United Airlines Emergency Landing in Boston (ATC Conversations)

On April 23rd, 2012, a United Airlines Airbus A320 operating flight 224 from Chicago to Boston was on approach to runway 22L at Logan airport when most of its navigation systems failed, followed by a loss of pressurization. The pilots declared emergency and looked for alternate airports: with none nearby with visual meteorological conditions, and with some systems back in working order, the pilots followed the ILS glideslope and then landed visually. Job well done.
Recording from liveatc.net, edited and subtitled by myself.

[@Wendygirljp]

A typical day in aviation - 99% boredom, 1% terror.

[@Kosh800]

'Logan Command, we're kinda busy, please fuck off.' lol

[@mosienko1983]

These vids have a strange effect on me. I've always struggled with self-confidence. I've often quit on things (or not even try) because of it. But watching these have really helped me somehow. I went to work this morning and I was like a different person! Thanks for doing these.

[@SlowedSonics]

Annie, I just found these and when I listen to them while I work it gives me a sense of urgency that I seem to have lost naturally. It helps me work quickly, decisively, and cleanly. Nice to hear it has similar effects on others as well.

[@johng8988]

Every time I listen to one of these and they ask for "souls on board", it just underscores the amount of pressure of normal flying, much less any kind of emergency. The pressure must be immense.

[@theresaryan308]

The reason they ask for "souls on board" is to eliminate unnecessary info ie flight crew vs passengers , etc. "Totally souls" frees up critical seconds to get the problem resolved as quickly as possible. (Shorthand analysis from a pilots mom!)

[@Misslynndance]

Theresa Ryan Yes. I understand totally...just when people hear it they immediately go to "souls". Sounds gut wrenching initially.

[@scottw5315]

That's a pretty antiquated report when the crew need to be flying the airplane. ATC can easily get that from the Company dispatch. Also, fuel on board. It should be given in time to splash. Sometimes crews report pounds which means next to nothing to ATC.

[@twelveightyone]

I am quickly becoming obsessed with these vids. Love listening to the chatter and the sheer professionalism of these brilliant people.

[@garryrainey6300]

I agree!

[@okkoki7012]

Exactly

[@charleaneason242]

So am I, although I must admit it does not escape me that pilots and ATC are an amazement I could never have any part of what they do. I am a RN nurse who does not play cards but in spite of occasional crisis I am OK but to those Ladies and Gentlemen of the air Kudos and thank you to all! Would be an honor to care for any of you at anytime!

[@syedosamakhalid5346]

I am a flight dispatcher we are also part of conversation

[@thatairplaneguy]

Engelbert Humperdinck I am no where near brilliant lol

[@Trevor_Austin]

This was a really well handled emergency. Boston Center could not have been more helpful and the crew did a really good job communicating with ATC.

[@speedomars]

Not quite. It was a bonehead move for the tower to give permission to the emergency ground crew to talk to the aircraft. The pilot would have asked if that was necessary. And he did not. He cut the guy off when he asked a stupid question while the pilot was in the process of landing on final approach, a CRITICAL phase of the flight.

[@christianorehek5841]

I'm glad the captain was willing to deny speaking with the emergency crews and concentrate on his aircraft! One of the best things you can do in an emergency!

[@Alex_BF]

Isn't that the Aviate Navigate Communicate rule ? :-)

[@christianorehek5841]

+Al Bee Good point!

[@Alex_BF]

Not an airman myself, but I think it's some kind of aviation survival instinct...keep the thing in the air first!

[@OwenDeLong]

I'm an airman and I'll say that it's not instinct, it's training. Something drilled into the head of every pilot repeatedly is "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate -- IN THAT ORDER." Still, occasionally, training gives way to instinct and accidents do happen where the pilot was not sufficiently assertive with the person on the other side of the radio. It's unfortunate, but I think it's good to understand that it's training overcoming instinct that often saves the day.

[@jmartin4955]

"Hey there! So while you are landing with marginal instruments, did the oxygen masks deploy? Oh, by the way, how was the food on that flight?" dumbass!

[@mindlesskittie]

Man..."UA224, say fuel remaining in pounds." The fact that control and the pilots know this is a worst case scenario calculation, and yet remain so cool about it, is a testament to both of those guys professionalism.

[@CooperRies]

They always ask for it in pounds

[@golfalot1]

Amazing professionalism during the crisis between traffic control and the pilots.

[@P2000Camaro]

There has to be. It's not gonna do anybody any good whatsoever to freak out. They are extensively trained to maintain composure in all situations.

[@lizashush]

golfalot1 and then there's Logan Command

[@vvkim8112]

"No, we'll talk to you later." Professional snap!

[@phillipvanostrand4613]

VV Kim sounded like they were some busy at the time... didn't have time for idle chatter😃

[@matthewthurston5625]

Such a ridiculous question on short final.

