Dillbag posted:

My wife and I struck up a conversation with a retired US airforce and FedEx pilot when we were on vacation a few months ago. He told us that the worst pilots in the world were South Koreans because in his opinion Asians didn't have the confidence to make the correct decisions when under pressure like Caucasians did (he ended up being a crazy Trump supporter, surprise!), but also didn't have the rigid training that the Japanese had to overcome such issues. He pointed to Asiana flight 214 as an example ("how the hell do you crash on the straightest runway on the west coast of North America?") and said the rest of the industry called Korean pilots "The Gooks of Hazard".

quote:

13 June 1991 – (Boeing 727) from Jeju to Daegu, the aircraft performed an unexpected gear-up landing at Daegu. The crew failed to read out the landing procedure checklist and therefore didn't select the gear down option. Subsequent investigation revealed that the pilot instructed the co-pilot to pull the fuse from the warning system because the repeated warnings that the landing gear was not deployed were, "irritating and distracting," him as he attempted to land. With the warning horn disabled, the Korean pilot brought the plane in and slid down the length of the runway on the central structural rib in the belly of the aircraft.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

Fire codes exist for a reason department:
Yesterday a dance was held at an artists' space in a warehouse, the Oakland Ghost Ship. Because human occupancy, to say nothing of holding events open to the public, was illegal, there was (duh) no fire code inspection, no sprinklers, no marked exits. The second floor was reached by climbing up a stack of wooden pallets. As you can see from the pictures, the space was full of flammable objects, and walking through the space was an exercise in traversing a maze.

There was a fire. So far, nine people are known to be dead, but officials say there may be up to 40 total deaths.

reddit thread.

This sort of thing happens every few years, because complying with building codes and fire codes is both expensive and time-consuming.

reddit poster posted:

There was only one exit. I was on the top floor when the fire started, so I don't know how it got started. I distinctly remember thinking that this probably wasn't a big deal and/or that it was maybe a prank.

After the fire started I walked to the top of the stairs where there was only enough room for one maybe two people to go down at a time. At this point I still didn't think it was a big deal. It wasn't until a girl ahead of me came back up the stairs and yelled that "it's too thick everyone back up to the top." (This may not be exactly what she said but I'm this whole period is kind of a blur it's the gist of it however)

That was when I realized that this was very serious and that I was in big trouble. At this point I realized that my best shot at survival was to find my way down the stairs and and try and find the exit. My decision to go down was a coin flip at that point because I was terrified. The kind of fear I felt was not the kind of fear I have ever felt towards anything in my entire life. This was a primal sort of fear. I very much didn't care about other people making it out as long as I did at this point. Luckily I don't think I smashed into anybody or hit them on my way out. I completely lost track of my two friends during this time period to give an example of how one track minded I was. I feel really bad that I didn't care and I feel like I should have said something to all those people before I jumped down. Maybe give them a fighting chance if they realized that down was the only potential option for survival.

Bear in mind that the time it took for me to first see smoke and reach the top of the stairs before things got really bad was only like a minute.

So once I slipped and slid down the stairs keep in mind that these were the worst crafted stairs ever. (The first bit was like a ramp almost. And then the steps had varying heights sometimes almost coming up to thigh level. I'm 5'9 so while I'm not super tall that's enough for some of the steps to be way too tall for stairs.)

Once I made it down the stairs I tried to crawl to where I knew the exit was. I had a good general idea of its distance from me but I would have to find two doors and to try and get out. Even though I had an idea of where I was because of coming down the stairs the way I stumbled down basically made it so it's very likely that I wouldn't find an exit.

Once I was down there it was awful. I couldn't see or breathe. It was hot smoky and hard to focus. Thankfully at this point it wasn't so hot that I was burning just being there. There were other people crawling around on the floor too.

So I was down there and I was having trouble finding the exit. At this point I genuinely thought I was going to die choking on smoke in these horrid conditions. Part of this was definitely because the lower level is like a loving maze. The stair room had three different exits and only one would have been the way to outside.

So I had only been down on the floor for 15ish seconds. (Even though it genuinely felt like I was down there for eternity.) As I was down there blindly trying to find the door to get out I got really lucky. Some dude who had already gotten out stood right by the exit with all the billowing smoke and was repeatedly yelling "this is the exit" "exit." I can say without a doubt that that dude saved my life. If he wasn't there yelling I would have never found the exit and I probably would have died.

Once I got outside I ran into one of my friends who had been inside. He had been behind me to go down the stairs and had somehow gotten out in front of me. I was so happy that at least we had made it out.

The outside looked to me like a loving warzone. People were covered in soot and crying and hugging each other and screaming. Lots of people were calling out their friends names in an effort to find them. I just kind of stood and there and stared hoping that my other friend had made it out and that everyone would make it out safe.

Once I got out, only two more people made it out after I did.

In around five minutes or so the fire department showed up. by the time they reached the scene the entire building was in flames. For a thirty or so minute period I stood there waiting for the them to try and get people out in the vain hope that my other friend had made it out and that they would be able to get everyone out.

During this time period it really looked like the fire was starting to go down. And there was a chance of saving more lives. Unfortunately everyone's hopes were crushed when in the space of one second the fire got like three times worse. It started coming out the windows and the roof caught fire. I waited there for close to three or four hours hoping that we could get some information about our friend. I still don't know what happened to him or if he's even okay.

Also I should note that the building went up so fast. I'd have to say it was probably 3/4s on fire in under 3 minutes.

I'm really tired and the night is very blurry, plus i'm typing this on my phone so if there are any spelling/ grammar errors and the story isn't very coherent I apologize. I might have messed up some of the details as well. It's also very hard for me to talk about this but I still decided to because I think that my memory of the night is only going to get worse from here.

