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SUBMISSIONS
I welcome submissions of
reviews of any series,
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Show yourself & post
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YOUR Q's FOR MY A's
There is a
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SELECTED POSTS
This page, NEWS & UPDATES which is
actually the index page of this website has
grown into a huge database of my almost
daily ramblings of all stuff I hold dear to
my heart, including gossips of the most
sordid kind. For your convenience, I have
posted a list of posts which I thought is
pretty informative in my own way that you
might find interesting. The list itself may
be long but those selected few are the ones
I thought drives home the point I wanted to
make. Do check them out in
MY POINT IS [Comments & Opinions].
SERIES' SUMMARIES
Sometime in 2004 I began
reviewing selected
series in an episode by
episode way, where I
called these reviews
EPISODIC THOUGHTS.
These thoughts are
mostly summaries of each
and every episode with
my opinion of that
episode included in it
as well. I may not
provide the most in
depth summaries but I am
very proud of the fact
that I could keep the
writing on such a long
winded basis each and
every night for the
entirety of the series.
I don't do this for each
and every series though
because it kills a lot
of brain cells, mine as
well as fellow netizens
who often joined in the
discussion by posting
informative stuff. These
thoughts are still open
for feedback and
discussion. Do check
them all out in
REVIEWS where it is
indicated with an
[E]
next to my name.
OFFBEAT STUFF
There is this one
section in here that
features offbeat stuff
that are not
entertainment based. The
section is known as
FUNN STUFF
[COMMENTS & OPINIONS].
PERSONAL FAVOURITES
There are 3 sections in
here that contain my
personal favourites of
all kinds.
THE DDGs [COMMENTS
& OPINIONS] which
features specially made
websites by myself with
info & all related stuff
of my favourite stars or
stars I like to talk
about,
MEDIA & MUSIC FILES
[DOWNLOADS]
which has my favourite
VODs and music files,
most of them are taken
from Chinese & Korean
dramas & movies and some
of which I am hosting
for my net friends and
THE STORYTELLERS
[WEBSITES],
where you'll find
stories written by
amateur writers like you
and I.
Do check them all out! |
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Thank you!
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Heard of Gmail? It is by invitation only and I have plenty to give. If you want a gmail email account, simply email me at funnlim AT gmail.com (replace AT with @ and no space) together with your valid email address and I'll send you the invitation. Remember, must be valid email address because the details on how to set up an account is in that email sent to that very address. |
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01.01.2006
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April 20, 2005
Air Crash Investigations : Alaska 261 (2000)
Permanent link ▫ ▫  
This documentary, by National Geographic Channel has got to be one of the best ever. Remember the Avianca tragedy? I thought that was bad, a plane running out of fuel, crashing until I saw this one. The acting was superb, superb, superb and the emotions raw. Never had I seen the family of the pilots being interviewed but the victims' family were interviewed and in the 1st 15 minutes this documentary said what was to happen was beyond belief. I quite believe it so because nothing shocked me anymore after Avianca but you know, it shocked me, really shocked me that a plane can go down because of no grease added to a screw. One screw and it was as recent as year 2000!
The flight was I think from Mexico or somewhere bound for LA. It was only a 3 hour journey, and there were 88 people on board. The airline was Alaska (and remember this name because you will know why), a very reputable one it seems. Anyway halfway through the flight, 2 very experienced pilots noticed something very wrong with the plane's stabilizer (this plane is unique in the sense it's winged tip tale is the plane's stabilizer, pull it up and the plane's nose dives down, pull it down and the plane's nose dives up, like a balancer) because it was stuck. The pilots called the maintenance crew on the ground and there was no reply to their problems. When they finally succeeded in pulling the switch for that stabilizer thing which was still stuck, the plane suddenly nose dived so hard the passengers were flying all over the place. The pilots tried their best to stabilize the plane and again called the crew and guess what? The crew said you can try to do it your way or any way, meaning the crew didn't know how serious the situation was. THe great acting here were the pilots looking at each other like "Can you believe that response?". So the pilots were on their own and the plane still dives downward but somewhat under control but the plane was going very fast because the pilots didn't know what will happen if they slow down. It was going very fast, and the pilots managed to call LA control tower and requested that the certain altitude the plane was maintaining to be free from other planes and LA agreed. So they tried to work things out and the pilot, doing everything that their experience taught them even asked the tower to divert them to the ocean area. The reason, the documentary explained was because to avoid air traffic and just in case the plane ever crashes, it won't crash into the public area or into other planes. I was amazed by the pilots' professionalism and caring attitude. So there they were trying hard to control the plane to stabilize it when suddenly the whole stabilizer blew off! So the last moments of the planes were spinning like gasing and flying upside down, the passengers terrified to their very spine and the pilots kept fighting to control the plane until the plane hit the Pacific Ocean and smashed into pieces. Bodies were never recovered in one piece and everybody died.