[@smithersrob]

@Gage you're making a ridiculous assumption, firefighters aren't going to respond any slower to a fire because oxygen masks haven't deployed, they're going to fight an airframe fire just as aggressively either way. At that moment on short final with an instrument failure and absolutely no suggestion of any concern about fire the flight crews focus has to be 100% on making a safe landing, everything else is a distraction from flying the plane.

[@smithersrob]

@Gage I'm an aeromedical retrieval doctor, i listen to air traffic control chatter for dozens of hours a week. There is a huge difference between background chatter and directed questions that require consideration and response during critical periods of flight. There is clear evidence that unnecessary communications during critical periods of flight is a major contributor to flight incidents, hence why commercial and military aircraft strictly enforce sterile cockpit rules during take off and landing and at other times. Short final during an instrument failure is the time to burden pilots with nothing other than absolutely mission critical interruptions. Which brings us back to my main criticism which you studiously avoided. Do you truly believe aviation firefighters are going to tackle an aircraft fire less vigorously if the pilot informs them no oxygen masks have deployed? The question is unnecessary because it's not going to change anything.

[@smithersrob]

@Gage you keep avoiding my main question so ill ask it straight out again. Do you believe firefighters will respond to an aircraft fire differently if oxygen masks have or haven't deployed and if so precisely what will the difference in their response be?

[@miabergman1448]

YO United 224 this is Logan Command how y'all doing!? "F off we'll talk to you later!"

[@MsPower105]

exactly, mia !!! in 4 mile final approach if me call so one commad frm ground..i f...him....! F.O B777

[@GMSNMS]

Hakan Aga Did you by any chance get that Engrish endorsement on your certificate???

[@MsPower105]

GMSNMS ENGRISH ? :P No !!!..ah, u mean English ? yeah ..little bit ..!

[@killqbill1]

like "shut the f**k off I am busy

[@battalian]

This was an excellent demonstration of effective communication with clear and concise statements to ensure the continual updates of information passed between the ATC and the Pilots. (high rated professionalism displayed here) I have read some of the posts below and I agree that the Logan Control (emergency services) was best directed to stay clear of chatter and distraction. If there was something more the ground crews needed to know, I believe these pilots would've been able to make the call to inform on it, but the priority was definitely keeping the aircraft flying while finding a solution to the landing approach in order to execute a safe landing of the aircraft. (Thumbs Up!) Cheers!

[@SilverPie]

I just like listening to these kinds of videos because I like that smart kind of "know it all" talk. Its really interesting.

[@mdb831]

Short final and a 400 foot ceiling good time for a conversation

[@mikevolpe5995]

LMAO!!!!!!

[@rapidrabbit11485]

With instrument failure too!

[@mdb831]

@@rapidrabbit11485 The poor pilots

[@kevinhorner1842]

Slap my friggin forehead!

[@petersteitz200]

You could tell the Captain was much more experienced by his short and quick response to ATC. He was very much in control of the aircraft. He delegated duties and the FO was probably working with company, ATIS and the cabin. Very good CRM. Aviate, Navigate, communicate. The Logan response had no business talking to them while airborne . ATC should have never given them this approval. The Captain was quick to say no. The FO was right on the money after landing. They worked well together.

[@falconeaterf15]

Glad they found the joint!

[@7700Purplexity]

+falconeaterf15 Yeah, it was under their seat.

[@falconeaterf15]

7700Purplexity hehe

[@waynenelson6701]

Echo the waive talking to emg personnel. First and foremost is a safe landing for all souls on board! Excellent teamwork

[@greatnate07]

Handled great other than Logan Command asking questions that weren't absolutely vital during landing.

[@mflynn2009]

Not a pilot just a former frequent flyer with a number of airlines so here is my empirical opinion United pilots rock!!!

[@bboucharde]

Here's a salute to the United Crew---and this is one of hundreds of examples of why the presence of trained, alert, experienced human beings in the cockpit is critical......I hope we never see the day when pilotless passenger aircraft are allowed to fly.

[@Strazman]

+bboucharde The part I appreciated the most was when Logan Command attempted to contact the aircraft directly, and the captain simply said, "No, we'll talk to you later". This is a classic and valuable example of how to handle distractions (even with good intent) when engaged in a high-stress, multi-tasking procedure of flying, which is landing the plane. My instructor, as many instructors do with their student pilots, attempted to distract me while trying to land by offering me a piece of gum. I simply said no thanks, didn't look in his direction, and proceeded on. Great work here by everyone involved.

[@stargazer7644]

Have you ever considered that pilotless aircraft would prevent all pilot error accidents, hijackings and intentional crashes at the possible expense of a much smaller number of equipment failure crashes?Seeing as how the majority of crashes aren't due to equipment failures, why wouldn't you want to decrease the total number of air crashes and fatalities?

