Now that's something to worry about.

Missing a small part on a landing gear, FedEx pilots were forced to make an emergency landing.

Federal safety officials said Wednesday they were unable to determine why a pin in a landing gear of a FedEx plane came loose during a 2020 flight, disabling the gear and forcing pilots to make an emergency landing.

The National Transportation Safety Board said they believe the pin, which helps secure one end of a rod to another part on the landing gear brake assembly, was in place when the plane took off from Newark, New Jersey. They said when it came loose during the flight to Los Angeles, it allowed the rod to become jammed in the landing gear.

The NTSB said the mechanic who last worked on the brake assembly a month before the incident did not recall anything unusual about the job.....

Just how big are these floating disease incubators going to get before they roll over in a slight breeze? :-O

If you thought the Titanic was big, wait until you see the size of this ship that’s been dubbed the world’s largest.

The world’s biggest cruise ship is preparing to set sail, as it was seen testing the waters ahead of its 2024 launch.

Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas sailed hundreds of kilometres on Wednesday and gave soon to be passengers a glimpse into the floating city.

The vessel, which is nearly 365m long and weighs 250,800 tones seemingly glided through the water off the coast of Finland, The Sun reports.

A suspended infinity pool and three storey family suite are just a few of the luxury options on-board.

While the Titanic was the largest passenger liner at the time in 1912 at 10 decks high, 269m long - Royal Caribbean’s new ship is the current largest......

.....It’s over 20 decks tall, boasts seven pools and can accommodate almost 8,000 guests......

I also wonder how many ports can actually accommodate the behemoth of a thing.

Cheers.

.....It’s over 20 decks tall, boasts seven pools and can accommodate almost 8,000 guests......

I wonder if one can evacuate such 'behemoth' in case of an emergency. Winter cruises in the North Atlantic between icebergs are unlikely. But a disaster like the "Costa Concordia" in the Mediterranean can happen anywhere.

Any new passenger jet must demonstrate that it can be evacuated by ordinary people (old and young, not trained professionals) within 90 seconds as a certification requirement. What about cruise giants on the open sea? Has it ever been realistically tested anywhere in the last few decades how to evacuate many thousands of passengers from such behemoth, e.g. within two hours?

If you thought the Titanic was big, wait until you see the size of this ship that’s been dubbed the world’s largest.

The new ship will also be the line’s most environmentally-friendly, it’s first with fuel cell technology and powered by liquefied natural gas.

We no longer burn the dirty heavy fuel oil but clean LNG. We are environmentally friendly, almost climate neutral. Look, in our ship's atrium there are many large trees that reduce CO2. See all the green plants everywhere. GREEN, do you understand?

How do you define late Roman decadence? This ship embodies it! What needs more drive power? The propellers? Or the electricity, water supply, air conditioning, ... , of this ship? But that's all off topic for this thread.

.....But that's all off topic for this thread.

You could take those to debate elsewhere. ;-)

Cheers.

... a disaster like the "Costa Concordia" in the Mediterranean can happen anywhere...

Take one perfectly good ship headed by a vain/incompetent captain and too many others pay the consequences...


So... We now have 250,000 tons and 8000 passengers and a few thousand crew and...

Should regulations be imposed to include a monitoring "black box", and for the activities recorded and the Captain's actions, to be reviewed every few months to check for any hubris or other unsafe practices creeping in?...

And are there tested contingency plans for the inevitable 'emergencies'?...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Should regulations be imposed to include a monitoring "black box", and for the activities recorded and the Captain's actions, to be reviewed every few months to check for any hubris or other unsafe practices creeping in?...

They do on aircraft. They do in the Military.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

Should regulations be imposed to include a monitoring "black box", and for the activities recorded and the Captain's actions, to be reviewed every few months to check for any hubris or other unsafe practices creeping in?...

They do on aircraft. They do in the Military.

That seems to be in use already: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/voyage-data-recorder-the-little-black-box-of-cruise-ships

---

Should regulations be imposed to include a monitoring "black box", and for the activities recorded [...]

These blackboxes are in place at cruise ships. The recordings from the Concordia's blackbox had been secured then.

[...]and the Captain's actions, to be reviewed every few months to check for any hubris or other unsafe practices creeping in?...

