Scary Landings

I mentioned a scary landing at McCarran in my trip report post. When I recall what happened it doesn't seem so scary, but at the time it was.

Here are my three scary landings in reverse order:

3) In 1989 flying Delta from Atlanta to Orlando in a Lockheed Tri-Star jet (minor plane buff, sorry!) close to landing, the pilot suddenly applied full power and broke of his descent. We climbed a little and turned for a go round. The pilot explained another plane was taxing through the runway.

2) In 2008 flying Interjet from Monterrey to Toluca in an Airbus A-320 we got into a cloud during the descent. And we stayed in the cloud for a very long time. Toluca tends to have fog and low ceilings, but this was ridiculous. By the time we were out of the cloud I estimate we were less than 5 miles from the runway.

1) May 9th 2010 flying Mexican from Mexico City to Las Vegas in an Airbus A-320 (popular plane). The plane had experienced turbulence during most of the flight. Not uncommon for afternoon flights, of course, but unpleasant. During descent the pilot said Vegas was experiencing strong winds. Close to final approach there was some more turbulence, as bad as anything earlier on the trip. I thought we would climb and do a go round, but we didn't.

As the plane was about to touch down, it shuddered rather hard and I felt we were moving towards the left. The wheels touched then and the leftward movement ceased. In the split second before touch-down, I really thought we'd be blown off the runway.

I had a scary takeoff once. Again from Toluca, this time on Volaris on yet another A-320 (that cookie-cutter plane is everywhere). Driving to the airport I ran into fog around 5:30 in the morning. The fog hadn't lifted by boarding time at 7 am, nor while we taxied to the runway at 7:25. As we took off we were still in fog. Nothing happened, and it was possibly one of the smoothest takeoffs I ever experienced, but I was nervous until I could see something other than solid white out the window.

Two years ago flying into Miami from Toronto we had an aborted landing just like Nareed's first story. A little girl near us was crying "Daddy! I'm scared!". That made it worse... The first turn we made after recovering some altitude was very sharp and abrupt, I was worried we were going into a roll. Not a great way to start my honeymoon.

Back in 2007, Flying into LV via Southwest Airlines, the pilot was trying to move left and right to avoid rising thunderstorms. Suddenly, he took us into a dive, and our heads snapped backwards. We could feel ourselves floating weightless for a while. People screamed in panic. Later, the flight attendant came on and jokingly said, "Just for the record, this is not worlds of fun."

Luckily, prior to the flight, I had taken my flight pills (Xanax).
If you're having trouble with flying, these pills are a HUGE help. Three of them make any plane ride bearable.

My worst experience was not in the plane, but in the airport.


The wife & I were flying home from Orlando on Braniff. They're gone now. At the time they were in bankrupcy.

It was late in the evening. There were two flights, five minutes apart, going to neighboring airports, at adjacent gates. Both were being delayed. My flight was going to Newark NJ. Ten minutes later a plane was going to LaGuardia in NYC.

The people at the gate had no info to provide about the delays.

Then, finally, about 5 minutes after it was supposed to take off, my flight quietly starts loading. I notice this, ask what's going on, then get my wife, and we get on.

A few minutes later, the plane is almost full when two bewildered passengers get on. The flight attendants ask what seat they have, and they replied that they didn't have assigned seats, but were told to take whatever is available. The flight attentendants eyes practically popped out of their heads, but the passengers got seated.

The next thing I know, we're taxiing. And we're doing it without stopping. I mean, we backed out and it seemed like we were instantly going forward. The plane taxied around towards the runway, then the pilot gunned the engines even before we finished the final turn and we were outta there!

The flight itself was perfect.

The next day we get a phone call from our friend who was with us in the airport to see us off. She said that after we pulled away, they announced that the other plane got cancelled. As a passenger, going to Newark instead of LaGuardia would have been preferable to being stuck without a flight. The passengers got ugly quick, and there was a near riot in the terminal.

Oh wait - there's more.

They lost my luggage.

Fortunately this was on my homeward flight. Two days later they found it, and gave it to a courier to bring to me - 40 miles from the airport. I said to the courier, Isn't this silly? They could just have easily walked it over to the other side of the airport, and given it to UPS or FedEx to bring to me, and saved a bundle. He said, Yeah, and they're bankrupt. Go figure.