[@bboucharde]

Star Gazer Star, You cannot predict the accident-crash rate in a hypothetical future in which all airliners would be operated without human pilots. There are too many confounding variables. You mentioned equipment failure, but you forgot about remote hacking of the complex control-sensor-communication systems that would be required. An alert, skilled, and dedicated human pilot can make decisions and perform compensatory actions that would be beyond the lines of programming in a computerized control system. Read about Air Canada Flight 143 in 1983, but there are many other examples.

[@anacatarinan6245]

Star Gazer I.hope.the.company responsible.for.software isnt windows are we all gonna die

[@msjdb723]

@@anacatarinan6245 😂🤣

[@pbwmanagement]

God bless the many professionals that keep the yapping freight in back safe.

[@anitahamel4576]

Excuuuse me ...Who you calling "yapping freight"? LOL

[@Mike12522]

Really nice work and great co-operation by all affected parties here !

[@imapaine-diaz4451]

It must be a great feeling, coming in with minimums and no ILS, to see that runway finally break out in front of you, right where it's supposed to be. What a Rush! Pros all around!

[@captainjustin74]

nice job You need to know when to pull the Emergency card and this capt made a call and stuck with it! well done pilots

[@GaryLaaks1]

Brilliant. Well done to pilots and ATC.

[@cblair0608]

Professionalism at its best, this is what pilots and ATC train for. GREAT TRAINING AUDIO.

[@sundevilification]

Beautiful. ATC requesting SOB and Fuel Status antecedent to them declaring an emergency. Ahead of the game? Go Logan!

[@cuteus51]

hum, I wonder how many times my flights have had serious problems that we passengers never learned about? If there is no "brace for impact" I guess we are not involved in the problem solving.

[@barbarairwin4369]

I , am very much addicted to this!! I, do watch them a lot!

[@cicilovesdrones2974]

Logan Command: Sir, is your plane silver or white? UA224: WTF??

[@a24396]

IMC conditions and then they "lost a bunch of stuff" - and the nearest VFR airfield was rather far away... And then they lost pressurization... I'm glad this turned out the way it did, sounds like a lot of issues to work through...

[@Nordique1919]

What an awesome job! Airline pilots have the most exciting job in the world!

[@flyerbob124]

That was really a simulator check ride right? First we take your instruments away, then we give you some of them back, then we dump the pressure and finally we get some fireman to ask you a dumb question on the radio just as your about to break out of IMC and land the airplane. Boy those simulator guys really know how to sweat you.😊😊😊.

[@codyl1992]

awesome job by ATC and the pilots working together! good to see

[@annaborowska8959]

Thx Daniel for your work! It is really useful for me!

[@joegamble328]

all in a day's work. Respect ladies and gentlemen

[@fliegerj]

WTW is Logan Command asking about the oxygen masks while an A320 is next to land with iffy instrumentation and pressurization problems, with a declared emergency and a 400-foot ceiling? I love that Tower very gently told them to "Shut the eff up". I was in the airlift center at Dhahran Saudi Arabia and a C-141B was about to land, and then started climbing. Right away, Maintenance, Life Support, Aerial Port, and everybody wanted me to call the aircraft and ask what was going on. I told them, "The guys up front are probably a little busy right now." Jeez.

[@Delogros]

Logan command was assessing fire risks, good general rule is the question wouldn't be asked if it wasn't important for some reason or another and LC got permission through the tower before asking.

[@rockslide4802]

UA pilots kept their cool. Boston controller very sharp and helpful. As for Logan Emergency: Short final not a great time to chat with pilots working on a difficult landing with equipment and instrument failure.

[@sblack48]

While the pilot wasn’t rude there was no mistaking the irritation in his voice. I wonder if there was an untransmitted “STFU” on the cvr? 😂

[@sameshitdifferentcolour4197]

thanks to the atc people.

[@ssbohio]

Ya, I was kind of amazed that Logan command was asking non-pertinent questions while the aircraft was on final. Tower did the right thing stepping in like that, I think.

[@timothyhocter6248]

I was fire and rescue for thirty yr.s if our dispatch had anywhere near this level of skill and professionalism it would have been a miracle.

[@DavidDiaz-so5kj]

Everyone was insanely professional, kudos

[@knndyskful]

I love how they tell Logan command to shut up while they work on landing lol

[@inshallamiami]

i love this stuff.

[@rickeymitchell8620]

These pilots have cool heads. Would fly with them anytime. All ground comms were crisp clear and precise during this tense situation. Good job folks!

[@allenprospere4181]

Lol when the guy said "did oxygen masks deploy?" and the pilot goes "no talk to you later!"

[@Lauren-lb4dl]

I had situation where I lost power in all engines. Not all the power, but enough we had to set down at a small airport in Vermont. I still have the pictures of that 747 sitting at that little airport. Just another day in the life.

[@jmartin4955]

My friends son showed us his video of landing his AWAC's on a carrier with one engine! Pretty tricky!

[@mgoblue0970]

How did an 707 air frame land on a carrier and without arresting gear?

