The Heelers Diaries

the fantasy world of ireland's greatest living poet

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Location: Kilcullen (Phone 087 7790766), County Kildare, Ireland

Saturday, January 17, 2009

when the iron bird fell from the sky

An American Airways plane crash landed on the Hudson river in New York on Thursday.
No one was killed.
All 155 passengers and crew are safe.
Praise God for this.
The investigating authorities in New York have announced that as of yet they have not been able to recover the black box flight data and voice recorders from the plane.
The authorities also say that the plane's engines have become detached from the wings and have not been recovered.
I am concerned that an effort may be underway to conceal the true cause of the crash.
There was a very early rush to explain the sudden catastrophic failure of the plane's two engines as being the result of an impact with a flock of geese.
I am reminded of a syndrome Mark Steyn has referred to among certain American investigating authorities.
To wit: "No Islamic terrorism here folks. Move along now."
Black box flight recorders also went missing during the unexplained downing of a Qantas jet in the Philippines last year.
It is interesting to note that at least six Qantas jets were forced to make emergency landings last year.
Qantas admitted to grounding other of its aeroplanes due to what it called "maintenance issues."
Another Qantas jet suffered an extraordinary collision while being towed on the ground when maintenance crew either inadvertently or deliberately damaged the aircraft.
My questions.
Are Muslim terrorists sabotaging aeroplanes?
Have Muslim terrorists infiltrated aircraft maintenance facilities?
Do airlines take adequate precautions to ensure neither Muslim terrorists nor their friends can work in aircraft maintenance facilities?

4 Comments:

Blogger Adrienne said...

Plane engines are pretty big to get lost in the Hudson River.

And those birds are there all the time. If they were such a threat how come planes aren't dropping like bird poop? Just sayin' ...

6:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have a lot of scepticism on this one. Even a seagull can do a lot of damage to a plane.

If the Canada geese in question are Branta canadensis maxima, then I can definitely see how flying through a flock would take down a plane. The "maxima" is no lie; they weigh between 18-20 pounds (which my calculator says is about 9000 grams).

Adrienne, I think it's a freak accident. Once a truck passed me on the road and just a few yards ahead of me, a wild turkey flew up from the median and smashed the truck's windshield. There were feathers and blood up in the air. Given the large turkey population, turkeys getting hit by trucks is not unusual. However, it was sheer chance that it was flying high enough to be struck by the windshield.

I haven't seen the Hudson River during migration, but I live near the delta of the St. Clair River, south of Lake Huron. I've seen flocks take off from the river and St. Johns Marsh that number in the 100s. If they were to fly into a plane's path, even one of the big ones from Selfridge Airforce Base, I would lay good money on the odds of them damaging SOMETHING.

As for the idea of "global warming" affecting migration - my eyes roll. While food is available, but snow cover forces them to move on. They'll also return too early if we have a few weeks of early thaw - aka "false spring" - and then there will be pathetic robins hopping around in the last big blizzard of winter.

And I apologize, James, for hogging your combox.

7:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tried to find out more about the Canada geese population near LaGuardia Airport and found this:

http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmMwMDdjODc1MzczNGIyOTZiNTA5NzZlNGJkOWUzOTY

It appears as if a group called "Geesepeace" objected to killing flocks near the airport, so they tried relocation. That's all well and good, but other generations would seek out the same enticing environments.

11:01 PM  
Blogger heelers said...

Adrienne, I felt the same.
MissJ, you hog all you like. You've got an Access All Areas pass on the Heelers Diaries. I'd still have been happier if the engines had been recovered and looked at immediately. Harder for any cover ups in those circumstances. Instead, we've had officials telling us they "thought" both engines had become detached from a plane that's sitting right there beside them on the riverside. Now they've admitted one of the engines is still there. Should be no problem telling if a Canada goose blocked the intake so. When they eventually get around to checking. As for the black box recorders. Two days later and they still don't have em? What the what the.
J
PS: I'd also have been much happier to hear from the pilot directly what he says happened.

2:55 AM  

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