So is it any wonder that they are no longer in business?

I've had a couple of scary flights.

The worst ones are the aborted landings when you're on final and then suddenly break off... very stressful event. That happened to me once on the way in to O'Hare.

The other time was on a flight from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie, in the middle of winter, -20, in an evening snowstorm. There was about 6 inches of snow next to the runway when we landed and the pilot had to do a go-around to find the airport. He found it and the landing was fairly smooth. I love those Dash-8s.

They are all scary nowadays... the safety margins have all been worn too thin.
Airfares need to be raised to a level at which the flying will be safe. Maintenance at cheapie places is not good. Overly tired flight crews is not a good situation. Trained but inexperienced flight crews are not safe ones. A pilot who is making Burger-Flipper wages and who is in a Burger-Flipper employment situation is not going to suddenly declare himself too fatigued to fly. He knows the airlines view him as a Burger-Flipper, not a professional.

Runway incursions happen. Often pilots actually line up on a taxiway without realizing it. Sterile cockpits used to be the norm, now they are the exception.

In the old days, Quantas was such a safe airline because there was absolutely no schedule pressure on the pilots. If the pilot delayed take off because of the weather, there was no debate or comments about it. Now airlines have such scheduling pressure that pilots press on no matter what. Clearances will be lost if there is a delay. Lack of sleep is a major issue and the airlines are ignoring it.

It is always a rule that the safest airports have the worst accident record and the safest planes have the worst accident record. Its known as Contemptuous Complacency. The plane is so forgiving that the pilot is lulled into a false sense of security. Its the old One Legged Stool theory from the days of fabric mills. An employee on a one legged stool can't fall asleep.

Traffic conflicts, runway incursions, frequency clutter, readback problems ... its all getting worse. Noise abatement? Hah! In the old days a pilot and copilot would each have their hand pushing so that no matter what distraction one might experience that throttle could not vibrate back from full power. Then along came noise abatement power reductions after take off.

Too many inspections are perfect on paper but defective in practice. Too many problems are being written up incorrectly and submitted on a delayed basis. The margins used to be so great that a little sloppiness didn't matter too much, now the margins are razor thin. Oh yeah, the chances are you will still get there fine. Most flights are perfectly safe. Landings may be uncomfortable but still safe. Making a go around can be annoying but a Missed Approach is a missed approach, you can't wish it would go away.

Quote: Keyser

...Luckily, prior to the flight, I had taken my flight pills (Xanax).
If you're having trouble with flying, these pills are a HUGE help. Three of them make any plane ride bearable.

I use Lorazapam (Adavan)--they don't turn me into a zombie like Alprazolam (Xanax) can. Great stuff (used sparingly and judiciously of course).

not a scary landing but an amusing landing.

i took a plane to Seattle from Las Vegas and as we landed the stewardess said to everyone, "id like to welcome you to beautiful Miami, unfortunately we seem to have landed in Seattle." whole plane got a good laugh. good way to start the trip.

A couple of years ago I was flying Delta into Portland, OR. It was a very rough flight the entire time. On approach we had to circle several times because of the winds. After having the plane going up and down, side to side for 20 minutes, the pilot said, "Folks, we are going for it." Everybody at once said "going for it?????????!!!!!!!!! We made it down sideways. Scariest flight of my life.

Quote: likeplayingcrapsandbj

A couple of years ago I was flying Delta into Portland, OR. It was a very rough flight the entire time. On approach we had to circle several times because of the winds. After having the plane going up and down, side to side for 20 minutes, the pilot said, "Folks, we are going for it." Everybody at once said "going for it?????????!!!!!!!!! We made it down sideways. Scariest flight of my life.

I was on a Continental flight, Florida to Newark, and the basically the exact same thing happened. Same circling (though it was closer to an hour...20 minutes at EWR is what you wait for a GOOD flight). The pilot's precise words were "Sorry about the wait...but, hey, we're going to go for it now." Maybe it was the same dude! Haha.

I wonder what percentage of landings would be classified as "abnormal". I realize I'm using term subjectively.

GOing for it? Best... Line.... Ever.

last trip to vegas it was a night arrival so i look for the lights in anticipation. when i first start to see lights i expect to see more lights from the stip but no lights?! after a awhile i notice passing the same lights again? finally the captain comes on saying that the landing gear lights didn't come on so they had to circle. he said that the landing gears were now down but they couldn't steer the plane so we would have to be towed to the gate. then he says, oh by the way, if you notice emergency vehicles on the runway, don't worry it's just a standard precaution!