[@mgytitanic1912]

The E3 Hawkeye is a Carrier based Turboprop AWACS aircraft

[@mgoblue0970]

AWACS is an USAF airframe based upon the 707. It does not land on carriers. The E3 is an AEW aircraft. Do you regularly compare apples to oranges and make similar conclusions?

[@mgytitanic1912]

mgoblue0970 No but they do perform similar roles and I, like many others, do not differentiate between the two. You're just splitting hairs my pedantic friend.

[@florisporro]

Thanks for the great edit!

[@kal47548]

logan command ...... if you dont crash you want beer or pizza ? Pilot ... we ll talk later

[@A_A_J.]

Beer AND pizza is always the answer.

[@mikevolpe5995]

Can I have both?

[@sean2015]

9:46 Tower: _"Logan Command, you can go ahead and talk directly with the aircraft, ask him whatever you'd like"_ 10:07 Tower: _"Logan Command would you STFU? Can't you see the pilots are busy trying to land?"_ xD

[@cottagechskitty]

And this is how it is done...

[@Bobrogers99]

Very competent people and a very professional exchange. Folks like these can restore my confidence in air travel. While I'm sure that the emergency crew had their own checklist to follow, landing the plane had to take priority.

[@albula642]

Thx for uploading

[@shelbymarie2249]

Love the happy endings :-)

[@weownthenight8565]

I like how the pilot told MassPort to shut the hell up. If they have something they need they’ll let you know. Otherwise don’t add to the mental workload of the flight crew.

[@teresas8173]

We Own The Night , he was assessing fire risk, tower gave permission to communicate with plane. I know this from reading the other comments from people who know more than we do.

[@WV-mx3dr]

"Uh UA224 we know your 700 feet off the ground but we need to know what you served for lunch"

[@trechan]

That captain is awesome. ".... We'll talk to you later."

[@debwings]

The pilot responded and was not rattled, just annoyed. Question was fine; timing was not. Mistake on the tower's part to allow the interruption moments before touchdown.

[@nenblom]

Great job to all involved!!

[@OwenC1993]

Very professional.

[@jfitts2]

you are right sir! and well said.. i think the pilots were just a little nervous and concentrating on the task at hand

[@paterpull]

Professionals. Good job everyone.

[@kewkabe]

I'm a controller, and you're correct it's in the AIM, but the AIM is non-regulatory and ATC (in the centers anyway) are taught it's not required. In fact, with PD descents it's annoying to us and ties up the frequency (we can see you've started your descent, thank you). But yes, airlines generally teach their pilots to do it. Probably a holdover from older days when radars had less datablock space and you'd have to remember the aircraft had a PD descent. The pilot report was a reminder.

[@photodom2000]

Just came across this. Pilots were so professional. Had a 'go around' a week ago and that was scary enough. Thank God I don't know everything that's going on in the cockpit.

[@janetd5317]

I too had a "go around" a few years back. Very scary. Seems the ILS went down on final approach and the pilot could not see the runway... terrible weather at the time...

[@QMPhilosophe]

Virtually every conversation on KZbin - no matter what the subject - turns into an argument.

[@dobermanpac1064]

Hey Fire Command hold my beer, I’m landing now.

[@rooftopvoter3015]

As Ted Stryker said, "you have to come in pretty low to land these things."

[@vicermolaev3223]

Great job, United!

[@marks2731]

I find repeating of information to be most important. ‘Turn right heading 120.. ‘U224, 120 heading.’ Ensures all communications are heard and understood correctly. Professional.

[@Sarge084]

SOP for RT comms

[@herbergreen]

Re: Approach clearing the aircraft to land. The local (Tower) controller can simply tell the approach controller (by land line) to tell the emergency aircraft they are cleared to land--even though the Tower is staffed.

[@MrUser6785]

I love these vids, so interesting. Don't stop uploading kenadamsusa

[@Michael_in_Vt]

Excellent!

[@pavlovsworld9122]

Cant get over how calm these guys/gals are. People have no idea

[@892guns]

Logan command got shoot down. Lol. You can hear him wimper off. It sound like he had his feeling hurt.

[@PilotProfessional]

ahahhahah I started to read comments below the video just to see if anybody will mention Logan Command lol)))

[@dennissvitak148]

29.26 ALSTG is 991 millibars. They're in the middle of a deep low pressure center.

[@lazzaleppi5285]

He asked about the masks to judge fire risk. He asked permission to communicate and was cleared. If anyone is at fault ( and no one is) it would be tower.

[@weldonstewart330]

@JetMechMA Yup. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. In that order. UA224 was IMC with a janky aircraft situation, and was too busy aviating and navigating to communicate.

[@JPF941]

agreed, the ATC should never have given consent there, because it's really not the ATC's to give. Emergency craft own the radio, ATC is there to assist, not grant approvals.

[@LaurentLaborde]

It make sense to know if the oxygen mask deployed, just in case of fire.

[@jqxok]

It was just a timing issue. The aircraft was on short final with likley a very high workload for the crew.

