Nw 188

[KMEM]

Yahoo has a picture of an FDR (Flight Data Recorder) today on their web page with a "report" of the transcript between ATC and the pilots of this flight that flew past MSP. The transcript is from a recording made of every transmission between ATC and any aircraft and has nothing to do with an FDR. The FDR doesn't contain any of this information in any case; that is the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) which does record not only transmissions to/from the cockpit to ATC (or any other radio contact) but also whatever is said between the pilots. The CVR on this flight only recorded for 30 minutes and then started over, recording the last minute over the first minute of the 30 minute interval. This time would have elapsed by the time they turned around, landed and taxied in to the gate.

 

Sorry to bore everyone with this but it is just another example of the general news media not knowing what they are writing about. It certainly leads me to believe they also don't know what they are writing about concerning other topics.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Kevin Slater]

The CVR on this flight only recorded for 30 minutes and then started over, recording the last minute over the first minute of the 30 minute interval. This time would have elapsed by the time they turned around, landed and taxied in to the gate.

 

The irony in that to me is that is they had just overflown slightly, there may be a record of what was going on. But because they flew so far off course all voice data was recorded over. Seems like the moral is if you fuck up, be sure to fuck up big.

 

but it is just another example of the general news media not knowing what they are writing about. It certainly leads me to believe they also don't know what they are writing about concerning other topics.

 

News media is always wonderfully informative so long as you don't know the subject matter. The moment they report on something you you, you realize how wrong they get most things.

 

Kevin Slater

[KMEM]

I take your points. Back when most airliners had a 3 man crew with 2 pilots and a flight engineer, it was commonly said a flight engineer who knew where the circuit breaker for the CVR was and knew when to pull it was worth his weight in gold.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[+ ArVaGuy]

News media is always wonderfully informative so long as you don't know the subject matter. The moment they report on something you you, you realize how wrong they get most things.

 

Kevin Slater

 

About six years ago I attended an event where the keynote speaker was a newspaper publisher. I remember this quote which has stuck with me ever since.

 

"A journalist is someone who purports to explain to others that which he does not understand."

 

I'm not sure if this is an old journalism school aphorism or not but it serves as a good reminder reporters are not the experts they claim.

[KMEM]

Even the "experts" the news media sometimes hires or consults don't always hit the mark. Some times it is because they try to over simplify a technical point which can change the real meaning or sometimes they are just as wrong as the reporters can be.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[+ ArVaGuy]

Many of the alleged experts have a book to sell so I think that colors what some of them say in regard to various issues. It’s the wild speculation that they engage in that drive me up a wall. Hypotheticals become the narrative rather than facts.