people aboard with bruises and scrapes, airline officials said.

The flight continued to Milan's Malpensa airport after the plane's captain determined that it suffered no structural damage and two passengers who are physicians found no serious injuries, Giulio Buzzi, head of the pilots division at Neos Air, told Sky TG24 TV.

The ANSA news agency quoted bruised passenger Edoardo De Lucchi as saying meals were being served when suddenly there was “10 seconds of terror.” He recounted how plates went flying and some passengers not wearing seatbelts bounced about.

Buzzi had said that the drop measured some 3,000 metres in a cloudless sky. But Milan daily's Corriere della Sera's website, quoting Neos official Davide Martini, later reported that the plane first bounced up some 500 metres, then dropped some 1,000 metres to some 500 metres below the original altitude.

[Kip Powick]

Who knows what really happened - sure can't tell from the stellar reporting:

http://www.thestar.c...sengers-injured

ROME—An airliner flying from Havana to Milan abruptly plunged some 1,000 metres when it hit unusually strong turbulence over the Atlantic on Monday, terrifying passengers and leaving some 30 people aboard with bruises and scrapes, airline officials said.

The flight continued to Milan's Malpensa airport after the plane's captain determined that it suffered no structural damage and two passengers who are physicians found no serious injuries, Giulio Buzzi, head of the pilots division at Neos Air, told Sky TG24 TV.

The ANSA news agency quoted bruised passenger Edoardo De Lucchi as saying meals were being served when suddenly there was “10 seconds of terror.” He recounted how plates went flying and some passengers not wearing seatbelts bounced about.

Buzzi had said that the drop measured some 3,000 metres in a cloudless sky. But Milan daily's Corriere della Sera's website, quoting Neos official Davide Martini, later reported that the plane first bounced up some 500 metres, then dropped some 1,000 metres to some 500 metres below the original altitude.

:Grin-Nod:

[inchman]

from the AvHerald:

...aircraft encountered turbulence causing an altitude deviation of about 1000

ft.

Not quite 3000 metres

[Kip Powick]

from the AvHerald:

...aircraft encountered turbulence causing an altitude deviation of about 1000

ft.

Not quite 3000 metres

I think that the reporter inserted Metres for Feet, possibly unintentionally 500 feet up...1000 feet down puts the aircraft 500 feet below the cleared cruising altitude....(=1000 foot deviation)...unless the Italian aircraft have altimeters in Meters...have things changed that much since I was punted through the goal posts???

[inchman]

My post kind of underlines the topic header. Inserting meters for feet is crappy reporting, intentional or not.

Europe still uses feet, thankfully.

[Seeker]

Well there you go - the airline is so obscure I don't recognize it even when it's highlighted in RED!

[Don Hudson]

Andy Pasztor of the WSJ is and has been a very reliable aviation journalist. From what I've read of his work and heard from others in the industry, you can always trust his research and his writing.

And as we know, an airplane doesn't "plunge", (unless it's stalled, and most aren't), and there are no such things as "air pockets". The air is as solid as concrete at M0.85. If it loses altitude like this, it's flying down, or up for a reason. Most turbulence displacements are a few feet up or down but it feels sharp because of the speed...but we all know this.

[Don Hudson]

From the NTSHMA (nothing-to-see-here-move-along) bin, this story from the SMH, Sydney Morning Herald, "Travel" section:

Is there a pilot on board? Passenger helps land jumbo jet

November 21, 2012 - 10:19AM

Henry McDonald - Sydney Morning Herald

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a...l#ixzz2CsV30Jen

An off-duty pilot came to the rescue on board a Lufthansa 747 after the first officer became ill.

A German passenger has been hailed a hero after taking over the controls of a plane and helping it land at Dublin airport.

Details have emerged of how the off-duty pilot offered to help the flight crew after the first officer of the Lufthansa Boeing 747 became ill while flying over the Atlantic on Monday.

The flight from Newark to Frankfurt was diverted to Dublin after the co-pilot suffered an incapacitating migraine.

When the cabin crew announced the plane was being diverted, the passenger asked why and then offered to help, pointing out he was a qualified pilot.

The German national helped bring the plane down safely in an emergency landing at the airport in the Irish capital shortly before 6am.

Ireland's Air Accident Investigations Unit is examining the incident.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said the man who stepped in was fully licensed to operate and fly the 747. "In such circumstances it's absolutely normal procedure for the pilot, the flight captain, to continue to operate the aircraft," she said. "Also, where necessary, the cabin crew are fully trained and can be called upon to read checklists back to the pilot. The procedures are in place for such an eventuality."

[J.O.]

That pilot who helped out on the Lufthansa flight was as much a "passenger" in that situation as the doctor who provides CPR when off duty is a casual passerby. Shame on the media for such over-dramatization.

[Kip Powick]

"A German passenger has been hailed a hero after taking over the controls of a plane and helping it land at Dublin airport." Captain must have been a bit PO.

Probably the product of parents that survived WW II......always wants to be in control " Mein Gott tat Posten I gerade das?"

[Don Hudson]

J.O. - absolutely. I've had it occur twice- once while in the left seat, (RP replaced the F/O), once as a passenger...no big deal - it's what we do.

It has to be a wire story and an editor with a space to fill - the SMH pretty good. Kip, yeah, I laughed at that too. Karen Black, move over.