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

The Airbus syndrome--an ILS approach on raw data is a full-blown emergency. In the 1950s, Frontier Airlines DC-3s regularly flew mountain passes below peak terrain, IMC on a single ADF. Not only that, Frontier installed and maintained some of the H markers they used for navigation. Those guys were pilots.

[@DaisyLee1963]

Impressive professionalism. Makes me feel better about flying.

[@maanmohammad8459]

I have listened to countless tapes like these.Not in a single one a ground personnel beside the ATC communicate with the pilots,and even them only responding to the pilots.Only if you have seen them at work during landing you would appreciate how busy they are,and I have seen them during normal situation so you can only imagine what it is in an emergency.And yet we see a person in the comment section insisting that the interference by the fire fighter was correct.

[@magnavox50]

Logan command is the emergency crew on the ground. They asked about O2 mask deployment because if a fire erupts during landing the O2 generators that supply oxygen to the makes can fuel the fire making it harder to extinguish

[@joevignolor4u949]

What would worry me about this situation was the loss of two different functional systems at about the same time. First they lost instrumentation and then cabin pressurization. This can be an indicator that something systemic is wrong with the plane, such as power problems with the generators or a fire somewhere in one of the electronic equipment compartments.

[@jman8910]

good point - this is definitely a situation which warrant an extended maintenance check

[@deeremeyer1749]

