Obama Almost Died During The Campaign
WASHINGTON — Skillful piloting may have prevented a disaster and death for President Obama last summer, a former federal safety official said Friday.
A report released by the National Transportation Safety Board indicates an inflated slide may have pressed against critical control cables, forcing the emergency landing of Obama’s campaign plane on July 7, 2008.
The slide inflated inside the tail cone of the campaign’s McDonnell Douglas MD-81 shortly after takeoff from Chicago’s Midway International Airport, the report said.
Investigators found evidence that the slide and a broken walkway railing inside the tail cone may have pressed against elevator cables that run the length of the plane. The cables are used to control whether the plane points up or down.
The plane’s flight crew struggled to level the aircraft’s nose, which continued to point upward after takeoff, but regained control by manipulating the control column and adjusting the trim on the plane’s tail, the report said. However, the flight crew noted the pitch control pressure required to level the airplane was higher than normal, the report said.
Former NTSB member John Goglia said the problem, had it continued, had the potential to cause a stall “at a critical point in flight.”
“It did have the potential of causing a catastrophic event,” Goglia said.
Normal control returned after the plane began it’s descent for an emergency landing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, said the report, which lays out evidence uncovered by investigators but doesn’t reach a conclusion on the cause of the incident.
The report doesn’t say why the slide inflated, but notes the air carrier, Midwest Airlines, suggested the slide’s cover may not have been secured properly.
There were no injuries to the two pilots, four flight attendants, two airline representatives, and 43 passengers, including Obama.
At the time of the incident, the pilot told passengers they were never in danger, and the Federal Aviation Administration said no emergency had been declared.
However, audiotapes released about a month later showed that after the pilot discovered he no longer had full control of the plane, he told an air traffic controller: “At this time we would like to declare an emergency, and also have CFR (crash equipment) standing by in St. Louis.”
Asked which runway he wanted to use, the pilot replied, “Well, which one is the longest?”
(AP)
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Damn all the luck!
Well, it’s hard to blame the pilots, as I’m sure they were just trying to survive, but sometimes you look back in retrospect and wish they could have just taken one for the team….
Kinda like former Arizona Republican Governor Fife Symington saving Bill Clinton from drowning when they were teenagers. If he’d only known…
Damn, when are conservatives going to stop saving these people so they can keep fucking this country up.
disgusting…you wanted other people to die just so one person you dislike could have died
I would have considered those pilots no less heroes than the passengers who sacrificed themselves on 9/11.Both would have died stopping terrorists.
No actually Jeff we want you go die.
Yup. I would’ve put up the money for a memorial for the pilots and other innocent passengers just like the ones that died during 9-11.
Another opportunity lost for late term abortion.
That slimeball’s image is disgusting. There should be a rule around here that any image of Obuttferk should be photoshopped so that his head is exploding from a gunshot, regardless of the context.
Jammed elevator cable and he didn’t auger in? Damn what a tease!
He flies alot….keep your fingers crossed.
Ya think he would fly over the Bermuda Triangle but noooooo. My fingers are crossed tlk…and anything else I can cross,
snap! “now it the time” for change? Obaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaama! Jump fool! I guess the Bildberg Group would cry?? oh, and GE owned ABC network…where’s our little puppet?
Where is that shitty pilot when you need him?
I think we should send the pilots of Air Force One gifts like cases of booze and “other” stuff.
[...] PatDollard.com [...]
We all better hope that this fucker’s plane goes down soon!!!! here is is people..read it and weep!
Gag the Internet
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07112009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/gag_the_internet__178749.htm
Oh the contrived drama!!!