So there.
What happens if an earthquake strikes just as a plane is landing or taking off?
- Thread starter mikea
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So there.
Trapper John
Ejection Handle Pulled
He failed to account for the effect(s) of and upon the treadmill.
ScottM
Taxi to Parking
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iBazinga!
What if the plane is on a treadmill?
Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
I was in Anaheim during an earthquake, late 80's maybe. I was there for a week at a training class. The earthquake hit, 5.6, just before I left the hotel, about 7am or so. I got to the training class and one of the other guys was telling his story. He'd been on the freeway when his car started wobbling. He thought he had a flat tire, and pulled over. By then the quake was over. He said he walked around the car, trying to figure out which tire had gone flat when he noticed a whole lot of other people doing the same thing.
edit: Pretty sure this is the earthquake I remembered (at 5.6, I was really off on what I remembered): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Whittier_Narrows_earthquake
edit: Pretty sure this is the earthquake I remembered (at 5.6, I was really off on what I remembered): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Whittier_Narrows_earthquake
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woodstock
Final Approach
What if the LANDING STRIP is on a treadmill?
What if the tectonic plate is on a treadmill in an earthquake? But a backwards treadmill? Would that negate it?
What if the tectonic plate is on a treadmill in an earthquake? But a backwards treadmill? Would that negate it?
fgcason
En-Route
Let'sgoflying!
Touchdown! Greaser!
I was airborne as an earthquake hit near my destination, shortly before I was landing. It was nighttime and I have to admit that without full info on the severity of the quake, or the runway condition there was a moment's concern.
As it turned out the 'quake' was a tiny 5.7 (1995, Alpine Tx) and of course, no damage to the runway. However, at the time all I had was a guy 90 miles away on the radio asking me about 'the quake in Alpine', and I could see a bunch of emergency vehicles with flashing lights at the airport. No one on the radio there to tell me what happened, no other sources of info (no other radios in range, no cell phones back then).
Of course we all know what can really happen, thanks to Hollywood and the movie Earthquake, right?
As it turned out the 'quake' was a tiny 5.7 (1995, Alpine Tx) and of course, no damage to the runway. However, at the time all I had was a guy 90 miles away on the radio asking me about 'the quake in Alpine', and I could see a bunch of emergency vehicles with flashing lights at the airport. No one on the radio there to tell me what happened, no other sources of info (no other radios in range, no cell phones back then).
Of course we all know what can really happen, thanks to Hollywood and the movie Earthquake, right?
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Pilawt
After the M6.7 Northridge Earthquake in 1994, thousands of aftershocks kept everybody's nerves on edge for months. All this time, seismologists on TV were beaming like kids with a new toy, saying, "Boy, we sure learned a lot from this one! We didn't even know that fault was there! For all we know, that may have just been a foreshock of an even bigger one!!!"
Our San Fernando Valley firm had a branch office in Palmdale. Under normal circumstances it was a 50-minute drive between offices, but after the quake destroyed freeway interchanges it was a 3+hour ordeal each way. So I made use of rented airplanes to shuttle files and office equipment back and forth from Van Nuys to Lancaster.
A couple of weeks after the main quake I was taxiing out at KVNY in a rented Saratoga just as a sharp M4.1 aftershock hit. As described in an earlier post, it felt like a flat tire. But realizing what it was, I keyed the mic and called KVNY ground, "37 Kilo would like to file a pilot report for moderate turbulence on the east taxiway ... "
The main quake knocked out the windows of the Van Nuys tower cab. I heard a pilot carrying relief supplies say to ground control, "You guys need anything? I got bottled water and disposable diapers." Ground control replied, "Thanks. We have plenty of water but I think we could use the diapers!"
I heard a radio station's helicopter traffic reporter describe the scene when the main quake hit in the pre-dawn hours. He said street lights were moving in discernable waves as far as he could see. A Southern Pacific railroad engineer said he could see the rails moving in a wave toward him, as if someone had whipped a garden hose up and down (the 400,000-pound locomotive wound up on its side).
With each aftershock plumes of dust would come up from the canyons and hills surrounding the Valley, looking like someone had slapped a dusty sofa ...
It was a scary time. And by all accounts there was no comparison between the Northridge quake and what the folks in Japan have been through. Prayers for them.
Our San Fernando Valley firm had a branch office in Palmdale. Under normal circumstances it was a 50-minute drive between offices, but after the quake destroyed freeway interchanges it was a 3+hour ordeal each way. So I made use of rented airplanes to shuttle files and office equipment back and forth from Van Nuys to Lancaster.
A couple of weeks after the main quake I was taxiing out at KVNY in a rented Saratoga just as a sharp M4.1 aftershock hit. As described in an earlier post, it felt like a flat tire. But realizing what it was, I keyed the mic and called KVNY ground, "37 Kilo would like to file a pilot report for moderate turbulence on the east taxiway ... "
The main quake knocked out the windows of the Van Nuys tower cab. I heard a pilot carrying relief supplies say to ground control, "You guys need anything? I got bottled water and disposable diapers." Ground control replied, "Thanks. We have plenty of water but I think we could use the diapers!"
I heard a radio station's helicopter traffic reporter describe the scene when the main quake hit in the pre-dawn hours. He said street lights were moving in discernable waves as far as he could see. A Southern Pacific railroad engineer said he could see the rails moving in a wave toward him, as if someone had whipped a garden hose up and down (the 400,000-pound locomotive wound up on its side).
With each aftershock plumes of dust would come up from the canyons and hills surrounding the Valley, looking like someone had slapped a dusty sofa ...
It was a scary time. And by all accounts there was no comparison between the Northridge quake and what the folks in Japan have been through. Prayers for them.
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wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
The force of the earth uplifting should lift the plane into the air earlier, meaning a shorter takeoff. If the earth drops, you'll simply be in ground effect and lift off earlier.
Steve Foley
Pattern Altitude
The force of the earth uplifting should lift the plane into the air earlier, meaning a shorter takeoff. If the earth drops, you'll simply be in ground effect and lift off earlier.
As long as the catapult is timed right, you'll be fine.
Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
Just remember to lean forward.
denverpilot
Tied Down
I was staying in the Santa Clarita Valley when the Landers quake hit out in the desert.
Waking up to see the ceiling moving the opposite direction of the bed and floor and the 20-30 car alarms going off in the neighborhood (What's with Californians and those things anyway on mundane/pedestrian cars?), convinced me that I'm not happy living in "Earthquake Country."
Y'all can keep that crap.
I used to be a storm chaser -- Tornadoes don't bother me at all. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, blizzards, whatever... All fine by me. But moving ground underfoot... That's spooky.
Waking up to see the ceiling moving the opposite direction of the bed and floor and the 20-30 car alarms going off in the neighborhood (What's with Californians and those things anyway on mundane/pedestrian cars?), convinced me that I'm not happy living in "Earthquake Country."
Y'all can keep that crap.
I used to be a storm chaser -- Tornadoes don't bother me at all. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, blizzards, whatever... All fine by me. But moving ground underfoot... That's spooky.
Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
The strange things you notice in an earthquake: I was in the hotel, about 3 floors up. I heard what I thought was a heavy truck driving by, then it got louder. I looked out the window to see if I could spot the low flying airliner, but that wasn't it either. Then the whole room began to wave. By the time I got to the door, it was over. I heard a few voices in the hallway, but the thing I really remember was the sound of the water that was still sloshing around in the toilet.
This from a guy who lives in tornado alley and runs outside when the sirens sound, instead of down to the basement.