What I hear is an aircrew that has fucked up in some way, shape or form and is maybe flying a piece of shit Airbus that can't land remotely "heavy" and they need to fuck around for a while and burn off some fuel OR "divert" to the CORRECT AIRPORT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO FLY TO IN THE FIRST PLACE BEFORE SOMEBODY PUT THE WRONG FLIGHT PLAN IN THE "NOTEBOOK" AND THAT MIGHT JUST BE WHY THEY'RE TOO HEAVY TOO. Shit like that DOES HAPPEN and its a MAJOR DANGER with "pushbutton flight planning and piloting" where all it takes is maybe getting one letter wrong in a 3-letter code when the only difference between that airport and the one they meant to fly to was THE LAST LETTER of a THREE-LETTER ROUTE CODE because that's what those electronic "glass cockpit" navigation systems are down to these days. You enter a 3-letter code for your departure airport and another for your destination and "WOILA" the "route" is retrieved from data stored in the navigation system and "intertial navigation" does the rest with maybe GPS for a back up or "correction" factor". And since there can be three or four airports in a 20-mile radius of a point central to the "group" it only makes sense to have a "region's" airports all have the first two letters identical for as far as the NAVIGATION SYSTEM ROUTE STORAGE SYSTEM IS CONCERNED and have the THIRD LETTER be the "identifier" for the specific airport in that "custer". They can't use the 3-letter airport code because those are "proprietary" codes used for other purposes and that just won't work. And it would SEEM LIKE its ONLY a 3-letter code and how could you possibly get the MOST IMPORTANT LETTER WRONG? Uh, BECAUSE ITS THE MOST IMPORTANT LETTER AND THE ONE NOBODY THINKS THEY'LL GET WRONG AND THE ONE THEY MIGHT GET WRONG "ON PURPOSE" IF THEY TYPICALLY FLY INTO ANOTHER AIRPORT BUT THAT DAY HAPPEN TO BE "DIVERTING" TO WHAT IS USUALLY AND "ALTERNATE" AIRPORT" BUT THEY DON"T KNOW THAT YET OR "MUSCLE MEMORY" TAKES OVER AND THEY END UP PUTTING IN THE WRONG LETTER BECAUSE IT STILL "SOUNDS RIGHT" IN THEIR HEAD AND IT "FEELS RIGHT" TO THEIR HAND AND WHEN THEY "DOUBLE-CHECK IT"BY GLANCING AT IT ITS GOING TO LOOK RIGHT TO THEIR EYES BECAUSE THEY SEE IT ALL THE TIME! When the FEMALE PILOT first "reported" they were having "problems" and said lost her "display", which happens a LOT when someone is trying to "reset" or "clear" their INCORRECT ROUTE INFO and they "accidentally" pull the breaker or otherwise disconnect power from it to do a "hard reset" to reboot it "fresh" ONE SCREEN AT A TIME, what did the ATC GUY SAY? HE ASKED IF THEY NEEDED TO RUN SOME CHECKLISTS OR SOMETHING. And what was her reply". She kind of gave it all away when she said "Uh yeahj. We need to check some stuff". Yeah. Right. THERE IS NO CHECKLIST IF YOU HAVE NO DISPLAYS BECAUSE THEY NAVIGATION SYSTEMS ARE SEPARATE FROM THE FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR A REASON. AND THE ONLY WAY THEY'D LOSE "CABIN PRESSURE" IS IN AN AIRBUS OR OTHER EUROPEAN DEATHTRAP WITH ELECTRICALLY-POWERED COMPRESSORS PRODUCING THE CABIN PRESSURE INSTEAD OF ENGINE BLEED AIR. I SAY DEATHTRAP BECAUSE CABIN OVERPRESSURE CAN KILL EVERYBODY ON BOARD A LOT QUICKER THAN "CATASTROPHIC DECOMPRESSION" WHICH CAN ONLY HAPPEN ON ANY AIRCRAFT WHEN THERE'S A MAJOR LEAK AND ITS NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES SHOW. WITH A TORNADO INSIDE THE PLANE, ETC. CABINS ARE "PRESSURIZED" BY KEEPING A LITTLE MORE AIR PRESSURE IN THEM THAN AT "SEA LEVEL" AND THEY VARY FROM PLANE TO PLANE BUT 6,000-8,000 FEET IS TYPICAL AND THE REASON FOR PRESSURIZING THE CABIN IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO BRING FRESH AIR FROM OUTSIDE IN AND PUMP IT OUT WITH NO AIR FILTERS IN THE PLANE TO REMOVE CARBON DIOXIDE. THE CABIN IS NOT SEALED. IT CONSTANTLY HAS A CONTROLLED LEAK THATS EASILY AND EFFECTIVELY KEPT CONSTANT BY USING PRE-SET PRESSURE RELIEF VALVES THAT BEGIN LEAKING WHEN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF AIR IS PUSHING AGAINST THEM. IF THERE"S A REDUCTION IN BLEED OR COMPRESSED AIR INTO THE CABIN, THEY SHUT IMMEDIATELY AND PRESSURE IS MAINTAINED. IF THERE"S A BIGGER LEAK SOMEWHERE ELSE AND PRESSURE DROPS THEY SHUT TO MINIMIZE PRESSURE LOSS. WHEN EITHER SITUATION HAPPENS THE FIGHT CREW IS GOING TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE THOSE VENT VALVES ARE LOCATED IN THE FRONT OF THE AIRCRAFT SO AIR "PUMPED IN" AT THE REAR FLOWS FORWARD THROUGH THE CABIN AND EXITS AT THE FRONT OF THE PLANE. THAT WAY IF THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH THE VALVES THEMSELVES, THE "RAM AIR" EFFECT WILL HELP MINIMIZE LEAKAGE OR WILL HELP SLAM THEM SHUT IF THEY'RE WANTING TO STICK OPEN. REGGARDLESS , A CABIN IS PRESSURIZED TO ABOUT 6000-8000 REGARDLESS OF HOW HIGH THE AIRCRAFT FLIES ABOVE THAT AND THE "DEPRESSURIZATION" ISN'T FROM "SEA LEVEL" TO "CRUISE ATTITUDE" AND IT WOULD"T IMMEDIATELY OR ALMOST IMMEDIATELY KNOCK EVERYONE OUT FROM HYPOXIA BECAUSE THERE IS NO "LACK OF OXYGEN" AT HIGH ALTITUDE. THERE'S JUST LOWER ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE THAT MAKES THE EXCHANGE OF OXYGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE IN OUR LUNGS HARDER TO ACCOMPLISH AND WHERE WE TYPICALLY ARE GETTING TOO MUCH OXYGEN AND OUR EXHALED BREATH CONTAINS THE SURPLUS, WE"RE COMPLETELY FINE AND CAN STAY CONSCIOUS FOR HOURS AT HIGH ALTITUDES JUST LIKE MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS WHO ARE ALSO DEHYDRATED, MALNOURISHED, SLEEP-DEPRIVED AND ALSO BORED STIFF DO IN THE "DEATH ZONE". THE REASON SO MANY CLIMBERS ON EVEREST GET "HYPOXIA" IS BECAUSE THEY"RE THE ONES THAT HAVE SHERPAS BASICALLY HAUL EVERYTHING BUT THEM UP THE MOUNTAIN AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, THEY RUSH UP THE MOUNTAIN AND BOUNCE UP AND DOWN LIKE IDIOTS TRYING TO "ACCLIMATE" WHEN THERE"S NO SUCH THING AS FAR AS ALTITUDE GOES AND WHEN THEY FINALLY START FEELING BETTER ITS BECAUSE THEY"RE CALMING DOWN AND RELAXING AND THINKING THEY"VE GOT IT DICKED AND THEY"RE "ACCLIMATED" SO THERE"S NOTHING TO DO BUT LAY AROUND AND "BUILD UP THEIR STRENGTH" AND WAIT TO "SUMMIT". DUMBASS MOVE OF ALL TIME AND IT KILLS PEOPLE BECAUSE THERE IS NOT SET "DEATH ZONE" FOR ANYONE BECAUSE ALL PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT AND WHAT KILLS THEM IS HYPOXIA AND PNEUMONIA AND FROSTBITE IN THEIR LUNG TISSUE FROM REDUCED RESPIRATION AND RELYING ON OXYGEN BOTTLES AND NOT KEEP THEIR LUNGS AND HEART WORKING HARD AND THEIR CIRCULATION AND BLOOD PRESSURE UP BECAUSE WHEN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH OXYGEN IN YOUR BLOOD BECAUSE YOUR SUCKING ON OXYGEN ALL THE TIME, YOUR BODY ISN"T GOING TO KNOW YOU NEED TO BREATHE HARDER AND DEEPER BECAUSE LOW OXYGEN CAUSES THAT. PARIAH OF THE CLIMBING WORLD IF HE OR SHE COMES OUT WITH THE TRUTH THAT PEOPLE HAVE AND SHOULD CLIMB THAT MOUNTAIN IN ONE OR TWO DAYS BY MOVING UP COSTANTLY AND STEADILY AND BY GOING LIGHT WITH BASICALLY NO EXTRA WEIGHT BESIDES WHAT THE IDIOTS THAT LIVE ON THE DAMNED MOUNTAIN FOR DAYS OR WEEKS WAITING TO "ACCLIMATE" END UP TAKING WITH THEM IF THEY MAKE A SUMMIT ATTEMPT. THEY ALSO GET WAY TOO "FIT" BEFORE THEY GO AND THEY HAVE LOW BODY FAT TO START WITH WHEN FAT IS MAINLY STORED WATER AND DEHYDRATION IS THE NUMBER ONE "KILLER" IN THOSE CONDITIONS AND IF YOU DON'T DRINK YOU DON'T PISS OR SHIT AND YOUR BODY LOADS UP WITH TOXINS AND RUNS OUT OF FUEL WHEN YOU CAN'T FORCE YOURSELF TO EAT ANYTHING OR YOU THROW IT UP IF YOU DO. THERE'S SO MANY OUTRIGHT LIES AND MYTHS AND JUST STUPID ILLOGICAL THINGS THAT NOBODY REALIZES OR BELIEVES ARE BULLSHIT BECAUSE THEY DIDN"T SEE IT ON A SCREEN OR A PIECE OF PAPER THAT SAID "NEWS" OR "SCIENCE" OR "STUDY" OR "RESEARCH" ON IT. I'm pretty sure they had the "cabin pressurization problem when they started pulling more breakers or something trying to clear out a "stubborn" route and incorrect "flight plan". THE GLASS COCKPIT MANUFACTURERS EVENTUALLY REALIZED THAT THEY COULD BE SUED OR AT LEAST BLAMED INSTEAD OF "PILOT ERROR" IN A "CONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERRAIN" SCENARIO WHERE PILOT ERROR AND JUST RANDOMLY PUNCHING BUTTONS TYPING IN A COUPLE OF CODES THAT COULD BE ONE LETTER APART AND BE TO THE SAME AIRPORT AND TO THE SAME RUNWAY BUT FROM DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS ENDED UP FLYING A PLANE INTO A MOUNTAIN INSTEAD OF AROUND IT. And they quickly realized that some "computer whiz" would figure out or some programmer would leak that you can put the wrong code in but still not look stupid or have an "incident" or "near-missnd definitely avoid a crash if you keep an eye on your route progress and have a paper chart or second "navp system" on a personal tablet and it takes a different set of codes or airport designations for its navigation so its basically impossible to get both wrong and you can compare one to the other and if they start to deviate it means one or the other is wrong. And that's probably going to be the plane's because using airport codes on the other nav system couldn't possibly result in a route being so close to the right one if its NOT the right one like that. Of course those displays are "always on" when the 'main power" to the cockpit is kicked on and they have to be on before they can be programmed and can't be shut off IF their receiving airspeed data UNLESS they're physically "Unhooked" from the electrical system by flipping a main breaker, etc. And you'll lose EVERYTHING when you do that and the screen goes black including your speed, altitude, heading, etc and if you do BOTH AT ONCE there's NO WAY to ever keep it flying straight and level perfectly until everything boots back up and they're PROBABLY on separate circuits for redundancy anyway. So what does a female "pilot in command" or "2nd Officer" who is SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO FLY THAT PLANE SOLO IN ANY SITUATION but who seems completely clueless when ATC asks if she needs to run some checklists? Say yeag and start throwing breakers because if he asked her if she needed to run checklists she thinks he's clueless but he's sitting there startin at their flight plan showing that plane heading his way but that's NOT on that airports expected arrivals list. So he was probably EXPECTING a "We've got a problem" at some point. The problem was the avionics manufacturers had to get smart or go broke if they kept letting pilots shut down and reboot and erase their data or THINK THEY WERE

[@starbolin]

@@deeremeyer1749 could be what you said or it could be the had a generator trip and covered it like you said or even there really was a loss of separate circuits. Doesn't matter as the crew did what they should and flew the aircraft. Reading your explanation I was beginning to feel I was coming to understand your point until you swerved off into a dark trip onto the mountains and ramblings about acclimatization strategies. You lost me at that point. As a climber I found your science to be at odds with experts at the mountains who do research and studies and your conclusions to be at odds with my experience. This causes me to doubt your analysis of the video.

[@MrYfrank14]

it was an AIRBUS, that was what was wrong.

[@geezerhull]

@@deeremeyer1749 I'm sorry, could you repeat that please?

[@glen4cindy]

Not if you lose pressurization below 10,000 feet. No air mask deployment would be necessary, as there is enough oxygen below 10,000 feet as the air mask would not be necessary. They are only actually necessary from altitude down to 10,000 feet anyway.

[@ShinyFalco]

Bravo Zulu to the crew and ATC. Professional.

[@peterburman5419]

Proffesional takes on a new ( original ) meaning😎

[@preston8836]

Logan command was way out of bounds! Cudos to the controller for shutting them down though. Both the pilots and controllers remained professional and calm.

[@chokeu2death]

Logan Command was not "way out of bounds"! He asked permission from the Tower to speak, and it was granted. If the Tower was aware that the aircraft was on short final, then it's a bust on the controller. What the controller should have said back to Logan was......"aircraft is on short final, if this isn't critical please wait until touchdown" You seem biased against the emergency responders and have a "halo" complex for the controllers ;) Re-listen to the audio and you will see what I mean.

[@kewkabe]

chokeu2death I'm a controller and I too would have assumed ARFF would have common sense not to talk to an aircraft on short final. I guess their training doesn't cover that... every emergency is different though so I wouldn't fault Logan Command nor the controller here. Learning from mistakes is how the aviation industry becomes safer.

[@xheralt]

Also, it wasn't the controller who shut Logan Cmd down, it was the _male pilot_. But if the ground crew were only going to get one question answered, that was a good detail to get, took a lot of worries off of the ground crews shoulders! Granted, soothing the ground rescue is far secondary to, you know, _getting the plane on the ground_.

[@smitty195]

Everything sounded good, except for right at the end with Logan Command. I would think that they are trained (??) to NOT communicate with an aircraft that is on short-final. They've got their hands full, and Command is asking something that can wait. I thought that was kinda dumb to ask. I know they have their reasons---but it should have waited.

[@loonylovesgood]

This is fascinating. It would take me a long time to get used to speaking in this language and keeping track of all the numbers and stuff.

[@debwings]

Yes, agreed; we also didn't understand the need for the report since the other altitude reports had been done away with due to advances, but it was dutifully pounded into us in the 'schoolhouse,' in recurrent training, and as far as I know that hasn't changed yet - sounds like it's overdue! :)

[@zacharylaramee1962]

I love Boston :)

[@Sherpaful]

With a ceiling of only 400' the only option at Logan was the ILS approach and that was even questionable. If they needed to go to an alternate they would have done so in an unpressurized aircraft with limited instrumentation at that. I would say that constitutes an emergency.

[@carloseduardodv]

nice transcript, nice video

[@debwings]

LC could have obtained this standard information earlier & through other means. It should not have been permitted moments before touchdown. In my experienced line pilot point of view (yes, UAL), and based on standard industry training, no one should interrupt the crew moments before touchdown. The PNF has extra duties in an emergency that require complete focus during this phase and there should no radio communications this close to touchdown, unless it's the tower telling them to go around.

[@wireflight]

Prose Praise for Pro's I love to hear Them working it Like pro's.

[@PikalaxALT]

That's interesting... I didn't know approach could clear to land while tower was staffed.

[@barbie91766]

Hey, pilots and ATC pros of the world! Psst! Take note. This is how the big people play....🤗✈

[@jasonthompson9698]

Its wierd, whenever there's an Emergency aircraft. ATC asks for fuel and souls. Aircraft always gives flight time and then is always asked for pounds remaining

[@thomashall976]

I like the videos

[@m0dul8r]

When flying a stars arrival as published, you can be given clearance to descend to a certain altitude - it is at the pilots discretion because in the published approach, it will say "At or Above" a certain altitude. When looking at an FMC under the legs portion of the approach it will say 6000 or 6000A - if it's 6000 it means that you must fly over that waypoint at 6000. If it is 6000A it means that you at or above 6000 feet and descending to the next articulated altitude for the next waypoint

[@raymondpaddy7004]

OMG, I about had a heart attack. These people are so cool under pressure :-)

[@Soandnb]

Heh, heh heh, "under pressure". Considering the aircraft lost its pressurization, that's an apt statement!

[@debwings]

Airline pilots are trained to focus during intense situations; background chatter is inconsequential. 10:19 - Aircraft receives runway exiting instructions. Therefore, LC’s interruption of the crew’s concentration at 09:56 occurred just moments before touchdown. LC question was fine; the timing very poor. It was ill-advised for ATC to allow the communication with an emergency flight on very short final, much less with a 400’ ceiling. Pilot answered in stride, but his annoyance was justified.

[@lunatic3783]

as long as we can find the joint---lol