Latest / Brian Thomas / IHeartMedia Aviation Expert Jay Ratliff

Transcript

IHeartMedia Aviation Expert Jay Ratliff · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: 829 Thursday, Friday Eve, call it what you will. It's
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  Speaker 1: that time of week I always thoroughly enjoy talking aviation
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  Speaker 1: news with iHeartMedia aviation expert Jay Radliff. Jay, I saw
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  Speaker 1: your Facebook post from yesterday on Veterans Day. I guess
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  Speaker 1: you got to attend a really nice Veterans Day parade.
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  Speaker 2: I did down in Savannah. It was their 80th annual.
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  Speaker 2: And Brian, they've got flags that hang over the parade
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  Speaker 2: route for about five blocks. And they told me that
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  Speaker 2: those flags were from fallen soldiers. and the families had
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  Speaker 2: donated them so that they could hang above the parade. Oh, wow.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought that was very, very moving. It was
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  Speaker 2: a nice time. And, of course, this is Veterans Week.
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  Speaker 2: I think you're ending the week emceeing something, aren't you?
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  Speaker 1: Ending the week in what? Oh, yeah, the Honor Flight
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  Speaker 1: bourbon event.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, let's not forget about that. Yeah, that's a
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  Speaker 2: big deal. I'm sorry that Sherry and I are not
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  Speaker 2: in town to be there with you, brother, because, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of Honor Flight. Yeah. uh, Cheryl
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  Speaker 2: and Tom do a great job. Of course, I always
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  Speaker 2: brag on the Ziegler girls, Tessa and Ray and their mom, Rachel,
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  Speaker 2: and all the ones that are connected with that great,
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  Speaker 2: great organization. So I'm just thrilled you're there.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Very, very pleased about that. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: another salute to the American veteran, Frank Wettenkamp or Wettenkamp, uh,
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  Speaker 1: who is a World War II veteran. He'll be in
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  Speaker 1: studio tomorrow. He's, he is just so sharp at 105
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  Speaker 1: years old. I think he is, but Oh, sorry, Joe.
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  Speaker 1: Just 100. Joe's correcting the record.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, don't age him too much. Well, that's great. I'm
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to it. And you had another great interview
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  Speaker 2: this week with Jack Atherton. So you're on fire this week, brother.
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  Speaker 1: No, they are on fire. I merely get to facilitate
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  Speaker 1: their brilliance. So, yeah, I'm just a mere pawn in
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  Speaker 1: the game of life. Jay Ratliff, I introed the story.
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  Speaker 1: I presume that you're talking about United Flight 2174 in
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  Speaker 1: the notes section where you talk about it. A flight
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  Speaker 1: from Newark had a passenger try to access the cockpit.
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  Speaker 1: This guy apparently in the country illegally from Honduran, and
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  Speaker 1: he was able to establish some temporary status here by
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  Speaker 1: claiming he was transgender and was therefore going to be
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  Speaker 1: prosecuted or persecuted in his home country. So that bought
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  Speaker 1: him time here. But lo and behold, turns out he
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  Speaker 1: made a bomb threat, tried to hijack an airplane.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's walking down the aisle with a backpack and
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  Speaker 2: saying he's got a bomb in it. And of course,
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  Speaker 2: once the cockpits made aware of what's taking place, They
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  Speaker 2: turned the transponder to 75 with 100, which sends out
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  Speaker 2: the signal that possible hijacking in place. That only communicates
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  Speaker 2: air traffic control, but the United flights as well. It
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  Speaker 2: was called a level four event, meaning they didn't know
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  Speaker 2: if it was the first of many or just what,
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  Speaker 2: but it puts everybody on notice. Once the plane landed,
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  Speaker 2: he was taken into custody. Typically, you could face up
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  Speaker 2: to 10 years in prison. But with these individuals, I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what's going to happen. So they could face
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  Speaker 2: prison time. They could not. I don't know if they
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  Speaker 2: try to deport them and they try to get back
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  Speaker 2: or exactly what's going to happen here. But, yeah, certainly
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  Speaker 2: some anxious moments for people aboard that flight.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I'd say. Well, apparently now you can make a
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  Speaker 1: first-class Frontier Airlines reservation for travel coming up in March.
