# The Great Ongoing Aviation Thread (general and other) (Part 1)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499 "2011-10-23T02:17:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 347
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6923 "2024-11-12T17:13:37Z")
A JetBlue airplane was also struck, although not as seriously:
> **[Spirit Airlines and JetBlue planes struck by gunfire in Haiti](https://abcnews.go.com/International/spirit-airlines-plane-struck-gunfire-attempting-land-haiti/story?id=115743737)**
>
> Flights into and out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, were suspended after a Spirit Airlines plane was struck by gunfire while attempting to land there.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6924 "2024-11-12T17:20:38Z")
I’ve been watching pilot debriefs on Youtube by Hoover. It is amazing how many private pilots treat flying like driving. Maybe I total my car on the freeway but I’m not at risk of my car falling out of the sky or crashing into a mountain at 100mph.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6925 "2024-11-13T01:29:47Z")
Heads up to folks in San Diego or the Bay Area:
[Martin Mars To Visit San Francisco, San Diego On Final Flight](https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/martin-mars-to-visit-san-francisco-san-diego-on-final-flight/)
Supposed to happen next week, no details on actual dates yet. I definitely plan on seeing it in San Franciso if at all possible.
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6926 "2024-11-13T01:43:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> I’ve been watching pilot debriefs on Youtube by Hoover. It is amazing how many private pilots treat flying like driving. Maybe I total my car on the freeway but I’m not at risk of my car falling out of the sky or crashing into a mountain at 100mph.
I much prefer reading to watching videos. While that guy seems very qualified, the titles of his videos look very click-baity. One of them has an arrow pointing to a pilot labeled “jerk”. Even if true, it’s probably not the sort of thing I’d care to spend time on. Could you describe some of his better work before I commit to watching?
Think I mentioned this before recently, but I’m hugely impressed by the writing of Kyra Dempsey, aka [Admiral Cloudberg.](https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/) She writes long articles about aviation accidents with meticulous research. Most involve professional pilots though, not general aviation.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6927 "2024-11-13T02:22:20Z")
He is critical of the bad decision making but tries to be as respectful as possible bearing in mind the friends and family of the pilot may see his video. He does a good analysis of what led to the accident and alternative choices the pilot should have made.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6928 "2024-11-13T02:53:23Z")
Almost by definition, the accidents happen to the pilots who make poor decisions (or fail to make decisions at all). At least on the day they crash; they might be fine most other days.
The ones who play heads-up ball are the ones who don’t need accident reconstruction.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6929 "2024-11-14T14:47:49Z")
Yesterday I saw my first HondaJet in the wild, landing at BLI.
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### Author:  [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6930 "2024-11-14T15:22:10Z")
Very cool! I sometimes virtually fly one in MS Flight Simulator, having never heard of such an aircraft, and it seems very much targeted to the owner-pilot market. As simplified and automated as possible, it seems.
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### Author:  [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6931 "2024-11-16T15:36:59Z")
> **[Bullet strikes Southwest Airlines plane in Dallas prior to departure](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/16/bullet-strikes-southwest-airlines-plane-dallas)**
>
> The aircraft was preparing to depart when it was stuck just under the flight deck, and no injuries were reported
Another plane shot at. Should we arm all planes so they can start shooting back?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6932 "2024-11-17T00:29:29Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#):
>
> Another plane shot at.
No proof of that. It’s Texas. Might as well be Port-au-Prince. Random bullets are something we just have to live with, don’t you know?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6933 "2024-11-17T01:18:55Z")
That’s what the plane gets for not being trumpy enough. No red anywhere.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6934 "2024-11-17T07:14:37Z")
Well it was in Dallas so you have to Love that.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6935 "2024-11-17T12:53:09Z")
Good one!
It’s showin’ love, Texas style.
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### Author:  [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6936 "2024-11-17T19:31:26Z")
Heartily seconded, I’ve mentioned them several times in this thread and am always impressed by their writing - so much so I recently subscribed to their Patreon, which I’ve never done for anything else.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6937 "2024-11-18T04:16:08Z")
Maybe it was a takeoff salute.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6938 "2024-11-18T05:28:03Z")
Very possible. It’s certainly a shot in the dark.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6939 "2024-11-18T12:43:32Z")
If it was a shot across the bow … they missed.
On a more serious note, there’s enough gunfire arcing over any US city at any time that random bullet impacts into something are a routine, if often unnoticed or un-newsworthy, event. Was this somebody shooting at taxiing airliners, or somebody shooting at something up close to them but oblivious to the airport a mile away? Or somebody just shooting at random, generally aware there’s a city & airport & factories and suburbia generally over thataway?
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6940 "2024-11-18T14:33:50Z")
You obviously have a lot more experience than I do but thinking about the major airports near me. you’d have to have spectacularly bad aim, more than just a couple of degrees high, to accidentally hit a plane at most of them as there’s nothing below for the last bit of final except maybe a road.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6941 "2024-11-18T15:09:09Z")
I’m just talking about some yahoo 2 or 5 miles away from the airport in any direction, not necessarily aligned with a runway. Now that yahoo is firing randomly into the sky and the bullets fall wherever they may. If there happens to be an airport in that general direction, some will land on the airport. I meant no more than that.
Bottom line: Is this aimed fire, sorta half-assed aimed-in-the-general-direction-of-an-airport fire, or just a random bullet impact that happened to strike something newsworthy?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6942 "2024-11-18T21:56:19Z")
NHRA Nationals were cancelled mid-way through the day when a plane (Piper PA-32)crashed into the parking lot. No deaths, a couple of critical injuries, hella scary. Luckily Emergency Services were there for the race, so response was instant.
> **[Small plane crashes at California race track, injuring 4 during NHRA finale...](https://nypost.com/2024/11/17/us-news/small-plane-crashes-at-california-race-track-injuring-3-during-nhra-finale-at-in-n-out-dragstrip/)**
>
> The crash occurred when the plane attempted to land at an airfield near the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, authorities confirmed.
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