.

Quote: FinsRule

GOing for it? Best... Line.... Ever.

On a military plane flying to Hawaii with about 10 passengers on board, the chief steward announced that we were going to have to crash land in the ocean. We were half asleep. The military is very funny. We kind of looked at each other, and concluded that no matter how well trained this guy was, he would sound a little excited if it wasn't a drill.

I've had one aborted landing attempt at IAD - we were about 5 ft from touching down, and suddenly, we take back off, full throttle at a 45 degree angle - pilot comes on and states we were about to "crush" a regional jet, and we had to circle around.

Landing in IAH (Houston) is always fun - the runways are always subject to crosswinds, it just depends on how severe they are. Once, we came in and landed so hard that the aircraft hit its "bump stops" on the gear - it was like the pilot misjudged the altitude - everyone, including the attendants remarked how rough the landing was.

Finally, my office used to overlook DCA (Wash - National) in Crystal City. More than once, I'd hear a loud noise, and see an aircraft aborting landing/takeoff and flying straight over the building (which of course, never was reported).

-B

I had plenty of turbulent rides doing short hops into the Air Force Test Range area years ago.


This is my favorite plane landing though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfQwDizpRo

Quote: rxwine

I had plenty of turbulent rides doing short hops into the Air Force Test Range area years ago.


This is my favorite plane landing though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfQwDizpRo

I can see myself traveling to that island just to watch some landings :)

BTW In Vegas you can get a great view of landing airplanes at the Town Square Mall bus stop.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Fortunately this was on my homeward flight. Two days later they found it, and gave it to a courier to bring to me - 40 miles from the airport. I said to the courier, Isn't this silly? They could just have easily walked it over to the other side of the airport, and given it to UPS or FedEx to bring to me, and saved a bundle. He said, Yeah, and they're bankrupt. Go figure.

So is it any wonder that they are no longer in business?

Big companies become bureaucratic in the way the manage their day to day operations, with fixed procedures and stringent rules. Some make sense, some don't, and some may make sense but appear not to. In your example it's likely Braniff had a contract with the courier, meaning it would take bags and charge the airline a set fee later in the week or month. Whereas walking the luggage to FedEx would mean paying for shipping out of petty cash, or even by requesting a check from another part of the company's bureaucracy.

So in the end sending your luggage 40 miles away rather than to the other end of the airport may have been cheaper and faster.

The company I work for has been growing and it's getting bureaucratic, too. Thus far, since I work in the corporate offices, I can short-circuit the bureaucracy sometimes. I can, for example, go to a department head directly when I need something urgently. I can also use my own money for, say, a business trip, then request reimbursement, rather than wait for an advance on expenses (handy when I'm sent on hurry up trips on short notice).

Until last weekend, I'd never had what I'd consider a major problem on a flight. I fly quite a bit (approx 10-20 trips/year), so I thought that was pretty good. I even almost commented about my "good luck" in this thread.

Then I flew from Minneapolis to Louisville via O'hare (2 day stop-over in Chicago for the weekend. Will comment on gambling experiences there in another thread) last weekend.

Leaving Minneapolis on Friday night at 7:45pm, I had the opportunity to give up my seat and take a $400 credit from United. I almost always take those opportunities, especially when I'm on my own time. But, I turned this one down because I was planning on driving from Chicago to Milwaukee once I got into town. So I got on the plane and found my seat. I'm 6'4", and I hate being cramped in economy, so I took the Economy Plus upgrade that United has recently started offering. For me, it is definitely worth $20 to get 6 inches more legroom. The plant was an Embraer 170, and my seat was 3C. Normally, this would be my optimal seat because there is no seat in front of it (it's the first row of economy and there is only 1 first class seat on the same side of the aisle in front of it). Unfortunately for me, I had elected not to check a bag and pack everything for the week into a weekender and backpack. The lack of a seat in front of me meant there was only room for one of my two bags, and I was forced to gate-check the weekender. It contained all of my snacks. That is important for the next part of the story...

