Russia: Passengers 'get out and push' frozen plane

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-30208605

Russia: Passengers 'get out and push' frozen plane

Passengers due to take a flight in Siberia had to get out and push the aircraft after its brake pads froze solid, it's reported.

The plane was trying to take off from the Russian town of Igarka, but was unable to move after the temperature fell to -52C, the RIA Novosti news agency reports. Passengers on board the flight, many of them shift workers, apparently offered to lend a hand, fearing that otherwise their journey home would be delayed, The Siberian Times reports. The Katekavia airline flight later took off and landed safely in the city of Krasnoyarsk. "According to the initial account, the air temperature dropped to -52C, and the braking system in the plane's landing gear froze in the parking position," Oxana Gorbunova, a senior aide at the Western Siberia state transport prosecutor's office, tells RIA Novosti. "The pushback tractor was unable to budge the aircraft onto the taxiway, and the passengers decided to help give it a push, which is not permitted, as this can damage the aircraft skin." Prosecutors are now checking whether the airport, the airline, the crew or the passengers broke any air safety laws.

(continued, would you fly in a plane like this?)

[tattuchu]

Russia sounds like a magical place

edit: -62 F? Holy fucking shit that's seriously cold

[Blind groper]

I would want them to put the plane back into a nice heated hanger, and me with it!

[pErvinalia]

In communist Russia, you transport plane.

[klr]

In communist Russia, you transport plane.

I was trying to think if something along those lines, but you beat me to it.

[JimC]

We certainly have our treasured icons...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Prosecutors are now checking whether the airport, the airline, the crew or the passengers broke any air safety laws.

I don't think so. It's only illegal to get out and push if the plane is airborne.

[mistermack]

Russia sounds like a magical place

edit: -62 F? Holy fucking shit that's seriously cold

-52 F it was. Not as cold as -52 C actually, they cross over at minus 40.

If it's that cold on the runway, it must be way colder at 30,000 feet, you would think. So the brakes must be frozen each time they touch down. Maybe that's why you see a cloud of smoke when they first touch the tarmac.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Russia sounds like a magical place

edit: -62 F? Holy fucking shit that's seriously cold

-52 F it was. Not as cold as -52 C actually, they cross over at minus 40.

If it's that cold on the runway, it must be way colder at 30,000 feet, you would think. So the brakes must be frozen each time they touch down. Maybe that's why you see a cloud of smoke when they first touch the tarmac.

The report says -52C, which is -61.6F, so Tat was right (unless the BBC got the units wrong - which wouldn't surprise me).

C ==> F
x9/5 and +32.

F ==> C
-32 and x5/9

[mistermack]

Russia sounds like a magical place

edit: -62 F? Holy fucking shit that's seriously cold

-52 F it was. Not as cold as -52 C actually, they cross over at minus 40.

If it's that cold on the runway, it must be way colder at 30,000 feet, you would think. So the brakes must be frozen each time they touch down. Maybe that's why you see a cloud of smoke when they first touch the tarmac.

The report says -52C, which is -61.6F, so Tat was right (unless the BBC got the units wrong - which wouldn't surprise me).

C ==> F
x9/5 and +32.

F ==> C
-32 and x5/9

Oh yeh, I thought he mistyped the OP, not converting it to F.
He only does it to annoy.

[piscator]

I watched a Russian pilot light a pan of gasoline under his Mil helicopter to warm up the fuel system. I didn't want to see any more, so I went inside. About 20 minutes later, we were flying in it.
If I remember right, that big honkin noisy SOB took about 1000 US gallons of fuel and had a range of 250 miles, so it made plenty of heat after it finally got cranked...


Temps don't always go down with altitude. Usually, when it's epic cold outside of the polar regions there's inversion in still air, and the denser colder air sinks to the ground.
Then again, climbers on Denali have recorded temps of near -100F, and wind chills of almost -160F...