Home
Newsletter
Events
Blogs
Reports
Graphics
RSS
About Us
Support
Write for Us
Media Info
Advertising Info

Exclusive: San Francisco jetliner crash caused by airlines turning pilots into 'computer geeks who can't fly' says commercial pilot

Wednesday, July 10, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
Tags: airline crash, San Francisco, pilot skills

Airline crash

(NaturalNews) When flight 214 crashed last week at the San Francisco airport, killing two people and injuring dozens, many people were in a state of disbelief. How could a Boeing 777 -- the "Titanic" of commercial airliners -- be piloted so carelessly that the pilot seemingly flew it into the seawall and caused the accident?

But that's the problem, you see: There are no more pilots flying these planes. The real pilots have nearly all retired, leaving a bunch of "computer geeks" who have almost no flying skills and only know how to operate the computerized, automated flight equipment which is subject to catastrophic failure.

That's what "Pilot X" told me in a phone interview. His identity is being secret for his own protection, but he recently retired from over two decades of flying Boeing's largest aircraft for major U.S. airlines. He has received more actual flight time than 99% of today's active commercial pilots, and he's an expert in Boeing flight automation equipment. His testimony, below, reveals insider details that only a real commercial pilot would know.

Airlines are trying to dumb down the pilots

"The bigger the plane, the worse the pilot," he told me. "The airlines are trying to dumb down most of the entire fleet, and the pilots are losing all their flying skills. They don't want pilots; they want computer geeks instead of someone who can actually fly. The stick-and-rudder skills go to hell in a hand basket when you don't actually fly the plane."

The SFO flight 214 accident was likely caused by the pilot relying on the auto-throttle, Pilot X explained to me. "There's too much reliance on the auto-throttle. If you're a real pilot, you can do much better than the auto-throttle by running the power yourself to stay in line with whatever approach you're making."

The other pilot on the flight deck was also partially responsible for failing to do his job, I was told:

"The non-flying pilot was not using CRM (crew resources management) where you call out the controls and altitude all the way down. They also had the glide slope switched off, and those two runways are too close together to be doing real close approaches."

"The pilot was probably being trained to use the auto pilot and auto throttle instead of developing his pilot skills. Probably within 5 or 10 hours [with the plane] he should have been able to hand fly the airplane, but they don't teach that anymore; they teach people to be button pushers instead of pilots."

Accident was made worse by an air traffic control scheme called a "slam dunk"

"The air traffic controllers do what they call a slam dunk," Pilot X continued. "They make you go fast [during the approach], they are trying to move numbers instead of safety. They are trying to slam dunk everybody and push airplanes through as quickly as they can to get the next one on the ground instead of worrying about spacing, which should be increased. Sometimes it causes you to exceed your flap speed and limitations on the airplane for their convenience instead of what you should be doing as a pilot."

Expect to see huge increases in the number of air travel accidents

"I see a big increase in the number of aviation accidents in the future," Pilot X told me. "The FAA is just as corrupt as airline management. They're all pushing numbers instead of developing pilot skills."

"As far as air traffic control goes, they're one of the biggest threats to aviation right now. Most of the senior controllers have retired. These guys are pushing numbers, so coming into different airports, sometimes you'll have 3 different STAR approaches (standard terminal arrival routes) switched around for their convenience, and they switch runways when you're close in. And you're busy running the checklist, and then you suddenly have to switch everything in the FMC (flight management computer), so it's all heads down trying to change everything for their convenience, and it results in all kinds of safety parameters being violated, especially looking out for other planes."

Air traffic control treats pilots like they were a "yo yo," he explained. "I view air traffic control and the FAA as a big threat to aviation... giving up safety for convenience and statistics, and moving numbers. The speeds are too high, they make you fly high speed, 180 knots to the marker. That's too fast, no matter what kind of airplane you're in, you don't have time to slow it down, you're trying to get the gear out and everything else, so instead of worrying about landing the plane in front of you, you have to worry about the guy behind you, they're trying to rush you to move numbers."

Experienced pilots being forced out of the industry

All the really good pilots are retiring, quitting or being forced out of the industry, Pilot X explained to me. "Most of the best guys have quit, and some of these airlines are expected to file bankruptcy next year and steal their retirement funds."

A pilot shortage is on the horizon, causing even more inexperienced pilots to be put in charge of airliners carrying hundreds of passengers. "There's gonna be a massive pilot shortage over the next 2-3 years. They need 60,000 pilots and there are only 10,000 qualified to draw from. Everybody is pissed off and stressed out."

Airlines also have a reputation for stealing the pensions of pilots. "Most of the pilots want to get out; they know [management] is going to steal the pension money to give themselves bonuses."

Conclusion: Air travel is going to become increasingly dangerous

Here are the key trends happening in the air travel industry right now according to Pilot X:

• Real piloting skills are being abandoned by airlines.

• Pilots are being trained to be button pushers instead of real pilots.

• Air traffic control is "slam dunking" airplanes into runways at dangerous speeds in order to increase traffic throughput at the cost of sacrificing safety.

• Airplane automation is actually becoming a danger to the safety of airline passengers because pilots rely on it too much and lose piloting skills.

• The most experienced pilots are rapidly leaving the industry and taking decades of experience with them. There are not enough younger pilots to replace them, so airline companies will increasingly have to hire inexperienced pilots to fly the largest planes.

But who cares about safety when you can get extra miles by shopping with your "rewards" credit card!

Receive Our Free Email Newsletter

Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.




About the author:Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com) and a globally recognized scientific researcher in clean foods. He serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation.

Adams is a person of color whose ancestors include Africans and Native American Indians. He's also of Native American heritage, which he credits as inspiring his "Health Ranger" passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution.

Adams is the founder and publisher of the open source science journal Natural Science Journal, the author of numerous peer-reviewed science papers published by the journal, and the author of the world's first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books.

In his laboratory research, Adams has made numerous food safety breakthroughs such as revealing rice protein products imported from Asia to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tungsten. Adams was the first food science researcher to document high levels of tungsten in superfoods. He also discovered over 11 ppm lead in imported mangosteen powder, and led an industry-wide voluntary agreement to limit heavy metals in rice protein products.

In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.

With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies.

Adams is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed "strange fibers" found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health "gurus," dangerous "detox" products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.

Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.

In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released over a dozen popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.

Click here to read a more detailed bio on Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, at HealthRanger.com.

comments powered by Disqus
Most Viewed Articles



Natural News Wire (Sponsored Content)

Science.News
Science News & Studies
Medicine.News
Medicine News and Information
Food.News
Food News & Studies
Health.News
Health News & Studies
Herbs.News
Herbs News & Information
Pollution.News
Pollution News & Studies
Cancer.News
Cancer News & Studies
Climate.News
Climate News & Studies
Survival.News
Survival News & Information
Gear.News
Gear News & Information
Glitch.News
News covering technology, stocks, hackers, and more