Survived another flight...

[Cr0nJ0b]

UPDATED: So, let me start by saying that I fly a good bit. usually twice a week on southwest. The planes seem to be getting a little long in the tooth, but I love the folks working for the airline. They are by far the best for local airline travel.

Anyway, so I'm flying back to SNA for OAK which is a short 1hr flight. I'm watching TV or something on my phone and we start to make our decent coming in from the NE. About 7 miles out as the pilot start to deploy flaps...BANG....

All i felt was little bump like turbulence. Nothing to big...then a full throttle up and climb. we come around the ocean side...

I'm thinking...???WTF...Did he miss approach? Did we get routed to land from the SW?

We keep turning and flying very high (for a landing) and I'm like okay, something is not right.

I text my buddy on the flight who's a few rows up and he says one of the flaps is broke and we need to land at LAX...?? I thought he was joking...Then I looked out the window and saw downtown LA...and though, oh, that's great...broken wing and we are landing in LA.

It's at that moment the real fear set in.

It was Thursday...5:00...I haven't seen my family all week...and now I'll have to drive from LAX to SNA...I checked google maps for traffic and it looked like the entire city was bleeding. all roads were dark red...

Oh GOD NO.

In the end we were brought in ahead of the other planes and landed with a fire truck escort. No issues at all. They even brought up a new plane and sent us on our way in less than an hour.

So I live to fly another day.

UPDATE: Just logged into email this morning and saw a note from the "proactive customer communications manager" at Southwest. She apologized for the issue with the flight and passed along a $100 voucher for a future flight. Now that's pretty nice. I've been delayed a lot with no voucher and wasn't expecting one this time.

 

[zinfamous]

god I really hate flying.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I would've shit my pants. I do not frequently, nor do I fly well. My routine no matter what time is a few beers and a shot of tequilla to calm the nerves. Flying sucks.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

And just think there was a news article this morning on CNN about how the airlines are about to increase fares because of demand, not operating costs, this summer. Greedy bastards will be smiling as you fly to your deaths. Cowsumers are greedy corporations' wet dreams. Happy flying [and crashing].

 

[Kaido]

Nothing like a good mid-air scare, eek! Glad you made it (aside from traffic).

Yeah, I like Southwest's attitude the best. They do a pretty good job.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have a conceptual issue with flying, but I'm not fond of the security theatre, and brainless chimps pawing through my stuff, and exercising an authority over me they'd never have in the real world. Flying is my very last choice for travel.

 

[pete6032]

You had your mobile phone, not on airplane mode during the flight?

 

[drquest]

Southwest has wifi on all of their flights now I believe.

 

[IronWing]

Props to the OP for being more concerned about shitty traffic than flamy-burny death.

 

[esquared]

On another note:
They said this could have been the worst accident in aviation history.
Air canada pilot almost landed on the taxiway with four other jets there.
It supposedly came with 175 ft above the planes before it pulled up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

 

[Darwin333]

On another note:
They said this could have been the worst accident in aviation history.
Air canada pilot almost landed on the taxiway with four other jets there.
It supposedly came with 175 ft above the planes before it pulled up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

That's freaking nuts! Sounds like if a pilot on the ground hadn't noticed he was lined up for the taxiway the plane would have crashed into a bunch of other planes.

 

[sdifox]

On another note:
They said this could have been the worst accident in aviation history.
Air canada pilot almost landed on the taxiway with four other jets there.
It supposedly came with 175 ft above the planes before it pulled up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

100 ft... Crazy...

 

[KillerCharlie]

What specifically happened with the wing? Was it a flap? Aileron? Leading edge device?

It probably wasn't as bad as it seemed. I doubt the flaps physically broke apart. Even if jammed they have an alternate drive system. The airplane is designed such that it can land safely with all different types of failures.

 

[zinfamous]

On another note:
They said this could have been the worst accident in aviation history.
Air canada pilot almost landed on the taxiway with four other jets there.
It supposedly came with 175 ft above the planes before it pulled up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

did you guys know that I really fricking hate flying?

...and SFO of all places. FML.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Glad you're okay.

 

[who?]

Does leading edge device mean Krueger slat?

 

[KillerCharlie]

Does leading edge device mean Krueger slat?

Yes, "device" is just a generic term. 737s have Krueger's inboard and slats outboard.

If an airliner is designed such that a leading edge failure is possible (within a certain probability), then the airplane must be capable of safe flight and landing. Most airliners have detection systems warning a pilot of a leading edge failure, in which case they would speed up and land faster to avoid stalling.

 

[rumpleforeskin]

Does leading edge device mean Krueger slat?

Yeah, and even though it's on the leading edge it's a flap not a slat

 

[lsd]

What specifically happened with the wing? Was it a flap? Aileron? Leading edge device?

It probably wasn't as bad as it seemed. I doubt the flaps physically broke apart. Even if jammed they have an alternate drive system. The airplane is designed such that it can land safely with all different types of failures.

The flap system can and do suffer from damage. Not the actual flap themselves but the drive system can break and possibly cause the aircraft to roll.
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_22/images/alloy_fig10.jpg
I've heard of this happening in flight to several aircraft but our pilots are trained to deal with it.
The alternate flaps is just an alternate electric motor incase the hydraulic motor fails, it can not raise a flap that has a drive system jam.

 

[rh71]

On another note:
They said this could have been the worst accident in aviation history.
Air canada pilot almost landed on the taxiway with four other jets there.
It supposedly came with 175 ft above the planes before it pulled up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

Needs a door that says IN and the other to say OUT.

 

[rumpleforeskin]

The flap system can and do suffer from damage. Not the actual flap themselves but the drive system can break and possibly cause the aircraft to roll.
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_22/images/alloy_fig10.jpg
I've heard of this happening in flight to several aircraft but our pilots are trained to deal with it.
The alternate flaps is just an alternate electric motor incase the hydraulic motor fails, it can not raise a flap that has a drive system jam.

That example of the flap carriage breaking is extremely rare, it's far more common to have a sensor problem indicating a false flap skew/asymmetry situation, at which point the flaps will lock out even though they are technically still serviceable.

Regarding the Alternate drive, it can be used during a detected flap skew/asymmetry providing the flaps are not as you said physically jammed. Though this would be at the pilots discretion.

 

[lsd]

That example of the flap carriage breaking is extremely rare, it's far more common to have a sensor problem indicating a false flap skew/asymmetry situation, at which point the flaps will lock out even though they are technically still serviceable.

Regarding the Alternate drive, it can be used during a detected flap skew/asymmetry providing the flaps are not as you said physically jammed. Though this would be at the pilots discretion.

As someone who works as a aircraft technician for the ops airline I have to say you are incorrect. The fact is there is an AD issued for the flap spindle which we do as a regular inspection. Yes they do rarely fail, but to say extremely rare is false.
Skew / flap positions sensors rarely ever go bad and in 17 years of experience they have never caused false asymmetry or TE lock out. We have had 2 in our station this year with flap damage. One was a torque tube failure and the other was a carriage failure . Unless you are flight crew or maintenance you will never hear about it because as a I said the flight crews are trained to handle it.