So we sit at the gate for about 45 minutes waiting for delayed arrivals from Winnipeg to get to the plane. Finally, we back out from the gate and taxi to the runway staging area. Then the pilot comes on the PA and says "well folks, we have a problem up here. there is a warning light that we can't clear. we can't take off until it's gone. We're going to try rebooting the plane." So they turn the plane off. lights, fans, everything is turned off for 30 minutes. Then they turn it on again. Same problem. Repeat shutdown. At this point, the guy in front of me in first starts complaining about having not eaten. The flight attendant explains that all of the snacks were eaten by the previous flight and the plane can only be restocked in Chicago. I offer my snacks and then realize that I don't actually have them because that bag had to be checked. Damnit! The Pilot comes back on and says that the light is still on and we have to go back to the gate. EVERYBODY cheers (we've been on a dark, hot, stuffy plant with no AC for about 80 min at this point). The Pilot says "Oh, no. Just to be clear...the mechanic is coming onto the plane. No passengers will be allowed to deplane." EVERYBODY sighs.

When we are back at the gate, we are given permission to eat the only food on the plane, which is a case of generic granola bars in a waterproof pack with giant "for emergency use only" on the side. That was kind of an interesting treat. Terrible food, but a rarity.

Finally, 2 hours after leaving the gate originally (2:42 after the scheduled departure) we taxi back out and take off. For those of you familiar with the Minneapolis airport, we took off westbound towards highway 77. I'm not sure if this next part was because of the plane or the pilot, but we barely (barely!) cleared the UPS building on the west end of the airport's property. I have never been so scared on an airplane as I was when that building passed below us. It was so close, I'm 50% sure I'd have survived a theoretical fall onto the roof.

Between the delay and the westbound take off and a west-facing landing in Chicago, it was about 12:30 by the time I was in the rental car and heading to Milwaukee. I had a terrible experience at the hotel there, which I will discuss in another thread.

And now another one, though I'm not sure where to rank it.

Again it involves a flight between Toluca and Monterrey. I had to ravel to Monterrey to pay for a contest's rules and requirements (see here for what is: http://diversitytomorrow.com/thread/332/0/#post7679 ) This usually isn't a problem, but I was on a deadline to pay them before 1 pm. SO I took the earliest flight I could find (In hindsight, I should have left on Sunday and spent the night).

The plane left at 7 am, which normally would put me in Monterrey at around 8. Well, about half an hour into the flight the captain announces conditions in Monterrey (fog) precludes landing there, So we'll head for an alternate airport. Now, I thought this would mean the closest airport en-route or past it, which would mean Saltillo or Torreón in Coahuila, or maybe Raynosa or Tampico in tamaulipas, or even Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua (yes, that's a state). but no. We started heading to Guadalajara, which is way south and to the west of Monterrey.

The plane turned, and I had the feeling I'd be screwed. But about 20 minutes later, the pilot announced conditions had improved in Monterrey, so we'd be heading back there. But, he added, if the attempt were unsuccessful (and one imagines if we lived through it), we'd head to Guadalajara again. By now I was worried about whether the plane even had enough fuel for all this.

Approaching Monterrey the clouds were thick and very, very low. The mountains near and around the city looked like islands on a white, white sea. Eventually we descended into one of these clouds. The flaps were extended, the wheels came out, and we left the cloud right on top of the freaking runway! And I do mean right on top. We touched down perhaps three seconds later.

Now, i know about Automated Landing Systems, and that most landings use them, and that vision isn't part of the system. Just the same, imagine if the runway were not clear (something the pilots can see in good conditions), or that the calibration is off and they overshoot the landing by half the runway, or something.

Well, it was one of the smoothest landings in my life, and it was all too fast to get really scared. But next time I need to do something that important that early I'm leaving the night before.

Quote: rdw4potus

...I'm not sure if this next part was because of the plane or the pilot, but we barely (barely!) cleared the UPS building on the west end of the airport's property. I have never been so scared on an airplane as I was when that building passed below us. It was so close, I'm 50% sure I'd have survived a theoretical fall onto the roof.

Between the delay and the westbound take off and a west-facing landing in Chicago, it was about 12:30 by the time I was in the rental car and heading to Milwaukee. I had a terrible experience at the hotel there, which I will discuss in another thread.

A most interesting thread, Nareed! Thanks for reviving it. There's lots I would say, but since the majority of posts are 3 years old, it would be kind of silly...but interesting landings/takeoffs never get old for me.