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  Speaker 1: First time ever. What's the development with Frontier?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big fan of Frontier. They were the
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  Speaker 2: ones that led, of course, the low-cost carriers into Cincinnati
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  Speaker 2: when they brought their one flight a day to Denver
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  Speaker 2: down from Dayton to Cincinnati. And they have been hearing
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  Speaker 2: from customers saying, look, we'd like not only extra legroom,
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  Speaker 2: but we'd like a first-class section. And they're willing to
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  Speaker 2: pay for it. So Frontier said, okay, we'll do it.
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  Speaker 2: And they're following the lead of a lot of other
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  Speaker 2: low-cost carriers. They're putting in both premium seats and now
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  Speaker 2: first-class seats. And as of this week, you can actually
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  Speaker 2: begin booking Frontier first class seats for travel after March.
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  Speaker 2: And I know a lot of our listeners are very
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  Speaker 2: savvy by buying the reservations or making them way in advance.
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  Speaker 2: And as you do, you lock in those lower fares,
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  Speaker 2: which is great. And Frontier is an incredible airline to fly.
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  Speaker 2: So I was just thrilled to see this because I
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  Speaker 2: prefer the extra leg room. I'll pay a couple extra
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  Speaker 2: bucks to sit up front of an airplane. And to
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  Speaker 2: be able to do that, not only do you get
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  Speaker 2: off the airplane early, which I like, but you've got
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  Speaker 2: the extra legroom, which is good. And, yeah, I think
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  Speaker 2: Frontier is really, really going to benefit from this, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm thrilled to see it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a nice development. So I guess when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about booking flights early to get the discount, the
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  Speaker 1: discount's still available, but I presume based upon the cost
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  Speaker 1: of jet fuel and the scarcity of supplies, generally speaking,
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  Speaker 1: that the low fare isn't like the old days low fare.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, buy them far enough in advance, and
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  Speaker 2: they're not bad, especially when it comes to Frontier. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and when we come back later, you can ask me
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  Speaker 2: about how artificial intelligence is being used by some people
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  Speaker 2: to look for those fares.
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  Speaker 1: As I stare at the late, late addition to the
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  Speaker 1: list topics for you, United Airlines banning AI agents from
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  Speaker 1: booking flights on behalf of travelers, you know, I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned it because I wanted to talk to you
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  Speaker 1: about it. Dave Hatter last week warned about people giving
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  Speaker 1: AI access to their investment accounts so they can make investments.
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  Speaker 1: Who in the hell would give that kind of information
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  Speaker 1: to AI?
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  Speaker 2: Brian, so many people, as you know, are looking for
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  Speaker 2: something that'll day trade for them or trade stocks for them.
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  Speaker 2: Just do something that's going to make me a ton
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  Speaker 2: of money that I don't have to do anything about.
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  Speaker 2: And sadly, they're letting their guard down. And Dave's all
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  Speaker 2: over that, where you are, in essence, turning the keys
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  Speaker 2: of your finances over to something that could be hacked.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the concern United was expressing on behalf of
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  Speaker 1: their own clients. If you're using AI... You could have
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  Speaker 1: a real security risk going on here, and we're not
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  Speaker 1: going to abide. I guess I'm really curious to know
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  Speaker 1: how United Airlines knows that you are, in fact, using AI.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I can dive into it now if we've got time.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of people are using Expedia, travel advisors, and
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  Speaker 2: others that are teaming up with artificial intelligence companies. And
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  Speaker 2: these AI programs can help you look for the lowest
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  Speaker 2: fares in certain markets. So what's happening is passengers are saying, hey,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just going to turn my travel planning over to
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  Speaker 2: this AI program so that when it spots the fare
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  Speaker 2: I want, it'll make the reservation I want, and boom,
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  Speaker 2: it's done, and it'll save me a great deal of time.
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  Speaker 2: United's coming out saying, no, no, no, we don't want
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  Speaker 2: to have a third party in here. We're going to
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  Speaker 2: deal directly with the customer. which I find incredibly, incredibly
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  Speaker 2: interesting because United uses artificial intelligence to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: their fares are as high as they can be so
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  Speaker 2: that they can get the highest possible profit. So United's saying,
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  Speaker 2: we can use it. You can't. Sounds like Congress.
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  Speaker 1: So they're really not looking at being paternalistic with the purchasers.
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  Speaker 1: They just want to maintain the opportunity to get the
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  Speaker 1: highest fare out of them. Shocking business model.
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  Speaker 2: There you go. But other airlines are embracing the AI platform, saying, look,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're okay with people. As long as you're
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  Speaker 2: making reservations on us, you know, we don't care if
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  Speaker 2: your dog's doing it. Just bring them on.
