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Comment by FigBug | Hacker News Reader

This one impressed me the most: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232

After a total hydraulic failure, the pilots still managed to land just using thrust difference between the two engines. I'm impressed anybody survived.

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I've always been extremely impressed and awed by the pilots of the Gimli Glider.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

"The aircraft's fuel gauges were inoperative because of an electronic fault which was indicated on the instrument panel and airplane logs (the pilots believed flight to be legal with this malfunction)."

Dudes, wtf? Unless Canadian regulations differ from US ones, you're not even allowed to fly a single-seater in day VFR without a fuel gauge.

this story is longer, I think: http://www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider/

it explains why they flew without a fuel gauge. tl;dr - they knew the gauge was broken, but regs allowed the flight if the maintenance crew did a manual sounding of the tanks and the measured fuel was enough. they sounded and measured, but converted incorrectly between pounds and kilos. I think the pilots were severely disciplined for that failure.

They were disciplined by Air Canada as Air Canada held the pilots and ground crew at fault even though the Aviation Board found Air Canada at fault.

Their disciplinary action was later overturned and "the pilots were awarded the first ever Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship."

I read about an earlier incident where all hydraulics in a DC10 failed as a result of cargo door failure as a kid. The passengers on that plane were very, very lucky that their pilot had practiced doing this for fun in a simulator. I suspect that a lot of pilots learned this technique precisely because of the earlier incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-10#America...

Due to this incident, using thrust vectoring in a control surface failure scenario is now built into flight management software.

That's a hell of a resume item.

Add the RA-85563 test flight to the list. http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=122072

The interview of the pilot Dennis Fitch by Erol Morris in the TV show First Person [1] is one of the most riveting interviews I've ever seen -- would highly recommend it.

[1] First Person, Season 2 "Leaving the Earth"

Yeah, that's an amazing story. You know things were bad when your landing kills a third of your passengers and you get a presidential commendation for saving that many.

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