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New York, 9:18 AM
Mon Dec 7
15 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of strongp strongp
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Er- Goma is one big lava field with bits cleared out for buildings and the runway - so basically he missed the runway (and the buildings I assume).

    For the record this is main street Goma:
    [www.camelworld.com]

    and this is the volcano the lava came from (taken from the lip, looking down about 1500m)

    [www.camelworld.com]
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment Jacubious approved this comment strongp was starred strongp was unstarred
    Image of Benguin Benguin
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Duck and cover!
     Reply
    Benguin was starred Benguin was unstarred
    Image of dragon:ONE dragon:ONE
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    -lava field +pile of rocks

    They make it sound like he landed in hot molten lava, when really it was a giant pile of rocks at the end of the runway.
     Reply
    dragon:ONE was starred dragon:ONE was unstarred
    Image of diesel828 diesel828
    11/22/09

    @dragon:ONE: Yeah, I guess no one read the source article which clearly states that the pilot just overshot the runway. Chalk this one up as booooooring.
     Reply
    diesel828 was starred diesel828 was unstarred
    Image of garci66 garci66
    11/22/09

    @diesel828: The piles of rock were "techinically" lava.. just solidified some 6 or so years ago. The volcano wiped half of the landing strip and now its waaay too short. Pretty amazing to see it to be honest.

    you can see it here:
    [maps.google.com]

    Also, if you zoom out, you'll see that the runway was much longer before. The "zoomed out" pic was taken some years before the volcano erupted.
     Reply
    Jack Loftus promoted this comment garci66 was starred garci66 was unstarred
    Image of Gary_7vn Gary_7vn
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Someday, someone, will try to land a plane on Chuck Norris.
     Reply
    Gary_7vn was starred Gary_7vn was unstarred
    Image of Homerjay is utterly alone. Homerjay is utterly alone.
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    The next thing you know some crazy-ass pilot is going to land a 747 in mid-air.
     Reply
    Homerjay is utterly alone. was starred Homerjay is utterly alone. was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Show off! These hot dog pilots are just trying to up the ante on each other.
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of Coolmodo Coolmodo
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Um it's not quite picture you depict in the post though. From the MSNBC article:

    "...A 2002 volcanic eruption sent lava oozing onto Goma's runway, truncating it from more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) to less than a mile (1.5 kilometers). Authorities have not removed all of the lava rock..."

    They basically smacked into some rocks that were on the runway, not a lava field.

    These rocks got there due to a lava eruption, but they are no longer lava, just rocks on the runway.

    I get that hype drives the readers up which in turn increases add revenue, but if I want things to be taken out of proportion to such an extent then I can read The Onion.

    Please, please maintain quality writing at Gizmodo.
     Reply
    Coolmodo was starred Coolmodo was unstarred
    Image of Flying Jukebox Flying Jukebox
    11/22/09

    @Coolmodo: for reals...
     Reply
    Coolmodo promoted this comment Flying Jukebox was starred Flying Jukebox was unstarred
    Image of LolpantsofArabia LolpantsofArabia
    11/22/09

    @Coolmodo: Loftus has some form for this kind of thing, unfortunately.

    See also this - [gizmodo.com] - which holds up a competition entry (not even the winner) as something that's actually going to happen. Plus, NB the half-arsed non-retraction.
     Reply
    Coolmodo promoted this comment Edited by LolpantsofArabia at 11/22/09 11:32 AM LolpantsofArabia was starred LolpantsofArabia was unstarred
    Image of Sticks Calhoun Sticks Calhoun
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    My favorite thing about that story is the last two paragraphs:

    Congo has experienced more fatal plane crashes than any other African country since 1945, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

    However, flying remains one of the more dependable ways to cross the vast country. The country, which is bigger than Western Europe, has only 300 miles (500 kilometers) of paved roads.
     Reply
    Sticks Calhoun was starred Sticks Calhoun was unstarred
    Image of sammy baby sammy baby
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Okay, wait a minute.

    That's a great headline and all, but according to the story, that lava originally flowed across the runway... in 2002. It's not like the pilot went, "Okay, we'll just put her down on OH GOD LIQUID HOT MAGMA." It's more like he overshot the runway and smacked the plane into a bunch of rocks.
     Reply
    Jack Loftus promoted this comment sammy baby was starred sammy baby was unstarred
    Image of Scratic Scratic
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Mark Ericson of the Congo planning commission could be heard screaming: "I TOLD YOU MOTHER- F@#%ERS! I TOLD YOU SO! Ericson's original plans called for the airport to be placed just north of the lava fields in the plains of the Congo. It would have happened too, if not for a drinking contest that involved the rest of the planning commission and a fast talking hardened-lava-mine salesman.
     Reply
    Scratic was starred Scratic was unstarred
    Image of Sgrlfskbm Sgrlfskbm
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    Captain to Co-Pilot: "Where should we land?"

    Co-Pilot:" Well in flight school they taught me to pick an open place and just let my training kick in.... just go with the flow"

    Captain: "I ALWAYS wondered why they told us that!"
     Reply
    Jack Loftus promoted this comment Sgrlfskbm was starred Sgrlfskbm was unstarred
    Image of franco1975 franco1975
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    This post is abit misleading. They landed on a *hardened* lava field surrounding the airport. Hardened lava is black, hard and not necessarily hot. The picture above shows MOLTEN lava. Molten lava cools down to lava fields i think. They didnt land on molten lava. They would have burnt to death!
    So its no big deal. Captain Sullenberger still wins. WOO HOO!
     Reply
    Jack Loftus promoted this comment franco1975 was starred franco1975 was unstarred
    Image of met2art met2art
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger
    "We lava to fly, and it shows!"
     Reply
    met2art was starred met2art was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday
    11/22/09

    In reply to Your Move, Captain Sullenberger

    Click for full version.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday was starred GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday was unstarred
    Image of Mikestan Mikestan
    11/19/09

    In reply to Bird's Eye View of Some Fast Birds
    I thought that was an aerial picture of a parking lot in Dubai
     Reply
    Mikestan was starred Mikestan was unstarred
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