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  Speaker 1: Don't go away. We'll continue with Jay Ratliff, our media
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  Speaker 1: aviation expert. And, of course, mentioned about stocks there. You did. DayTradeFun.com.
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  Speaker 1: Find Jay. It's 836-55KRC, the talk station. Don't go away. 55KRC,
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  Speaker 1: the talk station. Whoa. Jay Ratliff has it. He's our
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  Speaker 1: aviation expert. iHeartMedia is the entire iHeartMedia network. More near misses. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I love reading about these, Jay Ratliff. Give me another
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  Speaker 1: reason to not really be interested in flying. How about
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  Speaker 1: we go to Los Angeles for the first one?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you're talking about the Air France American Airlines dance
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  Speaker 2: they were doing. Yeah, we had two flights preparing to
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  Speaker 2: take off from parallel runways. You had Air France cleared
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  Speaker 2: to take off first. So they start rolling down the runway.
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  Speaker 2: They go airborne. And flight path basically means for them
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  Speaker 2: just to go straight ahead and climb. American Airlines runway
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  Speaker 2: to their left behind them, release for takeoff. Off they go.
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  Speaker 2: But for some inexplicable reason, the air france, the crew
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  Speaker 2: turned left instead of continuing straight. Brian, as they were
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  Speaker 2: doing that, it was bringing them directly into the flight
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  Speaker 2: path of this American Airlines jet. So a very alert
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  Speaker 2: air traffic controller, thank you. Immediately saw what was going on,
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  Speaker 2: gave both crew members instructions, which they both immediately adhered to. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think the vertical separation was 400 feet,
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  Speaker 2: which was way closer than what we want. And the
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  Speaker 2: combined passenger count of both airplanes, if I'm not mistaken,
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  Speaker 2: was just at 500 passengers. So you're talking about something
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  Speaker 2: that could have been absolutely horrific. Air France has yet
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  Speaker 2: to release a statement explaining what might have happened. The
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  Speaker 2: FAA and, of course, the National Transportation Safety Board investigating,
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  Speaker 2: trying to find out exactly what took place so that
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  Speaker 2: we can learn from it to try to prevent whatever
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  Speaker 2: miscommunication took place to never happen again. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get to the other near miss, I saw
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  Speaker 1: that that. horrific Lear jet crash with that young pilot,
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  Speaker 1: they found the black box. Did you get any update
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  Speaker 1: on what they determined off of it or has it
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  Speaker 1: yet to be released?
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  Speaker 2: They've not yet released some of the specifics. Typically, they'll
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  Speaker 2: release part of the transcript if they can earlier in
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  Speaker 2: the investigation. But once we reach about the 30-day mark,
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  Speaker 2: The NTSB tends to be pretty quiet until the investigation
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  Speaker 2: is finalized, until the 11, 12-month mark when everything is
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  Speaker 2: released in a final report. One of the big questions is,
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  Speaker 2: what was the discussions by the crew leading up to
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  Speaker 2: those storms that the air traffic controllers were recommending that
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  Speaker 2: they go around one way or another, and the crew decided,
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  Speaker 2: or the captain did, to instead proceed directly through the storm?
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  Speaker 2: So we don't know, and a lot of people are
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  Speaker 2: saying that blame is clearly at his feet. I'm never
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  Speaker 2: going to use the word clearly in an early part
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  Speaker 2: of an investigation because we don't know if there was
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  Speaker 2: mechanical situations or what was taking place. Hopefully that black
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  Speaker 2: box will glean or provide the necessary information for investigators
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  Speaker 2: so that they can determine what either the Issue or
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  Speaker 2: issues were, because a lot of times we have contributing
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  Speaker 2: causes that cause that horrific accident. We've got to learn
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  Speaker 2: from it. I'm confident we will.
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  Speaker 1: Well, my first experience with even understanding that icing on
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  Speaker 1: the wings is a problem, and a lot of people
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  Speaker 1: are suspecting that maybe ice builds up on the wings, which, well,
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  Speaker 1: defeats the plane's ability to have lift and basically just
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  Speaker 1: drops out of the sky. I remember, and I know
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  Speaker 1: I've mentioned this story to you, was on the Bengals flight.