I think there are no national or international regulations to do so. National port authorities still have problems with commercial shipping and drunken captains as there are almost no binding international regulations limiting alcohol intoxication. It depends on the cruise ship's operator if crews' practices are reviewed regularly.

And are there tested contingency plans for the inevitable 'emergencies'?...

To my knowledge, nowhere on earth there are truely tested contigency plans to evacuate a giant cruise behemoth which carries thousands of passengers. It's planned on paper only everywhere. The obligatory "test run" for cruise passengers is to collect a life jacket and meet at the boat deck once (if wind speeds and temperatures are comfortable); the long-awaited and adventureous event of any cruise ship voyage, good for fancy photos, nothing else.

I think most 'black box' style recorders are used - after the event - to analyse the accident, learn lessons, apportion blame.

Their use for proactive monitoring, performance assessment, legal compliance and so on tends to be resented by the persons being monitored, and resisted on the grounds of privacy. Remember when the heavy goods vehicle tachograph was widely described as the "spy in the cab"?

In the air carrier world the black boxes are dumped for review frequently. Any time any parameter is exceeded the crew is going to be hauled into the office to explain.

Thanks for those comments.

So... We have the safety tech to review safety.

... However, not done until the next Titanic...

How many lifeboats? How many crew know how to launch them??... And under adverse conditions??...


Sail safely?...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

So... We have the safety tech to review safety.

What do you mean I need a license to build a boat?

All this, and more, is covered in the IMO regulations:
https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Pages/PassengerShips.aspx
The first paragraph gives the scope of coverage:

Passenger ships - usually defined as a ship carrying more than 12 passengers - on international voyages must comply with all relevant IMO regulations, including those in the SOLAS and Load Lines Conventions.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

... And then there are recently:

Three Britons confirmed dead in Egypt boat fire
wrote:

... a Kuwaiti tourist who witnessed the blaze, said the fire had spread fast, engulfing the entire boat within minutes...

Escape from the Egyptian Bermuda Triangle: passengers describe terrifying ordeal on capsizing boat
wrote:

... guests have told for the first time of their ordeal after the boat capsized - for no obvious reason...

... After reaching an emergency hatch, they discovered the handle on it was defective and were forced to find an alternative escape route...

... found his own way out, swimming to the bottom of the boat where he escaped through an open hatch after finding every other route “impossible”...

... The boat, built in 2002, was on its second trip after being refurbished last year...

IIRC from reading elsewhere, there is an embargo on any additional boats/ships getting licenses to operate in that area. Hence instead, tour operators are "refurbishing" their existing boats to profitably add additional cabins...


Coming back to the design of an 8000 passenger cruiser... Safety to accommodate so many people against fire or sinking or disease comes expensive for no profitable return for those safety measures... Compromises?... Are the regulations and enforcement and oversight fit for such a large and new design?...

Sail safely?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Rescued Australian man who was adrift 3 months in Pacific with dog 'grateful' to be alive

"Asked why he set out in April from Mexico's Baja Peninsula to cross the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia, he was initially at a loss.

“I’m not sure I have the answer to that, but I very much enjoy sailing and I love the people of the sea,” he said. “It's the people of the sea that make us all come together. The ocean is in us. We are the ocean.”"

What a mess. :-O

Multiple people injured in Bruce Highway crash involving US military tank.

A United States military tank, multiple caravans and a B-double truck have been involved in a seven-vehicle crash on the Bruce Highway south of Rockhampton, injuring several people.

The incident happened late this morning on the highway near Bajool.

Police said vehicles in the crash included a semi-trailer carrying a US military tank, a flat bed truck carrying two caravans, a B-double truck, three cars and a four-wheel drive towing a caravan.

Three of the vehicles were on fire when police arrived at the scene and the other four were extensively damaged.

Video shows military police and numerous emergency vehicles and personnel at the scene.

Police have revoked an emergency declaration made under the Public Preservation Act and the exclusion zone established earlier has been dissolved.....

It's amazing that no one was killed and that truck with the tank onboard is the only vehicle not on the correct side of the highway.

US opens special probe into fatal Tesla crash that killed a 3 months old baby...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is probing the July 5 crash in South Lake Tahoe killed the 17-year-old driver of a 2013 Subaru Impreza after a head-on collision with the Tesla Model 3 and fatally injured a three-month-old passenger in the Tesla who died several days later, the California Highway Patrol said.

Lucky.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-66262083