Just one note in ref to rdw 'cuz he made me remember it. There was an approach into O'Hare back a while that took guys directly over a white-domed building within a mile or so of the runway. Nobody ever crashed on it to my knowledge, but the skid marks from airplane landing gears were numerous and varied, black rubber on white dome. They would repaint it every once in a while, but it got popped I don't know how many times over the years. Just thought you'd all enjoy the thought next time you fly in there....heeheehee.

Quote: beachbumbabs

There's lots I would say, but since the majority of posts are 3 years old, it would be kind of silly...but interesting landings/takeoffs never get old for me.

We would love to hear your comments anyway. I've already posted in this thread but have a few personal recollections to add:

I was in a Cessna 182 with the pilot just tooling along VFR on a fine day. Suddenly he pushed the nose over into a vertical dive and the unrestrained girl in the backseat hit the ceiling hard enough to break her nail and floated there for awhile as a Boeing 707 from FedEx went into a screaming, climbing turn and passed close enough "to count rivets". He had been descending VFR and only saw us at the last moment. Each VFR. No fault, No foul.

We had left our overnight stop at a farm, big farm breakfast, two Vegetarian college friends catching up on old times and a morning ride to an abattoir with two sheep or two goats or whatever. So I guess it was a day for strange events. The pilot called Center and was immediately asked his location and there was some confusion as to his situation. We were tooling along fine but they thought we had crashed a half hour earlier and had just completed a ground search for us and were about to launch a Civil Air Patrol air search for us. Turns out the Flight Plan had our ETA and Fuel Exhaustion times reversed. We landed and shook hands with the CAP squadron that had just been stood down, mainly local farmers and housewives.

Again, tooling along in a Cessna and we suddenly hear the unmistakable tones of an ELT so my pilot told me 'Watch for Planes' as he went into a steep bank and took a null bearing on the signal then flew some more and took another null bearing and then contacted the nearest facility to tell them the ELT was coming from on or from one mile north of a certain airport. Look folks, he said "Watch for Planes"... just after hearing an ELT,,,so I was watching the ground for a crashed plane while he wanted me to be watching the sky for any possible traffic while he is doing his steeply banked 360s. Miscommunication.

Ran my two place ultralight out of fuel. Ultralights sink like a rock. with no power......all drag. My landing gear cleared the top line of barbed wire fence by a foot or so.......landed in the desert......a foot lower and the forum wouldn't have to put up with my BS.

Quote: beachbumbabs

A most interesting thread, Nareed! Thanks for reviving it. There's lots I would say, but since the majority of posts are 3 years old, it would be kind of silly...but interesting landings/takeoffs never get old for me.

You're welcome.

You may want to pick up "The Intruders" by Stephen Coonts. It's a late sequel to his breakout work "Flight of the Intruder." The sequel largely details the experiences of Vietnam veteran navy pilot Jake Grafton in a peacetime cruise. This includes a number of odd flight situations like near-misses, fires, crashes and at least one really bad carrier landing and an aborted carrier take-off (or launch, really), with lots of detailed explanations about carrier aviation thrown in. Coonts himself flew A-6 Intruders in Vietnam.

Quote: Nareed

You're welcome.

You may want to pick up "The Intruders" by Stephen Coonts. It's a late sequel to his breakout work "Flight of the Intruder." The sequel largely details the experiences of Vietnam veteran navy pilot Jake Grafton in a peacetime cruise. This includes a number of odd flight situations like near-misses, fires, crashes and at least one really bad carrier landing and an aborted carrier take-off (or launch, really), with lots of detailed explanations about carrier aviation thrown in. Coonts himself flew A-6 Intruders in Vietnam.

Yeah, Stephen Coonts is an interesting guy. I did a forum with him about 25 years ago, along with dinner; he's as good a storyteller in person as his books are good to read.

One of my first saves was an A6 out of Whidbey Island, WA (NAS). We were the emergency landing airport/approach control (Yakima, WA) for Boardman Range bombing runs, and the pilots would often shoot a practice TACAN approach into the airport, make a low approach, and then climbout on a flight plan back to Whidbey. (They also played in our pattern sometimes, and practiced carrier landings with us; we had a full cable arrest system.) Anyway, one day I was working approach, and I hear wind rushing, no words, on one of the frequencies. It was non-radar there below 9000', so we couldn't see anything; we just worked it in our heads with flight plan strips to keep track of where pilots were, and used non-radar separation rules. We weren't expecting anyone we weren't talking to, but that was a place where a lot of things happened without notice, so you got tuned in to the unusual little things; this was like that.