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  Speaker 1: We went out to Denver. It was back when the
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  Speaker 1: Bengals were on 55KRC. My dad gave me an opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to go with him, so I quickly said, hell yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going. But we were sitting on the tarmac in
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  Speaker 1: Denver getting ready to come home. The Bengals were all
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  Speaker 1: on the plane and everything, and it's been snowing, and
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  Speaker 1: it's been snowing, and we're sitting there. We've been out
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  Speaker 1: there for a while. And my dad looks not white
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  Speaker 1: as his sheet, but, I mean, he looks nervous. And
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  Speaker 1: his hands are holding on to the armrest. And I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: what the hell is wrong with him? He's not a
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  Speaker 1: nervous flyer. So we end up getting in the air.
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  Speaker 1: And guess what? I was a little worried about ice
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  Speaker 1: on the wings. We've been sitting there for such a
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  Speaker 1: long time. There's a protocol for that. They're supposed to
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  Speaker 1: go over and get the ice hosed off the wings
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  Speaker 1: before they take off after a certain amount of time.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a mechanism, like have they developed a plane
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  Speaker 1: that maybe has heated wings or some other ability to
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  Speaker 1: de-ice the wing if you run into this problem while
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  Speaker 1: you're airborne?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they do, but the de-icing mechanisms can easily be
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  Speaker 2: overwhelmed if you have a large amount of ice that
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  Speaker 2: accumulates in a quick period of time. The systems aren't
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  Speaker 2: designed to, in essence, accommodate that much ice in a
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  Speaker 2: very short span of time, and it tends to take...
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  Speaker 2: right onto the wing surface, which makes it very, very
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  Speaker 2: difficult to be removed. And that's one of the reasons why,
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  Speaker 2: as you fly, this just doesn't fly off. It becomes
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  Speaker 2: a permanent part of the wing until, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: get to an altitude where maybe it can start to
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  Speaker 2: melt off a bit. But by then, you've lost control
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  Speaker 2: of the aircraft. And typically, you're at such a speed,
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  Speaker 2: all hope of controlling that aircraft is lost. And in
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  Speaker 2: the case of that Learjet, I think they had 90
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  Speaker 2: seconds of flight time after the ice began to accumulate
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  Speaker 2: to the time it crashed in the ground. And when
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  Speaker 2: you're talking about being at the altitude they were at, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it was just... You know, it was just horrific in
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  Speaker 2: so many different ways. And, again, I think we're going
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  Speaker 2: to see some things in here that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see from the report where the crew did all they could,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll probably see things that maybe could have been
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  Speaker 2: done differently. I don't know. We don't know the specifics
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  Speaker 2: of things, and that's why I'm always very careful on
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  Speaker 2: things as far as stating, because we don't know. Because
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times we think it's obviously crew error,
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  Speaker 2: and we find out, wait a minute, there was a
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  Speaker 2: mechanical situation with the aircraft, prevented the crew from doing this, this,
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  Speaker 2: or that. So we don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Don't know, but presumably we will find out. Don't go away.
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  Speaker 1: More with Jay Radcliffe, including near miss in Miami. And
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  Speaker 1: apparently American Airlines is preparing for a big day. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: the biggest. 85KRC, the talk station. H48 on a Thursday.
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  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas with iHeartMedia aviation expert, Jay Radcliffe, wrapping up
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  Speaker 1: the show with yet another near miss. This one on
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  Speaker 1: the ground. We talked about one of these last week, Jay.
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  Speaker 1: How in God's name does that happen?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they're called runway incursions, and they happen literally every
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  Speaker 2: day at some airport around the country where maybe you've
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  Speaker 2: got a plane that's taxing and somebody crosses it with
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  Speaker 2: a piece of ground equipment or another plane. And that's
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  Speaker 2: what happened here. Lufthansa coming in 747, having landed, taxing
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  Speaker 2: it to the normal speed to the gate. And then
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  Speaker 2: you had an American Airlines jet that was taxing as well.
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  Speaker 2: and was in the process of crossing the runway in
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  Speaker 2: front of it, and the Lufthansa crew had to slam
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  Speaker 2: on the brakes. Now, the aircraft didn't get real close
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  Speaker 2: to colliding, which was good news. The air traffic controller
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  Speaker 2: was all over the American Airlines crew saying, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you're turning every other way than what we're directing you.
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  Speaker 2: So it sounded like it was the fault of American Airlines. Brownie,
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  Speaker 2: take you back and listen to the air traffic control tape.
