Former Pilot Discusses Plane Safety Checks

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Rough take offs and hard landings are what many fear while flying. The recent accidents of Asiana Airlines and Southwest pushes that fear to a forefront.

“The accident in New York, it sounds like it was a mechanical thing. And those gears, from what I heard on TV this morning is that it collapsed. Asiana, that’s a different story. It’s hard to know because we weren’t there and the FAA hasn’t come out with a decision as to what caused it, but it sounds like it was mistakes made by the pilot,” said former airline pilot Nelson Jones.

Nelson Jones worked for American Airlines for 28 years. He knows the precautions pilots take before landing.

“Checklists are very important. You’ve got to make sure you do everything is suppose to be done. In a pilot’s mind, you’re checking your airspeed, making sure you’re lined up on the right runway. The main thing is to control your approach.”

The same goes before take off.

” One of the pilots on a 2 man crew or one of the pilots on a 3 man crew does a walk around on the airplane before it leaves the gate and checks to make sure everything looks good, there’s nothing leaking out, the tires all got enough air in them, there’s no safety pins left in the gear, etc.” said Jones.

Despite the recent crashes, with today’s technology, Nelson reassures passengers traveling by air remains one of the safest ways to travel.

“It’s much safer to be in an airplane than it is to be in an automobile. I used to commute to Memphis and I nearly got killed twice driving and never had a problem flying. Very few things happen in flights,” said Jones.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the cause of both crash landings.