I noticed that the sound was coming on the UHF frequency, which is reserved for the military, so I tried broadcasting in the blind, and had them click once for yes, twice for no. Asked if it was an aircraft in distress: 1 click. Asked if it was an A6: 1 click. Asked if they were coming in: 1 click. So I had the tower clear the runway immediately, put the other aircraft into holding above the published approach altitude, and we waited about 12 minutes, then saw an A6 come limping in crooked, got his gear down at the last second, and landed reasonably well without taking the wire. He was a smashed up mess. A couple of us went down to take a look and talk to the pilots once they towed him off the runway.

They had been on a low-altitude (VFR) bombing run 50' above terrain at about 450 knots and had hit a flock of Canadian Geese. The front windscreen and one side windscreen were gone. The crew were covered in gore and feathers, with bird bones sticking out of the pilot's face and shoulders along with pieces of acrylic glass; he was pretty hurt, but could still walk. The birds had messed up all their electronics, including the radios; they could hear but not transmit. That was 2 birds. A third one had been ingested and ruined one million dollar engine, and the 4th bird had punched straight through the fuselage (1/2 inch thick aluminum) at foot level. It was a miracle they made it to an airport, but they were very good flyers. It took a crew flown in 6 weeks work to patch up the airplane enough to fly it out of there and back to Whidbey to be repaired properly, including having to fly in a new engine and mount it there.

Another crazy thing that happened there was the bombers used to go to the Army range just northeast of there, which was about 20 miles on a side, and shoot at designated targets spotted by silvery reflectors. The only thing that occupied that 400 square miles was a sheepherder and a very large flock; it was high desert, and the military got a little money out of him using the area. One bombing crew didn't get the memo about them, and didn't know exactly what they were looking for; they killed the sheepherder when they bombed his shiny airstream trailer with him inside.

Civil Air Patrol was very active there; with the non-radar situation, and in the mountains and high plains, there were a lot of crashes, and no way of knowing where a lot of them went down other than grid searches. There are very special skills needed to fly close to mountaineous terrain, and some of the CAP guys didn't fly much any more and had lost some skills. We had one situation where a plane crashed on a ridge, and the CAP crew looking for them got too close to the ridge and got sucked in and crashed, and then the CAP that went after THEM did the same thing and crashed. 3 airplanes, 6 dead, all within a mile of each other. But those guys rescued at least a dozen downed pilots/passengers a year, and were willing to take the risks to themselves.

As far as landings and takeoffs go, it might surprise you to know that, in ugly weather or heavy crosswinds, the pilot's best option is usually to slam it down and scare the hell out of you. It's the gentle, slide-along-the-runway surface where they lose it to the crosswinds or run out of runway. Same thing with takeoffs; the plane has to go straight until the nosewheel rotates, then the plane has to correct abruptly while the mains are still on the ground but the wings are flying with a crosswind component. It feels frightening until you're fully airborne. My favorite maneuver to get down is a slip landing; you kind of drop sideways right onto the runway, and straighten out just before the gear touches so you don't go off the side. It looks insane both from inside and outside the airplane, but it's a great ride.

As far as fog, you're right, Nareed, it's a killer unless the pilot's good at it and the airplane's properly equipped for it. My favorite air carrier is/was also the Lockheed L1011; they had the best cockpit for riders, and they could do anything I needed them to. We worked them a lot out of Portland; while I was there, Delta flew them using Portland as their international base to Hong Kong, Narita, Nagoya, Singapore, and Beijing. I've done a true CAT III (total autoland with no visibility) in one once from the jump seat (Delta into Portland OR, famous for fog, like Seattle and San Francisco are as well), and have no wish to do another, though I've seen them practiced too, not nearly so scary. But low-time pilots, especially out of satellite airports, that think they know where trees and obstacles are because they've seen them in good weather and take off into the fog, don't tend to survive the impulse.

It was a great career. Amazing things all the way through. I have hundreds of those stories.