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  Speaker 2: And then you see that it was the controller that
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  Speaker 2: seemed to be confused, gave multiple different directions to the
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  Speaker 2: American Airlines flight crew who was doing their best to
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: try to keep up. And I understand the confusion because
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  Speaker 2: even the controller called him by the wrong flight number
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  Speaker 2: one time. So I think some retraining may be in
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  Speaker 2: place here. And I'm not laying this one at the
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  Speaker 2: feet of the ground crew as far as American Airlines pilots.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was the air traffic controller here. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we have these runway incursions and different things happen on
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  Speaker 2: a daily basis. But because of the fact that we
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: are having some ones that maybe are on video or
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  Speaker 2: different types of things, every one of these is going
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: to get quite a bit of attention. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we have these, like the go-arounds. The go-arounds happen maybe
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  Speaker 2: one out of every or maybe two out of every
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  Speaker 2: thousand flights. So if you've got 28,000, 30,000 flights in
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  Speaker 2: a day, you're going to have several of these where
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  Speaker 2: the crew comes in and goes around.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Imperfect world out there, Jay Ratliff. American Airlines.
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  Speaker 2: We have a plan for everything.
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  Speaker 1: We do.
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  Speaker 2: That's the idea, a plan for everything.
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  Speaker 1: Moving over, American Airlines, preparing for what you call maybe
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  Speaker 1: their biggest day ever?
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  Speaker 2: That's what they're saying. And, you know, if an airline's
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  Speaker 2: been around for like 96 years since 1930, when they
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  Speaker 2: say we're about to have one of our biggest days ever, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they're talking about, excuse me, I think 8 million people
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  Speaker 2: in a week that are going to be flying during
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  Speaker 2: the airline's busiest travel week, of course, the week of Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 2: And they're talking about the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is
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  Speaker 2: always the busiest day. Brian having 7,000 and I think
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  Speaker 2: 21 flights that day alone scheduled. That's a departure every
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  Speaker 2: three seconds. So it's going to be a big deal
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  Speaker 2: for American Airlines and for other carriers. And I always
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  Speaker 2: smile when I think of American because American is the
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  Speaker 2: result of 80 different companies. You talk about Pac-Man on steroids,
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  Speaker 2: that's American Airlines. Most airlines are made up of maybe 10, 15,
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  Speaker 2: 20 airlines that they have acquired throughout their history. Uh-uh,
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  Speaker 2: not American. 80 different companies make up American Airlines. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Then I go back in my mind and I think,
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  Speaker 1: remember TWA? Remember Eastern Airlines? What happened to all those?
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  Speaker 1: Did you say America is responsible for basically absorbing all those?
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  Speaker 1: Because I know Eastern, I think they went bankrupt.
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  Speaker 2: Well, not all of them. I mean, you know, like Western,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Delta grabbed. The Northwest, Delta grabbed. And you had others
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: that were taken. But yeah, the U.S. Airways, America West,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of these just gobbled into that American Airlines machine.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Bigger doesn't mean better because they're still struggling financially. No. So, Brian,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just a massive thought when you think
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: that they have gotten– now, some of these were small
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: mail carriers and different things back in the day, but still,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: I don't care, 80 different companies that are airlines. That's
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: a significant number.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: No question about it. All right, as we usually do,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: let's end on hub delays, find out what's going on.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I know there's a Nor'easter going on somewhere. What's this
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: going to do to air travel, Jay?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the big issue right now. A lot of
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: concern for people that are traveling towards the Northeast, especially
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: over the weekend, is we've got the possibility there for
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: some really bad weather. Airlines are issuing waivers, so if
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: you're flying to or through any of the affected areas,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: you can change your reservation absent a change fee, which
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: is nice. but obviously make sure the airlines have a
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: way to get ahold of you. And some of this
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: could create problems where getting into a specific airport aren't possible.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: And you may be given the option of saying, Hey, look,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: just get me to an airport. That's close. Like if
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: you're trying to get into Cincinnati, get me to Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, Lexington,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: just get me close. And then I'll pay for my
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: own way to get home from there. That may be some,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: a card that has to be played. this weekend as
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: well we'll we'll see how things are going but the
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: airlines are keeping a close eye on it and they're
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: certainly going to respond as it is the good news
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: is brian this isn't the week of thanksgiving so if
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: we're going to have a nor'easter let's get it out
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: of the way.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Now there's always a bright spot jay ratliff always and
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: if you can't find it directly you got to kind
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: of search for it but there's something positive out there
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: going on in the world just look for it and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: cling to that in most desperate times we find ourselves
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: in Jay Ratliff, I appreciate you coming to the program
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: every week, and I enjoy the conversations and the topics,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: and we'll do it again next week. And as always,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: between now and then, best of health and love to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you and your better half.