I'll bet you know some aviation myths. They could be misconceptions, half truths, outright lies; many different things. But many of them do have value, regardless.
Why? Because they do many things.
They can teach, as in a parable. Does it matter if a parable is true, if it teaches a valuable lesson about something?
They can generate interest in something. There is that old saying, "There is no such thing as bad publicity"; which as a lot of truth to it. If there are crazy stories floating around about something, it does make people interested. Which is in no small part due to our train wreck mentalities as humans. I still don't know why I slow down to look at car crashes. If I saw someone horribly injured, I'd have a hard time getting the image out of my head.
They can assuage fears of the unknown. Maybe someone doesn't have the time or savvy to really understand a concept of how an airplane flies; so a story is told to them about how wings make lift which might be not 100% technically true. But now they feel better about airplanes, and maybe an upcoming trip.
Aviation Legend, is another thing entirely in my opinion. These are the things that really happened. But they were never officially written down or reported. This can happen for various reasons, similar to reasons you might not report every incident with your car: Insurance, bad press, etc.
But the aviation legends, are the really interesting stories, even if they get exaggerated over time; until they begin to resemble myths themselves.
I wrote of one such legend in my first Tales of The Wrench collection. Specifically, the short story entitled A Tale of Two Towers. That story was heavily based on events that actually took place in the mid 1990's, in South America. A Douglas DC-8 really did become lost in the clouds on a test flight, and it really did crash through two huge radio/television antennae on top of a mountain (after narrowly avoiding the mountain itself!). It really did get tangled up in the support cables, and lose almost 8 feet of it's right wing. Then it managed to land safely.
You won't find that reported anywhere officially. It never happened. But it did.
I've been looking on and off for any mention of this accident for years. But I have yet to find anything. I know there is a stack of 35mm photos of the plane right after it landed. They show the tattered end of the wing where it was severed, the cables wrapped around the wings cutting into the flaps and leading edge, and the chunk of metal antenna structure that bounced along on top of the wing. But I don't know who has them.
I helped repair the aircraft after it was ferried back to the States. But I didn't take any pictures myself.
I remember how it looked when it landed. With strips of "battle damage repair" metal riveted in place over the jagged cuts in the wing trailing and leading edges, from the antenna support wires. The boilerplate splice that was Huck bolted onto the right wing, attaching a salvaged wing tip in place for the ferry flight.
How we carefully repaired all the damage, and the crazy looking three or four layer doubler that served to splice in that 'new' right wing tip, when it was all said and done.
I felt it was important to write that story down, and share it. Because of how marvelous it really is.
All stemming from a mistake of losing track of where you were in a very mountainous area; everything that followed was a straight up miracle of ability, engineering, and luck.
That the aircraft was able to full-throttle climb it's way up the face of that mountain, plow through a couple pretty substantial metal structures, lose a large wing section, and still be able to fly safely and land; is all a testament to the machine and the engineers at Douglas Aircraft.
That the flight crew was able to react to the mountain to begin with, accept what had happened, and stabilize the aircraft for flight and landing; is a tribute to their training and skill.
That's why that story is important. It shows what can happen, and still be walked away from. It provides confidence and a bit of pride.
As well as that underlying parable lesson: Don't get lost flying around in the mountains.
Why? Because they do many things.
They can teach, as in a parable. Does it matter if a parable is true, if it teaches a valuable lesson about something?
They can generate interest in something. There is that old saying, "There is no such thing as bad publicity"; which as a lot of truth to it. If there are crazy stories floating around about something, it does make people interested. Which is in no small part due to our train wreck mentalities as humans. I still don't know why I slow down to look at car crashes. If I saw someone horribly injured, I'd have a hard time getting the image out of my head.
They can assuage fears of the unknown. Maybe someone doesn't have the time or savvy to really understand a concept of how an airplane flies; so a story is told to them about how wings make lift which might be not 100% technically true. But now they feel better about airplanes, and maybe an upcoming trip.
Aviation Legend, is another thing entirely in my opinion. These are the things that really happened. But they were never officially written down or reported. This can happen for various reasons, similar to reasons you might not report every incident with your car: Insurance, bad press, etc.
But the aviation legends, are the really interesting stories, even if they get exaggerated over time; until they begin to resemble myths themselves.
I wrote of one such legend in my first Tales of The Wrench collection. Specifically, the short story entitled A Tale of Two Towers. That story was heavily based on events that actually took place in the mid 1990's, in South America. A Douglas DC-8 really did become lost in the clouds on a test flight, and it really did crash through two huge radio/television antennae on top of a mountain (after narrowly avoiding the mountain itself!). It really did get tangled up in the support cables, and lose almost 8 feet of it's right wing. Then it managed to land safely.
You won't find that reported anywhere officially. It never happened. But it did.
I've been looking on and off for any mention of this accident for years. But I have yet to find anything. I know there is a stack of 35mm photos of the plane right after it landed. They show the tattered end of the wing where it was severed, the cables wrapped around the wings cutting into the flaps and leading edge, and the chunk of metal antenna structure that bounced along on top of the wing. But I don't know who has them.
I helped repair the aircraft after it was ferried back to the States. But I didn't take any pictures myself.
I remember how it looked when it landed. With strips of "battle damage repair" metal riveted in place over the jagged cuts in the wing trailing and leading edges, from the antenna support wires. The boilerplate splice that was Huck bolted onto the right wing, attaching a salvaged wing tip in place for the ferry flight.
How we carefully repaired all the damage, and the crazy looking three or four layer doubler that served to splice in that 'new' right wing tip, when it was all said and done.
I felt it was important to write that story down, and share it. Because of how marvelous it really is.
All stemming from a mistake of losing track of where you were in a very mountainous area; everything that followed was a straight up miracle of ability, engineering, and luck.
That the aircraft was able to full-throttle climb it's way up the face of that mountain, plow through a couple pretty substantial metal structures, lose a large wing section, and still be able to fly safely and land; is all a testament to the machine and the engineers at Douglas Aircraft.
That the flight crew was able to react to the mountain to begin with, accept what had happened, and stabilize the aircraft for flight and landing; is a tribute to their training and skill.
That's why that story is important. It shows what can happen, and still be walked away from. It provides confidence and a bit of pride.
As well as that underlying parable lesson: Don't get lost flying around in the mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment