Monday, March 27, 2006

On This Day in 1977...

...happened the world's worst aviation disaster all because of a 4 second hiss in communication.
583 people lost their lives when two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Spain.

Both, PanAm 747 and KLM 747, were headed for the bigger Las Palmas airport but a terrorist threat had forced it to be closed and instead they had to land at Los Rodeos.

At 2:30 PM GMT, the aircrafts are informed that the Las Palmas airport has re-opened. To make up for lost time (and reduce traffic at the airport) the control tower suggests the PanAm captain to taxi just behind the KLM 747. The PanAm captain accepts.

Two hours later, both are backtracking the 3400 meters runway at low speed. The KLM will move towards the end of the runway from where it will report for take off. The PanAm one shall exit the runway at the third taxiway in order to let the KLM aircraft take-off. In the meantime the weather has worsened and the visibility is down to a few hundred metres.

At 4:55 PM KLM reaches the end of the runway. The PanAm 747 crew has just passed the third taxiway without seeing it. They saw the first one, they missed the second one, and they are now passing the third one thinking it is the second one. They are going to the fourth one.

The visibility improves momentarily and the KLM Captain doesn't want to miss this opportunity, he is already in stress as the Dutch regulations don't permit the pilots to fly beyond their hours quotas; if he doesn't take off soon both he and KLM will be in trouble. The KLM gets the clearance, but is not allowed to take off yet. However, the captain, in his hurry starts increasing the throttle. He seems to have forgotten that another aircraft is still taxiing on the runway. The stressful situation is probably the cause of this mistake.

5 :06 :13 (Captain) : We gaan. (We're going)
5 :06 :19 (Ténérife control tower) : OK
At the same time, the Panam first officer is talking :
5 :06 :19 (PanAm first officer) : No .. eh...

The controller now is in doubt. He reminds the KLM captain that he is not allowed to take-off.
5 :06 :20 (Ténérife control tower) : Stand by for take-off, I will call you.
5 :06 :20 (PanAm first officer) : And we're still taxiing down the runway...

The last two messages have been said at the same time. Consequently, they just became a long 4 seconds shrill in the KLM cockpit. The KLM increases its speed. 1500 meters further, the PanAm is still taxiing on the runway.

The PanAm captain sees landing lights of KLM Boeing at approximately 700m in the fog.

5 :06 :41 (PanAm captain) - (screaming) : He's coming...look...this son of bitch is coming!
5 :06 :41 (PanAm first officer) - (screaming)

The PanAm crew set full throttle to leave the runway ASAP to its left. But it is too late. The KLM captain sees the PanAm jumbo on the runway.

5 :06 :47 (KLM captain) : Oh shit!

The KLM is moving at about 270 km/h. The captain tries to take off and pass over the other aircraft. The nose climbs, the tail strikes the runway making sparks. The aircraft climbs from 1 meter, but it is not enough.
Both aircrafts collide. The forward landing gear wheels strike the right side of the PanAm 747, tearing the fuselage. The left wing cut the vertical stabilizer at the rudder level. Right wing fuel tanks are torn and the fuel catches fire.
The KLM 747 climbs slightly but it is completely dislocated and it crashes. There is no survivor.
In the PanAm 747, a few people escape from the burning plane. 64 people (including the captain all the people in flight deck) survived. All 251 passengers on the KLM and 332 on PanAm lost their lives.

Saw a documentary on this accident on National Geographic a few weeks ago - just left me stunned.

Here is a link on Wikipedia detailing the chain of events and the aftermath of the accident.


Also a graphical representation of what happened, also from Wikipedia

Friday, March 24, 2006

Sixth Annual Weblog Awards

Apparently there is something like weblog awards and its already in its sixth year. Some very interesting winners. I had been to a few of these, but not to the winner of "The Blog of the Year" - PostSecret (it also won the Best American Blog, Best Topical Blog, Best Community Blog, Best New Blog). The concept is very nice and the messages posted are well....strange!

The whole list is available at Sixth Annual Weblog Awards

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Omnipotence Paradox

The previous post reminds me of a paradox associated with God's omnipotence.

It goes like this: "Can God create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it?"

Ofcourse if he can bend logic.....:)


UPDATE FRIDAY, March 24, 2006

An interesting article on the same subject on Wikipedia can be read here

God and his Temples

So friends and friends' friends and I will be going to Tirupathi this weekend...well having lived in southern India for almost 2 years(gosh), I guess it is about time I gave one of the most visited places a visit.

Tirupathi, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, is located in the extreme south of Andhra Pradesh in Chitoor district, 750 odd km from here (Hyderabad).

So much for Geography…

This will be my first visit to a temple in about 2 yrs, probably the tenth or so in the past decade. I don’t visit temples, when I do it’s to see the “place” and the people and never to worship. Temples once meant to create the right environment for the devotees have become jostling grounds. I have never quite understood why worshipping in a particular temple is likely to increase your chances of success at petitioning God. Surely God is not listening to one’s prayers based on his location.

If God is omnipresent and omnipotent then why do I need to go to a particular temple?

And then you reach there, wearing a bandana of your religion on your head, but so have another billion people. All fighting to get ahead in the line, to get into a strategic location – little compassion is shown to fellow humans – cursing, pushing, pulling, etc is common…as if God will not note this…and just your effort to get there…

I remember once when I went to the Vaishno Devi shrine, a guy walking a few steps ahead of me got a nice little rap on his backside coz he decided to wait a few seconds too long before the holy pindis…or take the case of stampedes that happen every year during Haj. So you went to pay homage to the lord and ended up dead in the process.
How uncool is that???

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Holi Hai!

Sid : "Its been 2 yrs since I last celebrated Holi!"
Friend A : "So?"
Sid : "Do you know how long it has been? 730 days!!"

Friend B(suffering from an acute bout of exactitude) : "Not possible! Holi doesn't fall on the same day every year!"

Duh!!!

But we did celebrate Holi yesterday, even though for a short period only...the most fun part being the look on the face of my friend from B'lore. Not accustomed to playing Holi, his reluctance to getting dirty meant that he ended up looking the dirtiest. :))

And continuing my loyalty to Rang de Basanti, I was found singing the title track (no point telling how good a singer I am) ....and as the joke goes - unfortunately no Basanti came to colour me, neither was I coloured Basanti in the end...(sigh)

Monday, March 13, 2006

Quiescence

What a Sunday!!

The only major sporting action I was missing was some Champions League (but they never happen on weekends anyway)matches!!

A fantastic opening to the new F1 season...glad to see Ferrari back...looking like a 4 (and a bit, if Toyota improves) way battle between Ferrari, Renault, Honda and McLaren....delicious!!

A good performance by India at Mohali! And what a crazy game at Johannesburg!! How in the world did a team fail to defend 434???

A sad performance by the Australian bowlers had my room mates jumping with joy! It seems a universal thing - this dislike for the Australian side!

"They play rough!!"
"They sledge!!"
....
....
"They win all the time!!" (That's what they are supposed to do, isn't it?!!!)

Well anyways they remain my favourite team after India of course...

Moving on to the blog title...probably the longest break between posts...wrote a few but never posted...a lot has happened...some really good moments, some ordinary moments...a bit of deja-vu actually...Some emotional upheaval as well...but all that is in the past now...I am settled again!

Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer.
It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal.
But lately I'm beginning to find that I should be the one behind the wheel

[Incubus - "Drive"]