Word: runway
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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Landings had been banned at Metro because of the fog, but takeoffs were allowed to continue because visibility on the runways was declared to be above the required quarter-mile minimum. Captain William Lovelace, making only his 13th flight after a five-year absence (he had left to get treatment for a kidney-stone ailment and later opened a gift shop), apparently became disoriented in the murk shortly after pulling his DC-9 away from the gate. According to investigators, he made a left turn onto a wrong taxiway, then failed to turn right onto a second taxiway that would...
...ground controller in the tower, unable to see Lovelace's Flight 1482 in the fog, asked First Officer James Schifferns, who was at the DC-9's radio, "Northwest, are you clear of Runway 3 Center...
Tower: "Northwest one-four-eight-two, if you're on 21 Center, exit that runway immediately, sir." Then came a shouted command from the tower: "Get off there!" Lovelace, busy at the controls, said later he did not hear his copilot tell the tower they were on the runway, or he would have "gone for the weeds," meaning roll off the runway and onto the grass...
...felt his right wing rip into the DC-9's cabin and tear off one of its tail engines. Despite his shattered wing, Ouellette skillfully retained control and braked to a stop. Said an aide at the National Transportation Safety Board: "He damn well could have cartwheeled down the runway into another fireball. He saved his people...
Some of the most ingenious cost-cutting measures are those dreamed up by Continental's Fuel Conservation Task Force. Seventeen fuel-guzzling old Series 10 DC-9s and 727-100s have been grounded. Airplanes will taxi out to the runway on one engine instead of two. Airliners parked at the gates will be heated and cooled by ground-based units instead of onboard auxiliary-power systems. Someone even figured out that by removing all those little armrest ashtrays -- since passengers can no longer smoke on domestic trips -- Continental can reduce aircraft weight by 50 lbs. a flight. While that...