Investigations were done swiftly and the results were scary. It seems Alaska was having some financial problems so planes were used more often, and maintenance people in a rush to keep the planes flying often falsified records of maintenance. Parts that was supposed to be changed didn't and like your car, you need to service it every few thousand KMs right? Well planes also but this time the service time was extended by 400%!! And at the end of the day the plane went down because the screw in that stabilizer was worn out, the I think chamber or maybe you call it cavity or whatever that holds that screw was worn out without any lines whatsoever and the screw even showed signs of you know, like becoming strings you know. The reason was because no grease was added for like years I think. The irony was the plane was due to be checked for maintenance some time later but the plane went down before that.
One maintenance guy 15 months earlier before the crash actually reported the company's new policy to the FAA and FBI investigated and they were fined. And then the plane went down and the guy actually before he was not really fired but blacklisted by his company actually wrote in his note to change that screw in that very plane but somebody else changed his order and it was not done. The sad thing was this man's career in the aviation industry was over but what a brave man, a very brave man.
So could you believe it? A plane went down because no grease was added to one screw. There was no backup screw for that plane, just one screw. The most terrifying thing was moments before their deaths, these people actually lived through the horror of hanging upside down, spinning and spinning but the pilots, they never stopped fighting for control over the plane. Of course one might argue that when something is wrong, they should have turned back and landed swiftly but sometimes they may think the problem is minor, maybe just a switch problem. I don't see a contradiction in the pilots' actions.
Maybe I was influenced by this documentary since documentaries may be biased in some ways. Who knows but you know...
The pilots have my deepest respect. I used to read about airline crashes and though felt sad, never went beyond the body count. Now after this series I began to appreciate the dedication, the danger, the horror, the science behind it all. Like one father of a victim said when ending the documentary, a person shouldn't die just because an airline wanted to make profit.
I truly admire the pilots and I feel so sad for the victims, just 5 years before. Just 5 years and I never knew such happened. Which is why when pilots for the Malaysian Airlines demanded a pay increase, I say they deserve it, more so market dictates it so. I hate it when ignorant people write these pilots should be grateful for even a small increase. When all could go wrong and they usually do go wrong mechanically or whatever, I would at least pray not just luck be on my side, that I have a good experienced dependable pilot flying the plane and in this case, good dependable honest maintenance crew caring for the planes and an airline company that looks beyond profit and put safety first. This is not a car man. When a plane crashes, the likelihood of survival is almost nil. I want the best pilot flying the plane.
Of course Alaska 261 was screwed to begin with. What can the pilots do about a faulty screw? Of course they said the plane's design was faulty also and mind you the planes are still flying! And how can FAA approve longer hours before service of a plane?
I felt like crying when I saw this documentary and it was so so so scary to have lived through those final moments and in the end because of one screw and no grease. What a way to die isn't it?
In honour of the two brave and great pilots who fought till the end to save the plane and those on board (although they failed because I would have loved a happy ending for this), the names of the pilots were...
Capt. Ted Thompson, 53 and First Officer William Tansky, 57.
The following links if you're interested in learning more about this crash..
- What is a stabilizer
- Transcript
- List of victims and some pictures
- Urban legend because of this crash. Interesting but misguided if you ask me. Remember to check out page 2 of the same article about the 9 minutes of stabilized plane and I agree with what the writer wrote.
- download the last 2 min recording (size 174kb)(the pilots and everybody sounded so calm!) by right clicking your mouse and choose Save Target As.
Amazing though that they managed to recover the black box from the ocean.
Do catch this series if you have ASTRO. Every Tuesday 10pm Ch 52 National Geographic channel, repeats I think on Sundays 7pm. Be prepared for sleepless nights though but you'll learn something as you get angrier and angrier. In fact after Aviance I thought my blood was near boiling but today, well you can say i almost vomitted blood.
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You're are
seeing the famous, talented
&
gorgeous Korean movie star,
Jang Dong Gun |
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The following are some of my
most favourite websites, forums
and many more that I often visit
whenever I am online. I am not
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I list them here because they
are simply the most
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of. Do have a look. All links
will open a new browser window. |
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