Baronjutter posted:

That 10'11 bridge or what ever proves no amount of flashing warnings and signage can stop idiot drivers from plowing into things.

quote:

Defence lawyer Miikka Kunnari denied the charges, claiming the crash was accidental.

He said: ‘It was a pure accident. Foolish action, it is granted.’

Chomp8645 posted:

If the cop had a gun was Brazilian this never would have happened.

quote:

I have banned for almost two years now Serpa style (trigger finger paddle release) holsters from my classes – several other instructors and training facilities have done the same. …. I understand many shooters use Serpa holsters on a regular basis with no issues whatsoever. However an open enrollment class environment has its own set of challenges … and a trigger finger paddle release holster is asking for trouble.

quote:

My program is unique in the military service in this respect: You know the expression 'from the womb to the tomb'; my organization is responsible for initiating the idea for a project; for doing the research, and the development; designing and building the equipment that goes into the ships; for the operations of the ship; for the selection of the officers and men who man the ship; for their education and training. In short, I am responsible for the ship throughout its life — from the very beginning to the very end.

ekuNNN posted:

Baronjutter posted:

It's pretty interesting that Australia has like a whole unique class of vehicle not really seen anywhere else in the world. It's like if SUV's were only in Newzealand or hatch backs only existed in Japan.

quote:

Last May, Carlin, 34, was at the helm of a 50-foot oak and mahogany boat named Peggotty. It hailed from the days of World War II and Carlin wanted to sell it. So he decided to sail it from Grimsby to Hull for a survey and brought along a representative for the potential buyer.

The Peggotty was, however, blessed with neither a compass, nor fully working navigational equipment.

Still, what could go wrong? The other man in the boat had an iPad.

iPads have apps that can do everything, after all. And, indeed, his passenger -- who had previously worked as the captain of a safety boat -- opened his navigational app and began directing the way across the Humber Estuary, a waterway that enjoys quite some traffic.

Then the Wi-Fi failed.

The mental navigation system in your mind already tells you that the Peggotty was struck by trouble. More precisely, it was struck by the Petunia Seaways, a cargo ship 1,400 times larger than the 50-footer. Indeed, the Petunia Seaways is so big that she felt nothing. She wafted along to Sweden.

Meanwhile, Carlin, who had heard one lone fog signal but wasn't sure where it had come from, had to issue a mayday as his boat began to sink. He and his passenger were rescued by a passing boat. The Peggotty had, indeed, strayed into a shipping lane.

The report says that the master of the Petunia Seaways reacted too late, as the Peggotty was visible. The master should also have sounded his foghorn more than once.

You might imagine that Carlin wasn't an experienced captain. However, even though this was off-duty activity, he's a pilot with Associated British Ports.

FCKGW posted:

holy poo poo everything in this article

https://www.revealnews.org/article/this-tool-cuts-fingers-and-gashes-faces-but-shipbuilder-still-uses-it/

Olothreutes posted:

That's all DoE stuff. And yes, they are short funded.

The convoy pictured is Air Force, though.

ShadeofBlue posted:

Those computers are going to have to work really hard to actually manage to be less safe than human drivers.

PostNouveau posted:

Isn't the brake on a car just the same physical thing it always was though? Like there might be a program that would allow automatic braking, but it wouldn't ever interfere with the driver's ability to step on the brake and stop the car? I'd heard all those Toyota crashes were likely driver error after it was all said and done.

BattleMaster posted:

After listening to that a few times I've decided it sounds like it could have been ambient noise music from a new Doom or Quake game

Turtlicious posted:

Right, but it seems pretty controlled, is Liquid Oxygen super flammable? Because it barely caught on fire when he set the whole cup on fire.

quote:

Jody Martin said he got to the scene as the first fire engine was arriving at Grenfell Tower.

He told the BBC: “I grabbed an axe from the fire truck, it looked like there was a bit of confusion about what to do.

“I ran around the building looking for a fire escape and couldn’t see any noticeable fire escapes around the building. A lot of debris falling down.

“I eventually gained entry onto the second floor, and once I got to the corridor I realised there was so much smoke there.”

He added that given the thickness of the smoke, he would be surprised if anyone could have left the building without assistance.

“I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window ... hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down and they were saying, ‘We can’t leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors’,” he said.

quote:

One resident, who did not want to give his name but said he lived “high up” in the tower, said no alarms went off as the fire started.

“I heard my neighbour’s smoke alarm go off, and thought nothing of it. Then I heard a neighbour shouting... I’m lucky to be alive – and lots of people have not got out of the building,” he said. “I’ve lost everything I own. I’m standing here in everything I’ve got.”

The building was an “accident waiting to happen”, he said, and there was not enough space at the base for fire engines to attend the scene.

He and others criticised the lack of information they were receiving. “There’s no coordination from anyone,” he said. “The police have not come to speak to us. We’ve been unable to give anyone our names.

“It’s been five hours. There’s people here who don’t have a clue if their relatives are alive or dead.”

Phanatic posted:

Plus hull and propulsion damage.

$50 says the CO has already been heloed off. Might by facing a court martial, which is rare for this.

quote:

Navy officials reported three patients requiring medical evacuation were taken off the ship. “One was Cmdr. Bryce Benson, Fitzgerald’s commanding officer, who was transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and is reportedly in stable condition,” read a statement from U.S. 7th Fleet released on Friday about 9:15 EST.
“Other injured are being assessed. There are seven Sailors unaccounted for; the ship and the Japanese Coast Guard continues to search for them.”

Three-Phase posted:

Man that's the weirder area of Shutterstock.

Platystemon posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5cMZymSr0

quote:

The two men got permission to ‘do something cool’ with the abandoned aircraft which had never been finished.